Awards East

The Tony nominations are out.  Try to control your excitement.  Lotsa stars, lotsa snubs.  Let's look at the top categories:

Best Musical

An American In Paris

Fun Home

Something Rotten!

The Visit

 

An American In Paris was quite the surprise title with 12 nods.  Not doing so well was Finding Neverland, the biggest snubee with a goose egg.

 

Best Play

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

Disgraced

Hand To God

Wolf Hall Parts 1 and 2

 

Nothing for Fish In The Dark. It's a hit with the crowds, but the critics couldn't stand it.

 

Best Musical Revival

The King And I

On The Town

On The Twentieth Century

 

Only three?  Plenty of other choices available. For instance, where's Side Show?
 

Best Play Revival

The Elephant Man

Skylight

This Is Our Youth

You Can't Take It With You

 

Good to see This Is Our Youth on the list.  No It's Only A Play?  Rewritten or not, that's a revival, right?  No Real Thing and no Delicate Balance, which were both completely snubbed.

 

Best Leading Actor in a Play

Steven Boyer, ‘Hand to God’

Bradley Cooper, ‘The Elephant Man’

Ben Miles, ‘Wolf Hall Parts 1 and 2’

Bill Nighy, ‘Skylight’

Alex Sharp, ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’

 

Bradley Cooper continues his hot streak.  But some surprising omissions, above all Jake Gyllenhaal--whose costar, Ruth Wilson, made it.  Also missing, some beloved names--James Earl Jones, John Lithgow, Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor and Nathan Lane.  Larry David never had a chance.

 

Best Leading Actress in a Play

Geneva Carr, ‘Hand to God’

Helen Mirren, 'The Audience'

Elisabeth Moss, 'The Heidi Chronicles'

Carey Mulligan, ‘Skylight’

Ruth Wilson,  'Constellations'

 

More big names, but not Glenn Close. No Maggie Gyllenhaal or Cynthia Nixon. No Blythe Danner.  No Rose Byrne.  Not sure if Elisabeth Moss was expected, but with no one winning Emmys any more for Mad Men, she could use it.  

 

Best Leading Actor in a Musical

Michael Cerveris, ‘Fun Home’

Robert Fairchild, ‘An American in Paris’

Brian d’Arcy James, ‘Something Rotten!’

Ken Watanabe, ‘The King and I’

Tony Yazbeck, ‘On the Town’

 

For a change, no huge celebrity names.  So no Kelsey Grammer.  And I guess Tony Danza never had a chance.  But also no Peter Gallagher, John Cariani or Rob McClure.

 

Best Leading Actress in a Musical

Kristin Chenoweth, ‘On the Twentieth Century’

Leanne Cope, ‘An American in Paris’

Beth Malone, ‘Fun Home’

Kelli O’Hara, ‘The King and I’

Chita Rivera, ‘The Visit’

 

Will Kelli O'Hara finally win one of these?  I'd say she's the favorite, even going up against veteran divas like Chenoweth and Rivera.  No Tyne Daly, by the way.

 

Best Book of a Musical

‘An American in Paris,’ Craig Lucas

‘Fun Home,’ Lisa Kron

‘Something Rotten!,’ Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell

‘The Visit,’Terrence McNally

 

Big names like Lucas and McNally against lesser known ones. Should be fun.

 

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics)

‘Fun Home,’ Music: Jeanine Tesori, Lyrics: Lisa Kron

'The Last Ship' Music and Lyrics: Sting

‘Something Rotten!,’ Music and Lyrics: Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick

‘The Visit,’ Music: John Kander, Lyrics: Fred Ebb

 

Some fairly new names, and some of the oldest--Kander and Ebb, as if they need more Tonys.  And a surprise visitor from the pop world, Sting--he might liven up the ceremony, even if his show flopped.