The Big Day

Ok, first of all, I got my Ravinia tickets last night, but enough of the small talk, I know what you're all here for.

After a very bad year last year, and with a lot to make up for, the Tony nominating committee really got it right. Most of the surprises were due to the large number of deserving potential nominees where one deserving person/show beat out another deserving person/show, and for the most part, those that didn't deserve to get nominated didn't, there's no Wedding Singer or LaChanze in the group, which means that like the Oscars (another awards show that had a lot to make up for this year), chances are I'm going to be fairly happy when all is said and done.

Starting with the biggies, Mary Poppins got the fourth slot for Best Musical, with no fifth slot given. As I predicted, Curtains, Grey Gardens, and Spring Awakening took the other slots. I would have predicted LoveMusik over Poppins for the fourth slot, or at least as a surprise 5th nominee, but it wasn't to be. After Poppins' disappointing showing yesterday, I doubt it will win, which means I'll be thrilled with whoever takes home the prize. Working in its favor though, the committee did split up the technical awards into play and musical categories, so that both Utopia and Poppins can take home those awards (which I actually found out will all go to the same guy - Bob Crowley, one of the hardest working designers in showbiz. He could end up the night's truly big winner). I was disappointed that Company was not nominated for any technical awards, I thought that unlike Sweeney Todd, the costumes and set design were done by people other than John Doyle, which would have made it competitive in these categories. That's too bad, because Doyle is probably not going to get Best Director this time. Speaking of directors, Scott Ellis is finally getting his due. Not only did The Little Dog Laughed get nominated for Best Play (freezing out Deuce), he finally got a director nomination for Curtains, although I'm still predicting Michael Mayer to win. The other big surprise here was Harold Prince's shutout, again given how the previous guilds have gone, I would have predicted him over Ellis, but he's been shutout before. Depending on the moment, the Tony's either love him or hate him, and I guess they're in a hate mode right now, although again, this category was one of the tougher calls, there were a lot of people who deserved a nomination here.

As for the big race, which was last year's big fuckup, Christine Ebersole did get her nomination, bumping out Kristen Chenoweth, who made a good showing in the previous guild awards nominations. Given the lack of love for Musik, I would have expected her to replace Donna Murphy, but Donna got a nomination, as did Audra McDonald and Debra Monk. Donna could give Christine a good run for her money, but at this point I think Christine is still safe, although again, there's a long time between now and June 10. The other suprise in this category was the lack of a nomination for Stephanie J. Block, completely blocking the Pirate Queen, a big repudiation for previous winners Boublil and Shoenberg.

While I was glad to see Legally Blonde blocked from the top category, it replaces Poppins in most of the other categories, including Book and Score, however I don't think it has a chance for most of them. Spring Awakening is a lock for Best Score and possibly best Orchestrations, while Book is up for grabs among the top three, which could allow Blonde to rise to the top and nab its sole award of the evening. Spring Awakening could steamroll the awards, being the top nomination recipient and grab it, or it could go to Grey Gardens for the phenomenal job they did adapting the documentary almost word for word and then crafting a completely original first act, or it could go to Curtains for being the only original book in the bunch as well as Peter Stone's swan song and Rupert Holmes's overdue return. With all these scenarios, it's easy to see a win for Blonde, but givens the voters' recent propensity to reward original shows (Avenue Q, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and The Drowsey Chaperone, all original shows, were the past 3 winners), I think Curtains will end up taking Best Book.

While Cristine is dominating the Actress category, this really is the year of the boys. Jonathan Groff and John Gallagher Jr. got acting awards for Spring, but none of the girls did (BTW, did anyone else know that Lea Michele was Tateh's daughter in Ragtime?). Besides Groff, the other leading nominees are David Hyde Pierce (who I'd love to see win), Raul Esparza (the likely winner), and Michael Cerveris. I do think Gallagher may have a chance for featured actor, but we'll have to see. There's a chance Brooks Ashmanskas could take for being the sole nominee from Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me (another overlooked show by previous big nominees, although after listening to the cast recording, I'm not that impressed either).

In the last major category, A Chorus Line got a surprise nomination for Best Revival. I thought it had previously been ruled ineligible, along with Les Miz due to the fact that it was based on the original production and really was a remounting rather than a revival, but somehow it got through. I'm still looking for Company to take this one though, they still owe Doyle.

So, among the musicals, Spring Awakening leads the pack with 11 (the most of any show, play or musical), Grey Gardens has 10 (along with Utopia on the play side), Curtains has 8, Blonde has 7, Poppins has 6, and there are several shows with 1 or 2, being a good year, it was hard for anyone other than the front runners to break into more categories.

On the play side, Deuce only received one nomination, and it was the expected Best Actress nomination for Angela Lansbury. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. She's up against Vanessa Redgrave and Swoozie Kurtz, and they could split the vote, letting it go to Eve Best. However, she can't totally be counted out. I don't think they'd nominate her now just to see her lose for the first time, but they did it to Mary Martin, so you never know.

As I mentioned, Dog got Deuce's slot for Best Play, with the other nominees being Utopia, Frost/Nixon, and Radio Golf. I'm looking for Utopia to win, although Frost/Nixon has a lot of fans and with Golf being August Wilson's swan song, that could just as easily take it. We'll have to see if Frank Langella beats Brian F. O'Byrne again for best actor after yesterday, but seeing as how O'Bryne lost in a very surprising way a couple years ago for Doubt, the voters could feel they need to make this up to him, and he did anchor an entire trilogy. Again, lots can change between now and June 10th. That's going to be a busy day, I've got Jerry Springer in the afternoon and will then have to hurry home quickly to pop the champagne and settle in for the best night of the year. As the time gets closer I'll update my predications and then we can all see how they play out.