Tony Awards 2010: Best Play and Best Musical

BEST PLAY

1. Enron (Lucy Prebble)

2. Next Fall (Geoffrey Nauffts)

3. In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (Sarah Ruhl)

4. Red (John Logan)

Time Stands Still (Donald Margulies)

What’s that you say?  Enron can’t win because it wasn’t nominated?  Huh. So the single new play of the year that was political but accessible, intelligent but not condescending or pretentious, artistically integrative with score and movement, cleverly designed, not stifled in realism but highly theatrical, written (most impressively) by a 29-year-old woman, and not to mention, thrilling…that play wasn’t nominated? Really?

Really.

No, really.

It really wasn’t.

Food for thought from London critic Michael Billington:

One reason for the attacks [such as Ben Brantley's negative review] is the entrenched American view that visual pyrotechnics and razzle-dazzle are the province of the musical. Plays, on the other hand, are judged by their fidelity to what a critic once called “the visible and audible surfaces of everyday life”. It’s permissible for Wicked or –Legally Blonde to deploy expressionist –techniques but, on Broadway at least, plays are expected to conform to the realist rules.

With the exception of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, I can think of no play that has successfully violated that tradition. It is notable that when –writers such as Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee grew more experimental with age, they were quickly kicked into touch. What hope had Enron, with its demon-eyed raptors, Jedi knights and Siamese twins? (For the full article, go here.)

I can’t help but think he’s on to something…and that something is depressing.

Enron

Total Production Nominations: 4 (Missing: Best Performance by a Lead Actor nomination for the incomparable Norbert Leo Butz)

Instead, we have the static, dramaturgically flawed — and let’s face it, fairly pretentious — British import,  Red, about life and art, that’s high on talk and low on action. What Red has going for it — and it’s a lot — has little to do with John Logan’s script and everything to do with the production: Red is a showcase for two of the best performances of the year (Alfred Molina – Best Leading Actor nominee and Eddie Redmayne -Best Featured Actor nominee) and the hands-down most collaborative and inspired artistic team (Best Sound Design nominee, Best Direction nominee, Best Lighting nominee, Best Scenic Design nominee). One has to at least wonder if the Tony committee can discern between play and production.

Total Production Nominations: 7

Actor-writer Geoffrey Nauffts penned Next Fall, an urban dramedy that is heartfelt, highly humorous, sensitive, and incredibly moving. A dryly-humored atheist New Yorker and his younger, sweeter, innocent Christian Southern-born boyfriend provide the central focus of this play about global struggle with sexuality, faith, and family. The characters are vividly drawn and the story is tightly plotted, so does it matter if it’s all a bit clichéd? In this dry spell of a year, we’ll take what we can get, and this is clearly the most solid and affecting work of the bunch.

Total Production Nominations: 2

Critics rave over and fans flock to the works of Sarah Ruhl due to her reputation for heightened, poetic language. Fair enough. But the favor bestowed on In the Next Room, or the vibrator play may be due a bit more to the fact it’s about women’s sexuality — their relationships with men, with each other, and with their own bodies. Explored through the comical, but historically true medical practice of treating women diagnosed with “hysteria” with vibrators. As one can imagine, this inherently hysterical premise offers an abundance of opportunities for hilarious “treatments” in the doctor’s room and dramatic, emotive revelations by the central female characters (and Best Featured Actress nominee Maria Dizzia). Finely constructed with funny, warm, and sensitive characters, Ruhl offers another solid, if not terribly exciting, work.

Total Production Nominations: 3

Time Stands Still (unseen)
Total Production Nominations: 2

BEST MUSICAL

American Idiot, Fela!, Memphis, Million Dollar Quartet

These can’t be put in any kind of order because not one stands out as a superior musical. Memphis, of course, will win due to reasons already given (conventional, cohesive, original book/score), but none of its elements is stellar. While Million Dollar Quartet is surprisingly enjoyable, that’s due almost entirely to the performances (and the unoriginal score). The furiously energized American Idiot rides high and fast on its awesome rock score — but again, it’s unoriginal music with just the thinnest of story lines. Fela! is certainly the most admirable and substantial of the nominees, but co-writer/director/choreographer Bill T. Jones takes on too much, and the overly ambitious musical is a bit of a mess both tonally and dramaturgically. To come right down to it: none of the nominees thrilled this year. Even more troubling is that only one offers an original score. What are all the theatre composers? Or, more accurately: why won’t producers take a chance on them?

American Idiot
Total Nominations: 3
(Missing: Best Choreography nomination for Steven Hoggett)

Fela!
Total Nominations: 11

Memphis
Total Nominations: 8

Million Dollar Quartet
Total Nominations:  3

Fill out your own ballot for tonight’s 2010 Tony Awards, and New York Times will score it for you!

Tony Awards 2010: Best Book of a Musical + Best Original Score of a

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL

1. Memphis (Joe DiPietro)

2. Million Dollar Quartet (Colin Escott + Floyd Mutrux)

3. Everyday Rapture (Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott)

4. Fela! (Jim Lewis + Bill T. Jones)

Joe DiPietro’s book for Memphis certainly doesn’t break any new ground — structurally, thematically, or otherwise.  It’s more a retread of of similarly conventional works like Hairspray and Dreamgirls. But it’s by far the most cohesive and serviceable, with defined (if cliched) characters, a distinguishable plot, and quite a bit of warmth and humor. If this appears to be rather lame praise for the predicted Tony-Award winner of Best Book, it’s true: it’s been a sad year for the Broadway musical theatre. Escott and Mutrux’s work on Million Dollar Quartet tells of the single day four music legends meet and hold a jam session, and while the writers work hard to create some drama in between the well-known hit songs, not a whole lot happens, and whatever does is made enjoyable by the hardworking performers — not the work itself. Sherie Rene Scott’s “semi”-autobiographical trifle Everyday Rapture is all over the place structurally and tonally (sentimental to sardonic and back again), though it does contain some true comic gems, such as her ode to Jesus and Judy (Garland). And while Fela! has many wonderful things going for it, the unfocused and overambitious book by Jim Lewis and director-choreographer Bill T. Jones is simply not one of them.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (MUSIC AND/OR LYRICS) WRITTEN FOR THE THEATRE

1. Enron (Music: Adam Cork, Lyrics: Lucy Prebble)

2. Memphis (Music: DAvid Bryan, Lyrics: Joe DiPietro, David Bryan)

3. The Addams Family (Music/Lyrics: Andrew Lippa)

4. Fences (Music: Branford Marsalis)

Though the virtues of Adam Cork’s corporate composition for Enron have already been extolled here, it’s hugely important to draw attention to the fact that the best use of music this year was not in fact found in a musical. Not only does this speak to the lackluster offerings of the Broadway musical, but it also serves to highlight the blurred line between musical theatre and theatre with music (what is/should be the difference?). Give me the quirky-techno musical effectiveness of Enron — play, play with music, musical play, whatever you want to call it — any day of the week over such dismal offerings as Andrew Lippa’s Addams Family. A competent composer, Lippa has given us the lovely, chamber musical john and jen as well as the (lesser, but still good) The Wild Party, and now he provides one of the most forgettable, unintegrated “scores” in recent memory (excepts for Uncle Fester’s love song to the moon, which was wonderfully — and absurdly — whimsical). Fences‘s music by Branford Marslais is jazzy and tuneful but entirely misused in the tragedy (read more here), and the Motown-inspired Memphis provided the one competent and conventional original musical score this year — and was written by a member of Bon Jovi. That about says it all.

[Side note: When the award says it's for "music and/or lyrics"? Does that mean a show be nominated in the Best Original Score category for it's lyrics alone? Does anyone else find this problematic? If a musical's categories are to be broken down into Best Book and Best Original Score, shouldn't there also then be an award for Best Lyrics?]

Tony Awards 2010: Best Revival

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY

1. A View from the Bridge

2. Fences

3. Lend Me a Tenor

The Royal Family

The winner of this category is obvious (to this reviewer at any rate), but many will vote for the still-running, star-studded Fences.  Kenny Leon‘s (Best Direction nominee) production, while wonderful in so many ways, is flawed and id not the cohesive masterpiece that many claim it to be. There is the misstep in sound design (Best Sound Design nominee) that slows the pace and confuses the tone. But the real error involves the charismatic Denzel Washington (Best Leading Actor nominee): instead of tempering Troy Mason’s bravura with equal parts fear and rage, director Kenny Leons allows Washington to highlight the endearingly brash showman within Troy, causing the final significant scenes to peter off anti-climatically. But if Washington isn’t the revelation that everyone wants him to be, no matter: for that we have Viola Davis (Best Leading Actress Nominee), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Best Featured Actor nominee), and rest of the fantastic supporting cast, who each master their own moments of heartbreak, creating an affective, if not innovative, production.

Total Nominations: 10

Lend Me a Tenor is hit and miss, but mostly it misses. The hits: Jan Maxwell‘s (Best Featured Actress nominee) hilariously tempestuous Italian wife; Tony Shalhoub as the desperate, no-nonsense opera GM; Anthony Lapaglia’s dopey Italian tenor; the fantastically frantic and fun curtain call wherein the cast reenacts the entire show in two hilarious minutes… and the blackface?  Yep, the blackface is a definite highlight. The misses: Jay Klaitz’s obnoxious singing bellhop,  the miscast Brooke Adams as the pointless Chairman of the Opera Guild; Justin Bartha’s “singing”; and much of Ken Ludwig’s script which is not so funny as it is silly. For the most part, director Stanley Tucci does what he can to keep the production moving (lots of running in and out of and slamming of doors; constant flinging onto sofas and beds and chairs; repeated spitting of indiscernible items into the audience), but this farcical production simply isn’t as good as the company it keeps in this category.

Total Nominations: 3

How does Ken Ludwig even survive in a category that includes Arthur Miller? And a damn fine production of an Arthur Miller work at that. Director Gregory Mosher (nominee) takes a quiet approach to the tragic A View from the Bridge, carefully keeping in check emotions that could easily become high-pitched and overwrought (there is, after all, a Greek chorus present). The tone is low but warm, both visually and aurally (Best Sound Design nominee), letting the melancholy design reflect the quiet anguish simmering beneath the surface, and allowing the familial tension to gradually imbue the entire production. If there was a “Best Ensemble Cast” award it would certainly go to Liev Schrieber, Jessica Hecht, Scarlett Johansson (all nominated), and the rest of the superb supporting cast. Mosher’s A View from the Bridge comes to a slow boil, and when tragedy finally fells the Carbone family, you feel your very bones ache along with them in despair, making this View a masterful production of a master’s work.

Total Nominations: 6

The Royal Family (unseen)
Total Nominations: 5

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL

1. A Little Night music

2. La Cage aux Folles

3. Finian’s Rainbow

4. Ragtime

With a whopping eleven nominations, La Cage aux Folles‘s win here is pretty much guaranteed. The performances by both Kelsey Grammer and Douglas Hodge (Best Leading Actor nominees) have been widely praised, the costumes are absolutely fabulous (Best Costume nominee), the lighting is sexy and smart (Best Lighting nominee), choreography is cheeky and clever (Best Choreography nominee), and Terry Johnson (Best Direction nominee) smartly doesn’t get in the way of the inherent hilarity and endearing cast of characters; he simply allows those fabulous Cagelles to be What They Are, and What They Are in is a finely tuned production.

Total Nominations: 11

Tony voters’ runner- up would be my top pick. A Little Night Music is by far the most accomplished musical revived this year, and while Director Trevor Nunn’s production isn’t innovative, it’s tight and cohesive, both in direction and design (Best Sound Design nominee). The cast creates a terrific ensemble, including the always brilliant  and saucy Angela Lansbury (Best Featured Actress nominee), though decidedly excluding the shrill Ramona Mallory as the virginal Anne. All in all, a fine production of a fine musical.

Total Nominations: 4

The remaining two nominees each closed early after brief runs to mixed reviews, and so practically bow out of the running altogether. Ragtime was a mess of misguided minimalism (thanks to Best Direction nominee, Marcia Milgrom Dodge),  and Finian’s Rainbow should probably just be thankful it made it to Broadway in the first place (what an odd — and oddly delightful — obscure little musical).

Ragtime‘s Total Nominations: 6

Finian‘s Total Nominations: 3

Tony Awards 2010: Best Leading Actor + Actress

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY

1.  Liev Schreiber (A View from the Bridge)

2. Alfred Molina (Red)

3. Christopher Walken (A Behanding in Spokane)

4. Denzel Washington (Fences)

5. Jude Law (Hamlet)

This category overflows with generally outstanding performances. Of the five, only Jude Law (Hamlet) overanalyzes his titular character’s moral and mental dilemmas, but even his slightly inorganic performance impresses with its intelligence. The always wonderfully bizarre Christopher Walken elevates the latest — and sadly, very disappointing — offering from the usually fantastic Irish playwright Martin Macdonagh. In his portrayal of Carmichael, the macabre oddball searching for his missing hand (Why is it missing? Why do we care? The story given does not remotely satisfy), Walken infuses the vengeful lost soul with a surprising sadness that exceeds even his own particular brand of eccentric genius. the never-disappointing Alfred Molina manages to burrow his way into the tumultuous and troubled mind of the abstract artist Mark Rothko despite the dramaturgical deficiencies of Red. With a frenzied intensity and bluntness that draws you in and doesn’t let go, Molina physicalizes the inner-rumblings of an overly-analytical mind, whether fiercely barking orders to his fresh-faced assistant,  furiously sweeping steaks of red across canvas, or simply standing, staring, contemplating.  Similarly, Liev Schreiber (A View from the Bridge) ever-so-gradually builds Eddie Carbone from the inside-out: the one-time innocent affection for his beloved niece becomes alarming overprotectiveness, and this increasing inner-torment is demonstrated via Schreiber’s subtle physical transformation, from an easy smile to terse grin, gruff jocularity to too-intense play. It’s a frighteningly real execution of a character you know is doomed from the start, yet still can’t believe the tragedy even as it happens. Denzel Washington nails the charming arrogance of Troy Mason, and you can’t pry your eyes off of him whenever he’s onstage (practically the entire 2.5 hours). He’s already dazzled critics, and Tony voters are sure to follow suit. But though Denzel clearly possesses the intelligence needed to flesh-out the complexities of Troy’s braggadocio, he only offers us glimpses into the rage and fear hidden beneath, never fully embracing, or exploring, the darkness within.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY

1. Viola Davis (Fences)

2. Linda Lavin (Collected Stories)

Valerie Harper (Looped), Laura Linney (Time Stands Still), Jan Maxwell (The Royal Family)

I warned you this would be a sad category for me to predict. Having missed three of the five nominated performances (all three productions closed before nominations were announced), it comes down to two, which means it really comes down to one: Viola Davis, rather predictably at this point, is a revelation on the stage. Like co-star Stephen McKinley Henderson, she’s a reliable August Wilson regular (her only three Broadway credits are for Wilson plays) and perhaps because of this, she has a more intimate understanding of his women. As Rose, the neglected wife taken for granted by the man she gave her life to, the magnetic Davis has no problem holding her own opposite the near-blinding star power of Denzel Washington. Davis is one of the strongest actresses currently in New York, but beyond that, she is a strong woman, and when, though obviously heartbroken, Rose unwaveringly refuses to stand by her adulterous husband, you can’t imagine Viola to act any other way.

Though Davis is the clear favorite, Linda Lavin offers one of the most solid, affecting performances presented by an actress on Broadway this year, perhaps in many years. Lavin portrays Ruth Steiner, a celebrated short story writer in the decline of her career who takes on a fawning assistant-cum-protégée. Beginning with the bone-dry humor of a mature professional who no longer has patience for the young and eager, Lavin gradually softens Ruth to the possibility of a deep and perhaps even motherly relationship with the young woman, Lisa Morrison (a rather grating Sarah Paulson). You see her slowly discard the sarcasm and aloofness in favor of affectionate rapport and meaningful connection. And as she hesitantly opens up, you are already afraid of the hurt to come from the predictable betrayal. A remarkably unshowy and astute performance, Lavin’s nomination is well-deserved.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

1. Sahr Ngaujah (Fela!)

2. Chad Kimball (Memphis)

3. Douglas Hodge (La Cage aux Folles)

4. Kelsey Grammer (La Cage aux Folles)

5. Sean Hayes (Promises, Promises)

Many are predicting Douglas Hodge as the to winner here — he’s already earned an Olivier Award for the London production of La Cage, after all — and it’s true that he’s fabulous as the pouty, wickedly funny chanteuse-in-drag. But how can anyone deny the tour-de-force performance of Sahr Ngaujah?  Was Fela Kuti, the Afrobeat star and Nigerian revolutionary, that  irresistible of a showman or is it Ngaujah’s own tremendous magneticism? In the end, it doesn’t really matter: the actor-singer-dancer turns out the most dazzling performance of the year. Kelsey Grammer is charming as the conservative “straight” man to Hodge’s flamboyant Albin, and don’t you listen to what the critics say/don’t say/should say about Sean Hayes‘s ability to play Chuck Baxter (Promises, Promises). Amiable, funny, and yes, with just a slight sampling of Jack, Hayes is perfectly fine playing the leading straight guy in a musical — I only wish it was a better musical. And while Chad Kimball doesn’t seem to be getting much love from Tony voters, he’s quirky and boyish and has a drawwwl for days as Huey Calhoun, the radio DJ who challenges racial barriers through his love of music. Kimball strikes a chord with audiences thanks to his ability to tone down the civil-rights-earnestness and draw the focus to the irrepressible rhythm of the music and dance.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

1. Christiane Noll (Ragtime)

2. Montego Glover (Memphis)

3. Sherie Rene Scott (Everyday Rapture)

4. Kate Baldwin (Finian’s Rainbow)

5. Catherine Zeta-Jones (A Little Night Music)

While all five women in this category turned out fine performances, none can be described as thrilling, and that’s largely due to the quality of the available musical female roles (all here, with the exception of Zeta-Jones’s Desiree Armfeldt, have no real depth of character to even begin to explore). Sure, Montego Glover is great as the sassy songstress, layering her two dimensional character with a thin cloak of tough armor and cool collectedness in Memphis. Kate Baldwin is lovely and whimsical in the equally so bizarrely-revived Finian’s Rainbow. Catherine Zeta-Jones, while emulating Glynis Johns’s vocal mannerisms a little too much, is well-cast as bold, beautiful, and just-out-of-her-prime actress who becomes sentimental over and old romantic flame. Even Sherie Rene Scott plays to her diva-like strengths in a bravura performance the oft-silly, sometimes wickedly clever, semi-autobiographical Everyday Rapture. Though she’s likely to garner few Tony votes, Christiane Noll (Ragtime) offers a fierce performance as the cooly naive housewife turned independent, open-hearted Mother that rivals original production’s Marin Mazzie.

Tony Awards 2010: Best Featured Actor + Actress

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY

1. Stephen Kunken (Enron)

2. Stephen McKinley Henderson (Fences)

3. Jon Michael Hill (Superior Donuts)

4. Eddie Redmayne (Red)

5. David Alan Grier (Race)

In Red, Eddie Redmayne is properly earnest and assiduous as protege to Molina’s masterful Rothko, and David Alan Grier, who surprisingly has more than a few Broadway (musical!) credits under his belt, energetically went head-to-head with co-star James Spader in the David Mamet drama, Race.  But Jon Michael Hill stepped it up a notch with his frisky performance in the otherwise forgettable and sentimental Superior Donuts, and with all his boundless energy, it’s amazing that none of it wore off on his spiritless co-star, Michael McKean.  While I have more than a soft spot in my heart for Enron‘s nefarious nebbish portrayed with glee by Stephen Kunken, the August Wilson regular, Stephen Mckinley Henderson, is likely to go home with the coveted award. As Bono, Henderson acts as the constant, the quietly restrained moral compass to Washington’s impetuous braggadocio. Certainly his is the least showy of the performances, but that makes Henderson’s ability to arrest our attention so much more noteworthy.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY

1. Jan Maxwell (Lend Me a Tenor)

2. Jessica Hecht (A View from the Bridge)

3. Scarlett Johansson (A View from the Bridge)

4. Maria Dizzia (In the Next Room, or the vibrator play)

Rosemary Harris (The Royal Family)

These ladies are all so smart and fabulous — though I missed seeing Rosemary Harris, I’m quite positive she belongs here — that it’s actually uncomfortably difficult to pick a winner. Maria Dizzia hilariously vacillates between chilly prudishness and orgasmic hysteria. The performances in A View from the Bridge are so finely intertwined as to form a true ensemble, and as such, placing Jessica Hecht‘s staunchly vigilant Beatrice above Scarlett Johansson‘s burgeoning self-awareness as Catherine, seems rather pointless; it does not seem possible for one to exist as such without the other. But it’s Jan Maxwell‘s comic genius as the temperamental Italian wife of the titular tenor. With the snap of a finger, she instantaneously switches from railing against her dopey husband (in Italian, no less) to cooing sweet nothings to flinging herself in and out of doors, onto sofas, onto beds, into closets, and into fits of tears and tirades of abuse . The best part? You can tell she’s having so much fun doing it (check out a clip of her as the Italian diva here).

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

1. Levi Kreis (Million Dollar Quartet)

2. Kevin Chamberlin (The Addams Family)

3. Christopher Fitzgerald (Finian’s Rainbow)

4. Robin De Jesús (La Cage aux Folles)

5. Bobby Steggert (Ragtime)

Bobby Steggert is the throwaway nominee here;  few things stands out in Ragtime‘s sub-par revival and his stoic performance as Brother, the near-terrorist-in-the-making, is simply not one of them. The adorable Robin de Jesús (La Cage aux Folles) has energy to spare as the boundlessly enthusiastic assistant to the glam chanteuse ZaZa, and Christopher Fitzgerald‘s feisty leprechaun has all the luck — and cheekiness — of the Irish in Finian’s Rainbow. It’s the rare performer who can rival the scene-stealing abilities of musical theatre’s #1 funny man, Nathan Lane, but Kevin Chamberlin holds his own and then some in the dreadful-cute Addams Family.  His Uncle Fester is less melancholic than he is whimsical; pining romantically after the moon, Chamberlin is never ironic or condescending in his portrayal of the one true optimistic Addams; he genuinely delights in his character’s eccentricities, and because of this, we do too. But Levi Kreis epitomizes the flamboyant, effusive showman, Jerry Lee Lewis (Million Dollar Quartet). Kreis (who more than slightly resembles Harry Connick Jr. in not only musical talents, but handsomeness as well) enthusiastically imbues a production full of mellow performances with the endless energy and charisma it would otherwise lack, and dramatically needs.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

1. Katie Finneran (Promises, Promises)

2. Angela Lansbury (A Little Night Music)

3. Barbara Cook (Sondheim on Sondheim)

4. Lillias White (Fela!)

5. Karine Plantadit (Come Fly Away)

The competition here is really only between two. The rest, marvelous as they may be, are all terribly restricted by the confines of underdeveloped — or entirely undefined — characters in this exceedingly depressing year for female musical roles (the dearth of which is the only explanation for dancer Karine Plantadit‘s nomination). Poor Barbara Cook (Sondheim on Sondheim) is stuck and directionless in the biggest show choir spectacular of the year, and Lillias White (Fela!), for all her vocal prowess and aplomb, is offered no motivation as Fela Kuti’s mysteriously estranged mother. On the other hand, Angela Lansbury wins even if she doesn’t: as the spicy Madam Armfeldt in A Little Night Music, she’s just as wickedly funny and deliciously on pointe as she was thirty years ago in the original Sweeney Todd.  But because Dame Lansbury took home the Tony last year (for Best Leading Actress in Blithe Spirit), Tony voters will more than likely award Katie Finneran‘s scene-stealing, smashlingly funny turn as the boozy floozy  in Promises, Promises. And they should: Finneran’s randy and brash Marge MacDougall doesn’t just fling, but practically launches herself at, Sean Hayes’s unassuming Chuck Baxter, in a too-short performance that is riotous good fun.

Tony Awards 2010: Best Direction

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY

1. A View from the Bridge (Gregory Mosher)

2. Red (Michael Grandage)

3. Next Fall (Sheryl Kaller)

4. Fences (Kenny Leon)

A challenging category to both predict and to select a favorite within, the four directors here all created admirable work. Two stood out from the rest, however, and both are equally deserving. Michael Grandage’s direction Red is much more musical and flashier than you’d probably imagine a show about an expressionist painter to be, and yet this is an exceedingly smart approach, as very little of that visual artistry occurs onstage (Molina’s Rothko paints onstage but once, in what is by far the most exhilarating and gripping moment in the production). Grandage off-sets this dramaturgical failing by utilizing an exceedingly adept design team: while audiences don’t witness the physical painting onstage, they hear it in Adam Cork’s swirling sounds and Neil Austin’s darkly dramatic lighting. Grandage strikes a fine balance between what could have veered into over-the-top conceptual design and what is a rather static drama, pulling two moving and dedicated performances from his actors.

Gregory Mosher takes a quieter approach to the Arthur Miller tragedy, A View from the Bridge. Unlike Grandage, Mosher needn’t make up for textual shortcomings (View, in this reviewer’s opinion, is Miller’s finest work), but he does have to carefully check emotions that could easily become high-pitched and overwrought (there is, after all, a Greek chorus present). Mosher smartly keeps the tone low, visually and aurally, letting the melancholy design reflect the quiet anguish simmering beneath the surface, allowing the familial tension to gradually imbue the entire production. Mosher’s View comes to a slow boil, and when tragedy finally fells the Carbone family, you feel your very bones ache along with them in despair.

There’s something about Next Fall that doesn’t sit quite right in what is generally a solid and moving production. Sheryl Kaller achieves both hilarious and heartbreaking performances from her terrific ensemble cast, but the story of a young man struggling with his sexuality, faith, and family comes off as slick sitcom when it should be more affecting dramedy. Kenny Leon has a similar difficulty with Fences. Instead of tempering Troy Mason’s bravura with equal parts fear and rage, he allows Denzel Washington to highlight the endearingly brash showman within Troy, causing the final significant scenes to peter off anti-climatically. Fortunately, he has no such problem with the rest of the fantastic cast, all who own their own moments of heartbreak, creating an affective, if not innovative, production.

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL

1. Memphis (Christopher Ashley)

2. Fela! (Bill T. Jones)

3. La Cage aux Folles (Terry Johnson)

4. Ragtime (Marcia Milgrom Dodge)

HUCKADOO! Memphis is the surprise hit musical of the season, largely because it’s the most consistent in its storytelling. Christopher Ashley keeps his production tight: this show wants to sing and dance, and he’s more than happy to let it do so. Ashley offsets the earnest themes (civil rights via music revolution!) with performances both properly jubilant and genuine. He infuses gravitas with a light but careful hand, generously allowing the music and movement to find its natural balance.

Fela! is overambitious, and so is its director/choreographer/co-bookwriter. The musical about the Nigerian revolutionary and pop star is both astonishing and astonishingly disappointing. Bill T. Jones can’t quite find the focus of the show, and that’s likely because he didn’t write one in (is this about Fela’s personal, political, or musical life?), but what he does put on the stage is so invigorating and refreshing that you can almost forgive him the musical’s many shortcomings. In this vein, Jones does accomplish one his biggest aims: to joyfully celebrate that remarkable man, Fela Kuti.

La Cage aux Folles is incandescently light and airy, and Terry Johnson smartly doesn’t get in the way of the inherent hilarity and endearing cast of characters; he simply allows those fabulous Cagelles to be What They Are.  Marcia Milgrom Dodge, on the other hand, actually does Ragtime a disservice. In an effort to create “serious” musical theatre, she misguidedly draws attention to Ragtime‘s vague plot and sketched-in characters in a production that is spare on spectacle, but high on pretension.

Tonys 2010: Best Orchestrations + Choreography

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS

1. Fela! (Aaron Johnson)

2. Memphis (Daryl Waters & David Bryan)

3. La Cage aux Folles (Jason Carr)

4. Promises, Promises (Jonathan Tunick)

Only a category since 1997, Best Orchestrations is a bit of a sticky wicket, much like Sound Design. On the simplest level, an orchestrator chooses the number of musicians, the number of instruments, and which musician/instrument plays which notes. But often, they do much more, even to the point of composing chunks of the actual score (for examples, read this Times article). But if you’re not a musician, how do you analyze such a role?

It’s one thing if previous productions/orchestrations exist to compare those above to, but that’s not so with Fela! and Memphis. Whenever contemplating orchestrations, my go-to example is Parade (“of course it is,” you say): the original Broadway production utilized a large orchestra to create a full, rich sound, while the London premiere incorporated only about eight musicians, emitting a sparer, more intimate sound. Which of the two was best? Neither. They both perfectly fit what their productions called for.

That being said, I’ve kept in mind Robert Kaplowitz’s advice regarding Sound Design, because I think much of it applies to orchestrations (from the audience perspective at any rate), and so built my list from there: which show’s use of musicians/instruments (dis)engaged me, purposefully or not, with the show’s particular aesthetic.

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

1. Fela! (Bill T. Jones)

2. Promises, Promises (Rob Ashford)

3. La Cage aux Folles (Lynne Page)

4. Come Fly Away (Twyla Tharp)

This category in a no-brainer in my opinion — though some dance aficionados may be shocked by placement of Tharp. Fela! simply doesn’t. stop. moving. The show is movement, and the cohesion of that movement to music  through fiery performances. As you can see in the clip above, even as the titular revolutionary and pop star speaks directly to the crowd in long monologue-form (and, by the way, also teaches the audience a dance move at one point), fiercely regal dancers encircle him and flood the aisles of the house, whipping their hips and thrusting their pelvises to the mesmerizing West African movement. This is a show meant to be experienced, and Bill T. Jones’s invigorating choreography that exquisitely demonstrates the spirit and the culture of a nation will send you off into the streets dancing and eager for more.

Out of the four nominees, only one is not a heavy dance show, and so with Promises, Promises, Rob Ashford, a glorious choreographer, had his work cut out for him.  As always, Ashford rose to the occasion, proving once again that perfectly conceived and executed choreography can elevate any musical, no matter how depressingly dreary it is otherwise. Remember Cry Baby? If you do, it’s only because of Ashford’s cleverly choreographed jailbird sequences. Promises, Promises, the trite corporate comedy musical (How to Succeed did it better seven years prior), had only two things to offer in its 2010 revival: Katie Finneran’s scene-stealing comic genius and Ashford’s too-few, but marvelously ’60s-styled dance sequences, the best of which occurred in the show’s opening as secretary’s and businessmen revolve around the office in fluid movements of swiveling chairs and beautiful lines. Thankfully, Ashford will get a crack at a better show next spring when, you guessed it, he directs/choreographs How to Succeed (see my post about the revival here).

Lynne Page’s work on La Cage aux Folles is delightfully cheeky and purposefully impressive. Do you want to see an entire line of men in mile-high heels and mini-skirts do the splits? Again? And again? And again? And with such fierce energy that you’re sure something is going to tear, someone is going to wobble of the stage in dire pain? YES, you do! But its Page’s humor and sense of play that really wins, as the Cagelles tease and taunt with their high kicks and catty upstaging. While the rest of the show and cast is truly endearing, you keep wishing you could just head back to Saint Tropez, and drink and dance, dance, dance! the night away with the girls.

Twyla Tharp is hugely significant icon in the dance world, and Old Blue Eyes himself requested her specifically to put choreography to his music. Why anyone felt the two should be combined  into a nearly three-hour long book-less show is entirely beyond comprehension. But combine they did, and they formed Come Fly Away, a frustratingly monotonous “musical” following four couples looking for love in a New York City nightclub, featuring Sinatra’s own vocals. While no one will dispute the crooner’s appeal, all the songs have the same basic form, style, and tempo, which means that Tharp built a show of two-dozen nearly indecipherable, and almost all unexciting, silky-smooth, swinging-sexy dance numbers. Built from the thinnest of conceits, Tharp constantly repeated herself, failing to innovate, invigorate, or inspire.

Tony Awards 2010: Best Scenic Design

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY

1. Red (Christopher Oram)
2. Present Laughter (Alexander Dodge)
3. Fences (Santo Loquasto)
The Royal Family (John Lee Beatty)

As already discussed here, the creative team behind Red is the most cohesive and inspiring of this Broadway season, and Christopher Oram’s scenic design is no exception. His aesthetic — also seen in this season’s Hamlet, as well 2007′s Frost/Nixon – is one of carefully calculated spareness, full of open space that allows for characters’ free and flexible movement. In Red, the design is so spare as to practically erase any pretense of design altogether: the theatre’s bare walls and backstage area have been exposed to create a deep, wide space that reaches as high as the John Golden’s ceiling’s flyspace allows. The “lack” of design — or rather, the lack of clutter, of barriers — implies the vastness of Rothko’s art, ideas, and his impact on the Expressionist movement. By placing Alfred Molina’s small (comparably speaking) frame in the midst of this open, seemingly unending sea of space, Oram’s design reveals how immaterial the man-artist is in respect to the greatness of the Idea, and the stage is beautifully set for Rothko’s self-realization.

Alexander Dodge’s work on the otherwise abysmal production of Noel Coward’s gleefully snarky comedy, Present Laughter, is as charming and flamboyant as the playwright himself, incorporating a sparking chandelier, lavish leather lounges and fur-printed and gold-plated everything else. Fence‘s realistic 1950s yard and house-front could have used a bit more of the symbolic and titular fence, but Santo Loquasto (also responsible for the scenic designs of this season’s Race and Collected Stories, as well as the controversial costume design of Ragtime discussed here) provides the necessary feelings of claustrophobia and limitations that Troy Mason increasingly impresses on both himself and his family throughout the course of the show. As for The Royal Family (seen to the right), John Lee Beatty’s design looks fittingly lovely and realistic for the 19th century home of the lengendary Barrymore family of actors, but alas, having not seen the production, I cannot provide further commentary.

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

1. Fela! (Marina Draghici)

2. American Idiot (Christine Jones)

3. La Cage aux Folles (Tim Shortall)

4. Ragtime (Derek McLane)

As much as the constant flashing and color-changing of the lighting designs of Fela! and American Idiot worked to a busy level of distraction, the strikingly colorful (or striking lack of color, as with American Idiot’s black-and-white newspapered walls), multimedia-infused, multi-tiered sets worked to the advantage of each production. American Idiot‘s use of multiple television screens confronting the audience with “current” events and its constant declarations of disillusioned youth aesthetically fit the angry Gen X cast of characters. Idiot would have benefitted, however, from taking a cue from Fela! which extended its vibrant set (platforms, signs, video screens) into the house. From the moment the audience enters the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, they’re ushered into a Nigerian club with all its music, video, and dancers already at play, and this successful break of the fourth wall is largely due to Draghici’s designing with the audience as character in mind. In La Cage aux Folles, Tim Shortall’s simply-designed drag club smartly leaves all the fabulousness to the performers employed therein, and all of the other fine, perfectly French sets similarly made way for the attention-grabbing performances of the cast.

Then of course there’s Ragtime. Countless phrases can be used to describe the highly historical, lushly scored musical about the triumphs and struggles of a country coming into its own, but “simplicity of design” should not be one of them. Ragtime is first and foremost a spectacle. To be sure, it believes itself to be highbrow spectacle, but regardless, it is a show of tremendous girth. Yet Derek McLane pares down what was once (in its original Broadway production) an impressively massive and visually rich show to a bare, metallic scenic outline of our nation’s history. Instead of a true-blue Henry Ford rolling majestically onto the stage, we get a puttering skeletal outline with wheels. Even the piano — the central image of a show named after a culturally significant musical genre – is a hollowed-out prop, and so becomes a hollow symbol in the midst of this misguided design impulse. What McLane and director Marcia Milgrom Dodge didn’t understand is that by skimping on the scenery, they were not highlighting the strengths of Ragtime; rather, they were drawing focus to its unforgivable flaws: criminally underdeveloped characters and an alarmingly narrow view of a nation’s adolescence.

Tony Awards 2010: Best Costume Design

It’s confession time: I didn’t see all the nominated shows. While I’m of course terribly shamed by this, I didn’t get the chance to see them all — some closed before the nominees were even announced. Alas, the first of these three missed productions  is included in the Costume Design category (just wait until Best Leading Actress in a play — that category is a complete mess of unseen performances). So bear with me!

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY

1. In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (David Zinn)

2. The Royal Family (Catherine Zuber)

3. Fences (Constanza Romero)

4. Lend Me a Tenor (Martin Pakledinaz)

All four nominees are technically period pieces (heck, the most contemporary, Fences, is set in the ’50s), they all stand a reasonably good chance at winning (voters love their period costumes, as we know). Of the four, Zinn’s designs for In the Next Room are the most luscious: rich detailing; gorgeous, vibrant colors; and endless layers of petticoats; the latter of which, of course, only adds to the hilarity as the Michael Cerveris’s Doctor Givings (nice name, by the way) attempts to pe

netrate (the puns are easy and endless, folks) the layers of fabric in order to “cure” the ladies of their supposed hysteria. However, based on the photo alone (to the right; alas, this is the production I missed, so I can’t vouch for design accuracy), I wouldn’t be surprised if Zuber takes home the Tony for her jewel-toned satin creations for The RoyalFamily. What would surprise is if either Fences‘s plain by comparison working-class garb or Lend Me a Tenor‘s less accomplished, though entirely workable, 1930s opera-wear took home the golden guy.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

1. La Cage aux Folles (Matthew Wright)

2. Fela! (Marina Draghici)

3. Memphis (Paul Tazewell)

Prior to curtain, Cagelles strutted down the aisles, mingled in the lobby, posed for pictures — with designer Valentino the night I attended — under the marquee. As one, clearly sewn into the skin-tight gorgeous royal blue bedazzled gown which beautifully emphasized every curve, “dahhhling”ed her way past us, my friend muttered enviously under her breath, “God, I’d kill for her body.” Admittedly, Matthew Wright had some outrageously fit, flexible, and fabulous men to design for in La Cage aux Folles, but dear lord, by the time he was done with them, “Half real and half fluff / You’ll find it tough guessing our gender,” indeed. They are what they are and what they are is the winner of Best Costume Design for a Musical.

Wonder why there’s only three nominees? I did too, and a friend informed me that Ragtime‘s nomination was withdrawn on May 13th after Tony overseers determined that Santo Loquasto’s designs, which were too similar to the original production’s (he designed for both the revival and original) were not eligible (for more info, read the Times article here). More baffling, though, is that  Memphis edged out the more deserving grungy  American Idiot (Andrea Lauer), lush A Little Night Music (David Farley), and gothic The Addams Family (MaryAnn D. Smith). While crafting perfectly fine 1950s attire, Paul Tazewell’s creations come in third, after the rebelliously piece-y, loudly vibrant prints of the Nigerian Afrobeat-inspired designs of Fela!‘s Marina Draghici.

Tony Awards 2010: Lighting Design

Inspired lighting design can entirely transform the tone and meaning of a production, and when it’s done exceptionally well it’s just plain orgasmic — at least for this gal. Luckily for me, my favorite LD made a fantastic double-showing this season.

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY

1. Hamlet (Neil Austin)/ Red (Neil Austin)

2. Enron (Mark Henderson)

3. Fences (Brian MacDevitt)

Neil Austin’s lighting designs are brilliantly consistent in their insight and beauty, but his work on Hamlet, the Jude Law vehicle imported from London, is especially striking. While the more than competent Law tended to over-think his character’s moral and mental dilemmas, Austin smartly illuminated the young prince’s loneliness, coolly isolating him with tunnels of white light. For Red, Austin ushered audiences into the dark, swirling mind of Abstract Expressionist Mark Rothko, surrounding the painter and his protegee in dark shadows and warm hues both disturbing and strangely comforting. Noteworthy is the fact that Austin was aided by the same creative team for both shows: the strikingly simple work of set and costume designer, Christopher Oram (Best Scenic Design nominee, Red), strong direction of Michael Grandage (Best Direction nominee, Red) and sound design of Adam Cork (Best Sound Design nominee for Red and Enron). (Notably, Austin and Oram both designed the 2007 London production of the musical Parade. Check out all all of Austin’s work here). This creative team consistently produces some of the most exquisitely intelligent and cohesive work in theatre today, and for the most part, New York audiences and critics alike seem to welcome this particular British team with open arms (the same cannot be said for team behind Enron). While both of Austin’s Broadway showings this season are equally deserving, Red is the critical darling, and so will more than likely take the Tony.

As for the other two nominees: Henderson’s hard-working design is befitting of Enron‘s delightfully over-the-top aesthetic with its flashing neons, red-hued warnings, and accusatory pools of white light. On the other hand, MacDevitt‘s work on Fences is of the more practical variety, quietly working throughout most of the production, but once or twice devolving into obviousness (Troy Mason’s monologue against death prompted a swift darkening of all but Washington’s form).

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

1.  La Cage aux Folles (Nick Richings)

2. American Idiot (Kevin Adams)

3. Ragtime (Donald Holder)

4. Fela! (Robert Wierzel)

The nominees here are not quite as thrilling as those for the Best Lighting Design of a Play. None dramatically stood out from the rest, so this is a loose ordering that in my mind could easily be switched around. Because of this, I’ve chosen the subtlest of the bunch, as well as the most clever and unobtrusive. Where American Idiot‘s ’90s grunge translates to the dim, smoky lighting, and Fela!‘s rainbowed gels rival the vibrance of the loudly-patterned African-styled costumes, both designs became distracting, constantly altering between  flashing colors, dark shadows, and endless follow spots.  Adams and Wierzel’s designs appear more suited for Green Day and Fela Kuti concerts than for the stories being told (admittedly the books of both shows are muddled, if not practically non-existent). Holder’s rich use of shadow and light more practically highlighted those same characteristics in the complex history being told in Ragtime, but for my money, Richings most aptly straddled the line between practicality and artistry in La Cage aux Folles, infusing tongue-in-cheek humor and buoyancy into what could have been a static and predictable cabaret lighting of one spotlight after another.