The 2022 Dora Mavor Moore Awards
Glynis Ranney won a Dora for her portrayal of Mrs. Lovett in Talk is Free Theatre’s Sweeney Todd. Photo by Roman Boldyrev.
This Monday at the Elgin Theatre, the annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards — which celebrate makers of dance, theatre, and opera in Toronto — were handed out. It was the first in-person ceremony since 2019.
The results of the General Theatre division are surprising. The two most nominated shows, Canadian Stage’s Is God Is and Mirvish’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which combined for 18 nominations, together only received three awards. Instead, Factory Theatre’s Wildfire took home three of the biggest awards — for direction, new play, and production — and the rest of the awards were spread fairly evenly between shows. I was particularly happy to see Alexis Gordon pick up Outstandng Performance in a Leading Role for her star turn in Mirvish’s ROOM.
The Indie division played out a little more predictably. Bad New Days’ Italian Mime Suicide, which I unfortunately didn’t see, picked up five awards, including the same big three as Wildfire (direction, new play, and production). Theatre Gargantua’s A Tonic for Desperate Times also won three awards, making it one of the bigger pre-Omicron winners. Coal Mine Theatre, who often win big in this division, did not get anything — but they weren’t nominated very much, either, so no big surprise there.
In the Musical Theatre divison, Talk is Free Theatre’s immersive Sweeney Todd became “Sweepy Todd”. They won five awards, including ones for direction and best play, and two actors in the show — Glynnis Ranney and Cyrus Lane — won the divison’s acting awards for two great performances. Very happy for the Sweeney gang — it’s probably my favourite show of the year so far.
In the Opera division, Tapestry Opera’s R.U.R. A Torrent of Light cleaned house with six awards. I absolutely love this show, but it’s also the only nominated opera I saw, so I can’t comment much more.
Biggest congrats to everyone involved in a Toronto theatre show this season, and especially to tonight’s winners and nominees. To peruse the full list of winners, including those from the Dance and TYA divisions, head over to the Dora Awards Twitter.