'Beast' Tops Ovations Nod List : Theater: The Disney show heads the pack with 13 nominations, while 'Sweeney' earns 12. Center Theatre Group receives 32.

By DON SHIRLEY

Oct. 4, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

“Disney’s Beauty and the Beast,” East West Players’ “Sweeney Todd” and Center Theatre Group led the pack of 1994-95 Ovation Award nominations, announced Tuesday by the sponsoring organization, Theatre LA.

The Disney show at the Shubert Theatre picked up 13 nominations, more than any other single show, followed by “Sweeney Todd” with 12. Center Theatre Group received 32 nominations, including 16 for shows in the Ahmanson series at the Doolittle Theatre (“Angels in America” nabbed nine of those) and 16 for Mark Taper Forum shows (“Master Class” took 10).

The only award announced Tuesday was a lifetime achievement honor for Martin Benson and David Emmes of South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa. This was something of a surprise, for South Coast has so far declined to join Theatre LA, and its productions are therefore ineligible for the group’s regular Ovation Awards. In fact, Theatre LA’s roster of more than 130 member theaters and producers doesn’t include one from Orange County, said Theatre LA executive director William Freimuth.

Nevertheless, Theatre LA considers itself a four-county (Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Santa Barbara) operation, Freimuth said. Benson and Emmes have served as mentors for many smaller theaters in Los Angeles County, he added. Last year’s lifetime achievement winner, producer James A. Doolittle, was not a Theatre LA member either, but Doolittle no longer produces plays.

The Ovations will be presented Nov. 13 at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, with Mariette Hartley repeating her duties as host. In this--the second year of competitive peer-judged Ovations--183 productions that ran between Sept. 1, 1994, and Aug. 31, 1995, qualified for the competition by registering with Actors’ Equity and with Theatre LA and by running at least 12 performances. The biggest show that was left out because its producers failed to register it: “Miss Saigon.”

The nominees:

* Play/Larger: “The Woman Warrior,” Doolittle Theatre; “The Yellow Boat,” Mark Taper Forum at the Natural History Museum; “Angels in America,” Doolittle Theatre; “Master Class,” Mark Taper Forum; “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” Westwood Playhouse.

* Play/Smaller: “Waiting for the Parade,” Commonwealth Theatre; “Counsellor-at-Law,” Interact Theatre; “Marvin’s Room,” Tiffany Theatre; “Urban Folk Tales,” Coast Playhouse; “The Seagull,” Matrix Theatre.

* Musical/Larger: “Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” Doolittle Theatre; “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast,” Shubert Theatre; “Assassins,” Los Angeles Repertory Co. at Los Angeles Theatre Center; “A Chorus Line,” Long Beach Civic Light Opera; “Forbidden Hollywood,” Coronet Theatre.

* Musical/Smaller: “The 1940’s Radio Hour,” Actors Co-op; “Sweeney Todd,” East West Players; “The Gay ‘90s Musical,” Celebration Theatre; “Chess,” Blank Theatre Co. at Hudson Theatre; “The Cradle Will Rock,” Blank Theatre Co. at Off Ramp Theatre.

* Writing of a World Premiere: John Benjamin Martin, “Just Like Home”; Daniel Reitz, “Urban Folk Tales”; Lee Murphy, “Catch a Falling Star”; Gerard Alessandrini, “Forbidden Hollywood”; Vicki Juditz, “Teshuvah, Return.”

* Translation/Adaptation: Simon Levy, “Tender Is the Night”; Michael Arabian and Mimi Seton, “The Trojan Women”; David Schweizer, “Peer Gynt”; Guillermo Reyes, “Chumbale”; Ken Albers, “Medea.”

* Director/Musical: Gerard Alessandrini, “Forbidden Hollywood”; Daniel Henning, “The Cradle Will Rock”; Tim Dang, “Sweeney Todd”; Robert Jess Roth, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”; Todd Nielsen, “King of Hearts.”

* Director/Play: John Rubinstein and Anita Khanzadian, “Counsellor-at-Law”; Michael Mayer, “Angels in America”; Kenneth Albers, “Medea”; Leonard Foglia, “Master Class”; Brian Nelson, “Twelf Nite O Wateva!”

* Leading Actor/Play: Joe Garcia, “The Puppetmaster of Lodz”; Jack Black, “Peer Gynt”; Robert Sella, “Angels in America”; Jonathan Hadary, “Angels in America”; Peter Birkenhead, “Angels in America.”

* Leading Actress/Play: Jean Smart, “Marvin’s Room”; Mary Steenburgen, “Marvin’s Room”; Zoe Caldwell, “Master Class”; Jacqueline Schultz, “Duet for One”; Linda Bove, “Medea.”

* Leading Actor/Musical: Edward Evanko, “Chess”; Sean Smith, “Chess”; Jason Graae, “Forbidden Hollywood”; Orville Mendoza, “Sweeney Todd”; Burke Moses, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.”

* Leading Actress/Musical: Marcia Mitzman, “Chess”; Susanne Blakeslee, “Forbidden Hollywood”; Susan Egan, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”; Christine Pedi, “Forbidden Hollywood”; Freda Foh Shen, “Sweeney Todd.”

* Featured Actor/Play: Jay Hunter Morris, “Master Class”; Reg Flowers, “Angels in America”; Philip Earl Johnson, “Angels in America”; Richard Schiff, “Urban Folk Tales”; Kenneth Danziger, “Ashes.”

* Featured Actress/Play: Jane Cecil, “Marvin’s Room”; Freda Norman, “Medea”; Karen Kay Cody, “Master Class”; Audra McDonald, “Master Class”; Maura Vincent, “Urban Folk Tales.”

* Featured Actor/Musical: Jamie Torcellini, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”; Kevin Loreque, “Sweeney Todd”; Radmar Agana Jao, “Sweeney Todd”; Fred Applegate, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”; Gary Beach, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.”

* Featured Actress/Musical: Beth Fowler, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”; Mary Jo Catlett, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”; Mary-Pat Green, “Chess”; Deborah Nishimura, “Sweeney Todd”; Linda Igarashi, “Sweeney Todd.”

* Ensemble Performance: casts of “Catch a Falling Star,” “Counsellor-at-Law,” “Waiting for the Parade,” “The Seagull,” “Just Like Home.”

* Set Design/Larger: Mark Thompson, “Hysteria”; Stan Meyer, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”; Michael McGarty, “Master Class”; John B. Wilson, “Man of La Mancha”; Ming Cho Lee, “The Woman Warrior.”

* Set Design/Smaller: Bradley Kaye, “Counsellor-at-Law”; Chris Tashima, “Sweeney Todd”; Terry Evans, “The Puppetmaster of Lodz”; Shelby Flint, “A Rage in Tenure”; Richard Hoover, “Peer Gynt”; Sidney Wickersham, “Just Like Home.”

* Costume Design/Larger: Ann Hould-Ward, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”; Mark Thompson, “Hysteria”; Andrew V. Yelusich, “Black Elk Speaks”; Alvin Colt, “Forbidden Hollywood”; Susan Hilferty, “The Woman Warrior.”

* Costume Design/Smaller: Jeanne Reith, “Tender Is the Night”; Naomi Yoshida Rodriguez, “Sweeney Todd”; Barbara Ayers, “Counsellor-at-Law”; Shon LeBlanc and A. Jeffrey Schoenberg, “Tartuffe”; Scott Johnson, “The Mandrake.”

* Lighting Design/Larger: Brian MacDevitt, “Angels in America”; Chris Parry, “Hysteria”; Peter Maradudin, “The Woman Warrior”; Natasha Katz, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”; Brian MacDevitt, “Master Class.”

* Lighting Design/Smaller: G. Shizuko Herrera, “Sweeney Todd”; Cheryl Waters, “Counsellor-at-Law”; Andrew D’Ambrosio, “A Clockwork Orange”; Kevin Adams, “Urban Folk Tales”; Rand Ryan, “Peer Gynt.”

* Sound Design/Larger: Philip G. Allen, “Forbidden Hollywood”; Rob Milburn, “Angels in America”; Jon Gottlieb, “Master Class”; Stephen Le Grand and Jon Gottlieb, “The Woman Warrior”; Jon Gottlieb, “Hysteria.”

* Sound Design/Smaller: Braxston Lee, “A Clockwork Orange”; Jan A.P. Kaczmarek and Elliot Siegel, “Peer Gynt”; Bob Blackburn, “The Trojan Women”; Scott Nagatani and Miles Ono, “Sweeney Todd”; John Rubinstein, “Counsellor-at-Law.”

* Choreography: Nathan Prevost, “Hula Hoop Sha Boop”; Teresa Klorer, “1940’s Radio Hour”; Joey McKneely, “Smokey Joe’s Cafe”; Kay Cole, “Assassins”; Matt West, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.”

* Lifetime Achievement: Martin Benson and David Emmes.