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Wednesday, June 6, 2007

The Tony Awards: If I had my way

Updated June 10: I've added the actual winners in brackets at the end of each of my choices.

Faithful (and handsome) correspondent Stefan asked, after reading my roundup of theatre moments over the past season, if I'd consider sharing my predictions for Sunday's Tony Awards.

While I'm loathe to turn down a request from a hottie reader, here's the thing. I don't do predictions. I suck at them. I mean really, really suck.

So half a bargain? Here's who and what would be taking home Tonys if I were king of the forest:

Lighting Design: I'd give it to Chris Akerlind for 110 in the Shade; Chris always does wonderful work, but he really hit it out of the park here. It was just gorgeous. I'd give three trophies to Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Psner and Natasha Katz for The Coast of Utopia trilogy. [Musical: Kevin Adams, Spring Awakening; Play: The Coast of Utopia]
Costume Design: William Ivey Long for Grey Gardens, and Ti Green and Melly Still for Coram Boy. [Musical: Grey Gardens; Play: Catherine Zuber, The Coast of Utopia]
Scenic Design: Bob Crowley and Scott Pask for The Coast of Utopia; Christine Jones for Spring Awakening. [Musical: Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins; Play: The Coast of Utopia]
Orchestrations: Jonathan Tunick for LoveMusik, closely followed by...Jonathan Tunick for 110 in the Shade. [Duncan Sheik, Spring Awakening]
Choreography: Kind of torn here, since I loved what Jerry Mitchell did with Legally Blonde, but I'd give the nod to Rob Ashford's work on Curtains. [Bill T. Jones, Spring Awakening]
Direction of a Musical: John Doyle for Company. He really pulled the whole production together, and his conceit of actors-as-orchestra worked ideally here. [Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening]
Direction of a Play: Another toughie, but my award goes to Michael Grandage for Frost/Nixon, a superlative production all around. [Jack O'Brien, The Coast of Utopia]
Featured Actress in a Musical: Karen Ziemba in Curtains. (As I noted before, I'd love to see her up for a leading lady Tony sometime soon.) [Mary Louise Wilson, Grey Gardens]
Featured Actor in a Musical: John Gallagher Jr. for Spring Awakening, closely followed by Christian Borle in Legally Blonde. [John Gallagher Jr., Spring Awakening]
Featured Actress in a Play: Jennifer Ehle in The Coast of Utopia. [Jennifer Ehle, The Coast of Utopia]
Featured Actor in a Play: Stark Sands in Journey's End. [Billy Crudup, The Coast of Utopia]
Leading Actress in a Musical: Man alive, this is the hardest category for me to choose, because each of the nominees gave performances that knocked me out, but I'll go with my first choice, which is Christine Ebersole in Grey Gardens. [Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens]
Leading Actor in a Musical: Raúl Esparza in Company. Hands down, no contest. Best. Bobby. Ever. [David Hyde Pierce, Curtains]
Leading Actress in a Play: I loved Eve Best in A Moon for the Misbegotten, but I really want the Tony to go to Julie White from The Little Dog Laughed. She split my sides. [Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed]
Leading Actor in a Play: Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon. An amazing, mesmerizing performance. [Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon]
Best Theatrical Event: Alas, I missed both nominees, but Kiki & Herb are my sentimental favorite. [Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!]
Best Revival of a Musical: If Company wasn't in the running, this would be 110 in the Shade's award. But I gotta go with Mr. Sondheim's masterpiece under Mr. Doyle's direction. Almost perfect. [Company]
Best Revival of a Play: Journey's End. [Journey's End]
Best Original Score: Spring Awakening. [Duncan Sheik, Steven Sater, Spring Awakening]
Best Book of a Musical: Spring Awakening. [Steven Sater, Spring Awakening]
Best Musical: While acknowledging that Spring Awakening has the edge here, my award would go to Curtains for sheer fun. [Spring Awakening]
Best Play: Mr. Stoppard's marathon The Coast of Utopia, trailed by Peter Morgan's Frost/Nixon. [The Coast of Utopia]