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A CurtainUp Feature
An Awards Ceremony Without Tension . . . and That's Actually Fun
By Elyse Sommer
Lin-Manuel Miranda, this seasons superstar with audiences and critics. It seemed as every OCC party guest wanted to shake hands, take his picture and get his signature on their program which listed him for Outstanding Book and New Score of a Musical.
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But unlike so many entertainment industry awards events, the Outer Critics Circle awards party has a cozy aura of informality and lack of tension that has earned the organization its designation as the best and most fun awards party in New York. (Full disclosure: I'm a long-time OCC member, and President Saltzman is a valued Curtainup colleague).
So what's the secret of this annual event's "best awards party" status? Could it be that the price of admission comes with dinner? Not really, though the dinner setup is made possible because only the winners are invited. That fits everyone into the less than super-sized Eugenia Room and, even more importantly, h insures a room entirely filled with happy folks.
Being fed as well as feted is nice of course. However, while it's always a treat to spend time in this room with its walls lined with photos of theatrical legends, the food served at these dinners is unlikely to ever make it into the Michelin guide. So it's the charm of the surroundings more than the 3-course chicken dinner that wins the day — and even more, the fact that the seating arrangements put a mix of OCC members, award winners and their guests at each table. (Last year I shared a table with award winners Lisa Kron, librettist for Fun Home and costumer William Ivey. . . this time one of my table mates was actor Nick Cordero, a 2014 awardee and 2015 presenter who I coincidentally was scheduled to see in a new play the next night).
Except for last minute arrivals, everyone also has ample opportunity to chat in the bar area or table hop. And speaking of ample opportunities. . . though the presenters are given cards with scripted , they are free to ignore some or all of these helpful notes to say what they feel. This approach makes for an over-all gentler, less formal format. Granted, that it also tends to result in some mishaps, but these usually are more funny than fatally awkward.
Since a complete list of this seasons nominees and winners can be found in Curtainup's Omnibus Awards Page , I'll conclude with a figure of speech that delighted this inveterate simile collector in the introduction to the award for Outstanding Featured Actress performance in You Can't take It With You: "our honoree was a wannabe ballerina who kept the play in a constant state of bad poetry-in-motion, never walking across the room when she can bound across it like a demented ostrich."
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