Dito paper: Van Reigersberg got rave reviews as Hedwig.

Stage Light

Lantern Theatre Company led the way for this season's best plays and musicals.

by J. Cooper Robb

It’s getting so you can set your watch by the Philadelphia area theater season. In September each new campaign gets off to a promising start. And then there’s the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe. This disappointingly brief intrepid period is typically followed by months of uplifting but formulaic comedies and musicals during the long holiday period, followed by darker and more ambitious adult fare in February and March. The season routinely concludes on a high note with a modicum of accomplished spring productions.

The 2007-’08 season generally followed this cycle with little deviation.

The Arden Theatre Company, Philadelphia Theatre Company and Luna Theater Company all enjoyed strong seasons. But the Lantern Theater Company staged four productions that were not only artistically accomplished but impressively diverse in genre and style.

Top 10 productions

Amadeus (Wilma Theater)

Bug (Theatre Exile)

Grace (Luna Theater)

In Conflict (Temple Theaters)

The Happiness Lecture (Philadelphia Theatre Company)

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Azuka Theatre)

Isabella (Pig Iron Theatre Company)

The Lonesome West (Lantern Theater Company)

The Misanthrope (Mauckingbird Theatre Company)

Skylight (Lantern Theater Company)

Honorable mention: Breathing Corpses (Luna Theater Company), The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1812 Productions), M. Butterfly (Philadelphia Theatre Company), Frozen (InterAct Theatre Company), Prom (New Paradise Laboratories).

Best production, play: Grace (Luna Theater).

Best production, musical: Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Best director, play: Dan Kern (Skylight).

Honorable mention: Peter Reynolds (The Misanthrope), Gregory Campbell (Grace), Douglas Wager (In-Conflict).

Best director, musical: Kevin Glaccum (Hedwig and the Angry Inch).

Honorable mention: Mark Clements (Les Misérables), Terrence J. Nolen (Assassins).

Best actress, play: Jennifer Childs (The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe).

Honorable mention: Amanda Schoonover (Grace), Lizbeth Mackay (Third), Pamela Sabaugh (Molly Sweeney), Joanna Liao (The School for Wives).

Best actor, play: Chris Faith (Grace).

Honorable mention: Kes Khemnu (The Piano Lesson), Jeb Kreager (Frozen), Bill Irwin (The Happiness Lecture), Mark Cairns (The Faculty Room), Peter Pryor (Othello).

Best supporting actress, play: Genevieve Perrier (The Lonesome West).

Best supporting actor, play: William Zielinski (Bug).

Best actor, musical: Dito Van Reigersberg (Hedwig and the Angry Inch).

Honorable mention: Hugh Panaro (Les Misé-rables), Paul Schoeffler (Man of La Mancha).

Best actress, musical: Kim Carson (Hedwig and the Angry Inch).

Honorable mention: Jennie Eisenhower (Songs for a New World).

Best supporting actress, musical: Christina DeCicco (Les Misérables).

Best supporting actor, musical: Jeffrey Coon (Assassins).

Best ensemble, play: The Happiness Lecture (Philadelphia Theatre Company).

Best ensemble, musical: Assassins (Arden Theatre Company).

Best costume design: Marie Anne Chiment (The Misanthrope).

Best lighting design: Jeff Nellis (Les Misérables).

Best scenic design: Dirk Durossette (Skylight).

Best sound design: Jorge Cousineau (The Illusion).

Best choreography: Karen Getz (Suburban Love Songs).

Best new play: In-Conflict (Temple Theaters).

Honorable mention: The Happiness Lecture (Philadelphia Theatre Company), House, Undivided (InterAct Theatre Company), Wittenberg (Arden Theatre Company).

Best theater company: Lantern Theater Company.