The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 88

Page 18 The Palnr Beach Post SEPTEMBER 29,, 1995 TGIF 'I 1 i' 2 1 Curtain-raising kudos for road shows I I lit Is Angels in America, which was rejected by PACE, and Shlemiel the First, which aspired to Broadway, won several Carbonell honors. I wonder whether there is any more room on Tony Kushner's mantelpiece. His Pulitzer Prize and double Best Play Tony Award-winning drama Angels in America, the most honored stage work in memory, has just picked up more acclaim. iff 1 ti--'' Jt Ironically, had Shlemiel gone to Broadway last season, it would have been showered with Tony nominations because musical categories went unfilled. This season, it will have considerably more difficulty getting attention, when such shows as VictorVictoria, Busker Alley, State Fair and Big are expected to open.

By the way, Paul Sand, who played the title role in Shlemiel the First, was inched out by Hadary for the best actor Carbonell. The show also came in second for best production and for David Gordon's direction. Petula Clark of Blood Brothers was the runner-up in the best actress balloting. This is the second year that road show awards have been separate from the resident Carbonell announcements. Those will be made public on Oct.

30, at the Royal Palm Dinner Theatre in Boca Raton. To be present at the ceremony, and to enjoy the pre-show dinner and post-show party, call Karen Caruso at (800) 841- 6765. This week it earned four Carbonell Awards for excellence among road shows in South Florida. Angels, the two-part saga of gay life in the era of Hap Erstein THEATER AIDS and Ronald Reagan, was named best production of the 1994-95 season, in an announcement made Wednesday by the South Florida Critics' Association. Also honored were Michael Mayer (best director), Jonathan Hadary (best actor, for his performance as hate-monger Roy Cohn) and Kate Goehring (best supporting actress as prescription drug-dependent Harper Pitt).

The other road show awards went to the klezmer musical Shlemiel the First, based on Isaac Ba-shevis Singer's folk tales of the foolish and wise. Marilyn Sokol was named best actress and Charles Levin was cited as best supporting actor for their multiple roles in the show, 4 1 i PACE is the primary presenter of Broadway and off-Broadway tour ing productions at the Kravis Center and Royal Poinciana Playhouse, as well as comparable venues in Broward and Dade counties. But when Angels in America was offered to PACE for its subscription series, it was rejected as incompatible with such standard fare as Hello, Dolly! or Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream-coat. Fortunately, Miami's Gus-man Center came to the show's rescue and gave it an area engagement for a week in April. Shlemiel, on the other hand, was presented in South Florida by Philadelphia-based producer Moe Septee in a minitour that included stops at the FAU Auditorium, the Duncan Theatre and the Royal Poinciana.

It was intended as a tryout in preparation for an assault on Broadway last spring, which never materialized. Perhaps these two Carbonells will be enough encouragement to get the show back on track for a New York run. Let's hope so. l-Vi'lt" 1 9MHH BIZARRE SPECTER: Ron Leibman made a compelling Roy Cohn in the Broadway version of Angels in America. In December, Tony Kushner's plays will be performed in Melbourne.

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(Under The Singer Island Bridge) 0442722 LANTANA 302 E. Ocean Ave. (attheLantoiuidridge) 533-9220 4U including the head wise man of Chelm and his wife. Significantly, this marks the first time in the awards' 20-year history that PACE Theatrical Group (and its predecessor, Zev Bufman Entertainment Inc.) came up empty-handed in the awards. Angels flying back What, you didn't drop everything and attend Angels in America in Miami like I suggested? Well, all is not lost.

The production makes its second touchdown in Florida in Melbourne, Dec. 12-13. Part One, Millennium Approaches, plays Tuesday evening and again Wednesday afternoon. Part Two, Perestroika, plays Wednesday evening only. As a result, you can see the complete seven-hour play on successive evenings or all in one day.

This is a rather chancy booking for Melbourne, which even the play's national press representative describes as a "bastion of conservatism." Nance Burroughs, marketing director of the Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts at Brevard Community College, concedes that Angels is "something of a risk," but ticket sales are good and she is concentrating a lot of her mar keting efforts on relatively nearby Orlando. Still, she is quick to add, there are plenty of seats left for Palm Beach County theatergoers. The only disappointment about this "sort of return engagement" of Angels is that Carbonell winners Hadary and Goehring are no long in the production. Nevertheless, Angels remains great theater worth trekking to see.

Tickets are available by calling the King Center box office, (407) 242-2219, or Ticketmaster, (407)839-3900. A KLEZMER HIT: Shlemiel the First, based on the writings of Isaac Bashevis Singer, starred best actress winner Marilyn Sokol (left); and Rosalie Gerut.v..