Another Season Come and Gone...

As I've said before, this is my first full theatre season here in New York and it was one packed full of exciting shows. The jump from off-Broadway to Broadway of In The Heights and Passing Strange is reason enough to celebrate. Finally, Broadway is starting to nurture talent that is a little more in touch with today's pop culture. And while I'm still not entirely convinced to drink the Kool-Aid and join the throng of Spring Awakening fans, the show coupled with Heights and Strange, offer hope for my ipod. (It is a little embarrassing to be bumping "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" on the C train.)

And as for my Tony predictions this year, while not any where accurate, I feel I had a respectable score; 16/26. Which seems like a lot. But it is more then half. I credit my inaccuracy to the fact that I didn't see the juggernaut, South Pacific in action and also, my unfamiliarity with some of the design aspects.

And while I was sad that Passing Strange didn't win more awards (it's single win was for Best Book of a Musical? The spoken dialogue is hardly the selling point of the show) nothing was terribly upsetting.

Here is to seeing every Broadway show in the next season. [title of show], the first show of the 2008-2009 Broadway season, starts previews July 5th.

2008 Tony Award Predictions

After the Tony's last year, I was dead set on seeing every show the next year so I can have an "informed" opinion when I watch the next years broadcast.

And while I didn't see every show, I was able to see a vast majority, and have a pretty good sense of the season as a whole. So below are my predictions for the 2008 Tony Awards as well as those who I think should win, but maybe won't. Well... come June 15th we'll see how right or wrong I was.


Choreography

• Andy Blankenbuehler - In The Heights will win...
• Rob Ashford - Cry-Baby should win...

Orchestrations

• Alex Lacamoire & Bill Sherman - In The Heights will win..
• Jonathan Tunick - A Catered Affair should win...

Book of a Musical

• Xanadu, Douglas Carter Beane should and will win...
• A Catered Affair should have been nominated...

Original Score

• In The Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda will win...
• Passing Strange, Stew and Heidi Rodewld should win...
• A Catered Affair should have been nominated over The Little Mermaid.

Scenic Design (Play)

• Anthony Ward, Macbeth will win...
• Todd Rosenthal, August: Osage County should win...

Scenic Design (Musical)

• David Farley and Timothy Bird & The Knifedge Creative Network, Sunday in the Park with George should and will win...

Costume Design (Play)

• Katrina Lindsay, Les Liaisons Dangereuses will win...
• Peter McKintosh, The 39 Steps should win...

Costume Design (Musical)

• Catherine Zuber, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific will win...
• David Farley, Sunday in the Park with George should win...

Lighting Design (Play)

• Kevin Adams - Macbeth should and will win...

Lighting Design (Musical)

• Donald Holder, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific will win...
• Howell Binkley, In The Heights should win...

Sound Design (Play)*

• Adam Cork, Macbeth should and will win...

Sound Design (Musical)*

• Acme Sound Partners, In The Heights will win...
• Sebastian Frost, Sunday in the Park with George should win...

Direction (Play)

• Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County will win...
• Maria Aitken, The 39 Steps should win...

Direction (Musical)

• Arthur Laurents, Gypsy will win...
• Sam Buntrock, Sunday in the Park with George should win...

Featured Actor (Play)

• Raul Esparza, The Homecoming will win...
• David Pittu, Is He Dead? should win...

Featured Actress (Play)

• Rondi Reed, August: Osage County will win...
• Sinead Cusack, Rock 'n' Roll should win...

Featured Actor (Musical)

• Boyd Gaines, Gypsy will win...
• Daniel Breaker, Passing Strange should win...

Featured Actress (Musical)

• Laura Benanti, Gypsy will win...
• Andrea Martin, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein should win...

Actor (Play)

• Patrick Stewart, Macbeth should and will win...

Actress (Play)

• Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County will win...
• Amy Morton, August: Osage County or Kate Fleetwood, Macbeth should win...

Actor (Musical)

• Lin-Manuel Miranda, In The Heights will win...
• Tom Wopat, A Catered Affair should win...

Actress (Musical)

• Patti Lupone, Gypsy will win...
• Faith Prince, A Catered Affair should win...

Play Revival

• Boeing-Boeing will win...
• Macbeth should win...

Musical Revival

• Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific and Gypsy should both win... it's too close to say...

Play

• August: Osage County by Tracy Letts should and will win...

Musical

• In The Heights will win...
• Passing Strange should win...
• A Catered Affair should have been nominated in place of Cry-Baby.

*first year award is being given out.

Anyone out there agree or disagree?

2008 Tony Nominations

The nominations for the 2008 Tony Awards were announced yesterday. I had planned on waking up early and watching them, but alas, the night before I was out late with friends and was in no mood to wake up for a 8:30am anything!

To see a complete list of nominations, click here.

As I expected, In the Heights and August: Osage County both received lots of nominations, 13 and 7 (a sizeable amount for a play.) The revivals of South Pacific and Sunday in the Park with George also received a lot of nominations, 11 and 9, both including Best Revival of a Musical.

For some, the shows that didn't get nominated are always more interesting then the shows that did. The Little Mermaid, Catered Affair, and Young Frankenstein were only nominated for design or supporting actor awards (Little Mermaid did pick up a best score nod, but I doubt it will win, half it's score is from the movie.)

Also, I'm sad that Is He Dead? only received one nomination and only for Best Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Play (David Pittu). The show was extremely funny and there is no reason why it shouldn't still be running today.

I really hope In The Heights and Passing Strange win big. Since moving to New York, these are the only two shows that I've been really passionate about and hope that even if they don't win big, that the broadcast will be enough of an advertisement for them to run for a long time. August: Osage County is doing well after it's Pulitzer win and is a shoo in for Best New Play.

As it gets closer to June, I'll post a Tony awards predictions list.

Glory Days in the wink of young boys' eyes...

Glory Days is the new musical that is currently in previews at Circle in the Square. It revolves around four guys, all best friends in high school, who after completing their freshman year of college, reunite after a year and reflect on their glory days of high school and come to terms with the inevitable changes that have occurred during that time apart from each other.

The show opened in January at The Signature Theatre to much acclaim and has been set on the fast track to get to Broadway. Previews started last week. It opens May 6th. Just barely in time for the Tony eligibility cut off date, May 7th.

But I wonder if it'll stay open long enough to find out if it'll be nominated.

Okay, that's harsh. But really I do wonder. And not because it's a bad show. It's actually quite competent. But I wonder if Broadway audiences will come out for this type of show.

In the show we meet Will who serves as our narrator of sorts, and are introduced to his best friends from high school. Will, played by Steven Booth with a sort of Michael Cera style charm, has planned to pull a prank on the grounds of their high school and enlists his friends to help on the night of their reunion. Through the course of the evening we find out exactly how far apart these friends have grown the past year and the boundaries of their friendships.

The show can be a bit patronizing in it's attempts to speak for it's generation (the show is subtitled "a new American musical") There is a scene about use of the word "totes" that is at once amusing to me as a twenty something and disgusting to me as a twenty something. There is even a myspace joke. But the fact that the show is written by 23 year olds is what makes it tolerable. I would much rather have a peer be writing this kind of stuff then say, Jerry Herman.

But it does have it's highlights. The song "Generation Apathy" talks about, well, the general apathy that seems to be so prevalent in the current youth of America in an interesting way. And the show is at it's best during "The Good Old Glory Type Days" where the boys all reflect on their great high school moments.

What's odd though all this, is that the deep personal reflection is happening after only a years time, and maybe it's appropriate for a generation that can reflect on last week like it was eons ago, but towards the end of the play when I look at the boys on stage, I still see boys, not men. They just finished their freshmen year of college. They are going to continue to change and grow and hopefully realize that all the drama that they just put themselves through on this one night was not worth it in the larger scheme of things.

The show has a great pop/rock score by 23 year old new comer Nick Blaemire. And it is performed with great energy and enthusiasm by the four person male cast, with Andrew C Call as Andy and Booth as stand outs.

But as much as it pains me to say it, I don't think it's going to make it. Not on Broadway. And as much as I'm all for breaking down the barriers of commercial theatre, you have to ask yourself, is it better to try to make it and fail, or to maybe take the show off-Broadway and have a much longer run and have more people see it. The show seems too small in scope. The audience for it is too small. There are only so many young people who have recently gone through a transitional phase in their lives. Why the show didn't open off-Broadway where I know it would find a very welcoming long run, I don't know.

That said, a personal favorite of mine, Passing Strange, currently playing at the Belasco, is an example of the kind of show that doesn't seem like it belongs on Broadway, and while it's not selling out, it's hanging in there (probably for the Tony's. Which it will win multiple I'm sure) so what do I know?!

I feel like Glory Days is a show that could speak to a lot of people. It certainly resonated with me. Being a recent college grad I know how weird and wonderful it can be to reconnect with people from high school or college, and it seems like suddenly they're not the same person anymore (or is it you that changed?) It's a really interesting idea to try and capture and musicalize. I just feel like it doesn't transfer to larger then life-ness of a Broadway house. I wish it luck though. I hope it's able to run for a long time. I hope it makes a recording. I hope it lasts long enough to look back on it's own glory years on Broadway, and not just days. But like the characters in the show realize, glory days aren't meant to last.

Three Shows in a weekend...

I know that I recently talked about seeing multiple shows back to back and how I don't like it. Well... I somehow managed to see three shows this past weekend, Debbie Allen's staging of an all African-American production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, the new Off-Broadway transfer Passing Strange, and the so-sweet-it'll-give-you-a-cavity, Legally Blonde.

Usually when I see multiple shows in a close amount of time, they always end up, sometimes surprisingly, having themes that somehow reinforce one another. (The similarities of Steppenwolf's epic drama August: Osage County Second Stages' rock musical Next to Normal are remarkable) but I was at a loss at trying to put these three together :)

This revival of Cat is fairly straight forward. The only difference is the use of an all African-American cast. Terrance Howard is making his theatrical debut as Brick. Anika Noni Rose is Maggie, and Phylicia Rashad and James Earl Jones as Big Mama and Big Papa.

So, basically... the cast is great. I went in loving everyone before I even saw it. It was too cool to see all these people live. But as the play went on and I became less star struck, to my surprise, they were all great!

The use of an all African-American cast is an interesting one. The first time this has been done on Broadway, but there have been some all-Black casts at some professional regional productions. What was interesting about it was the fact that it didn't really change anything all that much. I expected possibly some new light to be shed on the characters, but besides a few lines here and their taking on a new meaning, not much changed. I mean... what did I expect? I don't know. And I'm not really complaining. Because just the chance to see these actors do these roles was such a treat.

I hope Terrance Howard comes back to theatre. While his Brick was very good, Brick doesn't do a lot to talking. Mostly listening... It would be nice to see him in a more active role.

After the matinee of Cat, I saw Passing Strange in the evening. I was very excited about seeing this show as I heard really good things about it when it played at the Public last year, but missed it. So I jumped at the chance to see it now on Broadway.

The show is a new rock musical that follows a young singer/songwriter as he finds himself and his voice as he grows up in Los Angeles, then moves to Amsterdam, Berlin and then eventually comes back.

A coming of age story isn't new ground by any means, but what makes this story remarkable is the way that it's told. Half rock concert, half play, the band is on stage surrounding the actors who play around them. There is no set, just a few chairs. (and I realize that the whole no-set-just-chairs-and-band-on-stage thing isn't really new either, but this just feels so fresh!)

The show is oddly postmodern and so groundbreaking, not the kind of thing you expect to see on Broadway. And I don't mean that as an intentional knock at commercial theatre. But the show is so cool and so different then everything else out there! The music is great, and despite my grumblings about rock musicals (see here) it works really well.

The show is narrated by the guitar player and composer, Stew (gotta love anyone with one name), who sometimes steps in for his younger self to sing major songs. It is a convention that turns out to be extremely powerful at times.

This is first show that I'm really excited for this year. I just hope it's able to find an audience. It's not a traditional show, and isn't going to attract a traditional audience. But I'm sure once the reviews come out it'll be packed, as when I saw it Saturday night there were some empty seats.

At Legally Blonde meanwhile, there was hardly an empty seat Sunday night. I've seen Blonde before, (and on MTV) a co-worker's husband got free tickets, and she invited me to come, and I'm not going to pass up a free show!

And the show was fine, not spectacular, but full of energy and bubble gum gusto you can't help but smile at times. If you've only seen it on MTV I will say it's much better in person. Christian Borle is a fantastic actor and I fell in love with him all over again as Emmet (the Luke Wilson character in the movie.) Laura Bell Bundy as Elle Woods was satisfactory, but her voice was so shot by Sunday night (Legally Blonde has a four show weekend) that I just felt bad for her. Take the matinees off girl!

I'm going to see In the Heights this Tuesday. It's no secret to the people who know me, that I love this show. I can only hope that being in a big Broadway house doesn't change the show too much.