Wednesday, May 01, 2019

Annual Tony nomination post

I don't post here very often anymore, except on Tony nomination day (or in this case, the day after). As a Drama Desk nominator, I've become more sensitive to the complexities of nominations. (If you're interested, here is the complete list of Drama Desk nominees, a list I'm very proud of.) I've started to dislike the word "snub" because it implies that there is some sort of malicious intent. In the case of the Drama Desks and I assume all awards, people and shows are shortlisted that don't make the final list, sometimes just barely, so it's better to focus on what is on the list, then what's not. Not that any of this will stop me from having opinions about the nominations, but I at least won't use the word snub when talking about them.

Overall, I'm pretty excited about this year's Tony list. There are lots of first-time and history-making nominees. I'm going to do things a little differently this year. Usually I post the complete list of nominations followed by my reactions in each one, but everyone who cares has seen the nominations by now and honestly I'm tired, but I still wanted a place to collect my thoughts.


1) Taylor Mac is nominated for best play for Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus. I don't think it is the strongest play in this category, but it was daring by today's Broadway standards and I'd rather see a play that takes risks than a boring one. Plus, I believe judy (Taylor Mac's preferred pronoun) is the first gender nonconforming artist to be nominated for a Tony, certainly the first in this category. The rest of the best play category includes a woman (Heidi Schreck) and a POC (Oscar winner Tarell Alvin McCraney), which shouldn't still be such a big deal in 2019, but until the majority of Broadway plays aren't written by white men, it is. All three made their Broadway debuts this season and were nominated. I think it's probably between Schreck's What The Constitution Means To Me and Jez Butterworth's The Ferryman, which were my two favorite Broadway plays of the season, so I'd be ok with either scenario. And even though I said I'd focus about what is on the list than what's not, I'm happy not to see Lucas Hnath's Hillary and Clinton on the list. I would have nominated Straight White Men over Ink.


2) Ain't Too Proud got 12 nominations! I think it suffers the problem of all bio musicals, feeling like a list of what happened in a group's history, and because it's based on the memoir of Otis Williams, its perspective is skewed, but it was one of the most entertaining musicals of the season and the performers were outstanding. It's also only the third musical in Broadway history to have a book written by black woman, which is just insane. It's nice to see it recognized. The only musical to get more nominations is Hadestown, which deserved all its nominations.


3) In terms of new musicals, Be More Chill only got one nomination--best score by Joe Iconis, which is the one that it deserved the most. I would have nominated it for best musical over Beetlejuice.


4) Can we talk about the best featured actor nominations for Gideon Glick (To Kill A Mockingbird) and Benjamin Walker (All My Sons)? These are both very deserving for those particular performances, two of the highlights of their respective shows, but it's even more satisfying because they should have been nominated for other performances in other years (Glick for Significant Other and Walker for American Psycho). 


5) The featured categories this year are particularly stacked. Featured actress in a play is also notable because Julie White and Kristine Nielsen, the two actresses in Gary, only had a week of rehearsal. Nielsen took over Andrea Martin's role and White took took over Nielsen's old role (this is a fascinating article about how it all came together so quickly). Nathan Lane is the only actor in that play to not be nominated, which is a little sad, but I think he'll be fine. Ruth Wilson was a highlight of that production of King Lear, and its only nomination, and Fionnula Flanagan was so memorable in The Ferryman, but I hope Celia Keenan-Bolger wins, and I think it's likely that she will.


6) The featured actor in a musical is also great. I'm happy that some of the people that didn't make it to our final Drama Desk list are here, notably Ephraim Sykes (Ain't Too Proud), Andy Grotelueschen (Tootsie), and double nominee Jeremy Pope (Ain't Too Proud). Also, Patrick Page (Hadestown), since he wasn't eligible for the Drama Desks. I'm happy that we nominated Corbin Bleu, George Salazar, and Patrick Vaill, since they weren't nominated here. I know the Tony and Drama Desk Awards aren't equivalent, but I just want everyone to win awards. I would have also liked to see a nomination for John Behlmann, since I think playing dumb is a skill that doesn't get appreciated enough. See also James Davis, Will Parker in the Oklahoma! revival, who also didn't get enough love this awards season, but again, too much competition. I am available to comfort either one of them should they need it.
7) And the other featured category is, of course, featured actress in a musical. It's odd that Lilli Cooper from Tootsie is in this category, since she is the female lead of that show, but I'm happy to see her in any category. (So many nominations for Spring Awakening alumni, both Broadway productions!) This is probably between scene stealers Amber Gray, Sarah Stiles, and Ali Stroker, and I think it should be a three-way tie (a five-way tie would be fine too). If Stroker wins, she will be the first actor in a wheelchair to win a Tony.
8) I don't want to jinx it, but Santino Fontana is going to win a Tony Award. He is up against some deserving people, including one of my other favorites, Damon Daunno, but I think it's Fontana's year, and since I am a very vocal fan, that also makes it my year, right?
9) Rachel Chavkin is the only female director nominee in either category and she better win for the way she restaged Hadestown for Broadway. She should have won for The Great Comet as well.
If you read these rambling thoughts, thank you, and congratulations to all the nominees!

12 comments:

Edward said...

Some are even copies of the actual real product that is made by legitimate herbal company, they put the same product name change what is inside and put the same label. Be very careful, you can look up grow taller 4 smarts free scam alerts to be ahead of scammers.Bionatrol Pro Enhance

Edward said...

If soil can grow crops, the food produced is nutritious. When soil lacks minerals, plants don't grow properly and may not produce their potential yield. Growing area does affect a food's iodine and selenium contents.Ryzex Male Enhancement

Edward said...

United States with multivitamin/mineral supplements being the biggest product category-and with an average of 500 new products launched each year. They're sold in many forms-for example, tablets, capsules, softgels, gelcaps, liquids, powders, and bars.Super Fast Keto Boost

Lara said...

Pills can be a perfect solution in many cases for male impotence and Erectile Dysfunction sufferers. What makes pills and products so effective,The specially formulated ingredients. male impotence sufferers are what have made them treat Erectile.Keto Trim 800

Lara said...

Not every man needs a prescription level drug solution to address Erectile Dysfunction (ED) or male impotence. A combination of as those for male impotence and Erectile Dysfunction sufferers. Celaxryn RX

Edward said...

increase desire, semen volume or penis size. While Viagra and Cialis receive the most exposure due to the large advertising budgets of their manufactures there are also many other male supplement pills available on the internet. The male sexual enhancers available on the internet generally fall into three categories.Optimal Rock

mega888 apk download said...

Wow, what a blog! I mean, you just have so much guts to go ahead and tell it like it is. Youre what blogging needs, an open minded superhero who isnt mega888 test id afraid to tell it like it is. This is definitely something people need to be up on. Good luck in the future, man

hassan said...

Customer Helpline Australia inside the media every now and then just would not actually constitute the truth of what the guidelines say. There is quite a few misunderstanding approximately what is going on with ObamaCare, and one of the things that i've observed in discussions with customers, is that there may be an underlying set of myths that humans have picked up approximately health care
https://customerhelplineaustralia.com/

timeofhealth said...

Keto Meal Plan sickness absence in uk is taken into consideration to be massive. In the united kingdom 177 million running days were lost in 1994 because of sickness absence; this has been assessed at over 11 billion in lost productivity. HSE statistics are encouraging given in 2009; best 29.Three million days had been misplaced overall, 24.6 million because of paintings-related unwell health and 4.7 million because of place of business harm. An awful lot of this burden of ill fitness and the ensuing illness absence is precipitated. http://ketomealplan.reviews/

Unknown said...

Nice article thank your for sharing this amazing information.I have a similar website,Great information here Alle Pillen für erektile Dysfunktion (ED), die in einer Apotheke erhältlich sind, sind im Allgemeinen sicher für die meisten Menschen. PDE5-Hemmer helfen einer Person, eine Erektion zu erreichen, indem sie den glatten Muskel in den Wänden der Blutgefäße entspannen. Diese Dilatation ermöglicht es dem Penis, sich mit Blut zu füllen More detail's visit Here Potenzmittel Online Shop

onlinepharmacyllc said...

Thank you for Providing Such a nice article its is very useful information
We are US based pharmacy company[ onlinepharmacyllc :-
onlinepharmacyllc
We are providing some product like:-
generic Ambien tablets 10mg
generic tablets HYDROCODONE 10/500 MG
generic tablets diazepam-10mg

Unknown said...

If you have insomnia for a long time, you should be prescribed to Buy Ambien medicines. But before, you ought to know a few pointers that can help Ambien 10 mg more efficiently.

Ambien-10-mg-180
Ambien-10-mg
Ambien medicines
Ambien tablets
Ambien Pills
Call us: 231-221-2887
For more info:https://72hrspills.com/ambien-10-mg-180/