Tony Nominations

[Sonic Youth]

Spring Awakening Music: Duncan Sheik

Wait. Not THAT Duncan Sheik?

(God help us...)

[Damien]

I saw Journey's End tonight -- a good solid production of a good solid play, but hardly a transcendental experience -- so I'm ready to weigh in with my predictions:

Best Play
The Coast of Utopia Author: Tom Stoppard
Runner Up: Frost/Nixon Author: Peter Morgan

Best Musical
Spring Awakening
Runner Up: Grey Gardens

Best Book of a Musical
Grey Gardens Doug Wright
Runner Up: Spring Awakening Steven Sater

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Spring Awakening Music: Duncan Sheik
Lyrics: Steven Sater
Runner Up:Grey Gardens Music: Scott Frankel
Lyrics: Michael Korie

Best Revival of a Play
Journey's End
Runner Up: Talk Radio

Best Revival of a Musical
A Chorus Line
Runner Up: Company

Best Special Theatrical Event
Kiki & Herb Alive on Broadway
Runner Up: Jay Johnson: The Two and Only

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Frank Langella Frost/Nixon
Runner Up: Christopher Plummer Inherit the Wind

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Angela Lansbury Deuce
Runner Up: Julie White The Little Dog Laughed

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Raúl Esparza Company
Runner Up: David Hyde Pierce Curtains

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Christine Ebersole Grey Gardens
Runner Up: Audra McDonald 110 in the Shade

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Billy Crudup The Coast of Utopia
Runner Up: Ethan Hawke The Coast of Utopia


Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Martha Plimpton The Coast of Utopia
Runner Up: Jennifer Ehle The Coast of Utopia

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
John Gallagher, Jr. Spring Awakening
Runner Up: David Pittu LoveMusik

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Mary Louise Wilson Grey Gardens
Runner Up: Charlotte d’Amboise A Chorus Line


Best Direction of a Play
Jack O'Brien The Coast of Utopia
Runner Up: David Grindley Journey's End

Best Direction of a Musical
Michael Mayer Spring Awakening
Runner Up: Michael Greif Grey Gardens

Best Choreography
Bill T. Jones Spring Awakening
Runner Up: Jerry Mitchell Legally Blonde The Musical

Best Orchestrations
Jonathan Tunick LoveMusik
Runner Up: Bruce Coughlin Grey Gardens

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Bob Crowley & Scott Pask The Coast of Utopia
Runner Up: Ti Green and Melly Still Coram Boy

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Allen Moyer Grey Gardens
Runner Up: Bob Crowley Mary Poppins


Best Costume Design of a Play
Catherine Zuber The Coast of Utopia
Runner Up: Ti Green and Melly Still Coram Boy

Best Costume Design of a Musical
William Ivey Long Grey Gardens
Runner Up: Gregg Barnes Legally Blonde The Musical

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner, and Natasha Katz The Coast of Utopia
Runner Up: Paule Constable Coram Boy

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kevin Adams Spring Awakening
Runner Up: Peter

[Okri]

Bottom line: if you can afford only one version of Company, make it the original. If you can, rent or buy the the DVD on the making of the recording. The highlight is again Elaine Stritch who went through hell to get that performance just right.

Yep. And that DVD is well worth watching.

[Big Magilla]

The original cast recording of Company was so perfectly done it's almost impossible for subsequent productions to even try.

The London cast recording of the early 70s was just an overlay of Larry Kert's vocals over Dean Jones', rendering the other performers' tinny in their inter-acting vocals. Kert may have been the better singer, but Jones was the better actor and Being Alive requires acting as much as singing. The Columbia Masterworks reissue on CD includes Kert's Being Alive as a bonus track.

Being Alive may be the best song in Company, but Elaine Stritch's devastating rendering of The Ladies Who Lunch is something akin to a religious experience. Debra Monk, a stalwart actres/singer in other things, sounds pitiful in the 1995 revival. Barbara Walsh in the current version improves upon Monk, but is no Stritch either.

Boyd Gaines was decent enough in the 1995 version, which retains the original orchestrations, as is Raul Esparza in the current version, but the only thing the current version has that the original doesn't is added dialogue in the intros to some of the songs making the presentation more theatrical.

Marry Me a Little, which was dropped from the original, was added to the 1995 version and is well done in both that and the current version.

Bottom line: if you can afford only one version of Company, make it the original. If you can, rent or buy the the DVD on the making of the recording. The highlight is again Elaine Stritch who went through hell to get that performance just right.

[FilmFan720]

So, I was at Borders the other day and I saw both Grey Gardens and the new Company sitting in their abbreviated theatrical recording section (more than half the section was missing and I couldn't find the rest of it). I tried listening to both. They didn't have Grey Gardens loaded. Company was and I was completely underwhelmed. While there were parts that I enjoyed of Esparza's work, I thought the reworkings of three of the film's best pieces were incredibly annoying.

Another Hundred People just sounded silly. I don't know who the actress was, but her vocal work on the song was severely lacking.

They don't play the full songs, so I only got to the first male part of Getting Married Today and up to that part, I was completely unimpressed. The male vocal wasn't terribly good.

The grand finale of the show, Being Alive, really had a poor re-working, IMO. I thought the original arrangement was simply marvelous (though, I don't care for what Larry Kent did with it...Dean Jones was perfect for the song, IMO), but this one seemed a little too modernized for the feel of the song. It made it feel far less ballady than normal. I didn't get to the end, but I'm not sure I would have wanted to.

Overall, I was unimpressed with this version of Company (though I was surprised that at times Barbara Walsh sounded strikingly like Elaine Stritch whose performance of Ladies Who Lunch is just marvelous).

and I'm curious. When I was looking at IBDB, they showed musical instruments with the cast. Did they do with Company what they did to Sweeney Todd? How farkin' irritating...

I think the new Company recording is eye-opening and fantastic. Whereas I thought that Doyle's Sweeney Todd (which I got to see) was an interesting piece with some soaring highs, but also with some major problems and narrative incohesion, he successfully reimagines Company in invigorating ways. Esparaza (I should point out I haven't seen this production, but have watched bootleg video clips and listened to the soundtrack numerous times) is exceptional in the role, perfectly capturing that detachment that no one else has ever found in the role. Doyle manages to use the actor-orchestra in exciting ways, using it not as a gimmick but as an extension of the emotions of the scene at any given time.

Ironically, I think the low-point of the recording is Another Hundred People, which loses the humor of the fantastic original broadway recording. Everything else finds that fine line between the emotional core and the emotional distance that the piece needs, plus being musically exceptional.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1244142839

[Damien]

Was Frost/Nixon any good, Damien?

FrostNixon is a lot of fun, and very entertaining, but there's not a whole lot to it (there's almost no subtext). I'm fascinated by Nixon, but the play told me little I hadn't already known. Frank Langella is wonderful, but Michael Sheen seems to be channeling Dudley Moore much more than David Frost.

[dws1982]

I need to try to come up with a legitimate excuse to fly to NYC for a few days. Maybe I could go tour some grad schools in the area or something...

-----------
Was Frost/Nixon any good, Damien?

[Damien]

I haven't seen Journey's End yet, but definitely will before it closes.

Has the closing date been announced? I have this fantasy that I have enough money to fly to New York to see it.

June 10 -- ironically, the same day as the Tonys where it should do quite well.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1244142848

[Penelope]

I haven't seen Journey's End yet, but definitely will before it closes.

Has the closing date been announced? I have this fantasy that I have enough money to fly to New York to see it.

[Okri]

Yeah - Doyle did the same thing with Company as he did with Sweeney Todd, to far worse effect.

I'm glad they included more dialogue in the revival Company cast recording, but man, did they screw up those orchestrations. Those doodles in "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" - terrible. "The Ladies Who Lunch" is virtually unlistenable. The only song to come out well is "Getting Married Today" - but compared to Howland's brilliant rendition (or Kahn's astonishing one), it's nothing. But on this disc, it's the highlight. So many great songs are butchered it's not even funny. If this was my first exposure to Sondheim, I doubt I'd ever listen to anything he did ever again.

[OscarGuy]

I thought Andrew Lloyd Webber was pulling all of his musicals? Why is Phantom still playing?

And I find it interesting that the next longest running musical currently still on broadway is Beauty and the Beast...

[OscarGuy]

So, I was at Borders the other day and I saw both Grey Gardens and the new Company sitting in their abbreviated theatrical recording section (more than half the section was missing and I couldn't find the rest of it). I tried listening to both. They didn't have Grey Gardens loaded. Company was and I was completely underwhelmed. While there were parts that I enjoyed of Esparza's work, I thought the reworkings of three of the film's best pieces were incredibly annoying.

Another Hundred People just sounded silly. I don't know who the actress was, but her vocal work on the song was severely lacking.

They don't play the full songs, so I only got to the first male part of Getting Married Today and up to that part, I was completely unimpressed. The male vocal wasn't terribly good.

The grand finale of the show, Being Alive, really had a poor re-working, IMO. I thought the original arrangement was simply marvelous (though, I don't care for what Larry Kent did with it...Dean Jones was perfect for the song, IMO), but this one seemed a little too modernized for the feel of the song. It made it feel far less ballady than normal. I didn't get to the end, but I'm not sure I would have wanted to.

Overall, I was unimpressed with this version of Company (though I was surprised that at times Barbara Walsh sounded strikingly like Elaine Stritch whose performance of Ladies Who Lunch is just marvelous).

and I'm curious. When I was looking at IBDB, they showed musical instruments with the cast. Did they do with Company what they did to Sweeney Todd? How farkin' irritating...



Edited By OscarGuy on 1179633894

[Damien]

I took my Mom to see Coram Boy last night and we both loved it. I was enthralled by the production, which I found to be an almost transcental experience. At the end the audience spontaneously stood up cheering. So it was with a heavy heart this morning that I read the show was closing next weekend.

Now admittedly I have heard that a number of people hate the play, which leaves me mystified -- all I can think is that they don't know how to cope with melodrama, for at its foundation Coram Boy is a penny dreadful. It's what is built upon that foundation that is so amazing. I couldn't recommend it higher to anyone in or near or coming to New York.

Daniel, if you do decide to come to New York, let me know. I haven't seen Journey's End yet, but definitely will before it closes.

[dws1982]

Those of you in New York wanting to see the nominated shows: Coram Boy closes May 27 unless ticket sales pick up, and Journey's End closes on June 10.

Journey's End has slashed ticket prices in an effort to fill seats, so that the most expensive ticket is $35. After reading all of the good notices for the show, I'm almost tempted to take a quick trip to NYC for that.

[The Original BJ]

The only show I've seen that's nominated is Curtains, which I found to be very funny, full of entertaining performances, great one-liners, and fun music . . . but it's VERY slight. The lavish show-within-a-show numbers occupy far too much of the show's running time, and the narrative just stops dead for many of them. And the mystery plotline is less interesting than your average episode of Murder, She Wrote. So, on the whole, it's fun, but very uneven. It's far below Kander & Ebb's best work, but as a swan song, you could do worse.

Having seen the show, I HIGHLY doubt David Hyde Pierce would win for this performance. He's solid, but the part isn't nearly showy enough to merit a win, especially when his costars steal all his scenes from him.