Tone Of The Tonys

Still taking care of the backlog created by the double celebration on Tuesday.  For instance, have I looked at the Tony Award nominations?  What could be more pressing?

I see the Tonys as gatekeeper for the EGOT.  Everyone tries to be in movies, and some people win Emmys or Grammys and don't even notice.  But to win a Tony, you've got to be in a Broadway play, which is a commitment most people in show biz don't even make.

They're also often the most entertaining awards show--a chance for Broadway to show its stuff.  You can see movies and TV and listen to records any day of the week, but, once again, you've got to try to see a Broadway show.

America used to care more, but as of late the Tonys are seen as having such particular appeal that the networks didn't even want to air them.  Of course, prime time network TV is also getting a smaller and smaller audience, so maybe they'll meet as they circle down the drain.

Anyway, I'll make some comments on the Tony nominations, but it's kind of odd, since I haven't seen a single production.  I've read about them, and seen some of the shows that are in revival, as well as seen some of the actors live in previous shows, but really all I can do is speculate about what's going on, out here on the West Coast.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY

Samuel Barnett, "Twelfth Night"

Bryan Cranston, "All the Way"

Chris O'Dowd, "Of Mice and Men

Mark Rylance, "Richard III"

Tony Shalhoub, "Act One"

 

Lots of snubs here, but hey, there's only five spots and a lot of big names to choose from.  Notice there are three big names here, not to mention Tony favorite Mark Rylance, so how shocking can the snubs be.

 

Still, no Denzel Washington or Daniel Radcliff, truly big names--bigger than anyone on the list.  No Patrick Stewart or Ian McKellen.  No James Franco, but his co-star made it.  No Daniel Craig.  No Roger Rees. No Ethan Hawke.And no one from The Realistic Joneses, which included Tracy Letts and Michael C. Hall.  No Zachary Quinto, though everyone else in The Glass Menagerie got noticed.

 

I really can't judge who'll win, though Cranston certainly had his way with Emmy.  Will it be the same with Tony?

 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY 

 

Tyne Daly, "Mothers and Sons"

LaTanya Richardson-Jackson, "A Raisin in the Sun"

Cherry Jones, "The Glass Menagerie"

Audra McDonald, "Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill"

Estelle Parsons, "The Velocity of Autumn"

 

Pretty much as expected.  Some big names, like Tyne and Estelle, not to mention Tony favorite Cherry, and Tony favorite favorite Audra.  Her mantle will break if she wins another.  Who's missing?  No Toni Collette (a Tony for Toni), no Marisa Tomei (a Tony for Tomei), no Mary-Louise Parker, no Rachel Weisz, no Debra Messing, no Rebecca Hall.

 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL

 

Neil Patrick Harris, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"

Ramin Karimloo, "Les Miserables"

Andy Karl, "Rocky"

Jefferson Mays, "A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder"

Bryce Pinkham, "A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder"

 

Gentleman's Guide gets a lot of love. Bad day for Zachs though.  No Zach Braff, no Zachary Levi (and I already told you about Zachary Quinto). And we're missing Tony perennial Norbert Leo Butz. 

 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL

 

Mary Bridget Davies, "A Night With Janis Joplin"

Sutton Foster, "Violet"

Idina Menzel, "If/Then"

Jessie Mueller, "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical"

Kelli O’Hara, "The Bridges of Madison County"

 

Talk about your Diva-off!  How many times have we seen Sutton Foster, Kelli O'Hara and Adele Dazeem's names before.  (Lucky for them Audra is somewhere else this year.) The other two are the show, playing the title character in a tribute.  Biggest snub here is Michelle Williams.

 

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY

 

"The Cripple of Inishmaan"

"The Glass Menagerie"

"A Raisin in the Sun"

"Twelfth Night"

 

Broadway seems to specialize in revivals--why do something new when there are all those old hits?  These titles were expected, but missing are Of Mice And Men, The Winslow Boy, Waiting For Godot, No Man's Land, Betrayal, Machinal and a whole bunch of Shakespeare:  Richard III, Macbeth and Romeo And Juliet.

 

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL

 

"Hedwig and the Angry Inch"

"Les Miserables"

"Violet"

 

Three choices.  And once again, Cabaret getting no love. (Though maybe it was ineligible?)

 

BEST PLAY

 

"Act One"

"All the Way"

"Casa Valentina"

"Mothers and Sons"

"Outside Mullingar"

 

Sad reality for The Realistic Joneses yet again.  Plenty of other choices, even with slim pickings--for instance, The Velocity Of Autumn.

 

BEST MUSICAL

 

"After Midnight"

"Aladdin"

"Beautiful: The Carole King Musical"

"A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder"

 

Maybe the most eagerly anticipated award of the night, and nothing too exciting here. What's fascinating are the big shows that got ignored:  no Bullets Over Broadway, no Rocky, no Bridges Of Madison County, and they could all use some help.  For that matter, where's If/Then.  And no one thought Big Fish would be up here--awards are for the living.

 

Plenty more awards, but these are the biggies.  There are points of interest, though.  For instance, Woody Allen gets nominated for the book of Bullets Over Broadway.  Like he needs more awards.  Even weirder, Douglas McGrath is nominated in the same category for the Carole King musical (that has a book?).  That's weird because I swear I remember those two wrote the movie Bullets Over Broadway together.

   

As for Best Original Score, how much originality is there with most of the shows using old songs?  For instance, there's Aladdin, which includes lyrics by Howard Ashman, who died more than twenty years ago.

 

In best performance in a featured role, there's Mark Rylance again, for Twelfth Night--two people didn't get a nomination thanks to him.  Some other big names in supporting roles: Stephen Fry, Anika Noni Rose and Mare Winningham.  Anyway, see you on June 8th.