2007-2008 Drama Desk Nominations

[Damien]

From the ultimate bitchy theatre queen, Michael Riedel in the NY Post:

WEAK IN THE NOMINEES
By MICHAEL RIEDEL


April 30, 2008 -- BROADWAY'S in the grip of Awards Anxiety, which, for an industry rife with back stabbers, gossip mongers and guttersnipes (I'm looking in the mirror), means things can get downright nasty.

Here's a sampling of the reaction to this year's Drama Desk (DD) and Outer Critics Circle (OCC) nominations:

"Twelve Drama Desk nominations for 'A Catered Affair'? Find me a Drama Desk nominator who didn't sleep through it! Find me anybody who didn't sleep through it!" - from a source deep in the camp of a rival musical.

"Ten Outer Critics Circle nominations for 'Young Frankenstein'? I have four words: 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' " - from a source who remembers that the OCC also showered that $10 million Edsel with 10 nominations.

"Sierra Boggess [DD nominee]? I'm not even sure who she is, and I saw 'Little Mermaid.' Well, the first act. Was she in the first act?" - from a source who's just downright rude.

This industry is so bitchy right now, even people whose shows were nominated are making fun of the people who did the nominating.

Here's an exchange I heard the other day:

Press agent 1: "The reason they're called the Outer Critics is because you want to keep them out of the theater!"

Press agent 2: "Have you seen the one who looks like a 1930s film star?"

Press agent 1: "Oh, that's being too kind."

Press agent 2: "No, I mean it. She looks like Vivien Leigh."

Press agent 1: "She looks like Vivian Vance."

Press agent 2: "How about the one with the crippled husband?"

Press agent 1: "I bet the polio picnic in 'Cry-Baby' went down well with him. No wonder they didn't get nominated."

I'm not even going to try to top this kind of malicious theater talk.

All I can do is read the nomination tea leaves to see what the future holds for a few shows and their stars.

* "XANADU" (OCC noms: six; DD noms: six)

I'd almost forgotten this forgettable show was still around. But it's making a comeback. The mixed reviews for "Cry-Baby" probably knocked that musical out of the Tony race. So look for "Xanadu" to pick up the fourth slot for Best New Musical when Tony nods are announced next month (the other slots will go to "A Catered Affair," "Passing Strange" and "In the Heights"). It won't win, but a good number on the Tony telecast might give it some momentum during the summer.

* "YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN" (OCC noms: 10; DD noms: eight)

Tony Award noms: 0.

Well, maybe that prediction's a little harsh. OK: Two nominations - one for Andrea Martin and another for Sutton Foster.

But nothing for Mel.

* PATRICK STEWART

Despite being snubbed by the Drama Desk - which is still reeling from allegations that its nominating process hasn't always been kosher - the star of "Macbeth" remains the odds-on favorite to win the Tony.

The nice thing about not being nominated by the Drama Desk is that you don't have to attend their awards ceremony, which has the running time of "Berlin Alexanderplatz."

* NATHAN LANE

The star of "November" wasn't nominated for either a Drama Desk or an Outer Critics award. Big deal. He's very enjoyable in the show, and he's proven to be a box-office draw independent of his sidekick, Matthew Broderick.

Full disclosure: Nathan's become a pal. We were hanging out in a Theater District watering hole the other night, and he couldn't have been sweeter. He did look a little terrified, though, when Mel Brooks came in and shot daggers my way. Nathan pretended not to know me and quickly ran over to Mel's table.

I forgive you, Nathan!

[Damien]

I am shocked, Damien! I trust your reviews more than anyone's, and others I have seen have been raves. Colour me confused.

I was surprised and disappointed by the mediocrity of it all, Cam. I was so looking forward to this show, even before the reviews.

But it completely lacks the high spirits, inventiveness, playfulness and sheer joy that, say, Michael Blakemore's staging of Kiss Me, Kate several years back possessed -- that Cole Porter show was such pure bliss that you couldn't believe it was some 55 years old. This production of South Pacific by comparison just seems creaky and matronly.

[Penelope]

My high school did a production of South Pacific which--aside from the leading lady, who I always thought would go on to great things as an actress/singer but apparently never did--was the dullest thing I've ever seen on the stage.

The following year, our high school did Annie Get Your Gun, with the same leading lady, who was again magnificent, and the show itself was much better than South Pacific, but the unsophisticated rednecks I went to school with didn't appreciate the fact that "There's No Business Like Show Business" is reprised so many times, and actually started booing when the cast sang it at the finale! Heathens.

[cam]

I am shocked, Damien! I trust your reviews more than anyone's, and others I have seen have been raves. Colour me confused.

[Damien]

I saw "South Pacific" last night. What a complete and utter disappointment!

It's simply flat -- there is nothing revelatory or even inventive in Bartlett Sher's direction, and the show seems grossly under-populated on the huge stage of the vivien Beaumont theatre. The characters simply don't connect -- either with the audience or with each other -- and there's a certain something (heart? warmth? empathy?) missing. The production is also devoid of exuberance.

I had never seen the show before (I did seen the movie when I was 4 years old, but all I remember was being perplexed at how that man she had to wash out had gotten in her hair in the first place) so I was not familiar with the material, other than for the score. I was amazed at how deeply flawed the book is. It starts with the fact thatwhen the curtain goes up, Nellie and Emile are already together -- which actally shocked me. So we never get to see what brought the two of them together -- a Navy nurse and a rich Frenchman -- it's just a given. And it feels liek a cheat (especially since we later learn that Nellie has racist tendencies, so mightn't a Frenchman be problematic for such a little girl from Little Rock?). One of the ludicrous aspects of this narrative set-up is that "Some enchanted Evening" is not sung across a crowded room -- which would have make perfect sense -- but is performed as a kind of recollection, a memory piece.

Other than that, the "serious" issues of the piece are handled in the most superfiicial manner imaginable (rather than having two shallow instances of bigotry, Messrs. Hammersteina nd Logan would have done better to just have one and delve into it more deeply).

Kellie O'Hara has a terrific presence and is a wonderful singer, but she's just too vivacious and "nice" to bring out Nelly's dark side. Paulo Szot couldn't be better as Emile. Not only do his looks and bearing suggest a 1940s matinee idol (or at least John Lund), but he has an achingly beautiful voice. His rendition of "This Nearly Was Mine" is the highlight of the show.

Matthew Morrison is a valuable fixture on the NY stage these days but Lt. Cable is not much of a role, and all his charm and vocal talent can't change that fact. Danny Burstein makes Luther Billis more irritating than amusing (which is disappointing as his turn as the flamboyant male diva in "Drowsy Chaperone" was wonderfully funny); but then again, the wise-acre go-getter sidekick became such a fixture of service comedies over the years that maybe Luther's shenanagins would just seem like tired schtick no mater who played him. Loretta Ables Sayre is an ambarrassment as Bloody Mary. In addition to playing up the Asian sterotypes inherent in the role, she plays the character as semi-retarded. And Li Jun Li as her daughter -- Cable's beloved-- does nothing to elevate the role from being not a character but simply a symbol.

On the plus side, there's that glorious score. But you'd be better off staying at home and just listening to a CD.

As the middle-aged woman sitting next to me said immediately as the first act curtain
came down, "It's not very good, is it?"

[Jeffrey]

Are they going to be on PBS again this year? Seems as though they were on public television the past two years.

[Big Magilla]

1960: As mentioned, The Sound Of "Mucus" beat out Fiorello, and Once Upon A Mattress

Nope - Fiorello! tied with The Sound of Music.

[cam]

Some great musicals, the have been remounted time and again, have failed to win the Tony since they became publically competitive in 1956. In the "early days":

1957: Bells Are Ringing and Candide both( rightly) lost to My Fair Lady.
1960: As mentioned, The Sound Of "Mucus" beat out Fiorello, and Once Upon A Mattress,
1964: Hello Dolly over She Loves Me
1966: Both Mame and Sweet Charity lost to Man Of La Mancha.
1972: Flash-in-the-pan Chorus Line over Chicago and Pacific Overtures.

Whether the winners have been your favourites or not, arguably the losers are better shows musically and lyrically, and often the winners have depended upon a single performance or two.

[Okri]

Ragtime -- which at one time was thought to be a Pulitzer, let alone Tony candidate -- bumped up against The Lion King.

I consider this one of the greatest outrages of any awards group ever. Absolutely unforgivable. I can't believe anyone over the age of five could have seriously voted this way.

Along those lines, I'm sure the West Side Story gang just loved competing against The Music Man.

Really? I remember one comparison after the Tony Awards that read: "Ragtime had craft, heart and intelligence. The Lion King merely had magic" and that sorta summed up my opinion (I have seen productions of both, but not the Broadway production). And lets not forget that the New York Drama Critics Circle also went for The Lion King, so it's not as if the latter didn't have any critical following (this isn't akin to Passion vs Beauty and the Beast, in other words).

[Big Magilla]

Fiorello! has a great score and deserved to win over both The Sound of Music and Gypsy.

[OscarGuy]

I can't fault them for that. Although I've never heard Fiorello, I love The Sound of Music. And Gypsy's one of those chores I don't like sitting through musically. Matter of fact, I get so annoyed listening to Ethel Merman that I keep taking the CD out of my car even though I tried several times to find something likable about it. Whereas shows like Anything Goes, Mame and Hello Dolly! have actually grown on me over repeat viewings. Matter of fact, I may just not like Ethel Merman. I didn't like Gypsy and I really detested Annie Get Your Gun.

Now, as for mediocre that I like and hate in equal measure, there's Camelot. As part of my attempts to pick up more original casts and expose myself to earlier theatrical productions, I picked this one up and while I admire Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, Robert Goulet and Roddy McDowall in it, the score is seldom hummable, horrendously placid and filled with songs I can get stuck in my head but aren't terribly great when I listen to them again.

[dws1982]

The Avenue Q people caused some controversy during the Tony season in 2004, by promising the road voters that yes, the show will go on tour, since they always like to vote based on what'll make money on the road. They did this to get those voters to vote their way (instead of Wicked's, which everyone knew would be a hit tour) for Best Musical. But then after they won the Tony, and announced soon after (or it may have been after voting ended, but before the winners were announced) that they had no plans to tour and would instead only play in Vegas. The agreement for the Vegas run disallowed any national tour, and they were only able to mount the tour after the Vegas show closed.



Edited By dws1982 on 1209505619

[Damien]

Ragtime -- which at one time was thought to be a Pulitzer, let alone Tony candidate -- bumped up against The Lion King.

I consider this one of the greatest outrages of any awards group ever. Absolutely unforgivable. I can't believe anyone over the age of five could have seriously voted this way.

Along those lines, I'm sure the West Side Story gang just loved competing against The Music Man.

Ragtime is a great musical and, with the exception of sets, and costumes and lighting should have swept the Tonys.

And then there was 1959, when two shows tied for Best Musical, and neither one of them was Gypsy.

(They were The Sound of Music and Fiorello!.)



Edited By Damien on 1209504966

[The Original BJ]

Ragtime -- which at one time was thought to be a Pulitzer, let alone Tony candidate -- bumped up against The Lion King.

I consider this one of the greatest outrages of any awards group ever. Absolutely unforgivable. I can't believe anyone over the age of five could have seriously voted this way.

Along those lines, I'm sure the West Side Story gang just loved competing against The Music Man.

[FilmFan720]

I don't think they were opposed to a tour, but waiting this long surely built up a name brand for the show. Going to Vegas, where the show seems natural, brought up its name value. Had they toured four years ago, even with the Tony award, they wouldn't have had the smash tour they do now.



Edited By FilmFan720 on 1209496879