| KING FOR A DAY
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By DAVID LEFKOWITZ
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Published May 12 2008 |
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| Paulo Szot and Kelli O’Hara in South Pacific |
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I am not, nor have I ever been, a Tony nominator. However, that hasn't stopped me and everyone I know from yakking incessantly about which shows and actors we would want to hear announced on Tuesday morning, May 13, when Spamalot vets David Hyde Pierce and Sara Ramirez read out the list of Tony nominees at Lincoln Center's Performing Arts Library. Lobby conversations invariably range from who can't miss getting a nod to those we hope won't be - to quote Julie Andrews - egregiously overlooked. Less interesting are the intricacies of Tony rules and rulings, such as the one-night flop Glory Days being ineligible (assumedly because not enough nominators/voters had a chance to see it), Gypsy director Arthur Laurents being eligible - even though he's staged that same musical on Broadway twice before, and Top Girls being labeled a revival, even though the 1982 OBIE-winning drama never played on Broadway before. But rules about which actors are above the line and which fall below into featured status are just less fun than speculating who'll make the cut on Tuesday, as well as who'll come away with the big prize on June 15th. So with apologies to everyone else who's either nominating for real or just in their imaginations, here are picks for some major categories of the 2007-08 Tony Nominations - if I ran the Tonys, that is. BEST PLAY August: Osage County A Bronx Tale Is He Dead? Rock n' Roll (All truly worthy contenders in my book. The Seafarer had a funny first act and a disappointing second. The Farnsworth Invention was brisk and entertaining but lightweight and factually uncomfortable. Is He Dead? knocks out both The 39 Steps and November just by being twice as funny and half as labored. I know August won the Pulitzer and will win on June 15, but Tracy Letts' eminently watchable drama didn't knock me out. A Bronx Tale did.) BEST MUSICAL Cry-Baby In the Heights Passing Strange Young Frankenstein (Cry-Baby nudges out Xanadu because it has a new original score the flawed In the Heights wins in June because it has the best overall qualities of a new American Broadway musical. Oh, and yes, I thought Young Frankenstein was funny. The much- maligned A Catered Affair is a lovely piece of work but a touch wan to make the cut here.) BEST PLAY REVIVAL Cyrano de Bergerac Les Liaisons Dangereuses Pygmalion The Ritz (If there were a fifth slot, Cymbeline would have eked in, I guess nice job on tough material. As of this writing, I haven't seen Top Girls or Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (though neither play has ever done much for me). Come Back Little Sheba was a very respectable revival, The Country Girl stayed earthbound.) Even though it may win on Tony night, the less said about The Homecoming, the better. BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL Gypsy South Pacific Sunday in the Park with George (Rather than letting the execrable Grease ooze into the fourth slot, or mulling whether the appealing How the Grinch Stole Christmas counts as a revival, let's just leave it at these three masterful mountings of masterpieces. South Pacific has the edge, not only because the leads are perfect and the mood even more so, but because everybody knows the oft-revived Gypsy kicks ass, whereas it's been half a century since someone tried to prove South Pacific does, too.) BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY Norbert Leo Butz (Is He Dead?) Kevin Kline (Cyrano de Bergerac) Jefferson Mays (Pygmalion) Chazz Palminteri (A Bronx Tale) Mark Rylance (Boeing-Boeing) (Among the unfairly overlooked: Nathan Lane doing his patented Nathan Lane in November Jimmi Simpson of The Farnsworth Invention Patrick Stewart of the otherwise overpraised Macbeth Charles Edwards of The 39 Steps Ben Daniels of Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Jim Norton's hilarious turn in The Seafarer). Still, Rylance is the miracle worker here. BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY F. Murray Abraham (Mauritius) Boyd Gaines (Pygmalion) Peter Gallagher (A Country Girl) Byron Jennings (Is He Dead?) Jeff Perry (August: Osage County) BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY Margaret Colin (Old Acquaintance) Laura Linney (Les Liaisons Dangereuses) S. Epatha Merkerson (Come Back Little Sheba) Laurie Metcalf (November) Amy Morton (August: Osage County) (So many candidates so few slots. Apologies to Eve Best, the only decent thing in The Homecoming the fine Claire Danes in Pygmalion Martha Plimpton's nifty work in Cymbeline and Sinead Cusack in the lovely Rock n' Roll.) BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY Mariann Mayberry (August: Osage County) Jenn Gambatese (Is He Dead?) Loretta Ables Sayre (South Pacific) (Most likely a Top Girl or two will fill out the remaining places) BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL Daniel Evans (Sunday in the Park with George) Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu) Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) Stew (Passing Strange) Paulo Szot (South Pacific) BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL Danny Burstein (South Pacific) Andrew C. Call (Glory Days) Michael Cumpsty (Sunday in the Park with George) Christopher Hanke (Cry-Baby) Matthew Morrison (South Pacific) (Yes, I know he's technically ineligible and the musical sucked on ice, but Call was the most entertaining thing in Glory Days). BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL Laura Benanti (Gypsy) Kerry Butler (Xanadu) Patti LuPone (Gypsy) Kelli O'Hara (South Pacific) Jenna Russell (Sunday in the Park with George) (Lots of heavy hitters here-alas for Sierra Boggess in The Little Mermaid and Elizabeth Stanley's in Cry-Baby, who will likely have long careers and many nominations ahead of them, and especially for A Catered Affair's Faith Prince, who gets her best role in a decade and could not have played it better.) BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL Sutton Foster (Young Frankenstein) Mandy Gonzalez (In the Heights) Andrea Martin (Young Frankenstein) Karen Olivo (In the Heights) Emma Rowley (Gypsy) BEST DIRECTOR OF A PLAY Maria Aitken (The 39 Steps) Joe Mantello (The Ritz) Conor McPherson (The Seafarer) Rufus Norris (Les Liaisons Dangereuses) Trevor Nunn (Rock n' Roll) BEST DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL Christopher Ashley (Xanadu) Mark Brokaw (Cry-Baby) Sam Buntrock (Sunday in the Park with George) Thomas Kail (In the Heights) Bartlett Sher (South Pacific) (Arthur Laurents did a super job with the acting in Gypsy, but did it have to look so cheap?) BEST CHOREOGRAPHER Rob Ashford (Cry-Baby) Andy Blankenbuehler (In the Heights) Christopher Gattelli (South Pacific) Dan Knechtges (Xanadu) Susan Stroman (Young Frankenstein) (Blankenbuehler deserves the win here, with Ashford a close second for the sheer fun he brings to Cry-Baby's dances) BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL Douglas Carter Beane (Xanadu) Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan (Young Frankenstein) Quiara Alegria Hudes (In the Heights) Mark O'Donnell & Thomas Meehan (Cry-Baby) Stew (Passing Strange) (A weak category all around, though if In the Heights had a better second act, it would be the clear winner here) BEST ORIGINAL SCORE Mel Brooks (Young Frankenstein) David Javerbaum & Adam Schlesinger (Cry-Baby) Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) Stew & Heidi Rodewald (Passing Strange) BEST ORCHESTRATIONS Robert Russell Bennett (South Pacific) Doug Besterman (Young Frankenstein) Alex Lacamoire & Bill Sherman (In the Heights) Sid Ramin & Robert Ginzler (Gypsy) Danny Troob (The Little Mermaid) BEST SCENIC DESIGN (PLAY) Alexander Dodge (Old Acquaintance) Rob Howell (Boeing-Boeing) Robert Jones (Rock n' Roll) Scott Pask (The Ritz) Todd Rosenthal (August: Osage County) BEST SCENIC DESIGN (MUSICAL) David Farley (Sunday in the Park with George) Anna Louizos (In the Heights) Scott Pask (Cry-Baby) Robin Wagner (Young Frankenstein) Michael Yeargan (South Pacific) (Actually, Farley's nomination should be shared with projection designers Tim Bird and the Knifedge Creative Network. But I liked Heights' street scene better anyway). The 2008 Tony Awards will air live on CBS TV, Sunday June 15, from 8-11pm(ET). Whoopi Goldberg hosts.
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