And They're Off. . .

Awards season has just heated up with today's announcements of the Outer Critics Cirle Nominations. The full list is at:

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/116967.html

and is full of surprises. I can't say any surprise is the biggest because they're all pretty shocking, so we'll just run them all down. First, as stated in the article's title, Young Frankenstein leads the pack with 10 nominations. Pretty good for a show that was completely reviled by critics, although it may turn out to be this year's Wicked or Spamalot, lauded with nominations in recognition of its clout, but rewarded with very few wins. While Young Frankenstein was raking them in, Off-Broadway's Frankenstein was shut out, as were Broadway's In The Heights (shocking, but it may be in a similar situation as Grey Gardens was last year, which is too bad because it will lose a lot of visibility among Tony voters as awards season goes on) and Grease (while I'm not upset about that one, it's disappointing for Max). Xanadu only got one nomination for best musical, no acting or directing nominations. The Little Mermaid also only got one nomination, Sherie Renee Scott for Featured Actress (Sierra got shut out of Actress, along with Kerry Butler, opening up Patti's way for her long overdue second Tony. With those two out of the way, though Kelli O'Hara could be a bigger challenge). Off-Broadway's Adding Maching (yay!!!) and Make Me A Song (bigger yay!!!) got nominations for best off-bway musical, and The Receptionist got a well deserved nomination for best off-bway play, but no acting nominations. Jane Houdyshell did get a nomination for her featured performance in The New Century, but I can't imagine anyone was better than her portrayal of Beverly Wilkins, major oversight. Gypsy and South Pacific (which both got A's from Entertainment Weekly last week) will be slugging it out all spring, although Sunday in the Park could throw in some spoilers. Best Musicals were kind of snooze, and again it was shocking that Cry Baby, which hasn't even officially opened yet got a nomination while In The Heights got nothing. However, Glory Days was not eligible, but will be next year, so once that gets thrown into the mix, the Tony Awards could be much better. Still, it's a very unexpected start to the season, no telling where it will go from here.