- 2 of the 4 best play revival nominees and 2 of the 4 best musical revival nominees are already closed (and the currently running Promises, Promises was snubbed for musical revival).
- 2 of the 4 Best Score nominees come from plays (Enron and Fences), in part because Idiot was deemed ineligible.
- Despite generally positive reviews, American Idiot gets only 3 nominations--Best Musical, Best Lighting Design, and Best Scenic Design--no love for performances, orchestrations, direction.
- It's a very starry year in terms of nominees--among those nominated--Jude Law, Kelsey Grammer, Denzel Washington, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Angela Lansbury, and Scarlett Johansson.
- The lack of a Special Theatrical Event category hurt some shows--we might have seen more nominations for Wishful Drinking and Sondheim on Sondheim.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
TWYLA! TWYLA! FOSSE! FOSSE! It's an interesting year at the Tony Awards--fewer new musicals opened than revivals, and most of those new musicals (Fela!, Million Dollar Quartet, American Idiot, Come Fly Away, Everyday Rapture) use pre-existing music as scores, so when you look at the nominations, it's a bit strange:
Glad ScarJo got nommed - I was actually really impressed with her turn in View from the Bridge.
ReplyDeleteSad that Sam Rockwell was snubbed for his awesome turn in Behanding in Spokane. He has a monologue that's really phenomenal...I guess the power of the Walken weirdness overshadowed everyone else.
I wonder when the last time a score for a play was nominated. If only there was some way of accessing vast stores of info I could use to look it up.
ReplyDeleteI'm 95% sure the last nomination for best score for a non-musical was for a Lincoln Center production of Twelfth Night in the late 90s with the score written by Jeanine Tesori. Wiki bears me out.
ReplyDeleteI went to college with Kate Baldwin (lead actress in a musical nominee) and even then everyone knew this was in her future. Couldn't have happened to a nicer person. Very much looking forward to seeing her and Mandy Patakin in a few weeks in a new musical starting soon at London's Menier Chocolate Factory.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that both actors in "Red" were nominated for their performances; it was a powerful show. And I'm a little sad that Alfred Molina probably won't win considering the Best Actor category is packed full of A-list names.
ReplyDeleteMe too, Emily. I thought that Molina and Redmayne were terrific, particularly--and notably, in relatively wordy, "Stoppardian" play--in the purely physical moments of their performances.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen Fences yet, but my money'd be on Denzel to take the Best Actor in a Play. He's the A-listiest of the bunch.
Constantine Maroulis.
ReplyDelete[Sorry. Can't allow for any discussion of the Tonys, past or present or future to be conducted with out saying... Constantine Maroulis.]
Ooh, that's my cue to cue up Hem's score for last summer's Twelfth Night at the Delacorte. Not Tony eligible, but so lovely ....
ReplyDeleteI can top that--Kenny Loggins and Sammy Hagar have been Tony nominees in the past. (Because of the "must originate a role" guidelines, Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young were ineligible this year.)
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that was availab,e, Other Kate - I'll have to check iTunes for it. Had wished I could hear it, as I heard so many good things.
ReplyDeleteSo wait, Angela Lansbury is a alive? Huh. I thought she died like five years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe Hem score for Twelfth Night is well worth getting.
ReplyDeleteYep, it's on iTunes, Genevieve. Most of the pieces are very short, but they flow together beautifully to create quite the mistily Celtic mood. If you download nothing else, try "Come Away Death," which is done as a trio for Feste, Orsino, and Viola. SUH-BLIME.
ReplyDeleteAw hell, my favorite of "I love that HE has a nomination" is Stephen Lynch, usually of very funny but incredibly rude songs about things like anti-Semetic girlfriends and being caught masturbating, who has a nomination from 2006 for The Wedding Singer.
ReplyDeleteKenny Loggins and Sammy Hagar, while undeniably cheesy, are musicians and song records with millions upon millions of singles and albums sold to their credit. Kenny Loggins even has an Oscar nomination, while Sammy Hagar is successfully able to market his own brand of tequila.
ReplyDeleteConstantine Maroulis is Constantine Maroulis.
And he made it on Idol perhaps a year too early. Folks weren't ready for irony yet. He'd be at least final four today.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen Fences, yet, either, but I'm sure you're right. And as for Red, I agree; the canvas priming scene, in particular, was exhilarating.
ReplyDeleteThe American Idiot snubs are a shame. It deserved a nomination for Best Actor and Best Orchestration, at least.
ReplyDelete