A Place Where Nobody Dared To Go

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)

In the Heights

Passing Strange

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

Boeing-Boeing

The Homecoming

Les Liaisons Dangereuses

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.

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