By David NouNou
In truth, the 2009/2010 theater season for best original musicals or dramas was among the worst ever. The revivals of musicals and dramas, on the other hand, fared much better. However, the best thing about this particular season was the myriad magnificent and memorable performances. In the four major categories of the best plays or musicals, the choices are fairly obvious. It is the rest of the categories, from all the acting nominees to designers, all of which will make the evening most interesting and intriguing. Unlike most years, in most every category there are always the clear-cut winners. This year, pick any one of the acting categories, and you will find anywhere from two to possibly four deserving contenders for each award. For Middle America, it won't necessarily make any difference on who will win because, after all, it's not the Super Bowl or The World Series. But for us New York City theatergoers, it will be a most exciting evening indeed.
Best Musical:
American Idiot: An inventive show, but loud, youth angst is getting tiresome.
Fela!: Should win easily because it is the best and it is original. The energy from the cast and musicians on stage, as well as the music and rhythms, are amazing and mesmerizing. Winner will be Fela!
Memphis: As energetic as the show is, it’s really just a retread of an inter-racial version of A Star Is Born mixed with the noble civil-rights sensibilities of Hairspray, minus the irony and the fun.
Million Dollar Quartet: This was a fun jukebox musical, but it’s not a winner.
Thank God the Tony Committee had the good sense of not nominating an eagerly anticipated, star-fueled, abysmal musical and not wasting needless slots by nominating most members of that dreadful show. (Ba-da-da-dum, snap, snap.)
Best Book of a Musical:
This is a really a battle between Fela!, which is a bona-fide musical, and Everyday Rapture, which is a monologue with songs. Winner: Fela!
Best Score of a Musical:
Only one real musical in the running, and the winner is Memphis.
Best Musical Revival:
La Cage aux Folles; the rest don't matter. This musical is one reinvention that truly worked.
Best Drama:
Between Red and Next Fall. The other two have closed and are, thus, not in the running. The Best Play of the Year that should have won but wasn't even nominated is Enron. Red, the better and more interesting of the two should win, but Red is a British import, while Next Fall is all-American, so the latter will win out of default. Plus, it's got the gay vote behind it. How does one justify winning a Best Play when it wasn’t nominated in any other category but direction?
Best Drama Revival:
All four nominees are worthy of their mention and deserve their place in this category. However, the real battle is between A View from the Bridge and Fences. Both had powerhouse stars, both had excellent performances, and both were sellouts. Unfortunately, View has closed already. What a battle royale it would have been to the finish had View still been running. My personal favorite was A View from the Bridge, but the award will go to Fences.
Now begins the hard task of trying to choose a winner in the acting categories or more accurately, which nominees the Tony Committee will choose. If one has seen all the nominees, credit must be given to all. I am sure every nominee has a fan base, and we will try to predict the winners.
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play:
Five nominees, four contenders, and any of the four is deserving of the award. Alfred Molina in Red (riveting); Liev Schreiber in A View from the Bridge (brilliant); Christopher Walken in A Behanding In Spokane (eerily quirky); and Denzel Washington in Fences (forceful). Dead heat between Schrieber and Molina. Winner should be Liev Schreiber. The only upset here might be Christopher Walken, if quirky is chosen over brilliance.
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play:
Three magnificent performances: Linda Lavin in Collected Stories (her best performance to date); Valerie Harper in Looped (was mesmerizing and a front runner as Tallulah Bankhead) until Viola Davis entered the race in Fences. Astounding. If there ever were a category that I would have loved to see a tie, it would be here for both Ms. Harper and Ms. Davis to win. Both give superlative performances, but Viola Davis, with her must-see emotional breakdown in Fences, will take home the Tony.
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical:
Two real contenders: Douglas Hodge in La Cage aux Folles, but Sahr Ngaujah in Fela! will be the winner.
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical:
There are three contenders here. Catherine Zeta-Jones in A Little Night Music (movie star power filling seats in a listless revival and starring in a Sondheim show); Sherie Rene Scott in Everyday Rapture (popular with voters and a worthy last-minute replacement for Roundabout Theatre); and Montego Glover in Memphis (giving an actual gut-wrenching performance.) The Tony should go to Montego Glover.
Now comes an even harder selection, the four supporting categories. They total 20 nominees and 17 of them deserve to win a Tony. Never has there been such deserving candidate as this year’s nominees. They run the spectrum of seasoned veterans to newcomers who in some cases were the sole reason to see the show.
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play:
Of the four supporting acting categories, this is the most difficult to choose. Five nominees five should be winners, all giving wonderful performances and deserve being mentioned. Jon Michael Hill in Superior Donuts (closed); Stephen Kunken in Enron (closed); David Alan Grier in Race (leaving June 20th); and Eddie Redmayne in Red (closing June 27th). The winner is and should be Stephen Mckinley Henderson in Fences, giving a beautiful, sensitive, no-nonsense performance.
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play:
There were four extraordinary performances. Jessica Hecht and Scarlett Johansson in A View from the Bridge will cancel each other out. Jan Maxwell in Lend Me A Tenor was absolutely hilarious; and the incandescent Rosemary Harris in The Royal Family. What a pleasure it was to see her on Broadway again and what a command of the stage. She was nominated in 1976 for this show as Best Actress in the role that Jan Maxwell earned her Best Actress Nomination this year. This is Ms Harris’s ninth nomination and she has only won once for The Lion In Winter in 1966. A long overdue second win is justified and deserved for Rosemary Harris, who’s the theatrical stage equivalent of Meryl Streep because, like Ms. Streep in the movies with her umpteen Oscar nominations, Ms. Harris has been nominated so many times for a Tony for her Broadway roles.
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical:
There are three definite and deserving candidates, and any one of them could win. Veterans and both two-time nominees, Christopher Fitzgerald in the fine revival of Finian’s Rainbow (closed) and Kevin Chamberlin in The Addams Family (the sole reason to see that dreadful show); and hopefully, the eventual winner Levi Kreis in Million Dollar Quartet, who is simply brilliant as Jerry Lee Lewis.
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical:
This is my personal favorite category this year, with five phenomenal actresses each giving award-winning performances. I’ll work up to the eventual winner. Karine Plantadit in Come Fly Away is an extraordinary dancer. Lillias White in Fela! already won in 1997 for The Life. Now come the three powerhouses and would-be winners. All three are previous winners. The venerable Barbara Cook in Sondheim on Sondheim (a wonderful comeback, and this classy mega-talent has been absent from Broadway way too long). Her previous win was for The Music Man way back in 1958. Katie Finnernan in Promises, Promises (she’s the sole reason to stay for the second act, and she carries that show on her shoulders). Previous win for Ms. Finnernan was in Noises Off in 2002. Last but not least is the incomparable Angela Lansbury in A Little Night Music (the only magic in this drab and lackluster revival). Miss Lansbury won her fifth and most recent Tony last year for a revival of Blithe Spirit.) There will definitely not be a three-way tie. Had she not won last year, I definitely would have chosen Ms. Lansbury for the award. However, I have to give it to Katie Finnernan for her bravura and fearless, over-the-top performance.
Best Direction of a Play:
There are only two really viable candidates. Michael Grandage for Red (he made this two-character play moving and interesting) and Gregory Mosher for A View from the Bridge (turned what would seem a dated play into a heart-pounding theater piece). The award should go to Gregory Mosher.
Best Direction of a Musical:
Again, only two viable candidates. Terry Johnson in La Cage aux Folles (Johnson totally reinvented this large-scale musical into an intimate timely must-see delight) and Bill T. Jones for Fela! (a musical vibrant with life and energy, entertaining and informative). The award should go to Bill T. Jones.
Best Choreography:
Okay, let’s cut to the chase. Twyla Tharp will win her second Tony for Come Fly Away. It’s a no-brainer, folks.
Let’s keep the technical awards a surprise when they announce the winners on June 13th. Thus ends the 2009/2010 season—rich, abundant, and overflowing in memorable performances, but, alas, lacking in new material that can be revived 10 years from now.
Theater critic David NouNou is Managing Editor and Co-Publisher of StageZine.com.
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Published June 4, 2010
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| Montego Glover in 'Memphis'. Photo: Joan Marcus |
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