The musical theatre and opera nominations for Toronto’s Dora Mavor Moore Awards are usually dominated by the Canadian Opera Company’s big-budget productions, so it’s particularly heartening to see that two small producers with more imagination than money have made it onto the 2013 nominee list.
Toronto Masque Theatre’s world premiere of The Lesson of Da Ji, written by Alice Ho and Marjorie Chan, has been nominated for Outstanding New Musical/Opera — as has A Synonym for Love, the Volcano Theatre-Classical Music Consort production written by Deborah Pearson that took over the Gladstone Hotel last August.
Volcano Theatre’s Ross Manson has also been nominated for Outstanding Direction in A Synonym for Love. The whole show is also up for the Outstanding Production prize and the Outstanding Performance — Ensemble nod.
Also among non-Canadian Opera Company nominations is Martha Mann, for her costume designs for Opera Atelier’s Der Freischütz.
For the full list of this year’s Dora nominees click here.
John Terauds