The Tony Awards

[Damien]

From the NY Post:

Second 'Enron' collapse
By MICHAEL RIEDEL


I'm pretty adept at inflicting pain on theater people. But I'm no match for those sadists on the Tony Award nominating committee.

Their snubs elicited squeals of pain and howls of outrage around Broadway yesterday. It was great fun, and I salute, with my bastinado, each and every one of the 27 nominators.

You guys did more damage in one day than the critics did all season.

And now let's pick through the carnage.

The most devastating blow was dealt to "Enron," Lucy Prebble's play about the collapse of the infamous American conglomerate. Directed with all sorts of bells and whistles by Rupert Goold, "Enron," a critical and box office smash in London, was touted as the play to beat this year.

Rich investors with a taste for Tonys were throwing money at the show, certain they'd soon be adding another trophy to their shelves.

"Look at all the heavy hitters above the title," says one producer, who kept clear of the project. "That's a formidable list of Tony collectors."

The producers of "Enron" were so convinced they had a hot property on their hands that they raised the price of admission: To invest in "Enron," you also had to put money into their other show, the Dame Edna-Michael Feinstein fiasco, "All About Me."

But yesterday, the nominators turned up their noses at "Enron," nominating instead two shows that are no longer running: "In the Next Room (or the vibrator play)" and "Time Stands Still." (The two other nominees are "Red" and "Next Fall.")

They also snubbed Goold, whose jaunty bouffant hairdo has, I'm told, begun to deflate. And they ignored the show's star, Norbert Leo Butz.

Locked out of the Tony race, "Enron" will close Sunday -- at a loss of $4 million.

"What a f - - - ing disaster," says an investor.

The producers of "American Idiot" are in a foul mood as well. They got the big nod -- Best Musical -- but the performers and the script were snubbed. Even more shocking, Michael Mayer wasn't nominated for his direction. He was widely thought to have a lock not only on the nomination, but also the award.

"Why are there no designers or orchestrators or more than two people under the age of 50 on the nominating committee?" one of the producers harrumphed yesterday. "Not that I'm bitter!"

Savvy insiders think the poor showing of "American Idiot" -- it got only three nominations yesterday -- indicates that its support among Tony voters is also thin.

"People do not like this show," says a veteran producer. "It's too loud and you can't hear the lyrics. The book's full of clichés. Youthful angst is getting boring."

Another producer thinks the race for Best Musical is between "Fela!" -- which got 11 nominations -- and "Memphis," which got eight.

I agree -- and the outcome will tell us a lot about how cynical and commercially oriented the voting has become now that the press has been trimmed from the roll of Tony voters.

"Fela!" is the superior show artistically. But road presenters, who make up about 12 percent of the Tony voters, don't think it will play around the country. They prefer the anodyne "Memphis."

"I talk to them all the time, and I'm telling you they like 'Memphis,' " one producer says.

"Memphis" enters the race with a solid voting bloc behind it. "Fela!" -- which would have had the press on its side -- doesn't. If it loses to "Memphis," the Tonys really will be a sham.

The producers of Twyla Tharp's "Come Fly Away" were in shock that their Tharpical lost a Best Musical slot to the low-rent "Million Dollar Quartet."

They didn't expect to win, but they could have put together a nifty Sinatra dance segment on the Tony telecast that probably would have sold a lot of tickets.

One investor says of the nominators: "I think they should all be sent to Twyla Tharp boot camp."

The nominators administered a well-deserved thwack to Hollywood hotshots Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, whose production of "Promises, Promises" failed to land a nomination for Best Revival of a Musical. Their star, Kristin Chenoweth, was snubbed as well. So was director Rob Ashford, who until yesterday was being touted as the next great director-choreographer. (Ah, the best-laid plans of mice and men and CAA.)

Zadan and Meron came to Broadway with a big chip on their shoulders, sources say.

"They reek of Hollywood arrogance," says a rival producer, chuckling. "They thought they knew everything about musicals. They were going to show us how to produce a hit Broadway show."

But as soon as "Promises" got into trouble in previews -- the book needed rewriting, Chenoweth was at sea, the brilliant supporting player Katie Finneran was getting more applause than Chenoweth and Sean Hayes -- the Hollywood hotshots became paralyzed. They were terrified of crossing Neil Simon, sources say, and so they left their leading lady out to dry as she struggled with a dated, underwritten role.

Their next production will be a revival of "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."

It will be interesting to see how they go about ruining that show.

AND the Tony Award for Cowardice goes to Lucy Liu of "God of Carnage," the only actor on Broadway who refused to go on Saturday night during the bomb scare.

She panicked after talking to police outside the theater. Her understudy bravely went on with the show's other stars, Jeff Daniels, Janet McTeer and Dylan Baker.

I'm told she feels "terrible" now about missing the performance.

Well, Lucy, there's a saying in the theater: The show must go on.

Take your lead from Nathan Lane, the star of "The Addams Family."

He's in a bomb every night, but he never misses!

michael.riedel@nypost.com

[Big Magilla]

Already-closed Best Play nominee Time Stands Still is returning to Broadway this fall. That doesn't happen too often, does it?

No, but it happens. Time Stands Still was given a limited run as opposed to having failed the first time around so the producers obviously feel it still has potential.

[dws1982]

Already-closed Best Play nominee Time Stands Still is returning to Broadway this fall. That doesn't happen too often, does it?

[dws1982]

Enron posted a closing notice for Sunday night.

[Mister Tee]

Of the 11 shows with 4 or more nominations, 7 are revivals. That tells you just about all you need to know about this season.

Ehh, it's been so long that Broadway's been a hotbed of original works (and that's directly linked to the ascension of Off Broadway) so I have a hard time kvetching about a poor season when theatre overall is actually quite strong.

Certainly revivals have long since been a major factor in the Tonys, and the idea of a play or even musical originating on Broadway is strictly an old-timer's memory -- but usually there's a better assortment of off-Broadway/London/regional transfers of new work to give the season the appearance of life.

[Okri]

Of the 11 shows with 4 or more nominations, 7 are revivals. That tells you just about all you need to know about this season.

Ehh, it's been so long that Broadway's been a hotbed of original works (and that's directly linked to the ascension of Off Broadway) so I have a hard time kvetching about a poor season when theatre overall is actually quite strong.

[Okri]

When in doubt, American playwright > British playwright.

[Mister Tee]

Of the 11 shows with 4 or more nominations, 7 are revivals. That tells you just about all you need to know about this season.

You know, it's not as if Enron got universally hideous reviews -- if anything, they tipped positive. Does Ben Brantley hold that much sway with the nominating committee? It boggles me that a mediocrity like Time Stands Still got nominated in its stead.

I don't think I've ever cared less who wins.

[Sonic Youth]

Last week, I learned there was a Green Day Broadway musical. Now I've learned there's a show called "Fela!" Am I right in guessing this is about Fela Anikulapo Kuti?

Where's the Sonic Youth musical? We could call it "Sonic!" and star Mandy Patinkin and Cherry Jones as Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon

[Okri]

Mea culpa.

Also, incredibly starry line-up.

[Big Magilla]

I was right about the Best Actress in a Musical nods, but wrong about the White ladies in support - they went for Lillias over Terri.

Enron is nominated for its music and lyrics - I guess it's a musical non-musical like Say, Darling was in 1958.

Tony Nominations by Production
Fela! - 11
La Cage aux Folles - 11
Fences - 10
Memphis - 8
Ragtime - 7
Red - 7
A View from the Bridge - 6
The Royal Family - 5
Enron - 4
A Little Night Music - 4
Promises, Promises - 4
American Idiot - 3
Finian's Rainbow - 3
In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play - 3
Lend Me a Tenor - 3
Million Dollar Quartet - 3
The Addams Family - 2
Come Fly Away - 2
Everyday Rapture - 2
Hamlet - 2
Next Fall - 2
Time Stands Still - 2
A Behanding in Spokane - 1
Collected Stories - 1
Looped - 1
Present Laughter - 1
Race - 1
Superior Donuts - 1

[anonymous1980]

The nominations.

American Idiot only get 3 (!!!) noms. (2 techs and Best Musical).