Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Tony Nominations 2005

Watching the Tony Award nominations announced this morning didn't really yield any stunning surprises, and despite having enjoyed a rather good Broadway season, I can't really muster much enthusiasm for the doling out of the awards themselves this year.

Herewith a few handicapping notes and picks:

Doubt, hands down, for Best Play. Frayn is just too, too for the Tonys, The Pillowman is way too severe and Wilson, well...I'm just tired of Wilson plays. I think he ran out of things to say four or five titles back. Spamalot will be the Best Musical winner. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a lot of fun, but there's no there there. The Light in the Piazza has a gorgeous score and there's a lot of there there, but it's really too gentle to take a Tony. (It'll get a lot of regional play in the years to come, so don't worry it'll go unseen.) And Dirty Rotten Scoundrels disappointed me. I love the story, but the music often sounds like Full Monty trunk songs and the staging lacked elan. I'll say of Spamalot what I said a few years ago about Hairspray: It's not great art and probably not the best musical on Broadway this year, but it is hands down the most fun I had as a theatregoer this year. Give 'em the medallion and tell 'em to back the truck up to the stage door for a few more.

The other musical awards: Best Book to Craig Lucas and Best Score to Adam Guettel. Best revival? Neither La Cage aux Folles or Sweet Charity were in any way remarkable remountings. I give the edge to Pacific Overtures and hope the Tony voters have long memories. I certainly enjoyed the Roundabout's production, although it didn't top the Chicago Shakespeare staging from a couple of years ago. All of the leading actor nominees are pretty damn good, but give Norbert Leo Butz the trophy. He was a head-and-a-half better than Lithgow (and that's saying something) and he's an old college chum. Alums stick together.

Oh, that Best Actress category! I was a little amused to see Christina Applegate nominated but, hey, what were they going to do? Give Eden Espinosa a pity nom? A wail-belt does not a robust performance make. Anyway, Applegate is fun and flouncy and if Charity isn't a very good production, she's got charm by the bucket and could grow into the part by the time the curtain's rung down. (Besides, I haven't seen a more feminine Applegate on Broadway since Victor Garber did Damn Yankees.) Anyway, Victoria Clark deserves the Tony. Little Women didn't really challenge Sutton Foster and Sherie Rene Scott was really just playing Sherie Rene Scott in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I haven't seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and I do like Erin Dilly, but I think this is Clark's category in a walk.

I think Christopher Sieber's probably a lock for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, and while all of the women in the Featured Actress category are swell, I nod to Joanna Gleason. After Norby, she was my favorite thing about Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Best Scenic Design: Sight unseen, I'd guess Anthony Ward will get it for Chitty and Tim Hatley will probably win Best Costumes for Spamalot, although I though William Ivey Long's clothes for La Cage were a lot of fun. Best Lighting Design is no question: Christopher Akerlind for Piazza. The light for the show is, after all, the title character, and he made it a role to remember.

For the plays, the rightly legendary John Lee Beatty leads for Best Scenic Design with Doubt, and while I didn't see The Rivals, none of the other costume nominees were particularly stretched by their assignments, so I'll give the edge to Jess Goldstein, whose work I've appreciated in the past (those towels in Take Me Out!) and who probably deserves something for surviving Good Vibrations. I really liked Brian MacDevitt's lights for The Pillowman, and that's the only one among the nominees that stood out for me, so there you go.

Best Leading Actor in a Play: I bet Billy Crudup gets it for The Pillowman, but I'd give it to Brian O'Byrne for Doubt, while passing the Best Actress trophy to Cherry Jones with the other hand. (I haven't seen On Golden Pond nor Sight Unseen, but Bill Irwin and Kathleen Turner were awful—horribly miscast and poorly directed—in Virginia Woolf, and I like Bill Irwin and Kathleen Turner!) Best Featured Actor: Who the hell knows? All of the Glengarry Glen Ross guys were fantastic, even Liev Schreiber who I ordinarily can't stand. Edge to Alda, I suppose. Either Adriane Lenox or Heather Goldenhersh could take Featured Actress and I'd be happy; they gave solid performances and (have you guessed?) I loved the play.

Best Direction: Mike Nichols (musical), Doug Hughes (play). Best Choreography: Jerry Mitchell, probably for La Cage aux Folles (poor fella, if he wins, he loses). The Piazza should take Best Orchestrations; could they possibly have crammed in more strings?!

Hmm...I sat down to jot a few notes and I think I hit all the major awards. Maybe I'm more enthusiastic about the season than I realized.