Wednesday | September 23, 2009 | 3:44 pm
JayIvey AwardsKate EifrigGreta OglesbyCaroline or ChangeClaudia WilkensRichard OomsGuthrie CorpDudley RiggsMinnesota Playlist
HEY, IVEYS…YOU DIDN’T TOTALLY SUCK! After taking a day to reflect on Monday’s Ivey Awards celebration, I’ve come to an odd conclusion:  it didn’t totally suck.  I know, right?  I expected it to 100% suck.  I’m used to it 100% sucking.  I even kind of wanted it to 100% suck.  But it didn’t.  In fact, I’d only put the suck factor at about 47%.  That’s 53% less suck in only one year!  How’d they do it?  Let’s look at the math. Lady Eifrig — Okay, now here we go!  If we in the Twin Cities want to play dress-up and pretend like we’re celebrities, Kate Eifrig showed us all how to do it:  be a blatantly drunk awards presenter.  Duh.  It’s so obvious, I’m surprised somebody didn’t think of it earlier.  Now next year, if everyone presents like they’re Paula Abdul with a concussion, this would really be a party.  Much kudos to Ms. Eifrig for blazing that trail. After Party — Although I heard some complaints about the location of the after party, I have to admit that I kind of liked it.  Not having to walk eight blocks outside to get to the fun stuff was definitely an improvement.  And let’s face the facts; a lobby is a lobby.  Sure, this lobby was a little tighter for a crowd that size, but it still got the job done.  Side note:  a great place for this entire event might be…wait for it…Guthrie Corp. No Fashion Show — Perhaps some people missed this little escalator excursion.  I am not one of those people. Greta Oglesby — She won an award and then “sang” a song from Caroline, or Change.  I used quotes because what she actually did was smash us all over the head with a gigantic club of awesome. Now if you’ll recall, I still felt there was a good 47% of suck floating around out there.  Here’s where I found it. No Host — I pulled this one from last year because it’s still not working.  Yeah, the job was turned over to locals and that’s great; much better than people from NYC who have nothing to do with theatre in the TC.  However, they were on stage…um…I think three times.  Maybe.  And as much as we all love Claudia Wilkens and Richard Ooms, they’re not the funniest people in town.  Dearest Iveys, we do have some performers in our community who make their living solely by being funny.  Sure, they don’t work at Guthrie Corporation, but people still might recognize their names.  Grab an actual comedian to host your shindig and let them write their own jokes.  The End. Advertise the Lifetime Ivey — I don’t understand why this is a big secret.  It seems pretty obvious that if you let people know ahead of time that you’ll be honoring Dudley Riggs, you might sell a few more tickets to people who want to come out and help you honor Dudley Riggs.  ”Come to the Ivey Awards next month, where we’ll be honoring Dudley Riggs with the Lifetime Achievement Ivey”.  What’s wrong with that? No Categories/Nominees — Here’s another one that I pulled from last year’s list.  This is the single stupidest thing about the Iveys, and until it’s corrected, these awards will continue to make my butt itch.  The lack of clear categories makes the show frustratingly difficult to follow.  The lack of nominees creates a fun little moment of surprise, sure…but it comes at the expense of the artist receiving the award.  I think I counted four acceptance speeches that included something like “I would’ve invited family and friends had I known I was being considered” (yet another way the Iveys could easily sell more tickets).  The justification I keep hearing for this no-nominees decree is that without it, people would feel like they’ve lost.  If this truly is the reason, it’s adorably dopey.  Having nominees — aside from giving even more people a reason to buy tickets — would give the Iveys a chance to honor an entire group of artists instead of just one.  I have a feeling that even after the initial disappointment of “losing”, artists would still be quick (and proud) to add “Ivey Award Nominee” to their bios. Okay, okay…this post is becoming MN Playlist-long, so I’ll stop here.  When all is said and done, this annual dispensation of little green lava lamps is certainly improving.  Finally.  And who knows?  Maybe someday, it will 100% not suck.  My fingers are crossed.

HEY, IVEYS…YOU DIDN’T TOTALLY SUCK!

After taking a day to reflect on Monday’s Ivey Awards celebration, I’ve come to an odd conclusion:  it didn’t totally suck.  I know, right?  I expected it to 100% suck.  I’m used to it 100% sucking.  I even kind of wanted it to 100% suck.  But it didn’t.  In fact, I’d only put the suck factor at about 47%.  That’s 53% less suck in only one year!  How’d they do it?  Let’s look at the math.

  • Lady Eifrig — Okay, now here we go!  If we in the Twin Cities want to play dress-up and pretend like we’re celebrities, Kate Eifrig showed us all how to do it:  be a blatantly drunk awards presenter.  Duh.  It’s so obvious, I’m surprised somebody didn’t think of it earlier.  Now next year, if everyone presents like they’re Paula Abdul with a concussion, this would really be a party.  Much kudos to Ms. Eifrig for blazing that trail.
  • After Party — Although I heard some complaints about the location of the after party, I have to admit that I kind of liked it.  Not having to walk eight blocks outside to get to the fun stuff was definitely an improvement.  And let’s face the facts; a lobby is a lobby.  Sure, this lobby was a little tighter for a crowd that size, but it still got the job done.  Side note:  a great place for this entire event might be…wait for it…Guthrie Corp.
  • No Fashion Show — Perhaps some people missed this little escalator excursion.  I am not one of those people.
  • Greta Oglesby — She won an award and then “sang” a song from Caroline, or Change.  I used quotes because what she actually did was smash us all over the head with a gigantic club of awesome.

Now if you’ll recall, I still felt there was a good 47% of suck floating around out there.  Here’s where I found it.

  • No Host — I pulled this one from last year because it’s still not working.  Yeah, the job was turned over to locals and that’s great; much better than people from NYC who have nothing to do with theatre in the TC.  However, they were on stage…um…I think three times.  Maybe.  And as much as we all love Claudia Wilkens and Richard Ooms, they’re not the funniest people in town.  Dearest Iveys, we do have some performers in our community who make their living solely by being funny.  Sure, they don’t work at Guthrie Corporation, but people still might recognize their names.  Grab an actual comedian to host your shindig and let them write their own jokes.  The End.
  • Advertise the Lifetime Ivey — I don’t understand why this is a big secret.  It seems pretty obvious that if you let people know ahead of time that you’ll be honoring Dudley Riggs, you might sell a few more tickets to people who want to come out and help you honor Dudley Riggs.  ”Come to the Ivey Awards next month, where we’ll be honoring Dudley Riggs with the Lifetime Achievement Ivey”.  What’s wrong with that?
  • No Categories/Nominees — Here’s another one that I pulled from last year’s list.  This is the single stupidest thing about the Iveys, and until it’s corrected, these awards will continue to make my butt itch.  The lack of clear categories makes the show frustratingly difficult to follow.  The lack of nominees creates a fun little moment of surprise, sure…but it comes at the expense of the artist receiving the award.  I think I counted four acceptance speeches that included something like “I would’ve invited family and friends had I known I was being considered” (yet another way the Iveys could easily sell more tickets).  The justification I keep hearing for this no-nominees decree is that without it, people would feel like they’ve lost.  If this truly is the reason, it’s adorably dopey.  Having nominees — aside from giving even more people a reason to buy tickets — would give the Iveys a chance to honor an entire group of artists instead of just one.  I have a feeling that even after the initial disappointment of “losing”, artists would still be quick (and proud) to add “Ivey Award Nominee” to their bios.

Okay, okay…this post is becoming MN Playlist-long, so I’ll stop here.  When all is said and done, this annual dispensation of little green lava lamps is certainly improving.  Finally.  And who knows?  Maybe someday, it will 100% not suck.  My fingers are crossed.

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