The announcement of the nominees for this year’s Tony Awards yesterday kicks off the official Tony race, but already there are big winners – and some losers. The new Boublil/Schonberg musical The Pirate Queen, for instance, is a complete no-show; so, somewhat more surprisingly, is David Hare’s The Vertical Hour, which closed some months ago and is therefore already forgotten, but whose Bill Nighy was long ago considered a shoe-in for at least a nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. Also snubbed is Kevin Spacey’s return to Broadway in A Moon for the Misbegotten (though co-star Eve Best is nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play); and Frost/Nixon’s Michael Sheen, though his absence from the chart clears the field for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play to his co-star Frank Langella. Missing, too, is Hal Prince from the Best Direction of a Musical stakes, and LoveMusik – the show that has brought him back to Broadway – also fails to secure a Best Musical slot. Neither does Legally Blonde, the latest screen-to-stage bubblegum adaptation, but with only four slots to fill and six possible nominees, as I wrote here previously, something had to go and these are two that were lost in the mix.
It does mean, however, that the Tony Awards have at least not delivered another snub to Disney, as they did with last year’s Tarzan, and have included Mary Poppins in the Top Four, which is co-produced by Disney with Cameron Mackintosh. But Mackintosh has been snubbed with the return of Les Miserables failing to secure a Best Revival of a Musical nomination.
On the other hand, Coram Boy – widely dismissed by some (but not all) New York critics – leads a Tony fight-back, winning six nominations – including three for director/designer Melly Still (as director, and for her costume and scenic designs with Ti Green). She is one of three British directors, all making their Broadway debuts with imports from London, to be nominated for Best Director of a Play – she is joined by David Grindley (for Journey’s End) and Michael Grandage (for Frost/Nixon) in a category in which the sole American entrant is Jack O’Brien, who directs a Broadway version of a play cycle begun in London, Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia. There’s also a British entrant in the Best Director of a Musical category – John Doyle for his production of Company.
If British directors often fare well in the nominations process, so do British designers – and Bob Crowley gets three nods (for his co-design with Scott Pask of the sets for The Coast of Utopia, and for both scenic and costume designs of Mary Poppins); with further nods to Jonathan Fensom (scenic design for Journey’s End); and lighting designers Paule Constable (Coram Boy), Jason Taylor (Journey’s End) and Howard Harrison (Mary Poppins).
British actors don’t score as highly as usual, though British-born (but Broadway’s very own) Angela Lansbury gets a Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play nomination for her Broadway return in Deuce, as does Vanessa Redgrave (for The Year of Magical Thinking) in a category that also includes A Moon for the Misbegotten’s Eve Best. And Gavin Lee from Mary Poppins is nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear are nominated for Best Choreography for Mary Poppins.
Roll on June 10 now, when the winners will be announced.
