Broadway has something to sing about
In a great year for musicals, which will Tony choose?
With "August: Osage County" looking like a sure thing for Best Play, the races to watch in tonight's Tony Awards are mostly in the musical categories.
It's been a remarkable year for Broadway musicals old, new, and uncategorizable, from the widely praised revivals of "Gypsy" and "South Pacific" to the fresh new faces of "In the Heights" and the genre-busting "Passing Strange." Oh, yeah, and we heard from Mel Brooks and
So which will it be: "South Pacific" or "Gypsy"? Patti LuPone as the unstoppable Mama Rose, or Kelli O'Hara as the unsinkable Nellie Forbush? Both women deliver carefully shaded yet powerful performances, but, for my money, O'Hara's feels fresher and more revealing. By the same token, delightful as it is to see co-creator Arthur Laurents direct "Gypsy" with a sure eye for its complexities, Bartlett Sher's handling of "South Pacific" makes it feel fascinatingly, and surprisingly, current and alive.
Novelty may account for part of the difference: "Gypsy" has made repeated trips back to Broadway, while "South Pacific" hasn't been seen there since the mid-1950s. And, in truth, both productions are so fine - and so handsomely presented, with large and visible orchestras adding to the magic - that I'll be happy no matter how the voting goes. (So long as the word "Grease" is never uttered.) Even more remarkable, this category includes a third strong contender as well: the luminous, technically proficient revival of "Sunday in the Park with George," which retains the original's dazzling first-act re-creation of the Seurat painting that inspired it while also deepening the connections between that 19th-century setting and the modern-day art-world story that follows in Act 2.
Among the new musicals, the growing-up-uptown tale "In the Heights" seems poised to do well, and the youthful exuberance and verve of its creator and cast make that a mostly happy prospect. The performance artist Stew's less orthodox coming-of-age story, "Passing Strange," is more expertly crafted and, to me, more interesting in its reimagining of the possibilities for a stage musical. But the popularity of "In the Heights" may weigh heavily with Tony voters, who are often drawn to the shows they consider more likely to do well with a large audience, both in New York and later on tour.
Crowd-pleasing also drives the design of the awards broadcast, and this year's show looks to be hitting that point especially hard. The less snazzy craft awards, as usual, will be given out before the live three-hour broadcast starts at 8 p.m. on CBS (WBZ, Channel 4, in Boston), and the show itself features an unusually large number of musical numbers: 13 in all.
That's one from each of the four "best" nominees in the revival and new-musical categories, plus performances from the season's other new musicals, which all received nominations in lesser categories: "A Catered Affair," "The Little Mermaid," and "The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein" (the grace and subtlety of which title tells you all you need to know about that show). And we'll see a tribute to "The Lion King," celebrating its 10th season, and a farewell to "Rent," set to close this fall. (Buh-bye, and don't let the door hit you on the way out.)
After a couple of hostless years, culminating in last season's low-rated broadcast (airing opposite the final "Sopranos" episode didn't help any), this year's show is also looking to pull in viewers with a celebrity emcee, Whoopi Goldberg. No word on whether she'll sing, too, but I'm guessing not.
Also not singing will be the contenders in the evening's other big showdown, this one between two actresses in the same play. Deanna Dunagan, as the toxic matriarch of "August: Osage County," and Amy Morton, as her intoxicated eldest daughter, both tear up the stage in Tracy Letts's riproaring tragicomedy. I'd bet on Dunagan, as she's the one you can never take your eyes off.
But I'd also, quietly, venture the opinion that, despite the raves from other critics, the flood of earlier awards, and the Pulitzer Prize, this sprawlingly dysfunctional family feels more like the stuff of a cable series than the indelible characters of a classic play. Yes, "August" is hugely entertaining, in its vicious excess and twist-on-top-of-turn revelations. But it's also slick and more than a little manipulative, in a way that I tolerate on TV but find irritating onstage. Letts sometimes seems to be positing his miserable creatures as metaphors for a decaying America, but that's the kind of easy correspondence that goes over better on the small screen, where a director can intersperse a few establishing shots of soul-sucking suburbia or abandoned plains among the diatribes.
That said, ignore me. It's going to win. And if its victory creates a new vogue for big, multicharacter stories, I'm all for it. I'll also be perfectly happy if Todd Rosenthal wins for his spooky, multistory set of a dilapidated homestead. Just don't tell me we've found our next O'Neill.
As for the rest of the awards, let's see: Patrick Stewart seems likely to take home a statue for best actor in "Macbeth," though in my fantasies it goes to Rufus Sewell instead, for "Rock 'n' Roll." I'd also award Sinead Cusack best featured actress in that play, though Rondi Reed makes a hilariously vulgar turn as the aunt in "August." (And if "
And there's plenty to watch, starting as early as 1 p.m. if you're willing to go online. The American Theatre Wing, the nonprofit group that sponsors the Tonys along with the trade organization Broadway League, will present a marathon of Tony-related episodes of its "Working in the Theatre" show on CUNY.tv from 1 to 7.
Meanwhile, at 4 on WBZ, Mario Lopez hosts a Tony preview concert, with assorted cast members performing songs from nominated shows. Red-carpet ogling begins at 6, online only at tonyawards.com; that's also the only place to see the early "creative arts awards." The live TV broadcast, from Radio City Music Hall, starts at 8. And by 11, Whoopi willing, we'll know just how wrong all our advance guesses can be.
Louise Kennedy can be reached at kennedy@globe.com.
