Instead of giving the whole laundry list of nominees for the Tony Awards to be presented on June 15, I will touch on a few of the biggies.
BEST MUSICAL
Cry-Baby (the latest 1980s movie to be turned into a huge musical extravaganza a la Hairspray)
Xanadu (have I not mentioned this before? Amazing… and no… it is not about the home of the future)
BEST PLAY
August: Osage County
Rock ‘n’ Roll
The Seafarer
The 39 Steps (based upon the Hitchcock movie of the same name)
BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
Grease (panned heavily by the critics… thank goodness for the reality series that cast Danny and Sandy)
Gypsy (Patti LuPone gets her Turn as Mama Rose)
South Pacific (the clear-cut favorite in this category… still find it amazing that this is its first revival)
Sunday in the Park With George
BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
Macbeth (starring Tony nominee Patrick Stewart)
BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL
Cry-Baby, Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan
In the Heights, Quiara Alegría Hudes
Passing Strange, Stew
Xanadu, Douglas Carter Beane
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (MUSIC AND/OR LYRICS) WRITTEN FOR THE THEATER
Cry-Baby, Music & Lyrics: David Javerbaum & Adam Schlesinger
In the Heights, Music & Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda
The Little Mermaid, Music: Alan Menken; Lyrics: Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater
Passing Strange, Music: Stew and Heidi Rodewald; Lyrics: Stew
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Ben Daniels, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood
Mark Rylance, Boeing-Boeing
Rufus Sewell, Rock ‘n’ Roll
Patrick Stewart, Macbeth (who was a well-established star in the Royal Shakespeare Company long before becoming Captain Jean-Luc Picard)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Eve Best, The Homecoming
Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County
Kate Fleetwood, Macbeth
S. Epatha Merkerson, Come Back, Little Sheba
Amy Morton, August: Osage County
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Daniel Evans, Sunday in the Park With George
Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights
Stew, Passing Strange
Paulo Szot, South Pacific
Tom Wopat, A Catered Affair
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Kerry Butler, Xanadu
Patti LuPone, Gypsy
Kelli O’Hara, South Pacific
Faith Prince, A Catered Affair
Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park With George
What surprises me is the Best Original Score Category. Is is original to have the score from a movie possibly with a few extra songs added to be considered? Two of the musicals listed are indeed movies turned into Broadway shows. I guess Young Frankenstein was not original enough to warrant a nomination. I really need to find a copy of the 1980 movie Xanadu to see if it was really as good as I remember because it might help to explain why it seems to have gotten so may nominations. Or the Johnny Depp starring movie Cry-Baby that I do not remember at all. Will this become the next Hairspray? So much for originality.
Premium Seating and Tickets to Sold Out Events
Don’t know much about the upcoming Tony awards, but I can tell you about the Movie Xanadu… The only thing that movie had going for it was Olivia Newton John and Gene Kelly. Other than that the movie was mostly forgotten. Some of the music was good, but that goes back to Olivia Newton John….
yes, I do remember the Olivia music with ELO which was good, but all I remember about the movie itself was roller skaters.
I’ve tried to forget the roller skaters.. Thanks for that… Now I’ll have nightmares…
Xanadu – is that about the home of the future? 🙂
No… but thanks for asking (it might be better if it were)