Crow's/Musical Stage Company's THE GREAT COMET & More Take Home 2024 Toronto Theatre Critics' Awards

After a four-year hiatus, the Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards (TTCAs) have returned to honour excellence in the city’s professional theatre scene from the 2023-24 season. The 11th TTCAs, announced Tuesday morning, boast 19 winners across 14 categories, including a special citation for artistic achievement. 

Crow’s Theatre and Soulpepper Theatre Company were the big winners this year, each receiving seven awards. The sensational Crow’s Theatre and Musical Stage Company co-production of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 led the musical division with three wins, including for Best Production of a Musical. Two members of its company, George Krissa and Heeyun Park 박희윤, were also jointly awarded the prize for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical. 

Soulpepper’s riveting world premiere production of De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail followed close behind with two wins. Damien Atkins, who starred as the musical’s title character, picked up the award for Best Lead Performance in a Musical. Gregory Prest, who helmed the production and adapted it from Wilde’s original love letter of the same name, was recognized as well, winning Best Director of a Musical. 

Kelly v. Kelly, Britta Johnson and Sara Farb’s new musical inspired by true events, produced by the Musical Stage Company in association with Canadian Stage, rounded out the musical division, winning one award for Best Ensemble in a Musical. 

In the play division, the award for Best New Canadian Play was handed to a pair of equally deserving works: Nick Green’s heartbreaking drama Casey and Diana, which ran at Soulpepper after premiering at the Stratford Festival, and Michael Healey’s searing satire The Master Plan, produced by Crow’s Theatre. 

Both productions each picked up two awards. The cast of The Master Plan won Best Ensemble in a Play while Sean Arbuckle of Casey and Diana received the prize for Best Leading Performance in a Play, which was also awarded to Amaka Umeh for their bravura performance playing two characters in Soulpepper’s Sizwe Banzi is Dead. 

The prize for Best Supporting Performance in a Play was also awarded to two actors: Jadyn Nasato, for her unforgettable breakout performance in the Studio 180 Theatre production of Four Minutes, Twelve Seconds, and Oyin Oladejo for her transformative turn in Three Sisters, co-produced by Soulpepper and Obsidian Theatre Company. 

Bad Roads, another Crow’s Theatre production, was awarded Best International Play. Ukrainian playwright Natal’ya Vorozhbit’s 2017 drama, based on real-life testimonies from Russia’s 2014 invasion of the Donbas, also picked up an award for Best Director of a Play for Andrew Kushnir. He shares the prize with Leora Morris, who helmed Coal Mine Theatre’s production of The Sound Inside, a beguiling two-hander by Adam Rapp.

Rounding out the play division, Canadian Stage’s production of the two-part epic The Inheritance won Best Production of a Play. As well, Nick Blais (lighting), Heidi Chan (sound), Anahita Dehbonehie (set) and Niloufar Ziaee (costumes) won Best Design, Play or Musical for their collective work on A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney, co-produced by Outside the March and Soulpepper Theatre Company. 

In addition to the general TTCAs, the jury also gave a special citation to Daniel MacIvor, in recognition of his numerous achievements over the past season. The legendary actor, director and playwright delivered a moving performance in The Inheritance and also celebrated two revivals of his acclaimed plays Monster and Here Lies Henry, both produced by Factory Theatre.

Founded in 2011, the TTCAs are given out annually by a jury of professional theatre critics, whose outlets include BroadwayWorld Toronto, The Globe and Mail, Intermission, James Karas Reviews, Ludwig van Toronto, MyGayToronto.com, NEXT Magazine, paulacitron.ca, SesayArts Magazine, So Sumi and Toronto Star. The jury considers all professional theatre productions that opened in Toronto between May 15, 2023 and May 14, 2024. 

This year’s jury members are Joshua Chong, Paula Citron, Liam Donovan, Karen Fricker, Arpita Ghosal, James Karas, Ilana Lucas, Martin Morrow, Aisling Murphy, J. Kelly Nestruck, Drew Rowsome, Scott Sneddon and Glenn Sumi, along with Robert Cushman (non-voting member) and Stephanie Fung (non-voting member). 

For more information, please contact Glenn Sumi (glennsumi@gmail.com) or Martin Morrow (martinmorrow1@gmail.com), co-chairs of the TTCA jury for the 2023-24 season. 

2024 Toronto Theatre Critics' Awards Full Winners List

Play Division 

Best New Canadian Play (TIE) 

Casey and Diana by Nick Green (Soulpepper Theatre Company and the Stratford Festival) Writing of a time he was too young to experience, Nick Green captures the fear and horror of, and the extreme strength and love it took to deal with, the plague that threatened to destroy a fabulous emerging culture. Casey and Diana is filled with the humour that gay men and their allies used to fight that fight, and a princess who acts as the catalyst for a fantasy that, without being maudlin, rips open wounds to heal with tears. – Drew Rowsome 

The Master Plan by Michael Healey (Crow’s Theatre) 

On opening night of The Master Plan in 2023, the air in Crow’s Theatre was electric. Michael Healey’s adaptation of Sideways: The City Google Couldn’t Buy felt fresh and yet all-too-familiar, a searing, hilarious critique of the bureaucracy that haunts Toronto in its futile attempts to improve as a city. Healey’s play directly speaks to the paradoxical frustrations and joys that accompany being a Torontonian, and no other play this year has felt so timely. – Aisling Murphy 

Best International Play 

Bad Roads by Natal’ya Vorozhbit translated by Sasha Dugdale (Crow’s Theatre) As a play, Bad Roads probably shouldn’t work. Vorozhbit compiled the text out of interviews, verbatim material, and personal accounts of the early stages of the ongoing war in Ukraine, focusing on the intimate experiences of women. Starting with a monologue so long it could be a short play of its own, the script consists of somewhat disconnected scenes which add up to a horrific, darkly comic portrait of a country in contemporary wartime. The play’s dramaturgical jaggedness contributes to this complex effect, and to a sense of careening — but slowly — through a hellscape. You don’t want to look, but you have to. – Karen Fricker 

Best Lead Performance in a Play (TIE) 

Sean Arbuckle, Casey and Diana (Soulpepper Theatre Company and the Stratford Festival) Indelibly written role met perfectly cast performer in Sean Arbuckle’s heartbreaking yet remarkably funny turn as AIDS patient Thomas in this world premiere by Nick Green. Under Andrew Kushnir’s direction, Arbuckle offered a riveting performance on all levels – emotional, vocal, physical – and astonished in what was both a star turn and the lynchpin of an impeccable six-person ensemble. – Karen Fricker 

Amaka Umeh, Sizwe Banzi is Dead (Soulpepper Theatre Company) 

In a maximalist performance on the minimalist stage of Sizwe Banzi is Dead, Amaka Umeh played two mesmerizing roles that conjured — out of language, emotion and movement – the crushing weight of apartheid-era South Africa, and the resistance and resilience of the Blacks it oppressed. As the vital trickster Stiles, they wove spellbinding narratives while slinking and circumnavigating the space like a dancer. As Buntu, they marshalled gravitas, generosity and intensity — with a physicality that sustained the central conjuring act. It was impossible to pull our eyes (and ears) away. – Scott Sneddon 

Best Supporting Performance in a Play (TIE) 

Jadyn Nasato, Four Minutes Twelve Seconds (Studio 180 Theatre) 

Like a lot of the most intriguing theatre, the Studio 180 production of James Fritz’s Four Minutes Twelve Seconds proved polarizing. But one thing everyone agreed on was the explosive power of Jadyn Nasato’s performance as Cara, the teenage ex-girlfriend of the play’s unseen young abuser. Cara never tells us what exactly happened, but she doesn’t have to — it was all there in Nasato’s performance. Her body tense and her manner defensive and suspicious, Nasato suggested Cara’s conflicting emotions: anger, hurt, fear, bitterness — all in only a couple of scenes. Unforgettable. – Glenn Sumi

Oyin Oladejo, Three Sisters (Soulpepper Theatre Company and Obsidian Theatre Company) I used to give out a “character walk of the year” award in my year-end round-ups - and, if I still did, Oyin Oladejo would be a shoe-in (sp?) for her high-heel strut as sister-in-law Abosede in Inua Ellams’ version of Three Sisters set amid the Nigerian Civil War. She shifted from comedic to chilling, one click to the next. An indelible, fully theatrical performance. – J. Kelly Nestruck 

Best Ensemble in a Play 

The cast of The Master Plan (Crow’s Theatre) 

When we as a jury sat down to assess a truly incredible swathe of shows and casts, we kept coming back to The Master Plan. From Christopher Allen’s heart-wrenching portrayal of an early-career urban planner, to Peter Fernandes’ absurd, fabulous performance in the important role of Tree, to Philippa Domville’s chaotic descent into cake-covered despair, The Master Plan boasted a star-studded ensemble of Toronto talent (the cast also featured Ben Carlson, Tara Nicodemo, Yanna McIntosh and Mike Shara), all of whom brought their A-game to the world premiere of Healey’s play. – Aisling Murphy 

Best Director of a Play (TIE) 

Andrew Kushnir, Bad Roads (Crow’s Theatre) 

Andrew Kushnir, a tireless advocate for Ukraine, organized a reading of Ukrainian plays at Stratford last season, of which Bad Roads was one. Many felt that Natal’ya Vorozhbit’s harrowing series of scenes from her war-torn country would be impossible to stage, and yet, that is exactly what Kushnir did at Crow’s Theatre in magnificent fashion. He welded together a formidable ensemble of actors who brought the horrors to reality, and in the process, rocked the audience to its very core. – Paula Citron 

Leora Morris, The Sound Inside (Coal Mine Theatre) 

With little more than a wooden desk and two chairs, Leora Morris’ aching production of The Sound Inside elevated Adam Rapp’s two-hander and demonstrated her profound understanding of the slippery text and its themes. By eschewing visual excess for haunting symbolism, her staging basked in the beauty of the play’s prose, while drawing out exquisite performances from Moya O’Connell and Aidan Correia. – Joshua Chong 

Best Production of a Play 

The Inheritance (Canadian Stage) 

With inventive stagecraft and an extraordinary ensemble, this production tackled a sprawling yet intimate script that explored generations of gay men. The results were riveting — six-and-a-half hours that felt too short, including a Part One finale that was without doubt the most emotional moment in Toronto theatre in decades. – Drew Rowsome

Best Design, Play or Musical 

Nick Blais (lighting), Heidi Chan (sound), Anahita Dehbonehie (set) and Niloufar Ziaee (costumes), A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney (Outside the March and Soulpepper Theatre Company) 

Having transformed Soulpepper’s Baillie Theatre into a movie theatre showing Steamboat Willie, Outside the March literally took audiences behind the curtain for this play about the dark side of an American entertainment icon. The brilliant and bonkers design helped its themes resonate. To pick one element I was beyond tickled by: A small rotating turntable that made the audience think of a single lopped-off Mickey ear at first, then become a symbol of death, coming quickly and unfairly for poor little lemmings, or slowly but unavoidably for rich Walt Disney. – J. Kelly Nestruck 

Musical Division 

Best Lead Performance in a Musical 

Damien Atkins, De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail (Soulpepper Theatre Company) As De Profundis’ anchor, Damien Atkins brought a disarmingly contemporary presence to the figure of Oscar Wilde: he sobbed, soothed, improvised, crooned and danced unrestrainedly to electronic beats. It was a star turn of virtuosic versatility that awed us all. – Liam Donovan 

Best Supporting Performance in a Musical (TIE) 

George Krissa, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (Crow’s Theatre and The Musical Stage Company) 

George Krissa’s rakish Anatole gave the Crow’s Theatre and The Musical Stage Company co-production of The Great Comet a burst of magnetic energy, whether he was making overtures toward a captivated Natasha or cavorting with equally smitten audience members, before revealing the emptiness behind all the bravado. His portrayal of the original Tolstoy bad boy left the audience no doubt as to why a vulnerable young woman would wave a white flag of surrender instead of paying attention to all the red ones. – Ilana Lucas 

Heeyun Park 박희윤, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (Crow’s Theatre and The Musical Stage Company) 

While Crow’s Theatre and Musical Stage Company’s rousing production of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 oozed at the seams with onstage talent, I remember on opening night being enraptured by Heeyun Park 박희윤 in the small-but-mighty role of Mary. Park took an underwritten character and transformed her into a mysterious and sharp foil to Hailey Gillis’ Natasha. Here’s to bigger musical roles for Park — her lovely voice and exquisite acting skills should ensure a long list of meaty parts to come. – Aisling Murphy

Best Ensemble in a Musical 

The cast of Kelly v. Kelly (The Musical Stage Company and Canadian Stage) In an exceptionally strong year for musical ensembles, the multi-talented performers in Britta Johnson and Sara Farb’s “Kelly v. Kelly” stood out. Whether playing reporters, legal experts or dancers in a smoky tango club, Dave Ball, Joel Cumber, Peter Fernandes, Mike Jackson, Julia McLellan, Margaret Thompson, Kelsey Verzotti and Jeremy Walmsley helped bring the show’s milieu to vivid, atmospheric life alongside leads Eva Foote and Jessica Sherman. Not only that, but the double casting of some actors in thematically similar roles added to the show’s restrictive, patriarchal world. Credit also goes to director/choreographer Tracey Flye, who moved the ensemble through the shifting time periods and locales with the lightest of steps. – Glenn Sumi 

Best Director of a Musical 

Gregory Prest, De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail (Soulpepper Theatre Company) Written in prison while he was incarcerated for “gross indecency,” Oscar Wilde’s famous letter De Profundis is so distinct in tone and tenor from his more popularly known works that it seemed an unlikely choice to adapt for the stage — let alone as a musical. But when you saw it on the Soulpepper stage, it made exquisite sense. Gregory Prest’s skilled direction --enriched by his eye for detail and deep understanding of Wilde's works — drew out the best in his cast, amplified the power of Wilde’s words, and wove narrative, music and movement into a spare, emotionally shattering exploration of the writer's anguish, resilience and legacy – Arpita Ghosal 

Best Production of a Musical 

Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (Crow’s Theatre and The Musical Stage Company) Blazing across the theatrical landscape in the dead of a Toronto winter — and lingering longer than anyone thought possible — Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 was a perfect alignment of two of the city’s most exciting companies: Crow’s Theatre and the Musical Stage Company. Tolstoy’s timeless insights into the human heart, given a contemporary musical sheen by composer-librettist Dave Malloy, burned brightly in this splendid Canadian-premiere production, which was movingly acted, cleverly staged and altogether as exhilarating as one of Balaga’s troika rides. – Martin Morrow 

Special Citation 

Daniel MacIvor, in recognition of exceptional artistic achievement 

The 2023-24 season was a showcase for Daniel MacIvor’s momentous past, present, and future contributions to Toronto and Canadian theatre. Two excellent productions of his early plays Monster and Here Lies Henry at Factory Theatre, with superb actors taking over roles MacIvor originally played himself, offered vibrant evidence of his playwriting skill and innovation. And his beautifully-pitched turn in two roles in The Inheritance at Canadian Stage ushered in, we hope, a new chapter of MacIvor’s career as a performer in other writers’ work. With grace and grit, MacIvor the queer iconoclast stepped into the role of senior leader in our field, and we offer admiration and gratitude. – Karen Fricker    

Photo: by Dahlia Katz

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