RUNNING SMOKE RINGS AROUND THE COMPETITION

'Reefer Madness!' And 'Summer And Smoke' Dominate The Annual
Ovation Awards

Two shows in smaller theaters were smokin' at the annual Ovation
Awards ceremony Monday. "Reefer Madness!," a tongue-in-cheek
adaptation of the famous anti-marijuana propaganda movie, won five
awards--more than any other show--including best musical in a small
theater. And its fans were easily the rowdiest at the ceremony, held
at La Mirada Theatre.

When the entire cast trooped onstage to accept an ensemble award,
accompanied by earsplitting cheers, Harry S. Murphy--who plays the
show's stern narrator, used the same grim tone that he employs in the
show to thank "anyone who ever inhaled." Another production in the
sub-100-seat arena, Fountain Theatre's revival of Tennessee Williams'
"Summer and Smoke," took three Ovations. It was named best play in a
small theater, and it garnered the best actress trophy for Tracy
Middendorf, who faced the most star-studded field of the evening:
Linda Lavin, Phyllis Frelich, Annette Bening and Ruby Dee. In thanking
Cameron Dye, her co-star and "my partner on and off stage," Middendorf
referred to "our new life that was conceived during 'Summer and Smoke'
"--yes, she's pregnant.

The Geffen Playhouse production in which Lavin starred, Donald
Margulies' "Collected Stories," was named best play in a large theater
but won no other awards.

For best musical in a large theater, a revival of "West Side Story" by
Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities upset such better-known
competition as the touring "Cabaret" and the Tony-winning "Fosse"--but
likewise triumphed only once.

After accepting the award for "West Side Story" from Carol Channing,
South Bay impresario James Blackman quipped that he wanted "to
apologize to God for praying at the last second that I would win so I
could meet Carol Channing. I didn't know he was listening. I should
have asked for world peace or something."

"Fosse," the revue that was seen at the Ahmanson Theatre prior to
Broadway, snagged lighting and sound design and choreography awards to
tie "Summer and Smoke" for the second most awards to a single show.
Center Theatre Group, which hosted the L.A. run of "Fosse," won only
two other awards for its shows at the Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson
Theatre, but its total of five was still more than that for any other
company except for the "Reefer Madness!" team.

The program, sponsored by Theatre LA, lacked a traditional emcee--the
previously announced Jason Alexander withdrew from the hosting duties
in late October, and last-minute appeals to other celebrities were
unsuccessful. Sharon Lawrence and Alfred Molina welcomed the crowd
before serving as the first presenters, and Bening delivered closing
remarks after serving as the last presenter.

Still, the absence of a host monologue hardly eliminated all the
laughs. Some of the outsize personalities who presented awards, such
as Channing and Charles Nelson Reilly, provided comedy. Musical
performances were introduced by Brian Beacock, dressed in drag as the
vivacious Carol Ann Knippel, who runs the fictitious Melody Barn
Dinner Theatre in the recently closed revue "Howard Crabtree's When
Pigs Fly."

The musical performances were more polished than many of those at
previous Ovations shows, because the selections were all from
currently running shows: "Reefer Madness!," "It Ain't Nothin' but the
Blues," "The Servant of Two Masters" and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."
In past years, the musical numbers were frequently from nominated
shows that had closed months earlier.

The touring company of "Cabaret," which had nine nominations--more
than any other production--won no awards.

The Ovations eligibility season was from Sept. 1, 1998, to Aug. 31,
1999. Nearly 300 productions were registered for the competition,
which is judged by representatives from the theaters and producers who
belong to Theatre LA.