At Tony Award nominations, there isn’t any clear juggernaut however alternative for feminine administrators
NEW YORK — After a remaining, frantic push to open the final raft of Broadway reveals earlier than the eligibility window closed, the ultimate checklist of just about 40 performs and musicals vying for Tony Award nominations this yr are prepared and hoping for his or her closeups.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Renée Elise Goldsberry will announce nominees for the 26 aggressive Tony Awards on Tuesday morning, the results of voting by the 60 members of the nominating committee.
The spring barrage — 14 reveals opened in an 11-day span this yr — just isn’t uncommon nowadays as producers hope their work can be recent within the thoughts of voters forward of the Tony Awards ceremony on June 16. However no clear single musical juggernaut has emerged, just like the megahit “Hamilton” in 2016 or a vital darling like final yr’s “Kimberly Akino.”
One potential change this yr signifies ladies could also be poised to outnumber the boys for the primary time in directing nominations. Practically half of the 21 musicals — new and revivals — that opened this season had been helmed by a girl or featured a staff of co-directors the place no less than one was a girl. 5 out of the season’s 16 new performs and play revivals had been additionally staged by ladies.
The 2022 Tony Awards presently holds the report for many feminine directing nominees, with 4 complete throughout the 2 races. Solely 10 ladies have gone on to win the directing crown.
The eligible reveals this season embrace remodeling of current films or books — “The Outsiders,” “The Nice Gatsby,” “The Pocket book,” “Again to the Future” and “Water for Elephants” — and new works transferring over to Broadway, just like the suffrage play “Suffs,” the dance-heavy Sufjan Stevens-scored “Illinoise,” the rock band imploding “Stereophonic” and “Hell’s Kitchen,” loosely primarily based on Alicia Keys’ life.
There are some coincidences, like that Huey Lewis & The Information songs are heard at each his jukebox present “The Coronary heart of Rock and Roll” and an unconnected musical of “Again to the Future.” Rachel McAdams, who made a breakthrough within the movie model of “The Pocket book,” is competing in opposition to the musical model of that film a couple of blocks away within the play “Mary Jane.” Plus, “The Wiz” and “Depraved” now share Broadway, and Nazis are in each “Cabaret” and a musical about artist Tamara de Lempicka.
This season attracted loads of huge stars to Broadway along with McAdams, like Jessica Lange and Jim Parsons in “Mom Play,” Steve Carell in a revival of “Uncle Vanya,” Eddie Redmayne in a brand new “Cabaret,” Liev Schreiber in “Doubt,” “Succession” star Jeremy Robust in a revival of “An Enemy of the Individuals” and Sarah Paulson within the play “Acceptable.”
There have been some firsts this season, together with “Right here Lies Love” with Broadway’s first all-Filipino solid, in addition to largely Filipino producers, together with singer H.E.R., comic Jo Koy and Black Eyed Peas’ Apl.de.Ap. And 7 brazenly autistic actors starred in “How one can Dance in Ohio,” a primary for Broadway.
Massive musical revival splashes had been made by “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” “The Wiz,” “The Who’s Tommy,” Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Alongside” and the fourth revival of “Cabaret.”
Academy Award winner and Tony Award-nominee Ariana DeBose, who hosted each the 2023 and 2022 ceremonies, can be again this yr and can produce and choreograph the opening quantity.
This yr’s location — the David H. Koch Theater — is the house of New York Metropolis Ballet and in the identical sprawling constructing advanced as Lincoln Sq. Theater, which homes the Broadway venue Beaumont Theater.
Like final yr, the three-hour predominant telecast will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ from 8 p.m.-11 p.m. EDT/5 p.m.-8 p.m. PDT with a pre-show on Pluto TV, and a few Tony Awards handed on the market.
This season’s Broadway numbers — about $1.4 billion in grosses and 11.1 million tickets — is working barely lower than the 2022-23 season, off about 4% in grosses and down 1% in tickets.
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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
