Here’s what to expect today: There were nine new musicals this season, and just five of them will be nominated for the best musical Tony Award, which is generally the prize with the biggest financial upside. Four of the best musical spots are likely to go to “A Strange Loop,” which is an outré metamusical about an aspiring writer making a musical about an aspiring writer making a musical; “Girl From the North Country,” which uses the songs of Bob Dylan to tell a story about a Depression-era boardinghouse; “MJ,” which is a biographical jukebox musical about Michael Jackson; and “Six,” which imagines the wives of Henry VIII competing at a pop concert. What else will be nominated? That is harder to predict; stay tuned. In the competition for best play, one contender looms especially large: “The Lehman Trilogy,” which is a sprawling exploration of the rise and fall of the Lehman Brothers financial empire. This season was also noted for its historically high number of plays by Black writers, and watch for a few of them to score nominations, possibly including “Pass Over,” “Skeleton Crew” or “Clyde’s.” Also in contention: “Hangmen” and “The Minutes.” There were only four musical revivals this season, and three or four of them will score nominations. Two of them are sure to be included: “Caroline, or Change” and “Company.” The two others — “The Music Man” and “Funny Girl” — though selling more strongly, were not well reviewed by critics, and it is not clear which of them will get nominated (if the nominators are closely divided, it could be both). There were nine play revivals, many praised by critics. Among the best reviewed were “Trouble in Mind,” “How I Learned to Drive,” “For Colored Girls,” “American Buffalo” and “Take Me Out.”
Source: Theater - nytimes.com
