Diana Ross can usually be counted on to get a party revved up, but, in coming to Canada this week, the Supremes superstar has put a major damper on the 40th-anniversary celebrations of the Dora Mavor Moore Awards.
Toronto’s major theatre, dance and opera awards, which are produced by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), were originally to take place on Monday, June 24, at the Sony Centre, one of the city’s largest and grandest venues.
But Ross is Ross – and, so, when the TD Toronto Jazz Festival wanted to book that venue for her on that date, Toronto’s not-quite Tony Awards got bumped back to Tuesday, June 25.
The Doras, with 282 nominees for 49 awards, are almost designed to alienate the general theatregoing public – but now this one-day shift means even many theatre-makers won’t be coming out to their own industry celebration.
Monday is the “dark night” in the performing arts – the day of the week when there are, usually, no performances or rehearsals. This is why the Doras have, for decades, been on a Monday.
A Tuesday ceremony means the cast of Dear Evan Hansen – the major new commercial show of the 2018-19 Toronto season, with nine nominations – won’t be able to attend.
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Sean Patrick Dolan and Robert Markus in Dear Evan Hansen.Matthew Murphy/other
Nor will the ensemble of Come from Away, the biggest hit Toronto has seen in more than a decade, be able to participate in the ceremony.
Most actors in the Stratford Festival and Shaw Festival companies, not to mention those working other summer theatres, will have to miss the party too.
This was going to be an exciting edition of the Doras, the first with groundbreaking gender-neutral categories.
But the showdown between Robert Markus (star of Dear Evan Hansen) and Vanessa Sears (who played Mary Poppins at Young People’s Theatre) for the leading role in a musical category is much less compelling now that neither will be in attendance to accept it. (Sears is in Little Shop of Horrors at Stratford.)
It’s not just actors affected, either. As sound designer Richard Feren put it on Facebook: “I’m not going to make any predictions of this year’s Dora Mavor Moore Awards … but I’m pretty sure the most common acceptance speech will be ‘[winning nominee] was unable to be here tonight, so we will accept the award on their behalf.’ ”
Feren, nominated for his excellent work on Studio 180/Coal Mine’s eerie production of The Nether this year, is an example of the behind-the-scenes talent that really deserve a fun night at the Doras – the folks who don’t get applauded after every show.
But he will be in a technical rehearsal for Shakespeare in High Park on Tuesday – a rehearsal that he tells me will keep several other nominees away as well.
How did the Dora organizers let this entirely foreseeable disaster happen? Long-time TAPA executive director Jacoba Knaapen says she booked the Sony Centre back in 2018, but, in February, the venue “let us know” that Ross would be using the space on that date instead. “We felt that we had the Monday confirmed,” she says, although is quick to add she doesn’t want to “vilify” the Sony Centre (a long-time partner and sponsor of the awards).
The Sony Centre is run by TO Live, which was, until recently, called Civic Theatres Toronto and also operates two other city-owned arts facilities. Clyde Wagner, president and chief executive officer, says that the decision to displace the Doras was made “in collaboration” with TAPA and the Jazz Festival.
“Other venues were available,” Wagner wrote in a statement. “TO Live found that Roy Thomson Hall was available on the Monday night for the Doras and offered to help with the move … should they prefer to stay on the Monday.”
Knaapen confirms that is the case – but says that, by February, logistical and financial concerns made it harder to switch venues than dates.
Both organizations come out looking bad. TO Live, a perplexing entity that Toronto subsidizes to the tune of $5-million a year, should remember its “civic” duty. Why does the city own these theatres if they treat local artists like second-class citizens?
But this should also be a wake-up call to Toronto performing-arts organizations that TAPA needs a serious shakeup.
The Royal Alexandra, the Princess of Wales, the Ed Mirvish – these big, beautiful theatres are all sitting dark on Monday and a spokesperson from Mirvish Productions, which owns them, tells me they were never even approached.
You know that internet meme: You Had One Job?
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J. Kelly Nestruck