L.A. Ovation Award Nominations Are Announced

Nominations for the L.A. Stage Alliance’s 2007 Ovation Awards, honoring the best in Los Angeles theater, were announced today. The awards, to be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, will be held at 7:30pm on November 12 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.

The organization’s Career Achievement Award will go to actress Annette Bening, while its Community Outreach Award will be presented to the Actors’ Fund.

In competitive categories, The Center Theatre Group — which consists of the Mark Taper Forum, The Ahmanson Theatre, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre — earned a total of 17 nominations, including 10 nods for its production of the musical Sleeping Beauty Wakes. The Pasadena Playhouse earned 15 nominations, with 12 of those nods for its revival of the Cole Porter musical Can-Can; The Theatre @ Boston Court earned 14 nominations, with 10 nods for its musical Paradise Lost; and the Geffen Playhouse earned 13 nominations, thanks to Hershey Felder, whose shows Monseiur Chopin and George Gershwin Alone picked up 12 nods, including two Lead Actor in a Musical nods for Hershey.

Actor Kevin Earley received nods for Lead Actor in a Musical for Can-Can and Featured Actor in a Musical for Sleeping Beauty Wakes, and Anne Gee Byrd, who is competing against herself as Lead Actress in a Play for Death of a Salesman and The Bay at Nice. Other notable acting nominees also include Laurence Fishburne (Fences), Dan Lauria (The Value of Names), Yeardley Smith (Balancing Act), Judy Kaye (Souvenir), Jeffry Denman (On Your Toes), Mary Jo Catlett (The Full Monty), and Vicki Lewis (Hotel C’est L’Amour).

Tickets to the awards can be ordered by calling 213-614-0556 x40. For a complete list of nominees and more information, visit www.LAStageAlliance.com.