Tony Awards (Theater Awards)

Subterms

    More stories

    • 163 Shares199 Views

      in Theater

      Paula Vogel on ‘How I Learned to Drive’ Tony Nominations: ‘I’m Just Thrilled’

      by

      The playwright Paula Vogel was first nominated for a Tony in 2017, for “Indecent.” Now she has a second Tony nomination for “How I Learned to Drive,” which she wrote in two weeks, 25 years ago. A play about abuse, love and survival, it interrogates the relationship between Uncle Peck and his underage niece, Li’l Bit.The actors who created the roles Off Broadway, Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse, have returned for the play’s Broadway debut, as has its director, Mark Brokaw. Both actors have been nominated, too. Speaking from her home in Wellfleet, Mass., Vogel said she planned to spend the day “doing all of my chores, so I can get on a train and come down to New York tomorrow, which will be exciting.” Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.So how does it feel?It’s more fun and lovely the second time around. This one feels like just a joint celebration with Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse and Mark Brokaw. I mean, we all came back 25 years later. So this is a real phenomenon to me. And I’m thrilled. I’m just thrilled.Why do you think it took this long for the show to come to Broadway?I mean, it’s interesting. Mary-Louise Parker was talking about The Village Voice. The cover was a photograph of that original production. And the headline said, “Too Tough for Uptown.” I remember seeing that and thinking, “That can’t be true.” We do tough things all the time on Broadway. I have to say that this season has made me so happy, with “Pass Over,” with “For Colored Girls.” It’s odd. I actually feel as if I’m home this season in a way that I never have before. I’m starting to accept that it took that much time for the play.And then of course the pandemic meant a further delay.I’m obstinate and stubborn. I held on. These actors have held on, Mark held on, we’ve all held on. We didn’t stop working even during the two years of Covid. We thought about it every day. We communicated our desire to each other every week. So it’s a miracle: that the entire community got through the two years and we’re back, that after 25 years this has transferred to Broadway.You wrote this play as a younger woman and at a time in which our culture was having fewer conversations about abuse. Would you write it the same way now?The difference between now and then is that I’ve grown comfortable with being a survivor. The play has been a gift to me in that it gets lighter every year. It gets farther away, that shore of adolescence and pain. It retreats in a certain way. Would I write it differently? I don’t think I would. There are certain plays in my life that have come out in two weeks. This is one of them. I sat down and didn’t stop. It was just straight from my heart. I don’t think those plays you rewrite.What is it like to watch the same extraordinary actors do the same roles 25 years later?The layers are incredible. You feel these actors processing every moment of their experience. And it makes it deeper and richer. I don’t have words to express how grateful I am to Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse. More

    • 150 Shares139 Views

      in Theater

      Tony Nomination Snubs and Surprises: Daniel Craig, ‘Funny Girl’ and ‘Paradise Square’

      by

      Tony nominations morning is always filled with joy for lots of performers, theater artists and producers who find themselves in contention for Broadway’s biggest recognition. But there are also always some who are overlooked, and others who are just gobsmacked.Here are some of the snubs, surprises and observations about Monday’s list:The nominators spread out their admiration quite widely: Of the 34 eligible shows, 29 got at least one nod, including the critically scorned “Diana.” But five new plays were completely overlooked. Most surprising: “Pass Over,” the well-reviewed and bracing drama by Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, and also the first play to open after the pandemic lockdown. Also scoring no nominations: “Birthday Candles,” by Noah Haidle; “Chicken & Biscuits,” by Douglas Lyons; “Is This a Room,” by Tina Satter; and “Thoughts of a Colored Man,” by Keenan Scott II.The Civil War-era musical “Paradise Square” has had an especially tortuous road to Broadway, and so far ticket sales have been quite weak. But the show’s fortunes on Monday had to offer comfort and hope: It snagged an impressive 10 nominations, tying for the second most of any show. Joaquina Kalukango was always a sure thing in the lead actress in a musical category, but nominators also singled out two of her supporting co-stars, Sidney DuPont and A.J. Shively. The show drew attention in most of the major technical categories as well, including for Bill T. Jones’s choreography, but one key member of the creative team was left out: the director, Moisés Kaufman.Several major stars who are drawing big crowds to their shows failed to impress. Among them: the married couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, who are starring in a smash revival of “Plaza Suite” that scored just one nomination, for costume design, and Daniel Craig, who is playing the title role in a revival of “Macbeth.” (His co-star, Ruth Negga, did get nominated, and the production was also nominated for lighting and sound design.)Tony nominators followed the critics, raining on the parade for the highly anticipated revival of “Funny Girl.” While it was the beloved musical’s first time back on Broadway in nearly 60 years, it scored only one nomination, for the tap-dancing supporting actor Jared Grimes. And Beanie Feldstein, who drew tepid notices filling Barbra Streisand’s shoes as Fanny Brice, did not receive a best actress nomination.How to handle the many ensemble-driven shows was always going to be a challenge for the nominators. In the case of “The Lehman Trilogy,” they bestowed riches on everyone, nominating all three lead actors — Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Adrian Lester — and expanding the category to make room for them all. For the musical “Six,” on the other hand, a cast twice the size proved hard to rank, and none of the actresses playing the six wives of Henry VIII were crowned.That Jesse Tyler Ferguson would be nominated for his role in “Take Me Out” seemed a sure bet. And the suave star power of Jesse Williams, as the baseball demigod Darren Lemming, vaulted him to a nomination as well. But the big surprise was a third nod in the supporting actor category for the far less well-known Michael Oberholtzer, whose wounded ferocity as a racist teammate put him in (friendly?) competition with his co-stars.Another show also struggling at the box office — a revival of the choreopoem “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf” — also did quite well on Monday. The production had announced an early closing date of May 22, and must now decide whether its seven nominations, plus a social-media-fueled pay-it-forward campaign to get tickets into the hands of those who might not otherwise be able to afford them, are enough to extend the run. More

    • 125 Shares139 Views

      in Theater

      The coronavirus posed a special challenge to the Tony nominators.

      by

      The pandemic has made this comeback theater season an unusually rocky one. After a joyous reopening following the long, painful shutdown, the Omicron surge led to a ton of holiday closings, and another spike in positive cases this spring led to a rolling wave of performer absences and occasional show cancellations.That disruption was upsetting for artists and fans, and damaging for producers and investors.It also posed an unprecedented complication for Tony nominators, who are not only required to see every eligible production, but also to see the performances of all Tony-eligible actors.That’s always hard — most of the nominators have day jobs, and some of them live outside New York, and many shows have limited runs. But this season, two factors made it even harder: a higher-than-normal number of shows opened in April, just before the deadline to be eligible for a Tony, and the spike in spring cases meant that key actors often missed performances. (Among the possible nominees who tested positive for the coronavirus near the season’s end: Daniel Craig, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Laurence Fishburne and Ramin Karimloo. Plus: Billy Crystal canceled two performances of “Mr. Saturday Night,” citing the flu.)For nominators, that made the ordinary complexity of end-of-season scheduling far trickier — so difficult, in fact, that the Tony administrators wound up delaying the nominations by six days to give the nominators more time to see shows.Even so, the number of nominators who managed to get to the finish line is low. There are usually about 50 nominators per season, some of whom wind up recusing themselves when a conflict of interest develops; this season there were just 29 who were able to participate in the voting. More

    • 100 Shares149 Views

      in Theater

      The Tony nominations are being announced right now.

      by

      As the theater industry continues its attempt to rebound after its lengthy pandemic shutdown, the industry this morning began its effort to celebrate the best work on Broadway by announcing a new set of Tony nominees.The first nods, to designers, are being followed by nominations for performers and shows.The nominations are being announced, on YouTube, by the actors Adrienne Warren and Joshua Henry.We have an updating list of all the nominees here.There are 34 eligible shows, all but one of which opened after theaters reopened. (The exception: “Girl From the North Country,” a musical that opened just before the shutdown.)The shows were all hoping to win nods in some of this year’s 26 competitive categories. Producers hope that nominations will lead not only to awards, but also to a bump in the box office, which has not recovered to prepandemic levels. And for artists, a nomination or a win can lead to more job opportunities and higher salaries.The nominees were chosen by a group of 29 nominators who saw all eligible shows and voted last Friday. Next, the 650 Tony voters have until June 10 to cast their ballots, and the Tony Awards will be announced on June 12. More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Theater

      The Tony nominations are being announced this morning. Here’s how to watch.

      by

      This year’s Tony Awards nominations, honoring work on Broadway as the industry tries to bounce back after the long coronavirus shutdown, are being announced at 9 a.m. Eastern today.The nominations will be announced by the actors Adrienne Warren (she won a Tony Award for portraying Tina Turner in “Tina”) and Joshua Henry (he’s a three-time Tony nominee, most recently for “Carousel”).We’ll have news and reaction throughout the day, and you can stream the announcement here.The Tony Awards, formally known as the Antoinette Perry Awards, honor plays and musicals staged on Broadway. They are presented by the Broadway League and the American Theater Wing.The nominations were determined by a committee of 29 people who saw all of the eligible shows and then voted on Friday by secret ballot. The nominators are not allowed to have a financial interest in any of the eligible shows.This is the first Tony Awards for which shows that opened after the start of the coronavirus pandemic will be considered — all but one of the eligible shows opened after theaters reopened following the lengthy pandemic shutdown. (The exception — “Girl From the North Country” — actually opened in 2020, but theaters shut down so soon afterward that not enough Tony voters were able to see it for it to be considered during last year’s awards ceremony.)This year there are 34 shows vying for awards in 26 categories; to be eligible, the shows had to have opened between Feb. 20, 2020, and May 4, 2022. (Last year, there was a delayed Tony Awards ceremony honoring shows that opened during the abbreviated 2019-2020 theater season.)This year’s awards ceremony will take place on June 12 at Radio City Music Hall; a three-hour performance-heavy segment will be broadcast on television by CBS, preceded by a one-hour awards-focused segment streamed on Paramount+. The ceremony will be hosted by Ariana DeBose, who earlier this year won an Academy Award for “West Side Story.” More

    • 75 Shares179 Views

      in Theater

      What’s playing on Broadway right now?

      by

      From new shows like “MJ” and “A Strange Loop” to long-running Tony Award winners, our guide breaks down everything you need to navigate Broadway.Our guide offers an overview of the productions onstage now — including the bounty of comedies of all stripes this spring, from “POTUS” to “Plaza Suite” — along with some tips on planning your experience in a time of continued uncertainty, including how to buy tickets, for which refunds and exchanges are often possible, and navigating Covid-19 protocols. LAURA COLLINS-HUGHES More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Theater

      Most Broadway theaters have ended vaccination checks as coronavirus cases are rising.

      by

      A man had his photo I.D. out and in his hand as walked up to the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater on Broadway to see “Come From Away,” but no one checked it. The families streaming in to see “The Lion King” were told to have their tickets out and their masks on, but there was no mention of vaccine cards. And the Covid safety officers in neon yellow vests who used to patrol outside “Six” were gone.Most Broadway theaters stopped checking the vaccination status of their patrons last week for the first time since they began to reopen last summer, easing safety protocols the same week rising coronavirus cases placed New York City into a higher risk level.The industry hopes that doing away with vaccine checks — which have also been eliminated at New York City restaurants, movie theaters and other venues — will make theatergoing more attractive, and that the remaining mask mandate will help keep audiences safe as cases have risen, but hospitalizations and deaths remain low.While some patrons welcomed the change, others said they felt uneasy about going into crowded theaters without the assurance that their seatmates were vaccinated, and several nonprofit Broadway theaters continue to require proof of vaccination.“I just don’t feel as safe as I have the past several months,” said Lauren Broyles, 44, an executive assistant from Hershey, Pa., who visited New York to see shows several times last winter but said she had stopped planning a summer theater trip after reading that Broadway dropped its vaccine mandate. “I’m waiting to hear what’s next.”But Michael Anderson, 48, of Hudson, N.Y., who was standing in line the other day to see “Hangmen,” said he thought that while vaccine checks had made sense earlier, he felt they were no longer necessary. “At this point, I’m vaccinated and boosted,” he said. More

    • 88 Shares179 Views

      in Theater

      What to expect from this year’s nominations.

      by

      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.” More