Photographs by Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesLeft, Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti in “Once”; Jeremy Jordan and Kara Lindsay in “Newsies the Musical.”The starting bell for Broadway’s biggest horse race rings at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday when nominations for the 2012 Tony Awards will be announced. By 8:35 a.m. the shrieking and moaning from armchair critics and show queens should be underway as well, about which productions and performers were robbed of Tony nominations and about which of the lucky ones were – how shall we put it? – undeserving.
While some Broadway insiders complain that the coming Tonys lack breakout hit shows like the 2011 contenders “The Book of Mormon,” “Anything Goes,” and “War Horse,” this year’s competition is expected to be more ferocious than usual in several races, especially for plays, while some of the musical categories are harder to predict. Most years there is a heavy favorite for best musical – “The Book of Mormon” was a shoo-in last season – but all bets are off at this point, with strong arguments for/against the all-but-certain nominees “Newsies” and “Once” (with six other musicals competing for two other best musical slots).
What are you going to be watching or rooting for when the nominations are announced on Tuesday? Here are a few categories, and shows, that are likely to drive the conversation at Bar Centrale throughout May. (The Tonys ceremony is June 10.)
Best play: There will be more than a few disappointed play producers and fans on Tuesday, because there are too many new plays – 14 – competing for the four nominations. Plays that were widely admired last fall, like “Chinglish” and “Venus in Fur,” may find it tough to edge out the latest hits: “Clybourne Park,” “The Lyons,” “One Man, Two Guvnors,” and “Peter and the Starcatcher.” And what of the critically acclaimed “Other Desert Cities” and the audience favorite “Seminar,” which are still running (as is “Venus”) and have their passionate partisans? All eight plays could easily land a nomination in almost any other year. Assuming the frontrunners “Clybourne Park” and “Other Desert Cities” are nominated, which other plays will make the cut?
Best actress in a play: Similar problem, with more than a dozen actresses who drew critical plaudits eligible for five nominations. Nina Arianda received Star-Is-Born media attention last fall for “Venus in Fur,” and the Tony was hers to lose back then. Now she seems likely to face a race from several likely nominees, like Tracie Bennett (“End of the Rainbow”) and Linda Lavin (“The Lyons”), whom some Tony prognosticators are favoring. But what of Stockard Channing in “Other Desert Cities”? Or Tyne Daly (“Master Class”) and Cynthia Nixon (“Wit”)?
Best actor in a play: A lot of the betting comes down to a very funny Brit, James Corden in “One Man, Two Guvnors,” versus a very intense American, Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Death of a Salesman.” But could Stacy Keach upend expectations as the oak-tree-of-a-dad in “Other Desert Cities”? Will screen stars like Alan Rickman (“Seminar”) and John Lithgow (“The Columnist”) receive nominations?
Best actress in a musical: Audra McDonald, who plays Bess in the revival of “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” has received hosannas for her performance, and a Tony for Bess would be her first in the best actress category. (The 41-year-old Ms. McDonald has won the best featured actress award four times before, twice for plays and twice for musicals.) Can another nominee – possibly Jan Maxwell for “Follies,” Cristin Milioti for “Once,” or Elena Roger for “Evita” – make it a contest? (And speaking of Ms. Roger – will she feel the love from Tony nominators for a performance that has left some theater-goers wanting, er, more?)
“Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark”: A moment of reckoning is at hand. The endless preview performances of 2011, the cast injuries, and the controversial firing of the director Julie Taymor turned “Spider-Man” into the biggest Broadway story of many a season. The show is now eligible for Tonys. Will the record-setting $75 million production be a best musical contender? Will Ms. Taymor be recognized in the best director category – and/or will she and her friend-turned-foe Glen Berger be nominated for best book? Will Reeve Carney and Patrick Page receive best actor and featured actor nods for their sheer endurance playing Peter Parker and the Green Goblin since performances began that fateful day in November 2010?
“Newsies”: Will the musical receive enough Tony nominations for Disney to end its campaign of lowering expectations and finally announce an open-ended run for its latest hit show?
Shut-outs: And who wuz robbed?
No comments:
Post a Comment