Done

Alright, I have officially finished my two classes for the term and have about 3 weeks all to myself. The papers have been written and turned in, the final discussions have been posted, and the end of term evaluations completed. With that, it's time to turn our attention to the Tony Awards! I'm sorry I haven't been able to provide my usual scintillating analysis, but hopefully we can recapture some of the magic in a brief discussion here.

As I mentioned earlier this week, August: Osage County will sweep all the play categories. Best Actress in a Play is completely up in the air between its two leading ladies, but maybe there will be a tie. I have not seen one single critic come out and make a prediction for the category, everyone is hedging their bets. There are only a couple play categories that A: OC is not nominated in, one being Best Sound Design, which should give Rock 'n Roll its single win. Otherwise, it's a big night for Chicago.

The musical category is far more interesting. Again, as I mentioned earlier, South Pacific will sweep most of its categories: Best Revival, Best Director (long overdue for Mr. Sher, he should have won for Light in the Piazza), Best Featured Actor, most likely Best Actor (although this Stew guy could be an upset, while Lin-Manuel has completely faded out of the race), and all the tech awards, except for Lighting Design which should go to Sunday in the Park. However, there is a chance that Xanadu could get Best Choreography, but don't count on it, the Tony Committee has made its disdain for the show clear. With all of the attention on the Best Revival category (it's like the late 90's all over again, maybe the economy and White House occupant will soon follow suit!), Best Musical is something of a snooze. In a just world, Xanadu would win, and having won the Drama Desk (or was that Outer Critics Circle, I can't keep them straight but it was won of them, although it was a tie), it does have a slight chance. However, Passing Strange has been racking up the wins while In The Heights has been Grey Gardens-ed to the sidelines since it was a big winner last year when it was Off-Broadway, which has seriously blunted its momentum. Cry Baby's nomination is a joke, leaving Passing and Heights to duke it out. Experts are still predicting that Heights will take it, but keeping in this year's spirit of equivocating, I'm going to stay on the fence and say it will be one of the two. I think they'll split book and score with Heights getting book (and a pox on the Tribune for saying the book is incomprehensible, how much did you drink before going to see it?) and Strange getting score, the voters love to appear hip (remember Noise/Funk winning Best Director over Rent? Not that either of them deserved it, but on a night when Rent was supposed to sweep it was a shocking choice), which will give Strange the edge.

That leaves us with the two most highly anticipated categories: Featured and Leading Actress in a Musical. Laura Benanti has done pretty well in the pre-Tony's awards, which should give her some momentum going in, and she's my personal fave. I've loved Andrea Martin's solo CD, but she's up for the wrong show, and with the exception of Audra, no one has ever had multiple wins in the Featured Actress category. Since Andrea's already got one (granted, for a show about as deserving as YF), she'll be empty handed tonight. However, if South Pacific is truly on a role, look for Loretta Ables-Sayre to take it. But, if Passing Strange goes on a role, it could be de'Adre Aziza as this year's LaChanze. Speaking of the bitch, let's turn our attention to Best Leading Actress. Of course, we all know who deserves it. However, this category is rarely about who deserves it for that performance, it's usually about who deserved it 10 years ago and was robbed, or who will deserve it 10 years from now but we'll go ahead and give it to them now. Yes, Patti has swept all the pre-Tony awards, but she did that 2 years ago too. Granted, she now has a lot more sentimentality on her side this time around after that loss, but she had a lot her side then, and these are the same people that screwed her over, so there's a very good chance, especially if South Pacific goes on a role, that Kelli O'Hara will win, especially because she deserved the Featured Tony three years ago for Light and lost to Sara Ramierez for fuckin' Spamalot. She also fits nicely into the will deserve it in 10 years but we'll give it to her now category. Fortunately, other than Faith Prince, no one can come close to splitting the vote with Patti this time around the way that Chita did three years ago, and it is more likely that votes will be split between Kelli and Kerry Butler, another will deserve it in 10 years person. Faith's musical was pretty much hated so she doesn't have a chance. However, the real threat is Jenna Russell. She is the dark horse ingenue that the voters also love to recognize in this category. There's still a lot of conviction that Sunday was robbed the first time around, and a win in one major category (lighting design alone isn't going to cut it) could go a long way towards making amends, and this is the category to do it. As much as I favor Patti, keep an eye on Jenna, should could be the night's one truly shocking moment.

So, I think that wraps it up. I'm on my way home in a few hours to get a new car, which should clear out the rest of the drama in my life. Notice that the title of this blog is Theatre Queen, not Drama Queen, and I can't figure out how my life gets those confused. I'll be back in shortly before the awards start (which, by the way, despite some performances from awful shows, should be pretty good, Whoopi's always been a solid Oscar host and generally excels in live situations. However, the theme of Xanadu getting screwed when she's around is likely to continue). Then in two weeks it's off to NY to see some of these shows for myself.