Once again, Tony time has rolled around before I’ve had a
chance to sound off on all the shows that are in contention for the big prizes.
And as anyone who pays even the slightest attention to the awards knows, there
are more tight races in more categories than there have been in years. Maybe
ever. Which should make for a great show tomorrow night, even if they do have to squeeze in
the awards giving between 11 production numbers from all the musical nominees,
plus a few shows that originally got no Tony love, including Harvey Weinstein’s Finding Neverland. In the meantime, I’m going to resort to one of my quick
highlights and lowlights summaries on the four big shows I haven’t reviewed:
THE AUDIENCE. Peter Morgan obviously gets a kick out of
turning recent British history into drama and one of his favorite subjects is Queen
Elizabeth II. He wrote the screenplay for the 2006 movie “The Queen,” is
working on a Netflix series about the royal family called “The Crown” and in
between has written this stage play about the private weekly audiences the
queen has held with the 11 prime minsters who have served under her.
Highlight: As in the
movie, Her Highness is played by Dame Helen Mirren, who not only portrays the
queen at all ages, from her ascension to the throne at just 25 to her present position
as the world’s oldest reigning monarch at 89, but she makes the transitions right
onstage in front of the audience.
Lowlight: The show is more of a pageant than a real play and
some of its impact may be lost for folks who haven’t kept up with British
history and can’t tell Harold Macmillan from Harold Wilson.
.
Tony Spotlight: The focus is, appropriately, on Dame Helen, who’s the
frontrunner for Best Actress in a Play. But there’s also a chance that the
voters may recognize Richard McCabe, who plays the queen’s favorite minister
Harold Wilson, whose story is the only one the plays fleshes out a bit. Or that
they’ll reward costume designer Bob Crowley (up for four awards this year) for his
spot-on recreations of Elizabeth’s looks through the decades.
THE KIND AND I: Everyone
loves this Rodgers & Hammerstein musical about a British widow who is hired
to teach the children of the King of Siam and the changes her presence brings
about in the royal court—and within the sovereign as well, which is why the
show has been revived four times since the original production ended its three-year
run in 1954.
Highlight: Once again, Bartlett Sher, who won a Tony for his
direction of the 2008 production of South Pacific, has created a feast for the
eyes and ears, sparing no expense, including having a cast of nearly 50.
Lowlight: Despite the fact that the Japanese actor Ken
Watanabe has gotten a Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for his
portrayal of the king (and is sexy as hell) his English is difficult to
understand and that threw the production off for me.
Tony Spotlight: Kelli
O’Hara has picked up her sixth Tony nomination for playing the widow Anna
Leonowens and she looks so lovely in Catherine Zuber’s gowns and sounds so
wonderful singing such R&H favorites as “Hello, Young Lovers” that she
should be a shoo-in for Best Actress in a Musical. Except that Kristin
Chenoweth, who studied with the same teacher back in their mutual alma mater,
is equally terrific in On the Twentieth Century, making this one of the
evening’s most anticipated showdowns. But lots of pundits feel that the path to
the podium may be easier for Ruthie Ann Miles, who finds quiet dignity in the
featured role of the king’s chief wife Lady Thiang, and for the show itself, which
seems to have a slight edge in the race for Best Revival of a Musical.
THE VISIT. This is the third new show by John Kander and Fred Ebb to open on Broadway since Ebb died in 2004 and it’s probably the last. Based on a play by the Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt, it tells the story of Claire Zachanassian, the world’s richest—and most vengeful—woman, who returns to her poor hometown and promises to give everyone there enough money to satisfy all their needs if they will kill the man who once jilted her.
Highlight: Claire is played by Chita Rivera, a longtime collaborator with Kander and Ebb and book writer Terrence McNally and, at 82, a must-see theatrical legend in her own right.
Lowlight: Director John Doyle’s staging is dreary and, with the exception of one dance between Chita and an actress playing the spirit of the younger Claire, emotionless.
Tony Spotlight: The show is up for five Tonys but, unless a large number of the voters are overcome by sentimentality (the last chance to salute Kander &Ebb; maybe the last chance to reward Chita) everyone involved in this show is going home empty-handed.
WOLF HALL. Novelist Hilary Mantel made the 16th century
powerbroker Thomas Cromwell the central figure in her two Booker prize-winners about
Henry VIII’s quest for a son, which lead to England’s break with the Catholic
Church, shifting alliances across Europe and the brutal casting off of Henry’s
first two wives, one of whom literally lost her head. Now playwright Mike
Poulton has turned all of this into a two-part extravaganza for the stage.
Highlight: The chance to see some two dozen members of the
Royal Shakespeare Company do their thing as they swirl around the stage in sumptuous costumes by Paule
Constable.
Lowlight: People who aren’t history buffs may find it hard
to follow all the court intrigue, a task made even more difficult by the fact
that so many of the main characters are named Thomas and so many of the actors
play multiple roles. People who are history buffs are unlikely to find anything
new in this retelling of an oft-told tale and so may be a bit bored.
Tony Spotlight: The show is up for eight Tonys, including
for Best Play, for Ben Miles’ performance as Cromwell and for those costumes. But,
for my money, the most deserving nomination is for Nathaniel Parker who brings
such brio to the role of the impetuous Henry that you can feel the energy surge
when he’s onstage and the lack of it when he’s off.
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