2018 Tony Awards

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Mister Tee
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by Mister Tee »

I guess there might have been a year when I cared less about the Tonys, but I can't recall one offhand. This is of course partly because I've seen almost nothing, but also because the dominant contenders are just new versions of shows I saw a quarter- or even half-century ago.

The shows that are almost certain to win best play and best musical -- Harry Potter/The Band's Visit -- are simultaneously sure-shots and default victors, with competition very light. Corresponding directing categories might play out with more interest. Harry Potter is a visual spectacle, which has often led to directing wins, like Indecent last year, and both of Marianne Elliott's wins. On the other hand, Elliott herself is here, attached to a much-beloved revival, that's also no slouch in the staging department. Jump ball. On the musical side, the question is, will The Band's Visit take the prize in a mini-sweep, or might one of the revivals slip in? This is something we especially ask because The Band's Visit is thought to be an underdog for Book of a Musical, where there's widespread feeling Broadway will want to salute Tina Fey for coming to play, the way they did Cyndi Lauper a few years back.

As for the acting awards: I'd say Jackson, Garfield, Lenk and Lane are for sure, Metcalf extremely likely as well. Actor in a musical is one of the few true toss-ups, and I wouldn't bet against the Spongebob guy. The Tonys have shown a propensity for voting familiar names multiple awards (Lansbury, Audra, Rylance), which has a lot of people zeroing in on Butz for featured actor in a musical -- but that's a pretty decent category, and might be ripe for a surprise. On the female support side, I don't think there's massive enthusiasm for any of the nominees, which could also lead to an unexpected outcome.

I wouldn't even hazard a guess below the line.
Big Magilla
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by Big Magilla »

The Times predictions seem accurate. The biggest question of the night is how long will Glenda Jackson's standing ovation last?

As for the featured acting winners - I would say Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf, Norbert Leo Butz and either Lindsay Mendez or Diana Rigg.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/thea ... ctionfront
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by Jefforey Smith »

It's always fun following the Tonys -- I've read The New York Times poll of voters (sadly, they don't survey members on the featured acting races), USA Today's predictions, & Variety. Happy viewing!
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by flipp525 »

I have been listening to Gypsy this weekend, alternating cast recordings, so it was a nice surprise to log on here and see the Imelda Staunton posts. I think she is absolutely superb in the role; her “Rose’s Turn” is one of my favorites. I would highly recommend Bernadette Peters’ performance of the song on the 2003 Tony Awards (it’s just criminal that she lost the Tony that year to the girl from Hairspray). It’s considered by many to be one of the finest performance on the awards show telecast. Here is Bernadette: https://youtu.be/gCU2Wd4crr0

Angela Lansbury’s version of the song is pretty iconic and almost frightening. Apparently, at the end, Lansbury would bow and bow over and over again as if Rose has fallen into madness.

dws, Staunton was a really wonderful Sally in Follies in London. She was utterly heartbreaking during “Too Many Mornings” and totally nailed her delusional descent into the abyss. I wrote about it at the time but the entire National Theater production was very successfully mounted. It’s such a big and beautiful show.
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by dws1982 »

She's good. Not as slick and polished as some, which may be why some of the people on that Broadway message board didn't like her. (I haven't heard her Sweeney Todd or Follies, so I can't say how she is there.) You almost feel like she's about to hit her vocal limit in "Rose's Turn", but I think it's a deliberate acting choice on her part rather than actually over-extending herself. And I think it works really well for the character's mentality in that moment. There's a cast album of this recording so you can hear it that way too.
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by Greg »

dws1982 wrote:It's very much worth seeing, and Staunton is an excellent Mama Rose.
What kind of a singer is she?
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by dws1982 »

Not part of this year's Tonys, but potentially part of next years (because the production is looking at a transfer) is the Gypsy revival with Imelda Staunton that played the West End a couple of years ago.

I'm only bringing it up because it was filmed and broadcast in theaters (and I think, on television in some places), and that recording is available to watch on Amazon. If you have Amazon Prime, you can watch it for free--just subscribe to the one-week free trial of Broadway HD and you can watch it (just make sure you cancel before the week is up or they'll charge you for the full month). It's very much worth seeing, and Staunton is an excellent Mama Rose. Some people on a Broadway message board I looked at were less impressed, but I couldn't quite understand what their criticism was, beyond general outrage that it wasn't a Grand Dame of Broadway in the role. I think the fact that she doesn't have a larger than life persona really works in her favor. The rest of the cast (which would probably change, at least to some degree, if it transferred) is excellent as well.
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by The Original BJ »

Glenda Jackson was interviewed on Vanity Fair’s podcast this week, and she was asked — in lieu of her Oscar/Emmy absences — if she’ll be attending the Tonys. Sounds like she is!
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by Greg »

flipp525 wrote:His mood shift in the play is just as startling as the film’s Michael and Parsons does a great job of keeping the whole ensemble together through the Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf-style drunken confrontations that begin to accumulate.
My reaction of the films is that, even while they cover much the same territory, I found Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? to be electric and compelling; but, The Boys In The Band just hit me as too overwrought.
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by flipp525 »

Mart Crowley’s groundbreaking play The Boys in the Band opened right after the Tony Award nominations for this year, but I’m going to put my review of it in this thread because I think Jim Parsons’ performance could figure into next year’s nominations. (Apparently, Parsons was injured during yesterday’s matinee performance thus cancelling the Saturday night show. I’m not sure how long it will take for him to recover. He is on stage the entire show and is the lead of the play so I could see this posing a problem. The show has not officially opened yet.)

I saw the show last Friday night. The performances definitely improve upon some of the more creaky, dated elements of the play. But it's best, of course, to go into the show thinking of it as a time period piece revival and not anything that explicitly has to do with contemporary gay life (although, its elements of self-hatred, yearning for acceptance, and incisive gay bitchiness are pretty timeless). Jim Parsons was the clear standout. I thought he absolutely nailed the central role of Michael. His mood shift in the play is just as startling as the film’s Michael and Parsons does a great job of keeping the whole ensemble together through the Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf-style drunken confrontations that begin to accumulate. Parsons was absolutely the stand-out along with Michael Benjamin Washington and Tony-nominee Robin de Jesus who play Bernard and Emory, respectively. de Jesus nails that incredibly affecting monologue in the play’s second half. Matt Bomer does a great job playing the compassionate Donald, never veering into the territory of being recessive window dressing (we saw him two days later at Three Tall Women and he really has this waxen, mannequin thing going on - he is very beautiful). He reminds me of the Harold line from the show that goes something like, "Sure, he's beautiful but I couldn't fuck him because he can't speak intelligently about art). I’m not entirely sure what Andrew Rannells was going in this, but if you've ever seen him as Elijah on Girls, you've seen his The Boys in the Band performance. We all thought Charlie Carver was a huge miss as the Cowboy. Did nothing with the role, had hideously dyed blond hair, and seemed to deliver every line as if it was going to bring the house down (but didn't). Le Tourneau in the film did so much more with the role. Kyle Dean Massey would've been excellent in the role and actually could've played 'Larry' as well. I think they should have just kept Carver's red hair.

Zachary Quinto acquits himself well in the role of Harold, but it doesn't seem like he's quite found the character just yet (the show is still in previews, I believe). I really have to give it to the set designer who creates an entire duplex apartment with living room, kitchen, with that kind of red carpeting and step-down living area (I can't think of what it's called when there's a step down into the living room, but you know, that 60's/70's look sort of like Don and Megan Draper's apartment in Mad Men - “sunken living room”?). I think the best seats are in the mezzanine level so you are on level with the second floor of the set (and have numerous opportunities to see Bomer's ass and prancing around in white underwear), but still get access to the main action down below.

We are friends with one of the other cast members and so we were able to go backstage after the show which was fun. I had a nice moment with Joe Mantello, Jim Parsons, and Matt Bomer.

I thought the play went on a little long without an intermission but that might have just been because of the champagne I had during the show. I think this production best viewed while slightly tipsy which were all were at the beginning.

All in all, a great night of theater and a very enthusiastic audience. The cast seemed really excited. The show has already done enormously well financially and I could easily see it being extended past it’s limited run.
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by Precious Doll »

mlrg wrote:Great post flipp
Most definitely. Can't help but feel a wee jealous as Glenda is one of my all-time favourites. I'd pay to watch her read the phone book.
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by mlrg »

Great post flipp
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by flipp525 »

The revival this Broadway season of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women is an extraordinary achievement. The obvious draw here is being able to see the legendary two-time Academy Award winner Glenda Jackson in her dominant Tony-nominated role as "A." Jackson must be viewed as the presumptive winner for the Tony this year in Best Actress in a Play. There are only four nominees in the category and one of them is, well, Amy Schumer, so, I mean, come on. But Jackson is every bit as good as you would suspect in Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning play based on the playwright's relationship with his adopted mother. At turns regal and conspiratorial then stricken and haunted, her performance is funny, raw, painful, and heartbreaking. She has a really wonderful sense of timing throughout and that booming British voice that can command every eye of the audience in a second.

But I have to say, I was equally bowled over and impressed by Laurie Metcalf (nominated in Best Featured Actress in a Play) who inhabits the stage with such authority and acumen in her role as "B." This was my first time seeing Metcalf perform on stage and she is so detailed in her work. Never sacrificing breathability for precision. If each moment feels natural, it can only be because she's allowed it to be so. Her monologue in Act II, delivered directly to the audience, is one of the my favorite moments in the theater. Alison Pill does a great job as the young "C" - creating a lot of hinge moments for the two other women to play off of. And there's nothing more heartbreaking than watching a younger version of a character asking for, pleading for, answers from her older selves about events she cannot even fathom are coming down the pike for her. The final moment of the play in which the three women join hands and wait for what is next to come, the elegant theme music piping through the speakers, and the lit frame of the stage increasing in halogen brilliance, is quite simply unforgettable. Run, do not walk, to this production immediately.

I saw the show at the Golden Theatre which is where I had seen The Normal Heart in 2011. I remembered Damien had seen me check in to the play on Facebook and had sent me a message to say that he lived not too far away and that I should ping him the next time I was in town so we could grab a drink. That, of course, never happened, but being back at this beautiful theater made me think of him. We waited at the stage door and got Metcalf and Pill to sign our playbills. Glenda Jackson came out about 15-20 minutes later in slicked-back hair and a men’s Army jacket. The bodyguard handed her a Sharpie and she came right over to us. As she signed my playbill, I said, "Ms. Jackson, you were just extraordinary tonight." She looked right at me and smiled and thanked me. She really took in my compliment and we had this wonderful moment together. I'll never forget her watery blue eyes and the kindness that shone out of them.

After meeting Maggie Smith at the Ivy in London in December (and complimenting her about her performance in California Suite in which she, of course, has a line about Glenda) and now Glenda Jackson in New York in May, I feel like I'm working my way through the Best Actress winners. So, I guess, next would be Jane Fonda in L.A. in August? ;-)

I saw The Boys in the Band the same weekend and can write about that in another post.
Last edited by flipp525 on Fri May 11, 2018 5:48 pm, edited 5 times in total.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by Big Magilla »

Another bit of trivia - if Diana Rigg wins for My Fair Lady she will be the first non-singing, non-dancing winner in a musical since Thomas Mitchell in Hazel Flagg, the 1953 musical version of Nothing Scared in which he played the doctor who delivers the wrong diagnosis to Hazel (Carole Lombard in the 1937 film with Charles Winninger as the doctor).
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Re: 2018 Tony Awards

Post by The Original BJ »

Mister Tee wrote:I do take note that Prior Walter -- which won Stephen Spinella a supporting Tony in 1993 -- is now the lead in Angels in America, while Roy Cohn -- which won Ron Leibman the lead Tony that year -- is now supporting. Tonys doing Tonys.
And Hailey Kilgore is nominated as lead actress for the same role LaChanze was nominated as featured actress in Once On This Island almost 30 years ago.
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