Image Credit: La Cage aux Folles: Uli Weber; Fences: Joan Marcus Not even a bomb scare in Times Square can put a damper on the close of the Broadway season. Nominations for the Tony Awards will be announced tomorrow morning and look for the awards to recognize some — though not all — of the celeb-filled shows that have dominated the Great White Way’s box office this year. Sorry, Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. You may have sold out your limited run in the cop drama A Steady Rain last fall, but we can’t picture you in the Tony nominee lineup this year. However, you can expect director Kenny Leon’s fine revival of Fences — starring likely Tony front-runners Denzel Washington and Viola Davis — to dominate the dramatic categories, while the slimmed-down London import La Cage aux Folles, a musical revival starring Kelsey Grammer and British actor Douglas Hodge, should garner multiple nods. EW’s Melissa Rose Bernardo and I pored through our Playbills and offer up our predictions in the main categories:
Best Musical
Thom: American Idiot, Come Fly Away, Fela!, Memphis
Melissa: American Idiot, Come Fly Away, Fela!, Million Dollar Quartet
Best Drama
Thom: A Behanding in Spokane, Next Fall, Red, Time Stands Still
Melissa: Enron; Next Fall; Red;Time Stands Still
Best Musical Revival
Thom: La Cage aux Folles; Finian’s Rainbow; A Little Night Music; Promises Promises
Melissa: La Cage aux Folles; Finian’s Rainbow; A Little Night Music; Ragtime
Best Play Revival
Thom: Fences; Lend Me a Tenor; The Royal Family; A View From the Bridge
Melissa: Fences; Hamlet; Lend Me a Tenor; A View From the Bridge
Best Actor Musical
Thom: John Gallagher Jr., American Idiot; Sean Hayes, Promises, Promises; Douglas Hodge, La Cage aux Folles; Nathan Lane, The Addams Family; Sahr Nguajah, Fela!
Melissa: Sean Hayes, Promises, Promises; Douglas Hodge, La Cage aux Folles; Chad Kimball, Memphis; Nathan Lane, The Addams Family; Sahr Nguajah, Fela!
Best Actress Musical
Thom: Kate Baldwin, Finian’s Rainbow; Montego Glover, Memphis; Bebe Neuwirth, The Addams Family; Sherie Rene Scott, Everyday Rapture; Catherine Zeta-Jones, A Little Night Music
Melissa: Kate Baldwin, Finian’s Rainbow; Kristin Chenoweth, Promises, Promises; Montego Glover, Memphis; Sherie Rene Scott, Everyday Rapture; Catherine Zeta-Jones, A Little Night Music
Best Actor Play
Thom: Jude Law, Hamlet; Alfred Molina, Red; Liev Schreiber, A View From the Bridge; Christopher Walken, A Behanding in Spokane; Denzel Washington, Fences
Melissa: Jude Law, Hamlet; Alfred Molina, Red; Liev Schreiber, A View From the Bridge; Christopher Walken, A Behanding in Spokane; Denzel Washington, Fences
Best Actress Play
Thom: Viola Davis, Fences; Valerie Harper, Looped; Linda Lavin, Collected Stories; Laura Linney, Time Stands Still; Jan Maxwell, The Royal Family
Melissa: Viola Davis, Fences; Valerie Harper, Looped; Linda Lavin, Collected Stories; Laura Linney, Time Stands Still; Jan Maxwell, The Royal Family
Best Featured Actor Musical
Thom: Robin de Jesus, La Cage aux Folles; Levi Kreis, Million Dollar Quartet; Charlie Neshyba-Hodges, Come Fly Away; Bobby Steggert, Ragtime; Tony Vincent, American Idiot
Melissa: Robin de Jesus, La Cage aux Folles; Levi Kreis, Million Dollar Quartet; Charlie Neshyba-Hodges, Come Fly Away; Bobby Steggert, Ragtime; Tony Vincent, American Idiot
Best Featured Actress Musical
Thom: Barbara Cook, Sondheim on Sondheim; Katie Finneran, Promises, Promises; Rebecca Naomi Jones, American Idiot; Angela Lansbury, A Little Night Music; Karine Plantadit, Come Fly Away
Melissa: Barbara Cook, Sondheim on Sondheim; Katie Finneran, Promises, Promises; Angela Lansbury, A Little Night Music; Karine Plantadit, Come Fly Away; Lillias White, Fela!
Best Featured Actor Play
Thom: Michael Cristofer, A View From the Bridge; Jon Michael Hill, Superior Donuts; Brian d’Arcy James, Time Stands Still; Stephen McKinley Henderson, Fences; Eddie Redmayne, Red
Melissa: Michael Cristofer, A View From the Bridge; Brian d’Arcy James, Time Stands Still; Stephen McKinley Henderson, Fences; Stephen Kunken, Enron; Eddie Redmayne, Red
Best Featured Actress Play
Thom: Rosemary Harris, The Royal Family; Jessica Hecht, A View From the Bridge; Scarlett Johansson, A View From the Bridge; Jan Maxwell, Lend Me a Tenor; Alicia Silverstone, Time Stands Still
Melissa: Rosemary Harris, The Royal Family; Jessica Hecht, A View From the Bridge; Scarlett Johansson, A View From the Bridge; Jan Maxwell, Lend Me a Tenor; Marrin Mazzie, Enron
Director Musical
Thom: Bill T. Jones, Fela!; Terry Johnson, La Cage aux Folles; Michael Mayer, American Idiot; Trevor Nunn, A Little Night Music; Twyla Tharp, Come Fly Away
Melissa: Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Ragtime; Bill T. Jones, Fela!; Terry Johnson, La Cage aux Folles; James Lapine, Sondheim on Sondheim; Michael Mayer, American Idiot
Director Play
Thom: Michael Grandage, Red; Sheryl Kaller, Next Fall; Kenny Leon, Fences; Gregory Mosher, A View From the Bridge; Stanley Tucci, Lend Me a Tenor
Melissa: Michael Grandage, Red; Sheryl Kaller, Next Fall; Kenny Leon, Fences; Gregory Mosher, A View From the Bridge;
I have only seen Memphis and though it was not my favorite musical (the ending was anti-climatic) I did find Montego Glover outstanding. She stole the show for me, even though Chad Kimball tried to. I do want to see American Idiot (mediocre reviews and all) because I love me some Greenday.
Every review for American Idiot I’ve read so far is a rave…which are the mediocre ones?
The New York Times (perhaps the most important when it comes to theater reviewing) gave it a RAVE review.
American Idiot got raves reviews from almost everyone. I think the harshest review was EW, lol. the word on the streets of times square (which is probably the most dependabler – since those are the people that have just spent hundreds of dollars to see the shows) is that the show is amazing and you can’t miss it. Likewise Fela is said to be a can’t miss show from the peeps on the streets. Unlike those two the word on memphis is that you can skip it. That’s the word of ticket buyers and ticket/discount sellers, which I’ve come to trust over the years. Memphis for me was great – until the ending. The show needs a new ending it just wasn’t ready to transfer to Broadway.
My Tony Predictions for the Win: Musicals
Best Musical: American Idiot
Best Revival: La Cage aux Folles
Best Lead Actor: Douglas Hodge – La Cage aux Folles
Best Leading Actress: Sherie Rene Scott – Everyday Rapture
Best Featured Actor: Levi Kreis – Million Dollar Quartet
Best Featured Actress: Katie Finneran – Promises, Promises
All in all, this has been a pretty ho-hum season. Beyond American Idiot, there really isn’t any new show to really get excited about (and AI certainly has its flaws).
Fela! is the best show I have seen in fifty years of theatre attendance.
I also think FELA was amazing. I won’t be seeing American Idiot till June so I can’t really say for sure which is better but besides that I think Fela might take home the trophy.
No Play Revival picks? Fences, A View From the Bridge, Royal Family, Hamlet.
I honestly can’t see Promises Promises getting the Best Revival nom, but I do think Sean Hayes has a shot; I’ll personally be rooting for La Cage aux Folles to win in that category, despite my love for A Little Night Music.
What about Elizabeth Stanley? I heard she is a true show stopper as Dyanne in Million Dollar Quarter, but I don’t see that she came up in either of your lists…
Hey, DC. I think Elizabeth Stanley has a very good shot at a nom. Cook, Finneran, and Lansbury seem like locks to me. But there are a few other folks competing for those last two slots.
To me Lillias White is a lock. She is a lighting bolt of amazingness in FELA!
I’m glad to see Tony Vincent on your list, from what I’ve heard he steals the show as the evil St. Jimmy in American Idiot. Would love to see Finian’s Rainbow get some love tomorrow, a fantastic revival that got great reviews but was an unfortunate victim of the dwindling economy.
Also, the Drama Desk Award nominations just came out: the revival of Ragtime (also a very unfortunate victim of the economy) got 9 nominations, while Finian’s Rainbow and the Addams Family got 8 each. While there are some awards that differ bet. the Drama Desks and the Tonys, it would be interesting to see if they get the same kind of love tomorrow, since 2 are closed and the other got very mediocre reviews (though thanks to Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth is doing gangbusters at the box office)
FYI–Viola Davis will be considered in the Best Featured Actress in a play category, not Best Actress.
Actually the Tony committee ruled she’s eligible for Lead Actress, even though Mary Alice won for featured in the original.
Actually, Pez, the Tony nominators ruled last week that Viola Davis will be eligible in the lead actress category. (Though it’s true that Mary Alice won in the featured actress category for the same role in the original production.)
I hope FINIAN’S RAINBOW and RAGTIME are remembered Tuesday morning tho the shows have shuttered. This year’s new musicals are a lamer bunch. ADDAMS is not what was advertised. Is it as bad as the HALLELUJAH BABY! year?
I’m so bummed that I didn’t get to see Ragtime. I missed it the first time it was on Broadway, and it closed so early in its run the second time, so I couldn’t see it then either. Such a great show. It’s a shame it never found the audience it needed.
I highly recommend the la cage revival…i’ve seen prior productions, and it has never been one of my favorite shows, but this stripped down production is outstanding…it really gets at the heart of the main characters and their relationship. who would have thought this show would be better “smaller” than “bigger”…and kelsey grammer and douglas hodge are fantastic….and it is on 48th street near 8th avenue so there are less likely to be car bombs nearby (a little manhattan-dwellers gallows humor)
My predictions.
New Musical: Fela, American Idiot, Memphis, & Come Fly Away
Revival: Finian’s Raibow, La Cage, A Little Night Music, Ragtime
Actor in Musical: