April 20, 2016

The Outer Critics Circle Nominations Wrestle With a Strange Theater Season

For the first time in years, I attended the announcement of the Outer Critics Circle nominations, which The Algonquin Hotel graciously hosted in its Blue Bar yesterday morning. I wanted to show my support since it's kind of a strange year for the OCC because two of Broadway's biggest shows aren't in the running for its awards.

The first is Hamilton. Since we (I've been a Circle member for several years now) recognize shows both on and off Broadway, we named Hamilton the Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical of the 2014-2015 season when it debuted at the Public Theater last year. And that means the show (which just won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama Monday) can't be considered again this season under our double-jeopardy rules.
 
The other show sitting out this year is Shuffle Along, or as it's more formally being called Shuffle Along, Or the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed. This new meta-musical, written and directed by George C. Wolfe, choreographed by Savion Glover and featuring an all-star cast lead by Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Billy Porter, is still being worked on in previews. So the show's producers sent a message saying it wouldn't be ready in time for our nominators to see.

Luckily, it's been a bustling year on and off Broadway and so there were plenty of other worthy productions to consider and reward. The much-lauded revival of She Loves Me and the opening-tomorrow new musical American Psycho lead the list with eight nominations each. 

The revival of Eugene O'Neill's semi-autobiographical Long Day's Journey into Night and Eclipsed, Danai Gurira's affecting drama about women struggling to survive during Liberia's civil wars, scored with five nods each. In fact, four of the five nominees for Featured Actress in a Play come from plays written by Gurira.

You may not agree with all the choices (I wish that Guards at the Taj, Rajiv Joseph's superb meditation on beauty and friendship; and Southern Comfort, the sweet musical about a community of transgender people, had gotten more love) but I think you're likely to admit that all the nominees are deserving.

The winners will be announced May 9. Between now and then, I've got a few more shows to see and a lot of hard decisions to make. Take a look at the full list of nominees below and try to figure out which you'd choose as the best:

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY
Eclipsed
The Father
The Humans
King Charles III
Thérèse Raquin

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL
American Psycho the Musical
Bright Star
On Your Feet!
Tuck Everlasting the Musical
Waitress

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
The Christians
Familiar
Gloria
Hold On to Me Darling
The Legend of Georgia McBride

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
Cagney
Daddy Long Legs
Dear Evan Hansen
Lazarus
Southern Comfort

OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Bright Star
Daddy Long Legs
Dear Evan Hansen
Lazarus
On Your Feet!

OUTSTANDING NEW SCORE
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)
American Psycho the Musical
Bright Star
Daddy Long Legs
Dear Evan Hansen
Waitress


OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Blackbird
The Crucible
Fool for Love
Long Day’s Journey Into Night
A View From the Bridge


OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)
The Color Purple the Musical
Dames at Sea
Fiddler on the Roof
She Loves Me
Spring Awakening

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A PLAY
Evan Cabnet     Gloria
Mike Donahue     The Legend of Georgia McBride
Rupert Goold     King Charles III
Joe Mantello     The Humans
Ivo van Hove     A View From the Bridge

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL
Michael Arden     Spring Awakening
Walter Bobbie     Bright Star
Scott Ellis     She Loves Me
Rupert Goold     American Psycho the Musical
Michael Greif     Dear Evan Hansen

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER
Joshua Bergasse   Cagney
Spencer Liff     Spring Awakening
Josh Rhodes     Bright Star
Randy Skinner     Dames at Sea
Sergio Trujillo     On Your Feet!

OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN
(Play or Musical)
Beowulf Boritt     Thérèse Raquin
David Korins     Misery
Mimi Lien     John
David Rockwell     She Loves Me
Walt Spangler     Tuck Everlasting the Musical

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN
(Play or Musical)
ESosa     On Your Feet!
Jane Greenwood     Bright Star
Katrina Lindsay     American Psycho the Musical
Jeff Mahshie     She Loves Me
Tom Scutt     King Charles III

OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN
(Play or Musical)
Donald Holder     She Loves Me
Natasha Katz     Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Kenneth Posner     On Your Feet!
Ben Stanton     Spring Awakening
Justin Townsend     American Psycho the Musical

OUTSTANDING PROJECTION DESIGN [a new category!]
(Play or Musical)
Lucy MacKinnon     Spring Awakening
Peter Nigrini     Grounded
Peter Nigrini     Dear Evan Hansen
Finn Ross     American Psycho the Musical
Tal Yarden     Lazarus

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Reed Birney    The Humans
Gabriel Byrne     Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Frank Langella     The Father
Mark Strong     A View From the Bridge
Ben Whishaw     The Crucible

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Jayne Houdyshell     The Humans
Jessica Lange     Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Lupita Nyong’o     Eclipsed
Nicola Walker     A View From the Bridge
Michelle Williams     Blackbird

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Alex Brightman     School of Rock the Musical
Danny Burstein     Fiddler on the Roof
Robert Creighton     Cagney
Ben Platt     Dear Evan Hansen
Benjamin Walker     American Psycho the Musical

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Laura Benanti     She Loves Me
Carmen Cusack    Bright Star
Cynthia Erivo     The Color Purple the Musical
Jessie Mueller     Waitress
Ana Villafañe     On Your Feet!

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Sanjit De Silva     Dry Powder
Matt McGrath     The Legend of Georgia McBride
Jim Norton     The Crucible
Robert Sella     Sylvia
Michael Shannon     Long Day’s Journey Into Night

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Pascale Armand     Eclipsed
Zainab Jah     Eclipsed
Judith Light     Thérèse Raquin
Saycon Sengbloh     Eclipsed
Myra Lucretia Taylor     Familiar      

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Nicholas Barasch     She Loves Me
Roger Bart     Disaster!
Michael Esper     Lazarus
Christopher Fitzgerald     Waitress
Terrence Mann     Tuck Everlasting the Musical

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Danielle Brooks     The Color Purple the Musical
Andrea Burns     On Your Feet!
Sophia Anne Caruso     Lazarus
Jane Krakowski     She Loves Me  
Heléne Yorke     American Psycho the Musical 

OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE
Mike Birbiglia    Thank God For Jokes
Kathleen Chalfant     Rose
Anne Hathaway     Grounded    
James Lecesne     The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey
Daphne Rubin-Vega     Empanada Loca

JOHN GASSNER AWARD
(Presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright)
Lindsey Ferrentino     Ugly Lies the Bone
Lauren Gunderson     I and You
Martyna Majok     Ironbound
Marco Ramirez     The Royale
Anna Ziegler     Boy

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
James Houghton     Signature Theatre Company





No comments: