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| I'm sure the play is very good, but if that's what the house in Clybourne Park looks like, I'm not sure why anyone would want to move into it. |
Magic/Bird
From the same team behind last year’s Lombardi, this play about the rivalry between NBA stars Magic
Johnson and Larry Bird seems destined to be an also-ran in a season so packed
with new works. With less enthusiastic
reviews than Lombardi (which wasn’t
exactly embraced by critics to begin with) and lacking a critical darling like Judith
Light to raise its profile, Magic/Bird simply
won’t be among this year’s Tony nominees.
Peter and the Starcatcher
Peter and the
Starcatcher, a prequel to Peter Pan, is the essence of an Off-Broadway
show. Relying more on a gifted ensemble
and strong script than grand spectacle, this play is by all accounts quirky,
inventive, and creatively staged in a way that emphasizes old-fashioned
stagecraft over flashy technology. Like
last season’s Bloody Bloody Andrew
Jackson, Starcatcher was well reviewed Off-Broadway and similarly praised after
its move uptown. I also predict that it
will be similarly ignored by the Tony voters, with the exception of one or two
acting nominations.
This has less to do with quality and is more a reflection of
Tony politics and preferences. The
voters tend to prefer their plays be high-minded adult dramas rather than family
shows, and with so many of the former on the boards this season I don’t see Starcatcher cracking the more
competitive categories like Best Play or Best Direction. I do think Christian Borle’s scene-stealing
turn as Black Stache makes him a definite contender for some Best Supporting
Actor love, and in such a crowded season for new plays even one Tony nomination
is a definite accomplishment.
One Man, Two Guvnors
Quite honestly, I am over the recent trend of West End
transfers coming to Broadway and sweeping the Tony Awards. While there is definitely quality in the
execution of these productions, I have found many of them to be overrated, as
if the New York theatrical community has so deeply absorbed the idea that the
English are better actors than we are that they blindly endorse anything with a
British pedigree.
But with so many strong American productions on Broadway
this year, I think that trend will finally be broken. While this farce it could find itself the
token British Best Play nominee (there’s always at least one), it is by no
means assured a place at the table, given the already mentioned Tony preference
for drama over farce. All that said, even
the most jaded theatregoer would have trouble justifying the exclusion of leading
man James Corden from the Best Actor category, thanks to his virtuosic
performance in such a physically demanding role.
Clybourne Park
This play has Tony bait written all over it. It is a contemporary drama (or dark comedy,
depending on who you ask) that tackles a serious issue (race) with intelligence
and a roundly praised acting ensemble, Clybourne
Park also has the distinction of being last year’s winner of the Pulitzer
Prize for Drama. In a tough category,
that makes the show as close to a guaranteed Best Play nominee as there is this
year.
The quality of the acting ensemble will either net the show
a boatload of nominations or cancel one another out. Of all the Tony categories, the acting
nominations tend to be the most merit based, but it still helps if a performer
is one of the best parts of their respected show. When everyone is amazing, it sometimes
results in no one getting nominated due to vote splitting. The Best Direction of a Play category is so
ridiculously competitive that I’ve given up trying to predict it, although
anyone who can coax this many stellar performances out of a group of actors is
certainly in the running.
A Streetcar Named Desire
Working on this iconic Tennessee Williams play is both a
blessing and a curse. On the one hand, the
script is widely recognized as one of the greatest American plays ever written,
with such layered characterizations and universal themes that it’s a veritable
gold mine for serious dramatic actors.
However, the play is so well known that most critics have very specific
ideas on how it should be handled, and the iconic characters have been played
by some of the greatest actors who have ever lived, which makes living up to
audience expectations for the work almost impossible.
It seems that this production, like most Streetcar revivals, didn’t fully satisfy
critics. Its inclusion among any of the
Tony categories is a complete toss-up.
The strength of the material may get it included among the Best Revival
nominees, but the apparent mishandling of that material could also keep it out
of contention. The lead actors all have
roles that Tony voters gravitate toward, but it doesn’t sound like any of them
have earned the right to join the prestigious company of confirmed greats like
Jessica Tandy or Marlon Brando. And who
knows how Tony voters will react to director Emily Mann’s vision of an
ethnically diverse production, given how much Williams’ plays rely on their Old
South milieu for their themes and characterizations. Some may feel casting black actors revealed
new shades of meaning in this oft-studied work, but others may decide that race
has little bearing on the material and is in essence stunt casting (this latter
sentiment kept the recent all-black Cat
on a Hot Tin Roof from being more of an awards contender).
Ghost the Musical
In a normal season, the critically lambasted Ghost would be such a long shot at any
kind of award nominations that discussing it would be a waste of time. But this is not a normal season, and given
the lack of a Book of Mormon-esque
critical and commercial success, anything could happen. I personally don’t think Ghost can secure a Best Musical slot, but then again, I am
predicting the absolutely atrocious Spider-Man
(which I named the Worst Show of 2011) will be nominated in that very category
due to weak competition and Tony politics.
Since the chances of Ghost actually
being worse than that train wreck are infinitesimally small, perhaps Ghost stands a chance.
Which also means it could wind up among the Best Book and
Score nominees, although I again doubt this will actually happen. Ghost has
not accumulated the industry clout that Spider-Man
somehow has, and seemingly lacks the latter show’s mass commercial appeal. The bland lead actors are also out of luck,
as looking pretty and singing well thankfully isn’t quite enough to earn
someone a Tony nomination. Depending on
how well Da’Vine Joy Randolph plays up the Sassy Black Woman archetype, she may
find herself among the Best Supporting Actress nominees, although her chances
of winning are currently next to nothing.
And even though it broke down on the night most critics reviewed the
show, Ghost’s set could prove
dazzling enough from a technical standpoint to get nominated.
Just one more article to go and we’ll have officially
touched on every Broadway production that has opened during this busy season. Look for it to go live soon!
To read my previous Tony Watch articles, look here:
Part 1Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
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