WHO’LL GET THE TONY?
by Harvey Perr published June 11, 2008
It’s that time of the year again when the country gets treated to another spectacle about the glories of the commercial theater; when, once again, they are told that everything significant that happens in the theater happens within a few square blocks of real estate between 42nd Street and 54th Street, between 9th Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas; when the splash and pomp of the Broadway musical comedy reigns supreme; when the stages of all those cramped, uncomfortable theaters seem populated by movie and television stars, some of whom are automatically rewarded for just showing up, some of whom get even more attention for being ignored; when the serious American theater, which is really located almost everywhere else in New York City except in that specific area, looks more and more each season like a museum, housing mostly the relics of our rich past. We complain each year, we cavil, we hope against hope that Rosie O’Donnell won’t show up and then miss her because we sometimes feel that she may be the only one who really cares about the forlornly beautiful cadaver in our midst. And then we watch the damned event – the presentation of the annual Antoinette Perry Awards – and we’re always surprised, given the omissions and, worse, given the amount of junk that gets singled out in order to fill the required number of nominations in a particular category, and we are usually surprised by how judicious most of the awards seem to be. We may even shed a tear or two because the candidates seem to be full of much truer emotions than their counterparts in that annual awards show that emanates from Hollywood. And sometimes we are even entertained by the snippets from the musicals that range in quality from the sublime to the ridiculous. We may even get excited when the prizes won not by the ones who deserve it but by the ones we secretly want to win them are handed out. It’s The Tonys!
And if Ben Brantley and Charles Isherwood of the New York Times can choose and predict their favorites, why, I ask, can’t I? So here goes:
BEST PLAY
Rock ‘n’ Roll
The 39 Steps
BEST MUSICAL
Passing Strange
Passing Strange
Cry-Baby
BEST PLAY REVIVAL
Boeing-Boeing
Boeing-Boeing
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
The Homecoming
BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL
South Pacific
South Pacific
Gypsy
BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL
Stew Passing Strange
Stew Passing Strange
Douglas Carter Beane Xanadu
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Lin-Manuel Miranda In The Heights
Stew and Heidi Rodewald Passing Strange
BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY
Mark Rylance Boeing-Boeing
Mark Rylance Boeing-Boeing
Terrence Howard Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and
Come Back, Little Sheba
BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Deanna Dunagan August: Osage County
Deanna Dunagan August: Osage County
Anika Noni Rose Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Amy Morton August: Osage County
BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Lin-Manuel Miranda In The Heights
Paulo Szot South Pacific
BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Patti Lupone Gypsy
Kelli O’Hara South Pacific
Jenna Russell Sunday in the Park With George
Xanadu
BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Jim Norton The Seafarer
Jim Norton or Conleth Hill The Seafarer
James Earl Jones Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Mary McCormack Boeing-Boeing
Mary McCormack Boeing-Boeing or
August: Osage County
Kathryn Hahn Boeing-Boeing
BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Boyd Gaines Gypsy
Danny Burstein South Pacific or
Passing Strange
BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Laura Benanti Gypsy
Laura Benanti Gypsy or
South Pacific
Mary Testa and Jackie Hoffman Xanadu
BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Anna D. Shapiro August: Osage County
Anna D. Shapiro August: Osage County
BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Bartlett Sher South Pacific
Bartlett Sher South Pacific
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Rob Ashford Cry-Baby
Rob Ashford (if the award goes to a single ballet) Cry-Baby
BEST ORCHESTRATIONS
Stew and Heidi Rodewald Passing Strange
Jason Carr Sunday in the Park With George
Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981) for his original orchestrations South Pacific
BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY
Todd Rosenthal August: Osage County
Todd Rosenthal August: Osage County
Rae Smith The Seafarer
BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Michael Yeargan South Pacific
Michael Yeargan South Pacific
BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY
Katrina Lindsay Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Rob Howell Boeing-Boeing
BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
David Farley Sunday in the Park With George
David Farley Sunday in the Park With George
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY
Kevin Adams The 39 Steps
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Donald Holder South Pacific
Donald Holder South Pacific
Kevin Adams Passing Strange
BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A PLAY
No guess
Ian Dickson Rock ‘n’ Roll
BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
No guess
Scott Lehrer South Pacific
harveyperr @ stageandcinema.com
The Tony Awards will be broadcast on Sunday evening, June 15.
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