Musical 'Lord of the Rings' leads Dora nominees

Despite mixed reviews from theatre critics,the musical The Lord of the Ringsdominated the list of nominees announced Tuesday forthe 2006 Dora Awards.

Named after Canadian theatre maven and pioneer Dora Mavor Moore, the annual prizes honour the year's best Toronto theatre, dance and opera productions.

The lavish musical, inspired by the fantasy novels of J. R. R. Tolkien, scored a leading 15 nominations, including outstanding new musical and direction of a musical.

Also nominated for outstanding new musical are the boy-band spoof BoyGroove and the pantomime Snow White and the Group of Seven.

All three productions are also up for outstanding production of a musical, as arethe recently opened production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song & Dance, and Bunnicula, mounted by the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People.

In the category of outstanding new play, the nominees are blood.claat - one womban story, Lo, The Long Valley, 10 Days on Earth and Territories.

The Tarragon Theatre's Lo and Theatre Passe Muraille's blood.claat - one womban story are also nominated for outstanding production of a play, joined by Soulpepper Theatre's production of Our Town, Obsidian Theatre Company's The Monument and A Beautiful View, produced by Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and da da kamera.

Among the independent theatre categories, the play The Last Days of Judas Iscariotreceived nine nominations, including outstanding production and direction.

Other outstanding independent production nominees are Trilogie, Return: The Sarajevo Project, Medici Slot Machine, Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave, e-DENTITY and Bombay Black.

The Canadian Opera Company received 10 nominations. Its productions Gotterdammerung, Macbeth, Norma, Rodelinda and Wozzeck will compete for outstanding opera production against Opera Atelier's Orfeo.

This year, organizers have also added a new, audience-selected award. The public is invited to vote for the Audience Choice Award for Outstanding Production on award sponsor Now Magazine's website between June 8 and June 18.

Nearly 200 shows mounted during the 2005-2006 season were eligible for this year's awards.

During Tuesday's nominee announcement, organizers also revealed Soulpepper Theatre founder Albert Schultz as this year's winner of the Barbara Hamilton Memorial Award. Established in 1996, the prize honours excellence in the performing arts. Previous winners include Don Harron, John Neville, William Hutt and Maureen Forrester.

Poet and theatre director ahdri zhina mandiela was also revealed as winner of the George Luscombe Award for her theatre mentoring efforts.

Organized by theToronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, the 27th annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards ceremonywill take placeJune 26, with 33 Dora trophies and several related honours presented over the course of the evening.