The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page H11

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER www, philly. com Hll Sunday, October 26, 2003 Analysis Two theaters' absences dog awards with The Broadway Hit Revue IT AIN'T NOTHIIN' BUT THE BLUES NOVEMBER 5-23, 2003 Call for best seats 215.569.9700 www.princemusictheater.org Group sales 215.972.1005 American Accents, 1670-1945 Masterworks from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Featuring the Rockefeller Collection motivation seems to have been what he regards as bias against the Walnut not in the least because it finds many of its performers, especially its leads, at New York auditions. As Havard sees it, over the years the nominators have become less qualified for the job. "They developed," he said, "very strong, partisan feelings toward the smaller organizations and a definite bias against artists who were from outside Philadelphia. It was bad for morale at the Walnut, it was divisive, and I could tell that a number of our artists were hurt by the process." Havard noted that "the idea behind the Barrymores originally was to help celebrate the theater in Philadelphia, not to be judgmental, not to make it a we-versus-they sort of thing." With the approval of the Walnut's board of trustees, Havard pulled his theater out of the Barrymores after the 2001-2002 season, despite changes in the judging and nominating process that were made in response to complaints that he and representatives of other theaters had expressed.

"We had significantly revised the system," said James Haskins, executive director of the Theatre Alliance of Philadelphia, the theater service organization that administers the awards. Haskins said that the number of nominators and judges was reduced last season, and the qualifications used to select them tightened. Changes also were made in the judging to reduce the chance that a judge's possible bias against any particular theater or theaters would not be reflected in the selection of winners. This is not the first time Havard has pulled out of the Barrymores. In 1999, he withdrew in anger when his theater's production of the musical Phantom was passed over by Barrymore nominators, thus eliminating it from the judging.

To mollify Havard, the Barrymores instituted an appeals process under which a theater could request that a show rejected by the nominators be reconsidered. The Walnut appealed, Phantom was deemed eligible, and went on to receive five nominations, though it did not win any awards. The appeal process was rescinded the next season, 2000-2001. Even though Havard kept the Walnut in competition that season and the next, he cited the elimination of the appeal as one of his pending grievances. The Media Theatre for the Performing Arts also pulled out of the award process after one of its shows was shunned.

Jekyll Hyde, staged last fall, was in fact the first Media show entered in the Barrymore judging. Although the theater began presenting shows in 1994, until 2001 it was a profit-making enterprise and ineligible for the awards, which are given only to nonprofit Philadelphia-area theaters that meet certain professional criteria. Jesse Cline, artistic director of the Media theater, said he believed going into the awards that "maybe there was, on the part of some in the Philadelphia theater community, an inherent distrust" of the mainstream musicals that Media presents, a prejudice especially against Frank Wildhorn, the creator of Jekyll Hyde and one whose shows are generally more popular with audiences than critics. The production, in Cline's words, "was blatantly dismissed" by the Barrymore nominators. He was particularly upset that lead actor Andy Karl (whose performance was cited by this critic as one of the best in a musical that season) was not considered worthy.

"When Andy Karl gave the kind of performance he gave and got the kind of reception he got from the audience and was ignored by the nominators, some of our suspicions were confirmed," Cline said. Despite his reservations, Cline said the theater decided to reenter the awards process this season. "We thought that there's always hope for change. A Diana TabL al Nujbl (The of Claret), by John Singer Sargent. 1884.

Fine Arts Museums of San I'rancisco, girt ol the Atholl McBean boundation. October 11, 2003 February 1, 2004 Don't miss one of the most significant collections of American art in the world! Highlights include works by: Thomas Cole Mary Cassatt Charles Willson Peale John Singleton Copley Thomas Eakins Georgia O'Keeffe John Singer Sargent By Douglas J. Keating INQUIRER THEATER CRITIC Although the names of the winners of the Barrymore Awards for excellence in the 2002-2003 theater season will remain secret until they are announced at tomorrow night's ceremony in the Annenberg Center, one thing about them is known in advance: None will be associated with shows presented by two of the area's larger theaters. Both the Walnut Street Theatre and the Media Theatre for the Performing Arts withdrew their shows from last season's judging process. While Media has reentered this season, making its shows eligible for the Barrymores next October, the Walnut has not and has not indicated an intent to return anytime soon.

The ninth annual Barrymore Awards are therefore placed in the awkward position of recognizing outstanding achievement in area theater without including shows seen by approximately 392,000 theatergoers. The Walnut, in fact, enrolls more subscribers (50,000 plus) than any theater in the country and has an operating budget ($11.3 million) far surpassing that of any other local producing theater. Its attendance last season was 352,000, more than twice that of second-place People's Light Theatre Company. Media Theatre hosted about 40,000. Both the Walnut and Media specialize in musicals; between them they presented eight musicals last year.

So their absence is especially noticeable in the 13 awards for which musicals are eligible. (The 27 other theaters participating in the Barrymores staged 14.) That means of the 22 musicals produced in the area, more than a third among them the largest, most expensive and in many cases most professionally presented productions were not included. Bernard Havard, producing artistic director of the Walnut Street Theatre, cited a number of reasons for withdrawing from the awards, but the main MCCARTHY from HI al unions representing stage, film and radiotelevision film actors, as well as Social Security. "I'm doing better in my 60s than I ever did in my 50s and 40s," McCarthy says, his face opening as it frequently does into a wide smile as he relishes the irony. The son of a dentist who was raised in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia, McCarthy dropped out of college after a year and served in the Army before getting a job as a bartender near the Valley Forge Music Fair.

During work breaks, he got in the habit of walking over to the tent to catch the musicals and comedies. Should he give acting a try? McCarthy at that point had recently married and moved into the Wynnewood house where he and wife Barbara raised two children and still reside 41 years later. During a conversation in his cozy living room, he points to where he was sitting when he read a newspaper ad for acting classes at the Hedgerow Theatre in Rose Valley. He signed up and studied under Rose Schulman, a legendary teacher whom McCarthy says deserved her reputation for being very tough but very good. He soon got his first major role as the lead in Shaw's Arms and the Man.

McCarthy acted for seven years at the Hedgerow; he earned no pay and supported his family by continuing to tend bar. In the early 1970s, at Barbara's urging, he decided to see if he could make money as a performer. Bartending on weekends only, he spent weekdays Barrymores American Accents, 1670-1945: Masterworks from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Featuring the Rockefeller Collection has been organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The installation at Winterthur is presented by Wilmington Trust, with additional support from Audi, the Diane and Harry Levin Foundation, and the Friends of Winterthur. We're happy we're participating again and hope that eventually our work will be recognized," he said.

Even with Media back in the fold, the continued nonpartici-pation of the Walnut leaves the Barrymores falling more than a bit short of inclusiveness. Does that necessarily make the awards less valid or valuable? Haskins thinks the question shouldn't even be asked. "I personally don't see the Barrymore Awards as much as a competition as a celebration within the community," he said, echoing Havard's view of the awards' original intent. "I don't get a sense that there is a cutthroat mentality I think people are pleased for their fellow artists when they receive an award more than being disappointed for themselves." He added that awards presenters are instructed to say "The Barrymore Award goes to instead of "The winner is "I would be happy to have the Walnut as part of that celebration and encourage their consideration of rejoining the process in the future," Haskins said, adding that he met with Havard recently. He also noted that the Walnut continues to be a participating member of the Theater Alliance, a service organization for nonprofit area theaters, and that the theater's costume-shop manager, Colleen A.

McMillan, is one of five finalists for this year's F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theater Artist, which will be announced at tomorrow's ceremony. Havard said the Walnut "someday may consider rejoining the Barrymores if they are organized on a more professional basis." "By and large we were shut out from the process but I don't wish them harm," he said. Referring to the ceremony and party that will follow, he added, "I hope they have a good time and people enjoy themselves. I just prefer not to be part of it." Contact theater critic Douglas J.

Keating at 215-854-5609 or dkeatingphillynews.com. veteran tomorrow's ceremony for his performance last season in another Arden-produced Miller play, All My Sons. Nolen, who directed both those productions, says that as easygoing as McCarthy is offstage, "he takes his work seriously, and he works incredibly hard." From the audience, though, it doesn't look as if he's working hard. McCarthy says he feels comfortable in the theater, and he does appear to fit easily into his roles. He subscribes to no particular acting method, but says he brings his own emotions to a character in an effort to make the role a kind of projection of himself: "I never wear makeup.

I have my cards, and my wallet and my change in my pocket because I want to feel like Tom McCarthy. I have another name, but it's me." McCarthy allows that he was helped by starting late, able to play parts that the many more younger area actors could not. "Now," he says, "it's even better. I'm in my 60s, and there are even fewer around to compete with they've either got out of the business or they're in the ground. As long as I can stay on my feet, I can stay busy." McCarthy will keep working because that's what he wants to do.

"I was talking to Greg Wood backstage during All My Sons," the actor recalls. "I said, 'You know, there is no other place I'd rather be at 8 o'clock at night than standing behind this curtain getting ready to go on And it's the truth." Contact theater critic Douglas J. Keating at 215-854-5609 or dkeatingphillynews.com. SALUTE TO -ft AMERICAN Oct. will honor a stage 'fa.

on I ticketmaster ticketmaster.com 215.336.2000 856.338.9000 302.984.2000 For Group, Birthday Luxury Club Seating Call 215.389.9543 Be the first Find out about events Win Tickets Get Discounts Much More! Visit and join our CyberClub! Membership is FREE! DON'T MISS THE PRE-BROADWAY MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR! 6 WEEKS ONLY! Nov 25-Jan 4 trying to find acting jobs and, as soon as he qualified, joined Actor's Equity, the Screen Actors Guild (of which he has been the local president for 20 years), and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Although it was natural for McCarthy to stay in his native Philadelphia, he understood the attraction Hollywood and New York exert on aspiring actors. Had he been younger and without a family, he says he probably would have gone to Hollywood. For a brief time he did try to establish himself in New York, but, he says, "You can't do it and live in Philadelphia. Either you have to live in New McCarthy known a is as backstage comedian.

lished. The short, stocky, lively McCarthy has acted with virtually every local theater company; the Prince is an exception because he doesn't sing or dance. By the mid-1990s, he was taking roles in four or five shows a year about 30 weeks of stage work and was among the busiest of local actors. Still, McCarthy has always been open to non-stage work to make ends meet. As good a theater town as Philadelphia has become, and as relatively high-paying as the local companies are, he points out that an actor working 52 weeks a year onstage couldn't bring home $25,000 a year: "And that's working professional Equity contracts." McCarthy, according to his colleagues, is an enjoyable companion, popular among and admired by fellow performers.

Ter-rence J. Nolen, producing artistic director of the Arden Theatre Company, where McCarthy often works, describes him as "funny and self-deprecating." "There's not an actor in Philadelphia who isn't glad to see Tom get this award," says Greg Wood, who has appeared with McCarthy in several shows, including the Arden's 1997 Death of Salesman. "Here we were doing a somber, great play," Wood says, "and backstage it was hilarity. Tom kept us all in stitches." McCarthy won his only previous Barrymore Award for his portrayal of Willy Loman in the Arthur Miller drama, and he has a chance to win another at York and work the business up there, or put all your energies into trying to make a career here. That's what I did, and it worked out fine." He didn't spend much of his early career working in theater simply because there wasn't very much theater to work in.

The only Philadelphia company in the 1970s that employed Equity-affiliated actors was the Philadelphia Drama Guild, and McCarthy noted it hired mostly out-of-town performers. That changed in the 1980s as the local theater renaissance took hold, and such companies as People's Light Theatre Company, the Philadelphia Theatre Company, and the Wilma Theater grew in size and stature. New companies such as the Walnut Street Theatre, the Arden Theatre Company, the Prince Music Theater, and InterAct Theatre Company were estab- -NOV. 2003 MUSIC Veteran's Day Brawl Tue. Nov.

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