Off-Broadway Players win five awards with Lend Me A Tenor!

CLIFF WELLSThe Western StarCORNER BROOK — Anyone who missed the Off-Broadway Players’ triumph, Lend Me A Tenor, at the provincial drama festival in Gander, or the warmup performances in city, is being given a third chance.Danny Maloney, who directed the Ken Ludwig play for the Corner Brook group, said the play went so well it seemed a shame to keep it under wraps, so performances are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Arts and Culture Centre.Maloney said there are a couple of reasons to stage the show again.“For one, for the fun of it. We really did have a good time doing it the first time,” Maloney said. “It’s a little disappointing putting three months into something and getting two nights out of it in town. We did do it three times, once for the festival, so a lot of our friends and family couldn’t come and see it.“Plus it was the Easter weekend last time, so a lot of people said, ‘I wish I could have come see it but it was Easter weekend, things were busy.’ ”He said allowing friends and family to see the production will bring another benefit. He said it will allow the troupe to celebrate the awards they won.The troupe earned the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador Drama Festival Award for best production of a full-length play, Danny Maloney won the Neala F. Griffin Award for best direction, Chérie Wheeler earned the Chairman’s Award for best supporting performance by a woman, Mike Payne won the Reg Harte Memorial Award for best supporting performance by a man and Amy Andrews won the Allen R. Hillier Award for best costumes.“With the awards, it’s the last night of the festival and you’re with everyone that night,” he said. “Then you come home and sort of go back to your lives.“This for us is a chance to get back together, redo the show and celebrate a little bit. With audiences coming out, we can share that with them as well.”He said it’s important when they’re going to do the show again, that they do it as soon as possible.“On the side of the play, the more time in between it, the more time there is to forget, sort of thing, as far as lines, blocking and that sort of thing,” he said.“This is volunteer and a lot of us have put three months into this in terms of our lives.Some of us, for the past month especially, we haven’t spent as much time with our families and stuff. I think for their sanity’s sake and our sanity’s sake, doing it sooner is better. People know about it and people are talking about it now, so it’s better to get it done now while people are still talking about it.”