2023 Tony Awards

[Mister Tee]

I guess I should have something to say about these, but I haven't been to the theatre all season, and have no expectation of getting there anytime soon, so it's all second-hand.

Pretty remarkable that the Best Play list includes three Pulitzer prize winners -- also, that likely none of them will win, with Leopoldstadt the favorite. (Added factoid: the play revival category includes two more Pulitzer winners -- and that's with them passing up Death of a Salesman. Hail Columbia.)

The Best Musical category seems to offer a classic Art or Commerce? choice, with Kimberly Akimbo representing the first and Some Like It Hot the second. Oddly, the latter feels like it needs the boost a Tony might give, as word is it's not the popular hit expected in a NY theatre world still not fully out of COVID-time.

Like everyone, I was surprised by Laura Linney's omission (also the absence of her play from the Best Play category). I'd assume Jodie Comer has a leg up on that category, given her solo status.

Best actor in a play, by contrast, I have no idea about.

Ghee is thought to be the favorite in Musical Actor. And maybe Victoria Clark is in line for her second Tony, on the female side?

Life of Pi seems likely to plow through the play design categories, and I'd guess New York, New York and Some Like It Hot will battle for the ones on the musical side.

It's a sign I'm getting old that no one I've met, even incidentally, was in contention this year.

[flipp525]

Interesting that Jessica Hecht got the nomination over Laura Linney for Summer, 1976. I haven’t read or seen it. Perhaps Hecht has the more interesting role. Linney has been nominated five times in the Lead Actress in a Play category and never won.

I was hoping that David Krumholz, Faye Castelow, Eden Epstein, and Arty Foushan would all have joined Brandon Uranowitz with Leopoldstadt nominations but I’m happy that at least Uranowitz pulled through. That play was absolutely incredible and will hopefully win Best Play for Tom Stoppard’s swan song. Unforgettable and very powerful.

There is some discussion about Philippa Soo being snubbed for both Camelot and Into the Woods. As long as Jordan Donica got in, I’m happy.

Jessica Chastain is certainly continuing her sweep of acting awards with a nomination for A Doll’s House. She’ll certainly be nominated for an Emmy for George and Tammy later this summer. Could she be three/fourth’s of the way to EGOT within only two years?

[Big Magilla]

Not a lot of controversy in the nominations.

The biggest snub is apparently Laura Linney in Summer, 1976 which is a bit of a headscratcher because there were only four nominees in the category when there was expected to be five.

Colton Ryan, who is nominated for Best Actor in a Musical for New York, New York is up against Ben Platt in Parade. Ryan played the role originated by Mike Faist opposite Platt in the film version of Dear Evan Hanson for which Platt won a Tony. He had been the understudy for both Platt and Faist on Broadway. Is this the first time an actor and his or her former understudy have been nominated for Tonys in the same category?

Some Like It Hot is the second musical version of the 1959 film. New York, New York is the Broadway version of the 1977 film albeit with additional music. Is the this the first time two musicals based on old movies have been nominated for Best Musical in the same year? And is John Kander, who at 96 co-wrote the additional songs with Lin-Manuel Miranda, the oldest composer of a new Broadway musical ever?

[Big Magilla]

Top Categories

Best Play
Ain’t No Mo’, Jordan E. Cooper
Between Riverside and Crazy, Stephen Adly Guirgis
Cost of Living, Martyna Majok
Fat Ham, James lJames
Leopoldstadt, Tom Stoppard

Best Musical
& Juliet
Kimberly Akimbo
New York, New York
Shucked
Some Like It Hot

Best Revival of a Play
A Doll's House
August Wilson's The Piano Lessons
The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window
Suzan Lori-Parks's Topdog/Underdog

Best Revival of a Musical
Into the Woods
Lerner & Loewe's Camelot
Parade
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best Book of a Musical
David West Read, & Juliet
David Lindsay-Abaire, Kimberly Akimbo
David Thompson & Sharon Washington, New York, New York
Robert Horn, Shucked
Matthew López & Amber Ruffin, Some Like It Hot

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Almost Famous
Kimberly Akimbo
KPOP
Shucked
Some Like It Hot

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog
Corey Hawkins, Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog
Sean Hayes, Goodnight, Oscar
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Between Riverside and Crazy
Wendell Pierce, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Jessica Chastain, A Doll’s House
Jodie Comer, Prima Facie
Jessica Hecht, Summer, 1976
Audra McDonald, Ohio State Murders

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Christian Borle, Some Like It Hot
J. Harrison Ghee, Some Like It Hot
Josh Groban, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Brian d’Arcy James, Into the Woods
Ben Platt, Parade
Colton Ryan, New York, New York

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Annaleigh Ashford, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Sara Bareilles, Into the Woods
Victoria Clark, Kimberly Akimbo
Lorna Courtney, & Juliet
Micaela Diamond, Parade

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Jordan E. Cooper, Ain't No Mo'
Samuel L. Jackson, August Wilson's The Piano Lesson
Arian Moayed, A Doll's House
Brandon Uranowitz, Leopoldstadt
David Zayas, Cost of Living

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Nikki Crawford, Fat Ham
Crystal Lucas-Perry, Ain't No Mo'
Miriam Silverman, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window
Katy Sullivan, Cost of Living
Kara Young, Cost of Living

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Kevin Cahoon, Shucked
Justin Cooley, Kimberly Akimbo
Kevin Del Aguila, Some Like It Hot
Jordan Donica, Lerner & Loewe's Camelot
Alex Newell, Shucked

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Julia Lester, Into the Woods
Ruthie Ann Miles, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Bonnie Milligan, Kimberly Akimbo
NaTasha Yvette Williams, Some Like It Hot
Betsy Wolfe, & Juliet

Best Direction of a Play
Saheem Ali, Fat Ham
Jo Bonney, Cost of Living
Jamie Lloyd, A Doll's House
Patrick Marber, Leopoldstadt
Stevie Walker-Webb, Ain't No Mo'
Max Webster, Life of Pi

Best Direction of a Musical
Michael Arden, Parade
Lear deBessonet, Into the Woods
Casey Nicholaw, Some Like It Hot
Jack O'Brien, Shucked
Jessica Stone, Kimberly Akimbo

[anonymous1980]

The nominations have been announced.

Any thoughts?