Good for the Tony Awards for rejecting dear Broadway cash-grabs and their A-list stars
A whole lot of Hollywood’s A-list didn’t make the record for subsequent month’s Tony Awards.
Thursday’s nominations unceremoniously snubbed a minimum of three Oscar winners: Denzel Washington (“Othello”), Kieran Culkin (“Glengarry Glen Ross”) and Robert Downey Jr. (“McNeal”).
Washington’s co-star Jake Gyllenhaal didn’t make the reduce both. Nor did Rachel Zegler for “Romeo + Juliet.”
Good! The 40-some nominators did the proper factor. Their performs had been unhealthy, and the actors had been underwhelming in them. That tickets to “Othello” and “Glengarry” price as a lot as $900 and $700 respectively for OK seats should’ve additionally caught within the committee’s craw.
Contemplating the producers of “Othello” uninvited me from their present for criticizing their exorbitant costs, I’m grinning from ear to ear.
The award ceremony honoring Broadway didn’t totally say “no manner!” to Hollywood, although.
Sarah Snook, who performed Shiv on HBO’s “Succession,” was known as out for her unbelievable flip within the high-tech “Image of Dorian Grey.”
The Aussie, who tackles 26 components, acquired the Finest Actress in a Play class all wrapped up.
The ferocious Nicole Scherzinger was additionally nominated for her thrilling flip as pale display screen star Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Sundown Boulevard.”
Scherzinger is in a couldn’t-be-closer race for Finest Actress in a Musical with Audra McDonald, who’s taking up the titanic function of Mama Rose in “Gypsy.”
And, piling on the drama, they’re proper throughout the road from one another! For the following month, West forty fourth is gonna appear to be the Sharks and Jets.
“Sundown” is prone to emerge victorious as Finest Revival.
And its main woman? Proper now, I give the previous Pussycat Doll the sting too. Many, many citizens have informed me they had been disenchanted in “Gypsy,” and really feel six-time winner McDonald has executed higher work in different reveals.
For some added glamour, George Clooney squeezed in. He’s completely tremendous as journalist Edward R. Murrow in “Good Night time, and Good Luck.”
However the “Syriana” star received’t win. Good Night time, and Powerful Luck. Finest Actor in a Play will go to Cole Escola for being completely bananas in “Oh, Mary!,” the good comedy about Mary Todd Lincoln.
One other massive battle that’s executed and dusted, weirdly, is Finest Musical, which is normally probably the most suspenseful of the night time. Not so, this yr.
“Perhaps Pleased Ending,” a bittersweet romantic comedy about two robots, ought to change its title to “Undoubtedly Pleased Ending.”
If the rest in that class — “Buena Vista Social Membership,” “Lifeless Outlaw,” “Dying Turns into Her” and “Operation Mincemeat” — takes dwelling the gold, it will likely be a serious upset.
This yr’s nominations had been largely not scorching on splashy fare. “Smash” (trash!) scored simply two nods, whereas “Boop” (cute) managed three, together with for its implausible new star Jasmine Amy Rogers.
None of these had been for Finest Musical, which is the one award that issues for gross sales.
In relation to “Smash,” “Redwood” with Idina Menzel (zilch) and the Avett Brothers “Swept Away” (one nod for set), rising business whispers had been confirmed true: Nothing kills a present like a rave from the New York Occasions!
What else is tight?
Darren Criss (“Perhaps Pleased Ending”), Tom Francis (“Sundown Boulevard”) and Jonathan Groff (“Simply in Time”) and neck and neck for Finest Actor in a Musical. Groff, who’s a marvel as crooner Bobby Darin, would appear to be the possible frontrunner.
Nonetheless, he received solely final yr for “Merrily We Roll Alongside.” No musical performer has secured back-to-back Tonys since Gwen Verdon in 1959. I say: Stats, shmacts.
My crystal ball might additionally use some Windex to assist predict Finest Play.
“Goal,” the scorching household dramedy by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, is a contender. So is “John Proctor is the Villain,” Kimberly Belflower’s classroom commentary on “The Crucible.”
However only one play — nicely, not counting the terrible A-list cash-grabs — has been a bona fide occasion this season: Escola’s “Oh Mary!,” which began off-Broadway and has was a much-loved hit.
As of immediately, I anticipate Escola to hoist the trophy and shout, “Oh, Tony!”
However rather a lot can occur in 5 weeks. “Goal” or “Proctor” might surge. And McDonald nonetheless has loads of time to carry out “Every little thing’s Coming Up Roses” with a megaphone.
