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These are on tonight (right now!). Where Broadway and off-Broadway compete against each other…. I can’t wait to see who wins!
and the winner is…
The New York Times critics released their picks for the Tonys quite early (so it seemed) which also included who they thought were snubbed. These are always fun to read.
I’ve seen almost all of the best musical/play nominees, except for Nice Work If You Can Get It which I still have yet to decide whether or not I want to pay nearly $40 to see it. Gershwin is an American legend, but he’s not anywhere near the top of my list of favorite composers. So everyone’s anticipation can be put to rest, as I now present to you with my opinions on who was nominated, who I think should win, and who I think was tragically overlooked.
Best Musical: The nominees include Once, Newsies, Leap of Faith, and Nice Work If You Can Get It. Who do I think should win? Once. It is an artistic masterpiece. It is visually stunning, emotionally moving, and the score is one of the best out there. What will win? If Once doesn’t get it, Newsies most certainly will. It has a worthy opponent, but there’s something about Once that strikes a deeper chord with me. I think it’s more universal, plus it needs the win to do well on tour. What should’ve been nominated? Hands down: Ghost. Ghost is visually stunning and I was never bored for one minute of the two and a half hours. Leap of Faith was, with all due respect, a visually horrendous bore.
Best Play: This category is going to be tough. Each nominee is fantastic: Clybourne Park, Venus in Fur, Peter and the Starcatcher, and Other Desert Cities. My first instinct is to say that Clybourne Park will take this one, but there is a chance that Other Desert Cities or possibly Peter and the Starcatcher might slide in. Although I absolutely loved Venus in Fur, I don’t think it has touring potential and it’s a limited run, so the award wouldn’t help it in any way. What should have been nominated was The Lyons. I find this show hilarious but maybe not all of the nominating committee has had a Jewish grandmother before. Or Theresa Rebeck’s Seminar definitely deserved a nod as well. (This snubbing was, I think, her punishment for writing Smash.)
Best Book of a Musical: The nominees are Lysistrata Jones, Once, Nice Work If You Can Get It, and Newsies. Given that Once and Newsies aren’t original books, so to speak, I’m going say that Lysistrata Jones has a pretty good chance of snagging this one much to everyone’s surprise. Is their book the best? No, not at all. The show didn’t work very well on Broadway. Or Newsies could very well start sweeping the awards and take this as well. What should have been nominated? Bonnie and Clyde. Sue me, but I really enjoyed that show and I thought the book was engaging the entire time.
Best Original Score: The nominees are Bonnie and Clyde, One Man, Two Guv’nors, Newsies, and Peter and the Starcatcher. I would love for Bonnie and Clyde to take this one, but it never will because the voters hate Wildhorn too much. Newsies will probably sweep it because the other two are plays and that would be kind of sad for a play to take Best Original Score. (Though the score in One Man, Two Guv’nors was quite good.) What should have been nominated? Wonderland. (No, just kidding!) I don’t think there were any other truly memorable great scores written in the past season. I don’t remember the music to Lysistrata Jones. But part of me remembers a lot of the music from Newsies being in the movie too, and in that case, Once should also have been able to be nominated for Best Original Score.
Best Revival of a Play: The nominees include Death of a Salesman, The Best Man, Wit, and Master Class. First a huge congratulations is in order to MTC for scoring two nominations in this category. Each one of these nominees was a pleasure to sit through (though you never quite believed that Cynthia Nixon was a scholar in Wit), but I’m going to say that Death of a Salesman gets this one, if the voters don’t decide to be total star-fuckers for ratings and award The Best Man instead. Although there are a fair number of stars in Salesman too, but I just thought Salesman was better than The Best Man. I don’t think there were any shows that should’ve been nominated in this category.
Best Revival of a Musical: The nominees this year are Evita, Follies, The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, and Jesus Christ Superstar. Jesus Christ Superstar and Follies were my favorites this year, and I’m going to put my money on Follies winning. It was a favorite this year, but Porgy and Bess was also a beautiful production, though it bored me to tears, and I could see it sneaking in from behind and taking the award.
Alright, the rest of these will be short…. Click through!
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#tony awards
#theatre
#broadway
#new york
#porgy and bess
#evita
#follies
#jesus christ superstar
#ghost
#leap of faith
#death of a salsman
#wit
#master class
#the best man
#one man two guvnors
#Peter and the Starcatcher
#lysistrata jones
#bonnie and clyde
#once
#nice work if you can get it
#newsies
#seminar
#other desert cities
#Clybourne Park
#venus in fur
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Julia Murney - I'm Not Waiting
There’s really no good way to write about a breakup. But let me try because this thing was important to me. On the night of the Superbowl, I received a Facebook message from a guy. We had no idea why we were Facebook friends because we literally had no recollection of speaking in twelve years of going to school together. We kept talking for some reason and I suggested we meet a couple of weeks later just to catch up. We fell for each other that night. Hard. It was insane. We saw each other the next two days too, and then counted down the days until we saw each the next weekend during the week that followed.
Here was the catch: We had nothing in common and he lived and worked outside of the city. We were polar opposites - he was introverted (his words) and I was extroverted. Still, I thought it could be good and he could balance out my huge personality and maybe mellow me out. It was great for about three weeks.
Then things started to change: he claimed he was too spontaneous to make plans in advance for the weekends, but all of his weekends seemed to be booked up already somehow. He would come into the city with his friends and not tell me - sometimes for entire weekends at a time. I know we all need our friends and we definitely shouldn’t be neglecting them when we get into something that seems like a relationship, but I just wanted to feel integrated into his life and he seemed to be totally uncomfortable with that and unwilling to compromise on anything that was outside his comfort zone.
But this was a learning experience. I grew during this because I realized I needed more attention than someone could give me from a state away. I had a few uncomfortable conversations that made me so nervous going in that I wanted to cry (but I didn’t) and that was something I hadn’t really forced myself to do in the past. I asked for what I wanted. He was also the one who encouraged me to start running, which I’m liking (so far). Looking back he was oblivious to what I needed/wanted and seemed to be too much in his own head to try to empathize with what I was feeling. There’s a woman out there who will like that and be able to handle it, but that woman isn’t me.
All that aside, he was (is) a good guy. He was respectful, thoughtful (in his own way), really sweet at times, and incredibly smart. He just wasn’t comfortable having uncomfortable conversations or talking about feelings - or listening to mine. I was also sent the link to this article from eHarmony titled “Ten Signs You are Dating the Wrong Person.” Almost every single one applied.
We weren’t right for each other and that is neither one’s fault. It just wasn’t meant to be and I’m glad I ended it when I did. As one friend put it, I didn’t accept the unacceptable and that’s huge.
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#dating
One Man, Two Guvnors was the most deliciously ridiculous play that I’ve seen since maybe Little Dog Laughed. James Corden has some stiff competition for the TONY Award he’s up for but I’d say he’s a worthy contender, absolutely.
OMTG is about a man who takes on two jobs, thus the two governors, without telling either one of them, and hilarity ensues. This is classic absurdist, slapstick British comedy at it’s finest. The fourth wall is collapsed on the audiences head as soon as the curtain rises. There’s even audience participation from time to time.
To say that OMTG flies by is a lie - it doesn’t. It feels a bit long at times but you don’t actually mind because you’re laughing too hard to check your watch.
James Corden, who originated his role at the National Theatre, is a comedic king. The scripted bits of audience participation are delivered genuinely and you’d never know he did these bits every day. He’s not a small man by any means, but his role is incredibly physically demanding and he pulls it off with ease. The rest of the cast is brilliant as well, but none of them stood out as much as Mr. Corden.
A unique aspect of this show is the live band, known as The Craze, that plays before the show, during scene changes, and at intermission. I can see why the score to this straight play was nominated for Best Score now. Every song they play is, obviously, original and it’s actually quite fun. Does it carry the plot forward? No, but it’s also not meant to. The members are also insanely talented, including Jason Rabinowitz, Austin Moorehead, Charlie Rosen, and Jacob Colin Cohen.
I could go on and on about how brilliantly funny and entertaining One Man, Two Guvnors is but it’s probably best if you go see it yourself.
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#one man two guvnors
#theatre
#reviews
#broadway
#james corden
I knew it was a political play and one that was filled with names, that’s it. But that was enough to convince me to see it and what an appropriate play it is for this season. The Best Man is about a Republican primary in the year 1960 and how dirty and ruthless candidates can become.
Performances were stellar overall. James Earl Jones and Angela Lansbury owned the stage whenever they graced it, naturally. This was in fact my first time seeing Ms. Lansbury live onstage and she was lovely. Some say you become you become a real theatre fan after seeing her live (just kidding).
John Larroquette was convincing as the thoughtful and moral of the two candidates, Secretary William Russell, and Eric McCormack was stomach turning as the other candidate Senator Joseph Cantwell. (I should also mention what an uncanny appearance Eric McCormack has to former presidential candidate Rick Santorum. I don’t think that was an accident either.) Other notable performances were Kerry Butler as Mabel Cantwell, wife of Joseph, and Candice Bergen as Alice Russell, the estranged wife of William. These two women are as different as they can be - and you feel their different streaks of pain as they campaign with their husbands.
The Best Man could not have been revived at a more appropriate time as it is a reminder of how dirty these elections can get. It’s also reminiscent of the Republican primary we’ve just seen unfolding in front of our eyes - some, if not all, of these events probably occurred at one point or another this year. TBM is an entertaining and enlightening two-and-a-half hours.
I hope in November the best man wins.
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#the best man
#reviews
#broadway
#theatre
#john laroquette
#james earl jones
#angela lansbury
#eric mccormack
soon it’s gonna rain… While venturing from the matinee of Don’t Dress For Dinner to help out at a photography event on 46th Street, there was a sudden downpour. I hid under the Evita marquee and listened to Elena Roger sing from the score while watching the rain. I had my camera with me and took some pictures that I thought were kind of cool.
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#photography
#time square
#new york
#broadway
Being a grammar nazi, I think this is really awesome. Ben Yagoda helpfully explains the most comma mistakes.
[Illustration by Peter Arkle] (via newsweek)
(via jesswanderlust)
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And make no mistake about it, you are dumb. You’re a group of incredibly well-educated dumb people. I was there. We all were there. You’re barely functional. There are some screw-ups headed your way. I wish I could tell you that there was a trick to avoiding the screw-ups, but the screw-ups, they’re a-coming for ya. It’s a combination of life being unpredictable, and you being super dumb
Aaron Sorkin, at Syracuse’s commencement. (via rosmhuire)
(via showtune-serenade)
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Hey there - I'm Allison. Sees lots of theatre. Huge fan of Green Day, and Shakespeare. Theatrical producer. General Manager. Company Manager. I'm also on twitter.
Email me at:
thatgirlallison08 at gmail dot com
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