Two of the most anticipated star performances on Broadway this season – Steve Carell makes his Broadway debut in the revival of ” Uncle Vanya And The sopranos Michael Imperioli returns to the New York stage with “Circle in the Square’s”. An enemy of the people – was not praised at all by Tony Award nominees today, and the West End hit Patriotswritten by The crownPeter Morgan is barely included in the squad and only has one nomination – for the leading actor Michael Stuhlbarg.
Even more empty-handed than Patriots Was The Wizardthe cheerful if routine revival of the popular Black retelling of The Wizard of Oz. Despite a star-studded performance from Wayne Brady, it’s possible that the Tony nominees viewed the Broadway revival as an uninspired road show.
Neither The Who is Tommy, Monty Python’s Spamalot still Gutenberg! The musical received more than one nomination, although each of these productions had its ardent supporters. Lempickaa tough sell given the little-known name of the title character – 20th-century artist Tamara Lempicka – who received a respectable three nominations.
The expectations of the naysayers – myself included – were far exceeded The outsiderWith 12 nominations, Danya Taymor’s reinterpretation of SE Hinton’s novel is in second place Hell’s Kitchen And Stereophonic (both at 13). Water for elephants — another book-to-film musical adaptation that divided critics — also did well with seven nominations.
Some other initial reactions:
- The Tony nominees didn’t seem inclined to honor the dancers of the musical-dance hybrid Illinois with performance nominations. It’s a shame, because there were some of the most exciting and poignant moments on stage this season;
- Whatever you think Back to the FutureThe series’ appeal rests almost entirely on the energetic appeal of young Casey Likes as Marty McFly. I think he’s more important to this musical than Dorian Harewood The notebook, but that is a dispute;
- I would make the same argument for including Shaina Taub Enough above The notebookis Maryann Plunkett, as good an actress as Plunkett;
- Rebecca Freckram’s bizarre, often unpleasant direction cabaret found no support among Tony nominees. Along with Patriots‘Near-exclusion, a clearer depiction of the sharp divide between British and US tastes cannot be imagined;
- No nomination for Francis Benhamou, who breathed so much life into it Prayer for the French Republic as a highly intellectual member of a beleaguered family, it is inexcusable;
- And finally, the nomination of songwriter Will Butler for the piece’s original music Stereophonic might well raise some eyebrows. Ignore the naysayers. Even though the non-musical piece contains only a few songs – and more often just snippets of songs – the music is absolutely crucial to the story of a ’70s Fleetwood Mac-like supergroup that comes apart at the seams. Butler captured the various sounds of Buckingham, Nicks and McVie without stealing them, creating a perfect and vibrant soundtrack to the proceedings. And the songs sound great. They could have been hits back then. Actually still could.