2011 Tony Awards: Best Featured Actor in a Musical

Note: My personal rankings are listed in order from best to worst, with #1 being my favorite, while predictions for the actual winners will be in orange.

BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

1. John Larroquette
How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying

2. Adam Godley
Anything Goes

3. Rory O’Malley
The Book of Mormon 

4. Colman Domingo
The Scottsboro Boys

5. Forrest McClendon
The Scottsboro Boys

Missing: Nick Adams, Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Colman Domingo (Passing Strange) and Forrest McClendon (this is his Broadway debut) have been with The Scottsboro Boys since it premiered off-Broadway at the Vineyard just over a year ago. Directed by John Cullum’s white Interlocutor, they open and close the show with a startling flourish of pure minstrelsy. Colorfully adorned and eerily happy, with large grins painfully plastered across their faces, they are deliciously spot-on as Mr. Bones and Mr. Tambo, soft-shoeing their way through the tragic story of nine wrongfully accused men. But Scottsboro is a distant memory, closing nearly six months ago, and as wonderful as they were in their respective — and unfortunately too similar — roles, they can’t help but cancel each other out of this race.

While Rory O’Malley is a treat as the squeaky-clean, sexually repressed Mormon cheerfully willing converts to Christianity in Uganda, he only has one major (though memorably hilarious) scene, in which he leads his fellow Mormons to “turn off” all those pesky habits like, y’know, homosexuality. He may get a boost in votes simply out of a general  love for the The Book of Mormon, but the material doesn’t offer him enough to distinguish himself for the purposes of this race.

A big film and television actor, Adam Godley has graced the stage in his native England numerous times, but this marks only his second show stateside (the first being Private Lives in 2002). A gangly Gumby of sorts, Godley deploys his British sensibility and humor at full tilt as the prim Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, revealing impeccable comic timing in his absurd attempts to woo Hope Harcourt. The laughs he generates are the only genuinely funny moments in an otherwise laborious revival of Anything Goes (more on that later).

I wouldn’t be all that surprised if Godley walked away this award, but all signs seem to point to John Laroquette takin’ home the Tony for his work in How to Succeed. Universally praised for his dopey portrayal of big boss J.B. Bigley, Larroquette alternates between blustery and nimble, transferring from no-nonsense corporate dictator to a giddy, closeted sweater-knitter in the bat of an eye. Now a few months into the run, he clearly favors the silliness inherent to the role, and plays it for all it’s worth to a very enthusiastic audience. Charming when making irrational business decisions, he’s beyond delightful when contorting his 6’4″-frame to friskily mimic a groundhog as he prances about the stage. A true comedian through and through — and hey, he can sing (ok), too! — he should earn a Tony for this, his Broadway debut.

2011 Tony Awards: Best Featured Actor in a Play

Note: My personal rankings are listed in order from best to worst, with #1 being my favorite, while predictions for the actual winners will be in orange.

BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY

1. Arian Moayed
Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

2. John Benjamin Hickey
The Normal Heart

3. Mackenzie Crook
Jerusalem 

4. Yul Vázquez
The Motherf**ker with the Hat

5. Billy Crudup
Arcadia

Missing: Raúl Esparza, Arcadia

How the heck did Billy Crudup nab the obligatory Arcadia nomination from Raúl Esparza? Perhaps the nominating committee was feeling rather sentimental since Crudup originated the role of Septimus Hodge in the 1995 Broadway production — but they shouldn’t have. Crudup’s performance as the foppish academic Bernard Nightingale is hyperbolic in every way: madly gesticulating as he shouts nearly all his lines, he’s so wound-up, he looks as though he’ll suffer a coronary at any moment. One assumes this is meant to be read as ardency, but Crudup is so overwrought that his Nightingale comes off as a pompous ass. Instead, Raúl Esparaza, a calming presence we are all thankful for after the exhausting Crudup, deserved recognition for his thoughtful turn as the sensitive Valentine.

In a scene-stealing turn in Motherf**ker with the Hat, Yul Vazquez is delightfully bizarre yet perceptive as Julio, the easily offended cousin of Bobby Cannavale’s Jackie — you’ll never again hear “Van Damme” (yep, as in Jean Claude) without thinking of Yul and laughing. John Benjamin Hickey‘s sensitive turn as Felix, the New York Times fashion writer who deteriorates before our eyes in devastating progression in The Normal Heart, is a heartrending amalgamation of the personal and the political that is second only to the brilliant Joe Mantello’s Ned Weeks. And you’d think it impossible to steal the  stage from the larger-than-life Mark Rylance, but the gangly and droll Mackenzie Crook (yep, that guy with the glass eyeball in Pirates of the Caribbean) manages to do just — multiple times — as a semi-contemptuous follower in the Brit import Jerusalem. So impressive is this feat that he’s the clear frontrunner in this category.

But it’s Arian Moayed as Musa, the Arabic translator working with the U.S. military during the Iraq occupation, that so improves upon the role he is given in Bengal Tiger in the Baghdad Zoo, that you can’t help but sit up and take notice. A topiary artist — he creates a zoo of giant giraffes and elephants out of plants  – whose world is shattered when his beloved sister is viciously raped and butchered by his employer, Musa carries the entire emotional weight of the play. Played by a lesser talent, Bengal Tiger could have been an even more trying experience than it already is, but Moayed creates incredible depths and layers to his Musa. Taking great care with each moment, he beautifully lands difficult (read: not good) jokes with a light, genuine touch, and creates a slow and heartbreaking devolution from devastated victim to destructive perpetrator. Musa is haunted by the ghosts of his sister and her killer, and in turn we are haunted by the soulful, penetrating performance of Moayed. He is what makes Bengal Tiger worth watching, but unfortunately, the play’s inherent problems (and lack of larger critical acclaim) will work against him, and the award will go to one of the flashier nominees.

2011 Tony Awards: Best Orchestrations

Note: My personal rankings are listed in order from best to worst, with #1 being my favorite, while predictions for the actual winners will be in orange.

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS

1. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

2. The Book of Mormon

3. The Scottsboro Boys

4. Catch Me If You Can

Most people think that we simply assign notes to instruments in the orchestra, from written music that already presupposes harmony and counterpoint. But we are responsible for far more than that. We become the final arbiter of how the music is written, just as the musical director is responsible for how the music is performed. It’s the orchestrator who interprets the composer’s intentions, who deals with the copyists, and usually composes the overture and entr’acte. 
- Jonathan Tunick, arranger of the original Company, Sweeney Todd, Merrily, etc.

Only a category since 1997, Best Orchestrations is a bit of a sticky wicket for me, 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. They often do much more, but if you’re not a musician, how do you analyze such a role?

Full disclosure: I’m a layman.

I built my list based on how the shows’ use of musicians/instruments (dis)engaged me, purposefully or not, with the show’s particular aesthetic. I don’t recall particulars of either The Book of Mormon or The Scottsboro Boys, which is why they are sandwiched in the middle — both are orchestrated by Larry Hochman (with Stephen Oremus on Mormon as well). The Book of Mormon won the Drama Desk for its plucky orchestrations, giving it an edge on the competition here.

On the other hand, I vividly recall that Marc Shaiman and Larry Blank’s arrangements for Catch Me If You Can sounded like the show looked: a generic ’60s tv show, with slick, big band sounds alternating with creamy-cheesy Sinatra-like standards. Add to that the LOUD sound design, and this musical was the least aurally pleasant of the bunch.

One of Broadway’s brightest scores from one of Broadway’s best composers, it any surprise that How to Succeed sounded the fullest and most vibrant when compared to its “new” musical co-nominees? Sure, maybe Doug Besterman (Tony winner for The Producers and Fosse) had the advantage of a fantastic score to work from, but that doesn’t downplay the fact that the exuberant, swinging orchestrations sounded absolutely divine and perfectly fit the ’60s satire’s playful tone.

2011 Tony Awards: Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Note: My personal rankings are listed in order from best to worst, with #1 being my favorite, while predictions for the actual winners will be in orange.

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

1. The Scottsboro Boys

2. The Book of Mormon

3. Anything Goes

4. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Missing: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

For better or worse — mostly worse in this case — How to Succeed‘s lighting design is the most memorable. The most prolific of the nominees, Howell Binkley (Tony winner for Jersey Boys, with four other shows currently running on Broadway including Memphis and Baby, It’s You!), employed a legion of LED lights for a rapid-fire, relentlessly vibrant design. Sure, the pastel hues add to the pert ’60s game-show vibe, which is enhanced by the hexagonal set and easter-egg colored costumes, but Loesser and Burrow’s corporate satire is busy enough without this kind of lighting overload. (Instead, Justin Townsend’s wild assortment of chasers, blinder cues and striking sidelighting for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson should have been recognized here.)

Tony-winning designer of Contact and The Producers, as well as the current Born Yesterday, Peter Kaczoroswski crafted a design for Anything Goes that is also colorful, but in more tasteful way, subtly supporting the passable revival production.

The Scottsboro Boys, originally designed at the Vineyard Theatre by Kevin Adams (Tony winner for American Idiot, The 39 Steps, Spring Awakening), was lit by Ken Billington (Sweeney Todd, Chicago) for the Broadway transfer. Reinforced by Beowulf Borritt’s sleek, spare set, the lighting fluently shifts from colder, restrained tones during “serious” scenes of dialogue between the accused boys, to exaggeratedly theatrical looks for the minstrel portions with crisp spotlights and washes of vibrant colors. The design isn’t exactly subtle  – but neither is minstrelsy — and the obvious switches in tone are well-conceived.

The most accomplished of the bunch, Brian MacDevitt’s contributions this season include House of Blue Leaves and Women on the Verge, and he’s won Tonys for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (a warm, gorgeous design), Pillowman, Coast of Utopia and Into the Woods. Packed with clever details, The Book of Mormon includes some excessive mirrorball effects to accentuate Elder Price’s “epiphanies” and hilariously-timed blackouts in a tap number about repressed Mormons (“Turn It Off”). Much like the show itself, the lighting is playful and pointed without ever being too over-the-top, so if anyone’s to beat Billington, it’ll be MacDevitt for his witty work.

2011 Tony Awards: Best Lighting Design of a Play

Note: My personal rankings are listed in order from best to worst, with #1 being my favorite, while predictions for the actual winners will be in orange.

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY

1. War Horse

2. Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

3. The Merchant of Venice

4. Jerusalem

There are really only two contenders here: War Horse and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.

So let’s start with the other two nominees, shall we.

A realistic design for a realistic play, Mimi Jordan’s competent lighting for Jerusalem slid into the race by necessity for a fourth nominee (try to think of another superlative lighting design for a play. Go ahead — I’ll wait). I confess that I only saw The Merchant of Venice in the park, which location inherently requires a very specific set of lighting needs, but many a youtube video exists of the Broadway incarnation — see here, for example. With a much smaller playing space, and without the warm glow of the setting sun, Kenneth Posner (The Coast of Utopia, Wicked) takes a cue from Mark Wendland’s stark set; employing darker hues, he creates a somber, brooding tone for the Bard’s so-called comedy. The busiest of our nominees, Posner designed four other shows this season, including the dismal Catch Me If You Can.

Super-interestingly, the top two nominees were each charged with creating atmospheres of war, as centered around a titular non-human character. David Lander  (33 Variations, Cabaret) has already won the Drama Desk for his ability to  swiftly shift moods from light to dark and create a nightmarish atmosphere in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Maintaining an unsettling eeriness throughout with his spectral, moody lighting, Lander provides a constant reminder that Baghdad is “lousy with ghosts,” as the titular jungle cat declares at the start of the play.

Where Lander’s lighting produces an unsettling loneliness, Paule Constable’s maintains a warm, haunting glow as it follows a boy and his horse as they desperately search for each other over years and continents during WWI. Like Lander, Constable (Coram Boy, The Weir) has won a Drama Desk for his lighting design — the entire War Horse creative team was honored with a special Drama Desk Award for “Thrilling Stagecraft,” demonstrating the show’s peerless overall design. Because the Tony committee has shown so little love for Bengal (no Best Play nomination here) and so much for War Horse, it’s unlikely voters will bestow this prize on the all-but-forgotten — though still running! — Iraq ghost story. At this point, it’s pretty much a given that War Horse will sweep the design categories — and deservedly so.

2011 Tony Awards: Best Costume Design of a Musical

Note: My personal rankings are listed in order from best to worst, with #1 being my favorite, while predictions for the actual winners will be in orange.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

1. The Book of Mormon

2. Anything Goes

3. Priscilla Queen of the Desert

4. How to Succeed in Business without Really trying

Missing: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Sure, Tony voters are just as conservative as Oscar voters, but that’s not the reason Priscilla Queen of the Desert doesn’t top my list. Priscilla, of course, is not an original story — it’s based on the 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert – and so, quite naturally, the characters and plot are familiar to us. But that’s not the only thing you’ll recognize in the stage show — the sassy, glittery, super-shiny, neon, hilariously over-the-top drag couture are by the same team who designed the film’s Oscar-winning costumes: Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner. I’m not even going to attempt to understand why certain shows/designs are eligible for Tonys and others aren’t (the rules and regulations of Tony eligibility are so vague that they may as well not even exist), and far be it for me to rain on all over Priscilla‘s fabulousness (because she is fabulous), but so much of this costume design is taken right out of the film (flip-flop dress and all!) that I can’t quite understand how this a “mostly” original design.

When I knocked Priscilla‘s ranking down a couple pegs because of this, I realized that there’s only one nominated design nominated from an entirely new show. A single designer had the additional challenge — and creative freedom — of imagining an completely original design. Ann Roth’s contribution to The Book of Mormon is both well researched and intensely funny: Ugandans create play costumes out of found objects (feed-bag bonnets and baby-carriage-wheel halos); sparkly, stretchy, candy-apple-red devils infiltrate a cracked-out nightmare sequence and a cartoonish Jesus, resembling rocker Sebastian Bach, boasts flowing blonde locks and a robe piped with LED lights. Roth has no shot at winning, of course  – her designs are nowhere near as dramatic as Priscilla‘s, nor as, well, period as Anything Goes — but she more than deserves recognition for how perfectly her costumes reflect the riotous “Fuck You, God” attitude of Mormon.

Anything Goes is the safest bet here. It’s not the over-the-top camp of Priscilla, the cheeky cartoonishness of Mormon or Catherine Zuber’s competent, dancer-friendly ’60s attire of How to Succeed – instead, the Cole Porter tuner was stylishly brought to fabulous ’30s life by Martin Pakledinaz with empire-waist sailor trousers, peep-toed platforms, creamy mid-calf-length skirts and winking, sequined-flamed tap numbers for “Blow, Gabriel, Blow.” Seamlessly elegant, Pakledinaz brought class and cleverness to the classic comedy.

All that being said, had I the choice and the opportunity, I’d cast my vote for Emily Rebholz’s contemporary-historic mash-up of early 1900s and early 2000s trends in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. As with the rest of the show’s design, her hip costumes were irreverent, postmodern perfection.

2011 Tony Awards: Best Costume Design of a Play

Note: My personal rankings are listed in order from best to worst, with #1 being my favorite, while predictions for the actual winners will be in orange.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY

1. Born Yesterday

2. La Bête

3. The Merchant of Venice

4. The Importance of Being Earnest

Missing: The Normal Heart, War Horse

How interesting that all the nominees are revivals (and not quite as interesting that they’re all period pieces) — no love for Jerusalem (Ultz’s trailer trash trappings) or War Horse (Rae Smith’s crisp uniforms and the warm-toned wear for the puppeteers). For some reason, I cannot get over (read: am obsessed with) Joe Mantello’s perfectly worn, loose-fitting grey cardigan in The Normal Heart, and wish, for that item alone, that Martin Pakledinaz had been nominated (he’s up for his seaworthy costumes for Anything Goes, however).

Out of the actual nominees, however, one design completely enraptures. In Born Yesterday, Catherine Zuber (whose penchant for period costumes can also be seen in Tony-nominated work for 60s satire How to Succeed) drapes the winning Nina Arianda’s Billie in ostentatiously lush 1940s fashion. Initially flaunting herself in feathery, flowing lingerie as the flirtatious ex-chorine, Billie’s brains may be transformed by her tutor Paul Verrall through the course of the show, but it’s Zuber’s smart costumery that makes Billie’s transformation visually apparent. Maintaining a stunning elegance, Billie commands confidence with each step she takes in fire-engine-red skirt-suits and  bold empire-waist navy trousers. This is a gorgeously costumed show all-around.

Truth be told, I missed seeing La Bête, which by most accounts was worth the trip solely for super-star-of-the-moment Mark Rylance’s fabulously funny and vulgar Valere. That being said, Mark Thompson’s design (he’s also the scenic designer) that is alternately foppish and dashing in its ornate 17th century French fashion appears to be a standout as well.

Jess Goldstein’s (Next Fall, The Homecoming, Jersey Boys) period pieces for The Merchant of Venice aren’t as period as you may think, suggesting, at times, the play’s setting to be somewhere around the turn of the 20th century. The men sport smooth pinstripe suits, while the women don the more conservative, though brightly hued and lushly textured, pieces of Shakeseare’s day. Considering Mark Wendland’s period-vague skeletal set, it seems right to mix and match the contemporary with the classic.

There’s nothing wrong with Desmond Heeley’s costumes for the Wildean comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, which marks the 79-year-old designer’s eighth Broadway credit in 50 years (he’s also the set designer for the production).  A Tony Award winner for his scenic and costume designs for the original production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Heeley has a clear fondness for period pieces and this is no exception: Brian Bedford’s Lady Bracknell wears fussily ornate high collars and elaborately ruffled headdresses, and the rest of the cast is clothed in quietly unassuming, yet lovely, 19th century attire. Like the production as the whole, Heeley’s design does the job, but lacks any kind of innovation or surprise.

2011 Tony Awards: Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Note: My personal rankings are listed in order from best to worst, with #1 being my favorite, while predictions for the actual winners will be in orange.

SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL 

1. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

2. The Scottsboro Boys

3. The Book of Mormon

4. Anything Goes

No matter your opinion of the rest of the show, the area in which Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson manages absolute perfection is design. Donyale Werle (assisted by Justin Towsend’s lighting) decked out the Jacobs theater  in a Williamsburg-hipster-mix of modern and nineteenth-century decor: the largely wooden designed is framed by velvety blood-red curtains; endless strings of twinkling Christmas lights and sparkling chandeliers hang throughout; elaborately framed portraits and deer heads adorn walls, while a stuffed horse hangs from the ceiling. While critics have argued the emo-rock satire’s success in transferring uptown from The Public Theater, there is little argument that the highlight of this show is its over-the-top lush design — the irreverent vibe is palpable the moment you walk through the door.

I admit I’m being a bit cheeky by listing The Scottsboro Boys second-best, but I’ve already revealed my inclination toward the minimal, and Beowulf Boritt’s design is so much so, it’s barely existent (he’s also to be credited for the poetic disjointedness of The Last Five Years‘s elegant design). Borrit simply offers up a handful of straight-back chairs and a few planks to director Susan Stroman’s vivid imagination. From there, the chairs are starkly arranged to create death row, a bus that transports the nine boys from jail to the courthouse, and of course, the semi-circle of the minstrel show, bookended by the Mr. Bones and Mr. Tambo. This is a clear case of a hugely director-influenced design, and if anyone is to be awarded for Scottsboro, it’s Stroman, not Boritt.

If there’s an upset in this category, it’ll be in favor of the accomplished Scott Pask, Tony winner for The Coast of Utopia and The Pillowman, and one of the busiest Broadway designers this season (Elling, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, The House of Blue Leaves). Comically incorporateing old-fashioned backcloths and painted flats, Pask created three distinct worlds for The Book of Mormon: a squeaky-clean Utah town, a hilariously impoverished Ugandan village and the cartoonish biblical world of All-American Prophet Joseph Smith.

Just as accomplished (Tony winner for 33 Variations) and busy this Broadway season (How to Succeed and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) is Derek McLane. For Anything Goes, he created a huge art deco ocean liner with a set of rooms that fly on and off the stage. Unfortunately, this musical comedy doesn’t allow for much design innovation, and his set, while competent, looks like every other revival of the Cole Porter classic. You can definitely count McLane out of this race.

2011 Tony Awards: Best Scenic Design of a Play

Note: My personal rankings are listed in order from best to worst, with #1 being my favorite, while predictions for the actual winners will be in orange.

SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY 

1. War Horse

2. The Merchant of Venice

3. Jerusalem

4. The Motherf**ker with the Hat

Ruminating on this particular category, I realized how bored I’ve become with über-realistic design, which is why Todd Rosenthal’s constantly rotating set for The Motherf**cker with the Hat is at the bottom of my list. Set in three different New York City apartments, sofas constantly rotate 180 degrees from beneath the stage as the set twirls to reveal the next  painstakingly detailed location — you can tell that this is the same Tony Award-winning designer (and director) of  the grandiose August: Osage County. Above it all is the New York City skyline, presumably present to “open up” the play and make it feel a little less claustrophobic: these characters are addicts — of drugs, of each other — and no matter how hard they strive to liberate themselves from their habits and relationships, they’re stuck. And the set reflects that caged feeling — full of busyness that distracts from the real issues.

On the realism scale, Jerusalem is the next in line, but Ultz’s single set is less tiresome. Set in rural southwestern England, Ultz (who also designed the chintzy costumes) smartly suggests the Arcadian setting — keeping the woods tucked off to the side and upstage — allowing Mr. Rylance an open, unfettered playground to strut and stagger across, while still suggesting the Into-the-Woods-possibility of sinister giants hiding just ’round the corner from the trailer park.

Now, I’m cheating a bit, as I only saw The Merchant of Venice in the park, but by all accounts, Daniel Sullivan’s site-specific outdoor production transferred to the proscenium stage of the Broadhurst Theatre without losing any steam or theatrical magic. On an otherwise empty stage, Mark Wendland’s rotating wrought-iron puzzle-piece set was pushed and pulled into different configurations to suggest the various locales — Shylock’s office, a stock exchange, the final courtroom. Grand in size and evocative in simplicity,  Wendland’s  (Tony Award-winning designer of Next to Normal) design smartly directed our focus to the performers and the Bard’s words.

While it may be difficult to pinpoint what specifically constitutes the “set design” in War Horse, it’s not hard to predict that this gorgeous production is going to take home most — if not all — of the design awards. Rae Smith has already won a special Drama Desk Award for “thrilling stagecraft” for her contributions of sets, drawings and costumes for the WWI drama, and I’d be shocked if she didn’t nab the Tony as well for her inspired collaboration with Handspring Puppet Company (which already won a special Tony Award for its extraordinary efforts).

2011 Tony Awards: Sound Design of a Musical

Note: My personal rankings are listed in order from best to worst, with #1 being my favorite, while predictions for the actual winners will be in orange.

SOUND DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

1. The Scottsboro Boys

2. The Book of Mormon

3. Anything Goes

4. Catch Me If You Can

I fear I’m about to disappoint Mr. Robert Kaplowitz, Tony Award winning Sound Designer for Fela! (who was kind enough to explain to me — in detail — what a Sound Designer does for a musical here). Based on his comment that “Every musical has an essential sound – a sound it SHOULD be conveying. Did the designer do so successfully?” here’s my attempt to rank this year’s nominees.

Steve Canyon Kennedy’s design for Catch Me If You Can made me feel like I was being aurally attacked — all the way up in the upper balcony of the huge Neil Simon Theatre. Sure, Marc Shaimon’s score is big and brassy (super-similar to his work on Hairspray), but the production’s sound was so aggressive and punchy that I felt as though I was getting whacked in the face repeatedly (not unlike how I felt during American Idiot, but for what was essentially a Green Day concert, that made much more dramaturgical sense).

Beyond Kennedy’s misfire, however, I’m at a loss. One can probably assume that Brian Ronan (who coincidentally designed American Idiot), who is nominated twice here –for The Book of Mormon and Anything Goes — will take home the award for the immensely more popular of two shows, Mormon. He’s also one of the two designers here who’s been previously nominated (Next to Normal), so that doesn’t hurt. (To learn a bit about his approach to design, go here).

Of all the nominees, however, only Peter Hylenski’s work on The Scottsboro Boys (at least to my memory) includes some sound effects in addition to the obligatory amplification of the actors and orchestra.  For the tale of the 1930s trial of rape and racism, he creates traffic on bustling Alabama streets and the chilling clink of prison cells locking down. Previously nominated for his design for the loud and cocky Rock of Ages, Hylenski’s work here is the most subtle and thoughtful of the nominees, and it certainly helps that this show, the last of the masterful Kander and Ebb, was a critical darling. But Tony voters tend to have short memories, and Scottsboro is the only of the nominees no longer running, having long since closed in December.