Did I say a one-man rotating etc. etc. ... ? It speaks volumes about small-theatre ingenuity in an big-theatre musical setting, a fusion that is crucial to the life onstage in these parts.

And it is, of course, crucial that the one man be John Ullyatt, whose annotated version of Wilkommen, bienvenu ... from the Citadel production of Cabaret launched the fifteenth annual Sterling Awards night Monday at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre.

"I am not your host!" declared Ullyatt, reprising his MC role, as the Edmonton theatre community in all its raucous splendour strapped on the sequins, adjusted its boobs and its crantinis upwards, grabbed the mike, thanked its collective stage managers, and toasted the theatre season just past at an irreverent bash.

And, as it happened, a dark-hearted musical about the parallels between the entertainment demi-monde and life in darkening, desperate times was the overwhelming choice of voters.

Bob Baker's electric production of Cabaret scooped up an unprecedented nine Sterlings in all, including outstanding musical production, director, and both leading actor awards for Ullyatt's menacingly charming performance as the MC and Pamela Gordon as the frantic hedonist Sally Bowles.

Bretta Gerecke's designs for a smoky end-of-the world club of nightmare hues got set and lighting Sterlings, Elizabeth Stepkowski was supporting actress par excellence; Don Horsbrugh was the winning musical director. In fact, the Citadel swept all the acting Sterlings since Ron Pederson's hilarious turn as a viciously exasperated go-between in The Beauty Queen Of Leenane was deemed best supporting performance.

With the best production kudos going to The Drawer Boy, the exquisitely acted Miles Potter production of a Michael Healey memory play that vindicates the healing power of theatre, it was altogether a champagne night for the biggest company in town.

And as decided by the 500-plus Sterling voters it was a night for communal bonding rather than wide dispersal of the hardware.

Of Workshop West's only two awards, one was for Vern Thiessen's Apple, an intricate triangle of betrayal and forgiveness in the shadow of death, that garnered the playwright the outstanding new-play Sterling.

The other was for the original Dave Clarke/Peter Moller score for Mesa. For the rest, Fringe Theatre Adventures, Concrete, and a hot young co-op called Kill Your Television took home a Sterling apiece. And Theatre Network and Northern Light were spectators. But they had something to watch.

The gala (directed by Marianne Copithorne) lived up to its reputation as the funniest, quirkiest awards show in town.

The wry, quick-witted team of actors Jan Alexandra Smith and Mark Meer presided under the glum double-portraits of the Perons, Eva and Juan (Evita is currently running at the Mayfield).

This note of gallows humour echoed in a scene from Stewart Lemoine's Eros And The Itchy Ant, in which a vocal adjudicator (Sheri Somerville) peered at us with some asperity "You are interpretively adrift. ... I see tears. Please, leave the weeping to the audience."

Kids' Festival director Gail Barrington-Moss, the outstanding administrator of the year, noted cheerfully that the best advice she'd ever gotten from mentor Margaret Mooney was "don't let the bastards grind you down, girl." Artist after artist alluded to the embracing spirit of the theatre community here, "the best in the country," as playwright Thiessen noted. "It criticizes you, it supports you, it nourishes you. Occasionally it gives you a pat on the back."

Designer Anne Gurney, who received a special Sterling for her multiple contributions to this theatre town, thanked the students who inspired her and the janitors who took care of her in a graceful acceptance.

Mieko Ouchi, outstanding Fringe director for her work on JosČ Teodoro's Slowly An Exchange Is Taking Place, talked about the safety of taking a risk at our summer theatre festival: "It was a true experiment; we didn't know if it would suck."

The climactic number of Red Lips, the new Tim Ryan/Chris Wynters musical, has it right: "where did we all go right?"

© Copyright 2002 Edmonton Journal