Cheering The Outer Critics Circle's Awards

I promise to get back to talking about shows I've seen soon but as a card-carrying member of the Outer Critics Circle, I feel honor-bound to tout the awards we announced on Monday. The OCC recognizes both Broadway and off-Broadway productions and so, as often happens, a show that's played in both places is disqualified from consideration for its Broadway run if it was previously honored. That's why Dear Evan Hansen, last year's OCC winner and this year's frontrunner for the Tony for Best Musical doesn't appear on the list below. Only about half of this year's winners matched up with the choices I voted for but, again, it was such a terrific year filled with so many good shows and performances that I'm content with the results:

Outstanding New Broadway Play

A Doll's House, Part2

Indecent

Oslo

Sweat

Outstanding New Broadway Musical
Anastasia
A Bronx Tale — The Musical
Come From Away
Groundhog Day
Holiday Inn

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play
If I Forget

Incognito
A Life
Linda
Love, Love, Love

John Gassner Award
(presented to honor an American play, preferably by a new playwright)
Men on Boats
Small Mouth Sounds 
Tell Hector I Miss Him
Vietgone
The Wolves

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical
The Band's Visit 
Hadestown
Himself & Nora
Kid Victory

Spamilton

Outstanding Revival of a Play
(Broadway or off-Broadway)
The Front Page
Jitney

The Little Foxes

Othello

The Price

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
(Broadway or off-Broadway)
Finian's Rainbow

Hello, Dolly!

Miss Saigon

Sunset Boulevard

Sweeney Todd

Outstanding Actor in a Play
Michael Emerson, Wakey, Wakey
Daniel Craig, Othello
Kevin Kline, Present Laughter
David Oyelowo, Othello
David Hyde Pierce, A Life

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Michael Aronov, Oslo
Danny DeVito, The Price
Nathan Lane, The Front Page
Richard Thomas, The Little Foxes
Richard Topol, Indecent

Outstanding Actress in a Play
Janie Dee, Linda
Sally Field, The Glass Menagerie 
Allison Janney, Six Degrees of Separation
Laura Linney, The Little Foxes 
Laurie Metcalf, A Doll's House, Part 2 

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Johanna Day, Sweat
Jayne Houdyshell, A Doll's House, Part 2  
Katrina Lenk, Indecent
Nana Mensah,  Man From Nebraska
Cynthia Nixon, The Little Foxes 

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Christian Borle, Falsettos
Nick Cordero, A Bronx Tale — The Musical 
Andy Karl, Groundhog Day 
David Hyde Pierce, Hello, Dolly!  
Tony Shalhoub, The Band's Visit

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
John Bolton, Anastasia  
Gavin Creel, Hello, Dolly!   
Jeffry Denman, Kid Victory
Shuler Hensley, Sweet Charity
Andrew Rannells, Falsettos

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Christy Altomare, Anastasia  
Christine Ebersole, War Paint 
Katrina Lenk, The Band's Visit
Patti LuPone War Paint 
Bette Midler, Hello, Dolly!   

 

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Kate Baldwin, Hello, Dolly!
Stephanie J. Block, Falsettos
Jenn Colella, Come From Away 
Caroline O'Connor, Anastasia  
Mary Beth Peil, Anastasia 

  

Outstanding Solo Performance
Ed Dixon, Georgie: My Adventures With George Rose
Marin Ireland, On the Exhale
Sarah Jones, Sell/Buy/Date
Judith Light, All the Ways to Say I Love You
Simon McBurney, The Encounter

Outstanding Book of a Musical
(Broadway or off-Broadway)
Terrence McNally, Anastasia  
Itamar Moses, The Band's Visit
Chazz Palminteri, A Bronx Tale — The Musical  
Danny Rubin, Groundhog Day 
Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Come From Away 

Outstanding New Score
(Broadway or off-Broadway)
Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Anastasia   
Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, A Bronx Tale — The Musical

Tim Minchin, Groundhog Day  
Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Come From Away  
David Yazbek, The Band's Visit

Outstanding Director of a Play
Lila Neugebauer, The Wolves
Jack O'Brien, The Front Page
Daniel Sullivan, The Little Foxes 
Rebecca Taichman, Indecent 
Kate Whoriskey, Sweat  

Outstanding Director of a Musical
Christopher Ashley, Come From Away 
David Cromer, The Band's Visit
Darko Tresnjak, Anastasia  
Matthew Warchus, Groundhog Day
Jerry Zaks, Hello, Dolly!  

Outstanding Choreographer
Andy Blankenbuehler,  Bandstand 
Kelly Devine, Come From Away  
Warren Carlyle, Hello, Dolly!  
Savion Glover, Shuffle Along
Denis Jones, Holiday Inn

Outstanding Scenic Design
(Play or Musical)
Alexander Dodge, Anastasia 
Nigel Hook, The Play That Goes Wrong  
Mimi Lien, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812

Scott Pask, The Little Foxes  
Douglas W. Schmidt, The Front Page

Outstanding Costume Design
(Play or Musical)
Linda Cho, Anastasia
Susan Hilferty, Present Laughter  
Santo Loquasto, Hello, Dolly!
Ann Roth, Shuffle Along
Catherine Zuber, War Paint  

Outstanding Lighting Design
(Play or Musical)
Christopher Akerlind, Indecent  
Donald Holder, Anastasia  
Natasha Katz, Hello, Dolly!
Bradley King, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 
Kenneth Posner, War Paint 

Outstanding Projection Design
(Play or Musical)
Duncan McLean, Privacy
Jared Mezzochi, Vietgone
Benjamin Pearcy for 59 Productions, Oslo
Aaron Rhyne, Anastasia  
Tal Yarden, Indecent

Outstanding Sound Design
(Play or Musical)
Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin, The Encounter
Gareth Owen, Come From Away  
Nicholas Pope, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Nevin Steinberg, Bandstand  
Matt Stine, Sweeney Todd 

Outstanding Orchestrations
(Broadway or off-Broadway)
Doug Besterman, Anastasia
Larry Blank, Holiday Inn
Bill Elliott and Greg Anthony Rassen, Bandstand
Larry Hochman, Hello, Dolly!  
Jamshied Sharifi, The Band's Visit

Is There Life After the Tony Nominations for "Anastasia," Bandstand" and "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory"?

All Tony awards are coveted but the awards for Best Musical tend to be the most coveted of all. And because 13 new musicals debuted during the 2016-2017 season, the odds of getting one this year were slimmer than usual. They became even leaner on Tuesday when the nominators concentrated their affections on just four shows—Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Groundhog Day The Musical and Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. The remaining nine shows got a total of just nine nominations combined, three less than the dozen The Great Comet got all by itself.

Amélie, the stage version of the whimsical 2001 movie about a French woman who can manage everyone's love life but her own, didn't score any nominations at all. The show, which stars Hamilton's Phillipa Soo in the title role, had already been flailing at the box office and in the wake of the nominations, its producers announced that it will close May 21.

But that doesn't mean all the non-nominated shows will be sending posters over to Joe Allen to be hung on the restaurant's infamous wall of Broadway's biggest flops. In fact, some of them are doing really well financially and have avid fans too. Here's a little rundown on three of those also-rans:

ANASTASIA

The Show: According to romantic legend, the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II escaped the brutal execution of the royal family during the Russian Revolution and made her way to Paris where she tried to convince the grieving Dowager Empress that she was truly her granddaughter. Terrence McNally wrote the book for this stage version and Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty did the score.

Tony Nominations: 2 Mary Beth Piel was nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her elegant portrayal of the Dowager Empress and Linda Cho earned one for her sumptuous period costumes. And that seems about right to me. Some of the music was pretty but not one tune remained in my head after I left the theater. The other performances were pleasant enough but Darko Tresnjak's direction lacked the wit that made his A Gentlemen's Guide to Love & Murder such a delight—and the 2014 Tony winner for Best Musical. But I was most disappointed by the waste of the talented Ramin Karimloo in the small role of a Soviet apparatchik who tries to thwart the would-be princess.

Survival Prospects: Many of the little girls who grew up on the animated film are now in their late 20s and early 30s and, still devoted to it, are bringing their young daughters to see this new incarnation or just coming to relive their own youth. At least the latter seemed to be the case with the two women sitting in the row behind me who not only giggled and sighed their way through the entire show but rushed out to buy some merch during the intermission. There apparently are a lot of others like them because the show is not only selling out the Broadhurst Theatre but its producers have already announced that they are planning both U.S. and international tours.

BIRDLAND

The Show: Newcomers Rob Taylor and Richard Oberacker have written an original musical about a group of World War II vets trying to put together a swing band so that they can enter a radio contest while, at the same time, struggling with the guilt of having survived the war when so many of their buddies died. Corey Cott plays the band leader and Laura Osnes is the widow of his best friend and the band's vocalist.

Tony Nominations: 2 Andy Blankenbuehler, who also directed the show, got a nod for his vigorous lindy-hopping choreography. And Bill Elliott and Greg Anthony Rassen were recognized for their orchestrations of the score, which revives the sounds of '40's big bands. I think the show might have done better if Taylor and Oberacker's book and Blankenbuehler's direction had more sharply underscored the parallels the show clearly wants to draw between its characters and soldiers who've recently returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan. There is a lovely scene in which the ghosts of their dead comrades haunt the band's members but too often the show pulls it punches, inching up to the pain returning vets experience and then retreating to the safety of yet another exuberant song and dance number. 

Survival Prospects: Like Amélie, this show has been struggling at the box office and it's hard to see who might fill its seats. Members of the Greatest Generation who are most likely to identify with this tale and its music are now in their 90s and the Vietnam-era Baby Boomers who make up the bulk of the ticket-buying audience tend to want their nostalgia set to a score of rock or soul instead of swing music. Meanwhile, the retro interests of Millennials don't seem to stretch that far back at all. I'll be surprised if this makes it through the summer.

CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

The Story: Roald Dahl's classic children's book about an eccentric candy maker named Willie Wonka and a poor boy named Charlie who enters a contest to inherit Wonka's confectionary empire has been turned into two movies, a 1971 version with Gene Wilder and a 2005 one with Johnny Depp. This time out, Christian Borle dons Wonka's stovepipe hat and purple tailcoat. Hairspray's Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman supply the music and Jack O'Brien the direction.

Tony Nominations: Zero And the critics, including me, don't think much more of it. David Grieg's book is clunky and uninspired. Most of the plot involves introducing and then getting rid of Charlie's rivals for the candy factory, all of whom are more annoying than amusing. And the best songs in the show—"Pure Imagination" and "The Candy Man"—come from the 1971 film instead of Shaiman and Wittman's score. O'Brien has staged one delightfully inventive scene that features the factory's elf-like workers the Oompa Loompas but mindless reprises of it wore out even those charms for me.

Survival Prospects: Still, the title is well-known, the production is big, brassy and colorful and the show seems to be appealing to family audiences and to foreign tourists like the family that filled a full row behind my theatergoing buddy Bill and me. So the show has been selling out and this week its producers announced a national tour that will begin in September.

The Tony Talk Podcast-Episode 6: The Tony Nominations

If you're reading this blog, then you already know that the Tony nominations were announced yesterday.  And depending on how you look at it, this year's nominators had one of the toughest assignments because there were so many strong contenders or one of the easiest jobs because there was so much good stuff that it was almost impossible for them to choose wrong.  Still, a few shows clearly won their hearts.

Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, Dave Malloy's musical version of an excerpt from Tolstoy's "War and Peace," got 12 nominations.  It and the other three shows in the Best Musicals category-—Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen and Groundhog Day—all also nabbed nods for Best Book, Best Score and Best Director of a Musical.

Meanwhile, five of the remaining new musicals, including such previously-anticipated titles as Amélie, starring Hamilton's Phillipa Soo, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with two-time Tony winner Christian Borle, got no love at all.

But the acclaimed revival of Hello, Dolly! got plenty of it, including for its stars Bette Midler and David Hyde Pierce and for its director Jerry Zaks, who got his first nomination in 21 years.  

On the straight play side, A Doll's House, Part 2, young playwright Lucas Hnath's sequel to the Ibsen classic about a mother who abandons her family, lead that pack with eight nominations, including one for each of the four actors in the cast—Laurie Metcalf, Chris Cooper, Condola Rashad and Jayne Houdyshell—as well as for their director Sam Gold.  

Doll's House's worthy competitors are Indecent, Oslo and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat. All four were written by American playwrights and each of them, including the 65-year-old Paula Vogel, is making his or her Broadway debut.

You can find the official full list of the nominees by clicking here.  You can keep up with all the Tony news over the next five weeks until the winners are announced on June 11 by reading the Tony Talk magazine on Flipboard, which you can find here.  

And you can hear what my pals Chris Caggiano, Patrick Pacheco, Bill Tynan and I think about the nominations by clicking the orange button below or by going to the Tony Talk homepage by clicking here:

Annie Baker Contemplates the Vagaries of Storytelling in "The Antipodes"

Like most talented playwrights these days, Annie Baker has no doubt been asked to spend some time in a writers' room for one of the prestige TV shows. But on the basis of her new play The Antipodes, which has just been extended through June 11 at Signature Theatre, she hasn't liked that idea.  Nor it seems has she liked all the questions about what her plays are about or about why she writes them the way she does.

The Antipodes (the dictionary defines the word antipodes to mean "places diametrically opposed to one another on the globe") is set entirely in a conference room where six guys and a woman sit around a large table in expensive Aeron chairs and try to impress their boss with various suggestions for narratives. 

Intermittently, a female assistant comes in to take food orders, which magically (I'm not kidding, I still can't figure out the sleight of hand) appear on the table. It's clear that days go by because the assistant's outfits change and at one point, a severe storm forces the group to spend the night in the office. But the stories—some intimate, others universally familiar—never go anywhere.

And that seems precisely the point that Baker, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning and plot-defying play The Flick, wants to make (click here to read an interview with her). In fact, the character who tells the most complete and conventional tale is thrown out of the room. For this is a play devoted to the belief that a good play, an engaging play, doesn't need to have a traditional narrative. 

At the same time, Baker also understands that we humans have an innate need to be told stories. It's our way of making sense of who and why we are. To tell their stories, Baker's characters invoke all kinds of rituals, from the mundane (chugging cans of La Croix soda) to the mystical (you need to see this yourself).

The play runs about two hours without an intermission, which is short for Baker. And even though not much happens, it is funny and even suspenseful. Under the deft direction of Lila Neugebauer, the acting is also terrific.

Josh Charles may be the most familiar face in the cast from his days on TV's "The Good Wife" (I actually bumped into him at Sardi's and got to tell him how much I enjoyed his performance in the play) but this is an ensemble piece and each actor creates a distinct individual recognizable to anyone who's ever been trapped in the purgatory of an office meeting. And maybe the decisively enigmatic The Antipodes is about that too.

Parsing the Outer Critics Circle Nominations

There's no question that the Tonys are the Oscars, or most desired awards, of the theater world but there are other coveted prizes too. Yesterday, the Outer Critics Circle, of which I'm a proud member, announced our nominations for the best work of the 2016-2017 season. And it's been such a strong year that even if your favorites got slighted (as a couple of mine did) few, if any, of the choices are likely to make you wonder what-were-they-thinking.

The OCC recognizes both off-Broadway and Broadway shows and since there were so many transfers from the former to the latter this year, some of the biggest Broadway titles weren't even considered for this year's OCC awards because they'd already been honored for their earlier runs. Among them were Dear Evan Hansen and Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, both acknowledged frontrunners for the Tony for Best Musical.

Still, there are plenty of other new musicals to take their places on the ballot and Anastasia (with music by Lynne Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty and a book by Terrence McNally) has emerged as the biggest contender with 13 nominations, the most for any show.

Anastasia is up for Outstanding Broadway Musical against Come from Away, Groundhog Day and, surprisingly to me, Holiday Inn. Which means that the recently-opened Amélie, Bandstand, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and War Paint, all failed to make the cut.

But the competition may be the most fierce in the category of Outstanding New Broadway Play, with the contenders being A Doll's House, Part 2, Indecent, Oslo and Sweat.

The acting categories are mainly dominated by big names (Nathan Lane, Bette Midler, Patti LuPone, Kevin Kline, Christine Ebersole and David Hyde Pierce twice) but I was particularly pleased to see that the lovely young actress Katrina Lenk has won two much-deserved nominations for her performances as a featured actress in the off-Broadway musical The Band's Visit and in the play Indecent. She's got tough competition in both categories but win or lose, she's a talent worth cheering.

This year's categories also include two new additions for Sound Design and Orchestrations, both of which the Tony Awards just announced they'll also be adding to their roster next year. 

The OCC winners will be announced May 15, which will give me just barely enough time to see all the nominated productions before I have to cast my votes. In the meantime, here's the full list of the nominees in case you want to do the same: 

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY
A Doll’s House, Part 2
Indecent
Oslo
Sweat

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL
Anastasia
A Bronx Tale
Come From Away
Groundhog Day
Holiday Inn

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
If I Forget
Incognito
A Life
Linda
Love, Love, Love

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
The Band’s Visit
Hadestown
Himself and Nora
Kid Victory
Spamilton

OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Terrence McNally     Anastasia
Itamar Moses     The Band’s Visit
Chazz Palminteri     A Bronx Tale
Danny Rubin     Groundhog Day
Irene Sankoff & David Hein     Come From Away

OUTSTANDING NEW SCORE (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Stephen Flaherty & Lynn Ahrens     Anastasia
Alan Menken & Glenn Slater     A Bronx Tale
Tim Minchin     Groundhog Day
Irene Sankoff & David Hein     Come From Away
David Yazbek     The Band’s Visit

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
The Front Page
Jitney
The Little Foxes
Othello
The Price

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Finian’s Rainbow
Hello, Dolly!
Miss Saigon
Sunset Boulevard
Sweeney Todd

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A PLAY
Lila Neugebauer     The Wolves
Jack O’Brien     The Front Page
Daniel Sullivan     The Little Foxes
Rebecca Taichman     Indecent
Kate Whoriskey     Sweat

 OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL
Christopher Ashley     Come From Away
David Cromer     The Band’s Visit
Darko Tresnjak     Anastasia
Matthew Warchus     Groundhog Day
Jerry Zaks     Hello, Dolly!

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER
Andy Blankenbuehler     Bandstand
Warren Carlyle     Hello, Dolly!
*Savion Glover     Shuffle Along 
Kelly Devine     Come From Away
Denis Jones     Holiday Inn

*from last season since the show wasn't ready to be seen by the 2015-2016 nominators

OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN (Play or Musical)
Alexander Dodge     Anastasia
Nigel Hook     The Play That Goes Wrong
Mimi Lien     Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Scott Pask     The Little Foxes
Douglas W. Schmidt     The Front Page

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN (Play or Musical)
Linda Cho     Anastasia
Susan Hilferty     Present Laughter
Santo Loquasto     Hello, Dolly!
*Ann Roth     Shuffle Along
Catherine Zuber     War Paint

*from last season since the show wasn't ready to be seen by the 2015-2016 nominators

OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN (Play or Musical)
Christopher Akerlind     Indecent
Donald Holder     Anastasia
Natasha Katz     Hello, Dolly!
Bradley King     Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Kenneth Posner     War Paint

OUTSTANDING PROJECTION DESIGN (Play or Musical)
Duncan McLean     Privacy
Jared Mezzocchi     Vietgone
Benjamin Pearcy for 59 Productions     Oslo
Aaron Rhyne     Anastasia
Tal Yarden     Indecent

OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN (Play or Musical)
Gareth Fry & Pete Malkin     The Encounter
Gareth Owen     Come From Away
Nicholas Pope     Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Matt Stine     Sweeney Todd
Nevin Steinberg     Bandstand

OUTSTANDING ORCHESTRATIONS
Doug Besterman     Anastasia
Larry Blank     Holiday Inn
Bill Elliott & Greg Anthony Rassen     Bandstand
Larry Hochman     Hello, Dolly!
Jamshied Sharifi     The Band’s Visit

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Daniel Craig     Othello
Michael Emerson     Wakey, Wakey
Kevin Kline     Present Laughter
David Oyelowo     Othello
David Hyde Pierce     A Life

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Janie Dee     Linda
Sally Field     The Glass Menagerie
Allison Janney     Six Degrees of Separation
Laura Linney     The Little Foxes
Laurie Metcalf     A Doll’s House, Part 2

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Christian Borle     Falsettos
Nick Cordero     A Bronx Tale
Andy Karl     Groundhog Day
David Hyde Pierce     Hello, Dolly!
Tony Shalhoub     The Band’s Visit

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Christy Altomare     Anastasia
Christine Ebersole     War Paint
Katrina Lenk     The Band’s Visit
Patti LuPone     War Paint
Bette Midler     Hello, Dolly!

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Michael Aronov     Oslo
Danny DeVito     The Price
Nathan Lane     The Front Page
Richard Thomas     The Little Foxes
Richard Topol     Indecent

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Johanna Day     Sweat
Jayne Houdyshell     A Doll’s House, Part 2
Katrina Lenk     Indecent
Nana Mensah     Man From Nebraska
Cynthia Nixon     The Little Foxes

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
John Bolton     Anastasia
Jeffry Denman     Kid Victory
Gavin Creel     Hello, Dolly!
Shuler Hensley     Sweet Charity
Andrew Rannells     Falsettos

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Kate Baldwin     Hello, Dolly!
Stephanie J. Block     Falsettos
Jenn Colella     Come From Away
Caroline O’Connor     Anastasia  
Mary Beth Peil     Anastasia

OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE
Ed Dixon     Georgie: My Adventures with George Rose
Marin Ireland     On the Exhale
Sarah Jones     Sell / Buy / Date
Judith Light     All the Ways to Say I Love You
Simon McBurney     The Encounter

JOHN GASSNER AWARD
(Presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright)
Jaclyn Backhaus     Men on Boats
Sarah DeLappe     The Wolves
Paola Lázaro     Tell Hector I Miss Him
Qui Nguyen     Vietgone
Bess Wohl     Small Mouth Sounds