It was a great Broadway season for play revivals, not so wonderful for new works.
Off Broadway offered a far richer offering of new plays and musicals. New York City’s smaller theaters delivered the best new plays: Talene Monahon’s “Meet the Cartozians,” Lauren Yee’s “Mother Russia” and Jordan Tannahill’s “Prince Faggot.” Likewise, the best new musicals happened Off Broadway; they are Ethan Lipton’s “The Seat of Our Pants” and Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson’s “Mexodus,” which continues to perform at the Daryl Roth Theatre.
If some enterprising producer(s) had transferred “Mexodus” to Broadway this April, the show would have a good shot to win the Tony for Best Musical.
Broadway revivals, fortunately, were a very different, happier story. August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” Sophocles’ “Oedipus” (rewritten by Robert Icke), Gina Gionfriddo’s “Becky Shaw’ and Tracy Letts’ “Bug” all received exceptional, if not revelatory productions. Four of those titles will be Tony nominated for the Best Revival of a Play, with Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” most likely knocking one of my choices out of competition.
Joe Mantello’s direction of the Miller classic emphasizes the play’s surrealism, but a few of the featured players deliver showy over-the-top performances that detract from Nathan Lane’s considerable achievement in the title role. Showy, of course, always impresses the Tony nominators.
Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe’s “Every Brilliant Thing” also has a chance to be nominated for the Best Revival of a Play. The nominators may feel, however, that it suffices to give Daniel Radcliffe a nomination for Best Actor in a Play.
Broadway’s musical revivals weren’t quite as plentiful or as insightful in their interpretations. The nominations for the Best Revival of a Musical will be “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” “Ragtime” and “The Rocky Horror Show,” with “Chess” making the cut if the nominators happen to be in a generous mood. The new “Rocky Horror” is fun; I found the other three very weary experiences for the simple fact that none of these shows have good scores. Yes, I find all those grand anthems in “Ragtime” tiresome and pretentious.
Most critics disagree with me on that Lincoln Center revival, as well as “Cats,” which is an example of too much lipstick, not to mention hair and sequins, on the McDonald’s of Musicals. When “Cats” opened in 1982, it got such downbeat reviews that a marketing person had to come up with the tag line “now and forever,” because there were no happy critics’ quotes to advertise. Now, suddenly, “Cats” is a masterpiece?
Regarding other terrible scores, the same could be said of Broadway’s slim crop of the Best New Musicals. Merely filling up the required quota of nominees will be “The Lost Boys,” “Schmigadoon!” and “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).” I enjoyed “Titanique” more, but the nominators aren’t kind to jukebox musicals.
The Best New Plays on Broadway were good but not quite as glorious as those Off Broadway. The nominees will be Bess Wohl’s “Liberation,” Samuel D. Hunter’s “Little Bear Ridge Road,” Mark Rosenblatt’s “Giant” and David Lindsay-Abaire’s “The Balusters.” I’d like to see Lindsey Ferrentino’s “The Fear of 13” on that list, but mine is a minority report.
My taste also differs slightly when it comes to the Best Actors in a Play. Most impressive are Adrien Brody (“The Fear of 13”), Nathan Lane (“Death of a Salesman”), John Lithgow (“Giant”), Mark Strong (“Oedipus”) and Namir Smallwood (“Bug”). One of those actors will probably be replaced by the previously mentioned Daniel Radcliffe, who performs the best-ever MC stint on a Celebrity Cruise, which is where “Every Brilliant Thing” belongs.
Regarding Lane, he has not had a great track record recently with the Tony nominators. A few years ago, he remarked from the stage of the awards ceremony that the Tonys were known as “Passover at my house.” He recycled that old Bob Hope joke about the Oscars, but no matter, the Tonys make a habit of ignoring him.
My favorite Best Actresses in a Play will line up closely with the eventual nominees: Carrie Coon (“Bug”), Susannah Flood (“Liberation”), Laurie Metcalf (“Little Bear Ridge Road”), Anika Noni Rose (“The Balusters”) and Jean Smart (“Call Me Izzy”). Expect Lesley Manville (“Oedipus) to replace one of those women.
The Best Actors in a Musical are Sam Tutty (“Two Strangers”), Aaron Tveit (“Chess”), Brandon Uranowitz (“Ragtime”) and Andrew Durand and Luke Evans (“The Rocky Horror Show”). It’s certain that Joshua Henry (“Ragtime”) will replace one of those men. The problem with Henry is his tendency to hold on to a high note so that the audience, with their applause interrupting the music, begs him to get on with the song. Dark horses are Alex Brightman (“Schmigadoon!”) and Nicholas Christopher (“Chess”).
Regarding the Best Actresses in a Musical, look for Kristin Chenoweth (“The Queen of Versailles”), Caissie Levy (“Ragtime”), Lea Michele (“Chess”) and Marla Mindelle (“Titanique”) to make the cut. The nominators should leave it there, but may want to include a fifth, picking either Christiani Pitts (“Two Strangers”) or Sara Chase (“Schmigadoon!”). On Broadway, only 40 shows open in a typical season. In other words, the Tonys aren’t the Oscars or the Emmys where they consider boundless performances. In the theater, it’s more a disgrace not to be Tony nominated than it is an honor to be Tony nominated.
For the Best Directors of a Play, it should be an all-American lineup: Debbie Allen (“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”), David Cromer (“Bug”), Trip Cullman (“Becky Shaw”), Kenny Leon (“The Balusters”) and Whitney White (“Liberation”). Unfortunately, the Tony nominators are real Anglophiles, and will make sure to nominate both Nicholas Hytner (“Giant”) and Robert Icke (“Oedipus”). They’ll also go for Joe Mantello, who has the advantage of directing both “Death of a Salesman” and “Little Bear Ridge Road.”
There’s much less competition among the Best Directors of a Musical, who will be Michael Arden (“The Lost Boys”), Lear DeBessonet (“Ragtime”), Christopher Gattelli (“Schmigadoon!”), Sam Pinkleton (“The Rocky Horror Show”) and Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch (“Cats”). I prefer the work of Tye Blue (“Titanique”), but I doubt the Tony nominators will go there.
I won’t even pretend to know who is being nominated for the Best Featured Actors and Actresses in a Play or Musical. Every year for this article, I simply list those actors who most enhanced my theatre-going experience, even though some spent very little time on stage. This season, I want to thank Betsy Aidem and Charlie Thurston (“Liberation”), Joshua Boone and Ruben Santiago-Hudson (“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”), Madeline Brewer and Alden Ehrenreich (“Becky Shaw”), Brandon J. Dirden (“Waiting for Godot”), Rachel Dratch (“The Rocky Horror Show”), Afra Hines and Maulik Pancholy (“Schmigadoon!”), Ebon Moss-Bachrach and John Ortiz (“Dog Day Afternoon”), John Riddle and Constantine Rousouli (“Titanique”) and Richard Thomas (“The Balusters”).
