Cubby Bernstein…Theatre Mogul
Posts Tagged ‘Broadway’
Oh Tony!
Nominees for the 62nd Annual Antoinette Perry “Tony” Awards follow:
Best Play:
August: Osage County
Rock ‘n’ Roll
The Seafarer
The 39 Steps
Best Musical:
Cry-Baby
In the Heights
Passing Strange
Xanadu
Best Book of a Musical
Cry-Baby, Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan
In the Heights, Quiara Alegria Hudes
Passing Strange, Stew
Xanadu, Douglas Carter Beane
Best Original Score
Cry-Baby, Music & Lyrics: David Javerbaum & Adam Schlesinger
In The Heights, Music & Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda
The Little Mermaid, Music: Alan Menken and Lyrics: Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater
Passing Strange, Music: Stew and Heidi Rodewald Lyrics: Stew
Best Revival of a Play
Boeing-Boeing
The Homecoming
Les Liaisons Dangereueses
Mabceth
Best Revival of a Musical
Grease
Gypsy
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Sunday in the Park With George
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
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, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 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, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Faith Prince, A Catered Affair
Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park With George
Best Performance By a Featured Actor in a Play
Bobby Cannavale, Mauritius
Raúl Esparza, The Homecoming
Conleth Hill, The Seafarer
Jim Norton, The Seafarer
David Pittu, Is He Dead?
Best Performance By a Featured Actress in a Play
Sinead Cusack, Rock ‘n’ Roll
Mary McCormack, Boeing-Boeing
Laurie Metcalf, November
Martha Plimpton, Top Girls
Rondi Reed, August: Osage County
Best Performance By a Featured Actor in a Musical
Daniel Breaker, Passing Strange
Danny Burstein, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Robin De Jesús, In The Heights
Christopher Fitzgerald, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
Boyd Gaines, Gypsy
Best Performance By a Featured Actress in a Musical
de’Adre Aziza, Passing Strange
Laura Benanti, Gypsy
Andrea Martin, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
Olga Merediz, In The Heights
Loretta Ables Sayre, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Best Direction of a Play
Maria Aitken, The 39 Steps
Conor McPherson, The Seafarer
Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County
Matthew Warchus, Boeing-Boeing
Best Direction of a Musical
Sam Buntrock, Sunday in the Park with George
Thomas Kail, In The Heights
Arthur Laurents, Gypsy
Bartlett Sher, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Best Choreography
Rob Ashford, Cry-Baby
Andy Blankenbuehler, In The Heights
Christopher Gattelli, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Dan Knechtges, Xanadu
Best Orchestrations
Jason Carr, Sunday in the Park with George
Alex Lacamoire & Bill Sherman, In the Heights
Stew & Heidi Rodewald, Passing Strange
Jonathan Tunick, A Catered Affair
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Peter McKintosh, The 39 Steps
Scott Pask, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Todd Rosenthal, August: Osage County
Anthony Ward, Macbeth
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
David Farley and Timothy Bird & The Knifedge Creative Network, Sunday in the Park with George
Anna Louizos, In the Heights
Robin Wagner, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
Michael Yeargan, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Best Costume Design of a Play
Gregory Gale, Cyrano de Bergerac
Rob Howell, Boeing-Boeing
Katrina Lindsay, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Peter McKintosh, The 39 Steps
Best Costume Design of a Musical
David Farley, Sunday in the Park with George
Martin Pakledinaz, Gypsy
Paul Tazewell, In the Heights
Catherine Zuber, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Kevin Adams, The 39 Steps
Howard Harrison, Macbeth
Donald Holder, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Ann G. Wrightson, August: Osage County
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Ken Billington, Sunday in the Park with George
Howell Binkley, In the Heights
Donald Holder, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Natasha Katz, The Little Mermaid
Best Sound Design of a Play
Simon Baker, Boeing-Boeing
Adam Cork, Macbeth
Ian Dickson, Rock ‘n’ Roll
Mic Pool, The 39 Steps
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Acme Sound Partners, In the Heights
Sebastian Frost, Sunday in the Park with George
Scott Lehrer, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Dan Moses Schreier, Gypsy
Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Stephen Sondheim
Regional Theatre Tony Award
Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Special Tony Award
Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981), in recognition of his historic contribution to American musical theatre in the field of orchestrations, as represented on Broadway this season by Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific.
For more information visit www.TonyAwards.com.
Sing Out, Patty! Oh, You Already Are.
Chip and I saw Gypsy the other night. It’s a bona fide Broadway spectacle, and Patty Lupone is most certainly a force of nature (and I mean that in the grand, sort of scary, Niagara Falls way). As we were being pinned to our seats by the sheer force of her personality, I got to thinking about the cult of celebrity and the effect it has on the way the audience experiences a show.
Here’s what I mean: To me, the Rose character is kind of a monster. I think she has what my sister Judith, who’s a mental health professional, would call a borderline personality disorder. In addition to being horribly cruel and manipulative to those she loves, she actually has a breakdown of sorts right on the stage. I mean, what is “Rose’s Turn” if it’s not a full blown–and searing–meltdown? And I don’t mean that in a bad way! That’s the genius of the show and the character, I think. We’re watching this incredibly powerful, thwarted soul fighting because she literally cannot do anything else. And we’re watching a family that puts the “fun” in dysfunctional adapt and evolve around this distorted personality–all wrapped up in musical. That’s just cool, I think, and it neatly serves the higher purpose of theatre: allowing us to view ourselves, our world and the way we experience our world in a distilled and precise way.
Watching Rose rip up the stage left me breathless, shaken and teary–because Lupone wasn’t Lupone to me at that moment, she was Rose, a soul in torment telling the truth of her life honestly and nakedly. And doing it on an empty stage in an empty theatre that is the mirror image of her empty life. She takes her bows to imaginary cheers, blows kisses to imaginary fans, and that’s what makes it heartbreaking.
Here’s what was weird. At the end of the song, many people in the audience leapt to their feet, cheering, weeping, waving their programs. It was jarring to me, but then I realized those people weren’t watching the play; they were watching Lupone, and in a faintly creepy way watching themselves watching Lupone. In the theatre that night, she took those bows and blew those kisses to a shrieking throng. It seemed to me a disservice to the work–and to the artist. The fans were inserting themselves into the performance and ignoring the way that performance fit into the larger reality of the play. And while I’m sure it’s gratifying to get those accolades, I think it must be hard for Patty Lupone to stay in character in those moments. When the celebrity of the actor supercedes the dream the playwright has created, it means something’s out of whack.
It made me a little sad, to think that so many people weren’t paying attention to the story being told up there. Yes, yes, Gypsy is by design a tour de force for a certain kind of performer, but it’s not a one-woman show. In their zeal to connect with their idol, those people missed the larger, more compelling point of the exercise, which is to enter the dream and feel the feelings and live the lives–all the lives–being played out in front of them. Otherwise, it’s just a concert. Not bad, but not theatre.
Hollywood & Broadway: A Sordid Love Affair
Read this article! Steven Winn writes about how Hollywood and Broadway have fed off each other since the birth of motion pictures.
Join the Xanadu Text Club!
We set up the Xanadu Text club with the help of verizon Wireless. Join up and get special secret discounts, event info and more. Text “Xanadu” to 64661.
Visit the website: www.XanaduonBroadway.com
Can't wait for Boris
Just got back from the marketing meeting for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and I can’t be more thrilled for Boris Kodjoe to be stepping in for Terrence Howard in April. Check out our exclusive interview with Boris at opening night.
