New York City Theater

Back in January, I imagined that CURTAINS would be the biggest threat to SPRING AWAKENING winning the Tony. After all, it was the last Kander & Ebb musical. Alas, this will not be. If SPRING AWAKENING is to be beaten, it'll be by MARY POPPINS, though even this is unlikely.

What really impresses me about CURTAINS is its cast, comprised of real musical theater favorites - Debra Monk, Noah Racey, Michael X. Martin, Karen Ziemba, Jason Danieley, Michael McCormick, Ernie Sabella, and Edward Hibbert. And of course there's David Hyde Pierce, who's perfectly suited as the outsider police officer, since he himself is an outsider to musical theater, coming from TV's FRASIER.

For better or worse, its dramaturgy is firmly set as that of a 1950s musical. It feels like say DESTRY RIDES AGAIN within the context of a backstage murder mystery.

Well, it's a good time... better than PIRATE QUEEN and MARY POPPINS!

Tuesday night marked only the third time I've seen SPELLING BEE, and the first time I've seen it in at least two years.

Since the entire original cast is currently been reunited for the musical's LA premiere, I saw an entirely different set of actors this time around.

I think the show continues to have a really positive, upbeat impact within the midst of a pretty smart, integrated musical. I dont know how much longer it intends to run on Broadway, but it's one of very few shows to work economically in the Circle in the Square space. METAMORPHASES also broke even, but was kicked out of the theater by its owners under some very unusual circumstances.

I will be interviewing the comedian Mo Rocca, who is now playing the Vice Principle, and that will run in AM NEW YORK on Friday.

Let's count up how many times I've seen SPRING AWAKENING.

I saw it five times last summer Off-Broadway. First as a critic, then I went back four more times on my own. Thanks to the onstage seating at the Atlantic Theater Company, each time I went back was for merely $10 a ticket.

I have now seen it four times on Broadway. Three of those times were on press tickets, and tonight I saw it on my own dime for the first time on Broadway. Using a discount offer, I got a half-price orchestra seat about 24 hours before the show.

Tonight, the show was more than sold out, with a dozen-person cancellation line snaking the box office. This was probably due not only to its Tony buzz, but also the fact that very few Broadway musicals performed tonight, it being both a Monday night and Memorial Day.

It had been 11 days since I had last seen the show. Since then, Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff's fight scene in Act One has been cleaned up considerably. Good thing, since it was looking pretty sloppy last time.

Otherwise, from my view tonight in the extreme left of the fifth row of the orchestra, I got a better view of the technical effects, particularly the lighting scheme. I also noticed for the first time how the center platform moves back and forth centerstage to downstage by computer. Nice effect.

I'm also beginning to question what makes me want to keep returning to SPRING AWAKENING again and again, and why I feel so strongly about why it should win the Tony. It's more than its solid score, or its fantastic young cast. The show is one of the first Broadway musicals in quite some time that provides more than entertainment or some kind of serious agenda. Like all great drama, SPRING AWAKENING speaks to the human condition, what it means for us to exist in the world.

And speaking of the fact that I paid to see it, I resolve that every critic should occasionally pay to see a show. The last time I did so was to re-attend the final performance of FOLLIES at Encores, after having seen the first performance with press tix. It forces us to remember how not everyone in the audience is so fortunate to be able to see everything without cost or financial strain.

It's been three years since Rick McKay's documentary BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE premiered in small cinemas, but it only becomes more and more vital as each year passes to theater history.

Unlike most documentaries of musical theater which retell a textbook-style history of musical theater (i.e. SHOWBOAT to OKLAHOMA to HAIR to HAIRSPRAY), McKay's film simply interviews dozens upon dozens upon dozens of actors from the 1940s through 60s. They retell not a history, but a long-lost culture of what it was like and what it meant to be an actor in New York when Broadway was at its heyday.

And why does it become more important as time goes on? Because more and more of the people he interviewed are now dead: Ann Miller, Comden and Green, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Fred Ebb, Cy Feuer, Uta Hagen, Al Hirschfeld, Jerry Orbach, John Raitt, Fay Wray, Phil Ford, Kim Hunter, Wendy Wasserstein, Gwen Verdon, Vincent Sherman,

And as announced today, Gretchen Wyler and Charles Nelson Reilly, both of whom were featured heavily in the film.

I was one of the few - very few - critics who raved for the show. So, I was pretty surprised when it didn't catch on and announced its closing, of which its last performance of today.

So...why did it not work?

With a 40-person cast reciting an old English melodrama with a connection to Handel's Messiah, I thought it had the possibility of appealing to a wide range of audiences. Instead, perhaps this genre-defying creation, which does not really fit into our usual expectations of what we expect from a play or a musical, could not catch on with a wide audience.

Anyhow, here's this week's tentative theatergoing schedule:

Sunday night - Spalding Grey: Stories Left to Tell
Monday night - Spring Awakening (on my own dime!)
Tuesday night - 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Wednesday night - Curtains
Thursday night - Journey's End
Friday night - Crazy Mary
Saturday night - TBA

Well, it did get better over the past five weeks. That, or I at least liked it more the second time around. Probably the latter.

SPRING AWAKENING still remains the best musical of the year. But, without doubt, LEGALLY BLONDE is a better show than MARY POPPINS - and probably a better show than LOVEMUSIK and CURTAINS too.

Per Michael Riedel in the Post, the BLONDE snub was due to politics, as an attempt to prevent BLONDE from taking the Best Musical Tony from SPRING. If BLONDE had been nominated, it very easily could have taken the Tony, though SPRING is the better musical. Still, that remains no excuse to take away a nomination from BLONDE. Regardless of whether one feels it deserves the Best Musical Tony, BLONDE DESERVED A TONY NOMINATION FOR BEST MUSICAL. And again, I'm not saying it's a great musical. It's not. But in comparison with POPPINS and CURTAINS, it deserved a nomination over them.

Almost nothing has ever made money at the Hilton Theatre/aka Ford Center.

Only one show has - THE GRINCH. And that's cause it was a sappy 90-minute family musical that played 10 performances a week in lieu of the typical 8 performances, thereby increasing its grosses substantially.

What has not made money at the Hilton/Ford Center -
1. Ragtime
2. Jesus Christ Superstar
3. 42nd Street - even in spite of a 4 year run
4. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
5. Hot Feet

Will YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN really be so great that it will reverse this trend?

I should have gone to the Outer Critics Circle Awards today....but there was a problem. I was so engulfed in law school exams over the past few weeks that I completely forgot to RSVP. As such, it was a surprise to remember this morning that the OCC Awards were today. Oh well, another one bites the dust...

Instead, I went to Seth Rudetsky's weekly Chatterbox show at Don't Tell Mama for the second time. His guest was Stephanie J. Block, who I do consider to be a superb female performer, but one who is in a terrible show as of the moment (i.e. THE PIRATE QUEEN). She discussed how she was a Disney Land performer prior to her musical theater endeavors, and how she workshopped the role of Elphaba in the early LA readings of WICKED, but lost the role later on to Idina. Of course, she later got to originate the role in WICKED's first national tour.

One piece of gossip arose from the chat - she will play the Jane Fonda role in the upcoming reading of the movie-turned-musical NINE TO FIVE.

Then I went back to GREY GARDENS. This marked my third time seeing the show, the first being Off-Broadway, second time being in November at its first Broadway night. That first time, I was pleasantly surprised by not only Christine's superb performance, but by the Sondheim-esque, smart quality of the score. But when I returned in November, I thought the many revisions made to its first act were not for the better, and I missed Sara Gettelfinger in the role of Little Edie.

Yet tonight, the Broadway version finally worked for me, and I think it was the best performance I've seen as far. In particular, Erin Davie's performance as Little Edie has grown substantially. Her performance of "Daddy's Girl" was unbelievably authentic, such that it felt as though she was improvising the song's lyrics right in front of me on the spot through her character's confused, vehement emotions.

This being my first year as a Tony voter, it's been very unclear as to which shows allow the press to re-attend the nominated shows as voters. In several cases, the shows send out mailings formally inviting us to re-attend. In other cases, we informally email a press rep or company manager and request tix. The responses I've received from the shows have varied from top to bottom. Frankly, my take is that even if a critic has seen a show, if he wants to see it again as a voter, why not let him - that is, providing that the show is not a sold-out smash...

It's awkward in the sense that I've been allowed to re-attend perhaps half of the nominated shows, and not another half. I also imagine that I'm now in a much different mindset than when I was a reviewer.

Well, as of the moment, I'm really conflicted on whether to vote for COMPANY, 110 IN THE SHADE, or A CHORUS LINE for best revival.

Which did I enjoy most? I think A CHORUS LINE. But as you probably know, people at pointing fingers at A CHORUS LINE for essentially taking Michael Bennett's original staging and replanting it into the revival. Wheras in COMPANY, John Doyle has wholeheartedly reconceived the staging of the show with his actor-musicain concept.

But here's a thought - was it perhaps brave of the producers of A CHORUS LINE to chose not to reconceive the show? For what if they did do that, and it was awful? Then the sh-t would have really hit the fan. And they did not scale down the show in any capacity. It still brims with its original splendor in almost every way.

And though there are many, many wonderful moments in COMPANY, particularly thanks to Raul Esparza's marvelous performance, Doyle's direction of the book was very off-point. (What's up with the weird, full frontal staging of the fighting sequences with Harry in Act One?)

As for 110, I really appreciated the fact that this show, which I consider to have a wonderful score, received its first revival, but most others saw it only as a showcase for Audra.

My conclusion - I'll probably end up voting for A CHORUS LINE, but I need to think some more.

So, let's see what I scribbled into my notebook as I interviewed about 20 Tony nominees last Wednesday morning....

David Hyde Pierce -

Me: If you could do any role in a classic musical, what would you be in?

David - "Sweeney Todd. No one would cast me.

Me: I think we'd all love to play Sweeney.

David - Yes. And no one would cast you either.

Michael Mayer - notes that he acted like a little girl when he found out he was nominated. It was "surreal." That if you look at the four shows nominated for best musical, they couldn't be more different. Notes that he loved CURTAINS. Funny, he didn't mention what he thought of MARY POPPINS.

John Gallagher Jr. - Notes how SPRING AWAKENING was the first musical he was ever in. When he auditioned for the two-week workshop, he sang "Hey, Jude."

Jonathan Groff - he's afraid of going up in front of the nation and messing up.

Michael Greif - I asked him about the process of moving the show from Off-bway to Broadway. "We got smarter about uniting the two acts....their psychological underpinnings...little leaner, little smarter...complicate the mother-daughter relationship...change motor of first act." And what about not bringing Sarah Gettelfinger to Broadway? "I think Sarah is an extraordinarily talented young woman....we needed someone who looked like Christine. I think Sarah too understood." Will RENT close, as per the rumors? "I haven't been hearing those things." What about Adam and Anthony going back to the show? "Adam was available. Then Anthony was available. I think they do a beautiful job in teh show." What about Frenchy getting fired? "Frenchy was ready to go. She sang the song ("Seasons of Love") beautifully."

Justin Bond/Kiki and Herb - "If someone's not walking out, we're not doing a good job. All we care about is that they pay."

Douglas Carter Beane - How did you go about writing THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED? "I hear turns of phrases that interest me. Why is XANADU going into the Helen Hayes Theatre, which has been used lately only for one-person shows? "It was available and intimate." Seriously, why are you making XANADU into a musical? Says sarcastically "It's an important piece of cinematic literature." Why didn't Jane Krakowski take the role? "Jane was never officially available....you know she's the ground zero of theater. The Judith Anderson of our generation." Will your coming version of the musical THE BANDWAGON be based on the original revue or the MGM film? "It's based on the screenplay. Before she died, Betty Comden gave me scenes that were cut from the film. You know, they never finished the film." Who'll star in BANDWAGON? "Fred Astaire passed."

Duncan Sheik - why was "There Once Was a Pirate" replaced with "The Guilty Ones" at the top of Act Two in SPRING AWAKENING? "The first one was oblique and metaphoric. The second is more of a pop song. Everyone wanted to try a different song." Why wasn't the character of the Masked Man written into the musical, like in the play? "Originally, Michael Cerveris played the role in the workshops. He was a kind of observer. It didn't work."

Debra Monk - Seriously, is your character based on Fran Weissler? "No. Couldn't possibly be based on Fran. She's not nasty. A tough negotiator, but not nasty."

Jack Viertel - If August Wilson was still alive, how different would RADIO GOLF be? "I watched his rewriting process happen before he died. He knew he was sick, so he did about 95 percent of the work in two and a half months. What he would have changed would be minimal. Literally, a couple of words. He gave the dramaturg permission to change stuff like that if necessary." Will next year's Encores season have a theme? "It's hard to do thematic seasons. We've thought about stuff like Rodgers without Hammerstein, Hammerstein without Rodgers, Hart without Rodgers. But that won't happen."

What do the Drama Desk Awards have that the Outer Criticle Circle Awards don't have? Parties.

The DD is probably right under the Tonys for the most prestigious theater award. Otherwise, there's also the Outer Critics Circe Awards, the Obies, the Theater World Awards and the Theater League Awards.

Unfortunately, this year's parties were much less successful than those of last year, where there was far more space, and far more food at both the pre- and post-parties.

As for the award ceremony itself, it ran insanely late this year, to almost 1am. (Maybe it should start at 8pm, not 9pm? Would that interfere with throwing the pre-party? Maybe we should instead have a really great post-party instead?)

As for the awards themselves, I thought the results were pretty fair. I particularly loved how Audra McDonald and Donna Murphy shared the award for Best Actress in a Musical.

As a host, Kristen was wonderful, as expected.

Outstanding Play: The Coast of Utopia by Tom Stoppard
Outstanding Musical: Spring Awakening
Outstanding Revival of a Play: Journey’s End by R.C. Sherriff
Outstanding Revival of a Musical: Company by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth
Outstanding Actor in a Play: Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon)
Outstanding Actress in a Play: Eve Best (A Moon for the Misbegotten)
Outstanding Actor in a Musical: Raul Esparza (Company)
Outstanding Actress in a Musical: TIE Audra McDonald (110 in the Shade) and
Donna Murphy (LoveMusik)
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play: Boyd Gaines (Journey’s End)
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play: Martha Plimpton (The Coast of Utopia)
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical: Gavin Lee (Mary Poppins)
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical: Debra Monk (Curtains)
Outstanding Director of a Play: Jack O’Brien (The Coast of Utopia)
Outstanding Director of a Musical: Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening)
Outstanding Choreography: Andy Blankenbuehler (In The Heights)
Outstanding Music: Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening)
Outstanding Lyrics: Steven Sater (Spring Awakening)
Outstanding Book of a Musical Rupert Holmes and Peter Stone (Curtains)
Outstanding Music for a Play Mark Bennett (The Coast of Utopia)
Outstanding Orchestrations: TIE Mary Mitchell Campbell (Company) and
Jonathan Tunick (LoveMusik)
Outstanding Set Design of a Play: Bob Crowley and Scott Pask (The Coast of Utopia)
Outstanding Set Design of a Musical: Bob Crowley (Mary Poppins)
Outstanding Costume Design: Catherine Zuber (The Coast of Utopia)
Outstanding Lighting Design: Kenneth Posner, Brian MacDevitt, Natasha Katz
(The Coast of Utopia)
Outstanding Sound Design: Gregory Clarke (Journey’s End)
Outstanding Solo Performance: Vanessa Redgrave (The Year of Magical Thinking)
Unique Theatrical Experience: Edward Scissorhands
In addition, the following non-competitive awards were presented:
Outstanding Ensemble Performances: The cast of In The Heights
The cast of Lebensraum

In Sunday's Arts & Leisure Section of the Times, in John Leland's article on Hippie Culture, it is noted that the Public Theater will produce a HAIR concert in September!

As the Tony Awards near, it becomes increasingly clear which shows will not make it through the summer, or even to the summer, and will close ASAP.

JOURNEY'S END and CORAM BOY already have closing dates.

THE PIRATE QUEEN is apparently getting kicked out of the Hilton, so that YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN can take the space. Well, if it means no more PIRATE QUEEN, I'm all for it!

TALK RADIO and COMPANY will probably end sometime in June.

GREY GARDENS could close by the end of the summer.

FROST/NIXON, YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING and DEUCE are limited runs to begin with.

Is it shame when a really good show closes due to commercial disappointment? Perhaps. But to make a point, SHOWS NEED TO CLOSE. Otherwise, we'd have no new season. SUNRISE, SUNSET!

Anyhow, here's my theatergoing schedule for this coming week:

Sunday night - Drama Desk Awards

Monday night - Happy End at Theater 1010 (I am going mainly out of a strong recommendation from another reviewer friend of mine who loved it.)

Tuesday night - Revisiting Company as Tony voter

Wednesday night - Revisiting A Chorus Line as Tony voter

Thursday night - Revisiting Grey Gardens as Tony voter

Friday night - Revisiting Legally Blonde as Tony voter

Immediately following the announcement of the Tony nominations on Tuesday morning at about 8:40am, I then spent the next six hours interviewing about three dozen nominees for a Playbill-On-Line article.

Here is the link: High Flying Adored: Immediate Reactions from the 2007 Tony Nominees

I essentially asked the same questions over and over again: where were you when you found out? how did you feel? what did you say? have you talked to other nominated cast/crew members?

Ask it enough times, and you too will start to wonder whether you too are a nominated actor who feels "over the moon" with giddiness.

Wednesday morning, then, is the annual Meet the Nominees thing at the Marriot Marquis.

Now, this is an extremely awkward event. The press arrives at about 9:30. (The elevators weren't working - so to make matters worse, we had to walk up about five flights of small stairs.) We then sit down in tables according to our publication. Finally, by about 11am, the nominees, ushered in and guarded by their press agents, swarm in and attempt to steal our attention. Or, at least the attention of any journalist who they deem worthy of talking with.

I usually like to record my conversations, but my mini digital recorder was unexpectedly out of battery power. So, I scribbled down some observations into my notebook. I'll share them within the next couple of days.

Nominations for the 2007 American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards®
Presented by the League of American Theatres and Producers and the American Theatre Wing

Best Play

The Coast of Utopia
Author: Tom Stoppard
Producers: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten, Bob Boyett

Frost/Nixon
Author: Peter Morgan
Producers: Arielle Tepper Madover, Matthew Byam Shaw, Robert Fox, Act Productions, David Binder, Debra Black, Annette Niemtzow/Harlene Freezer, The Weinstein Company, The Donmar Warehouse

The Little Dog Laughed
Author: Douglas Carter Beane
Producers: Roy Gabay, Susan Dietz, Morris Berchard, Steve Bozeman, Ted Snowdon, Jerry Frankel/Doug Nevin, Jennifer Manocherian/Ina Meibach, Second Stage Theatre, Carole Rothman, Ellen Richard

Radio Golf
Author: August Wilson
Producers: Jujamcyn Theaters, Margo Lion, Jeffrey Richards/Jerry Frankel, Tamara Tunie/Wendell Pierce, Fran Kirmser, Bunting Management Group, George Frontiere and Open Pictures, Lauren Doll/Steven Greil & The August Wilson Group, Jack Viertel, Gordon Davidson

Best Musical

Curtains
Producers: Roger Berlind, Roger Horchow, Daryl Roth, Jane Bergère, Ted Hartley, Center Theatre Group

Grey Gardens
Producers: East of Doheny, Staunch Entertainment, Randall Wreghitt/Mort Swinsky, Michael Alden, Edwin W. Schloss, Playwrights Horizons

Mary Poppins
Producers: Disney, Cameron Mackintosh

Spring Awakening
Producers: Ira Pittelman, Tom Hulce, Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Atlantic Theater Company, Jeffrey Sine, Freddy DeMann, Max Cooper, Mort Swinsky/Cindy and Jay Gutterman/Joe McGinnis/Judith Ann Abrams, ZenDog Productions/CarJac Productions, Aron Bergson Productions/Jennifer Manocherian/Ted Snowdon, Harold Thau/Terry Schnuck/Cold Spring Productions, Amanda Dubois/Elizabeth Eynon Wetherell, Jennifer Maloney/Tamara Tunie/Joe Cilibrasi/StyleFour Productions

Best Book of a Musical

Curtains
Rupert Holmes & Peter Stone

Grey Gardens
Doug Wright

Legally Blonde The Musical
Heather Hach

Spring Awakening
Steven Sater

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

Curtains
Music: John Kander
Lyrics: Fred Ebb, John Kander & Rupert Holmes

Grey Gardens
Music: Scott Frankel
Lyrics: Michael Korie

Legally Blonde The Musical
Music & Lyrics: Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin

Spring Awakening
Music: Duncan Sheik
Lyrics: Steven Sater

Best Revival of a Play

Inherit the Wind
Producers: Boyett Ostar Productions, The Shubert Organization, Lawrence Horowitz, Jon Avnet/Ralph Guild, Roy Furman, Debra Black/Daryl Roth, Bill Rollnick/Nancy Ellison Rollnick, Stephanie P. McClelland

Journey's End
Producers: Boyett Ostar Productions, Stephanie P. McClelland, Bill Rollnick, James D'Orta, Philip Geier

Talk Radio
Producers: Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Jam Theatricals, Francis Finlay, Ronald Frankel, James Fuld, Jr., Steve Green, Judith Hansen, Patty Ann Lacerte, James Riley, Mary Lu Roffe/Mort Swinsky, Sheldon Stein, Terri & Timothy Childs/Stylefour Productions, Irving Welzer/Herb Blodgett

Translations
Producers: Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter Theatre Center, Lynne Meadow, Barry Grove, Emily Mann, Jeffrey Woodward

Best Revival of a Musical

The Apple Tree
Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Harold Wolpert, Julia C. Levy

A Chorus Line
Producer: Vienna Waits Productions

Company
Producers: Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Ambassador Theatre Group, Tulchin/Bartner Productions, Darren Bagert, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park

110 in the Shade
Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Harold Wolpert, Julia C. Levy

Best Special Theatrical Event

Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!
Producers: Roger Alan Gindi, Stewart F. Lane & Bonnie Comley, Dan Whitten, Herbert Goldsmith Productions, Ken Grossman, Bob & Rhonda Silver, Michael A. Jenkins/Dallas Summer Musicals, Inc., Wetrock Entertainment

Kiki & Herb Alive on Broadway
Producers: David J. Foster, Jared Geller, Ruth Hendel, Jonathan Reinis, Inc., Billy Zavelson, Jamie Cesa, Anne Strickland Squadron, Jennifer Manocherian, Gary Allen, Melvin Honowitz

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

Boyd Gaines, Journey's End
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Brían F. O'Byrne, The Coast of Utopia
Christopher Plummer, Inherit the Wind
Liev Schreiber, Talk Radio

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play

Eve Best, A Moon for the Misbegotten
Swoosie Kurtz, Heartbreak House
Angela Lansbury, Deuce
Vanessa Redgrave, The Year of Magical Thinking
Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

Michael Cerveris, LoveMusik
Raúl Esparza, Company
Jonathan Groff, Spring Awakening
Gavin Lee, Mary Poppins
David Hyde Pierce, Curtains

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical

Laura Bell Bundy, Legally Blonde The Musical
Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens
Audra McDonald, 110 in the Shade
Debra Monk, Curtains
Donna Murphy, LoveMusik

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

Anthony Chisholm, Radio Golf
Billy Crudup, The Coast of Utopia
Ethan Hawke, The Coast of Utopia
John Earl Jelks, Radio Golf
Stark Sands, Journey's End

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

Jennifer Ehle, The Coast of Utopia
Xanthe Elbrick, Coram Boy
Dana Ivey, Butley
Jan Maxwell, Coram Boy
Martha Plimpton, The Coast of Utopia

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical

Brooks Ashmanskas, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
Christian Borle, Legally Blonde The Musical
John Cullum, 110 in the Shade
John Gallagher, Jr., Spring Awakening
David Pittu, LoveMusik

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical

Charlotte d'Amboise, A Chorus Line
Rebecca Luker, Mary Poppins
Orfeh, Legally Blonde The Musical
Mary Louise Wilson, Grey Gardens
Karen Ziemba, Curtains

Best Scenic Design of a Play

Bob Crowley & Scott Pask, The Coast of Utopia
Jonathan Fensom, Journey's End
David Gallo, Radio Golf
Ti Green and Melly Still, Coram Boy

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins
Christine Jones, Spring Awakening
Anna Louizos, High Fidelity
Allen Moyer, Grey Gardens

Best Costume Design of a Play

Ti Green and Melly Still, Coram Boy
Jane Greenwood, Heartbreak House
Santo Loquasto, Inherit the Wind
Catherine Zuber, The Coast of Utopia

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Gregg Barnes, Legally Blonde The Musical
Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins
Susan Hilferty, Spring Awakening
William Ivey Long, Grey Gardens

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Paule Constable, Coram Boy
Brian MacDevitt, Inherit the Wind
Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner and Natasha Katz, The Coast of Utopia
Jason Taylor, Journey's End

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Kevin Adams, Spring Awakening
Christopher Akerlind, 110 in the Shade
Howard Harrison, Mary Poppins
Peter Kaczorowski, Grey Gardens

Best Direction of a Play

Michael Grandage, Frost/Nixon
David Grindley, Journey's End
Jack O'Brien, The Coast of Utopia
Melly Still, Coram Boy

Best Direction of a Musical

John Doyle, Company
Scott Ellis, Curtains
Michael Greif, Grey Gardens
Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening

Best Choreography

Rob Ashford, Curtains
Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear, Mary Poppins
Bill T. Jones, Spring Awakening
Jerry Mitchell, Legally Blonde The Musical

Best Orchestrations

Bruce Coughlin, Grey Gardens
Duncan Sheik, Spring Awakening
Jonathan Tunick, LoveMusik
Jonathan Tunick, 110 in the Shade

* * *

Regional Theatre Tony Award
Alliance Theatre
Atlanta, GA

* * *

Total Nominations by Production

Spring Awakening - 11
The Coast of Utopia - 10
Grey Gardens - 10
Curtains - 8
Legally Blonde The Musical - 7
Mary Poppins - 7
Coram Boy - 6
Journey's End - 6
110 in the Shade - 5
Inherit the Wind - 4
LoveMusik - 4
Radio Golf - 4
Company - 3
Frost/Nixon - 3
A Chorus Line - 2
Heartbreak House - 2
The Little Dog Laughed - 2
Talk Radio - 2
The Apple Tree - 1
Butley - 1
Deuce - 1
High Fidelity - 1
Jay Johnson: The Two and Only! - 1
Kiki and Herb Alive on Broadway - 1
Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me - 1
A Moon for the Misbegotten - 1
Translations - 1
The Year of Magical Thinking - 1

MARY POPPINS had received 11 OCC nominations. It got ZERO awards.

SPRING AWAKENING received merely 3 OCC nominations. That was insulting. And yet, it got 3 awards.

Seriously, what has been going on with the OCC nominations over the past few years? I mean, didn't they give 13 nominations to CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG for G-d's sake? Is the nominating committee out of touch with its members, of which I am one?

Well, as far SPRING AWAKENING has won: the OCC award for Best New Musical, the Drama League Award for Best New Musical, the Drama Critics Circle Award for Best New Musical, and the Lucille Lortel Award for Best New Musical, tieing oddly with IN THE HEIGHTS.

One week from this writing, it will win the Drama Desk Award for Best New Musical.

On Tuesday morning, it will be nominated for Best New Musical. And if LEGALLY BLONDE is nominated too, then the theater community is in for one heck of a battle, a la AVENUE Q VERSUS WICKED.

Here is a link to the full list of OCC Awards: OCC Awards

Sunday night, May 13 - last press performance of PASSING STRANGE, new alternative rock musical at the Public Theater

Monday night, May 14 - last press performance of DON'T QUIT YOUR NIGHT CLUB, a new improv show using Broadway actors at Ha! Laugh Factory

Tuesday night, May 15 - opening night of Peter Gallagher's show at Feinstein's at the Regency.

Wednesday morning, May 16 - well, not really theatergoing, but I plan to attend the annual Meet the Tony Nominees press thing at the Marriot.

Wednesday afternoon - final press performance of Fantasia in Color Purple. Her official opening is the next night, and the reviews, mine included, will be out on Friday morning. You know, I hear she's pretty good.

Wednesday night - Back to Mary Poppins. Well, maybe I'll like it more this time.

Thursday night, May 17 - Back to Spring Awakening!!!

Friday, May 18 - Back to Talk Radio. Not as exciting as Spring Awakening, but I think I'll enjoy Liev's performance again.

Saturday, May 19 - TBA

By the way, I twisted my ankle yesterday. So if you see a theater critic hobbling on crutches, you'll know it's me.

A full review of STAIRWAY TO PARADISE will run Monday, but here are some initial impressions.

Instead of running a full authentic recreation of a revue, this is instead a review of highlights from mass-scale, lavish or in some cases intimate revues from 1908 to 1952 from a variety of composers, covering different issues in American life such as the Depression, the World Wars or New York culture.

And with Kristin Chenoweth appearing in at least half of the songs and sketches, who can complain?

Also checked out Linda Eder's Friday night late show. Isn't it awkward how she keeps singing Frank Wildhorn songs in spite of their breakup? Still, her better numbers included "Storybook" from PIMPERNEL and "Bring on the Men," cut from JEKYLL AND HYDE.

But here's a thought - if she wanted to return to musical theater, wouldn't she make a great replacement for Donna in MAMMA MIA?

This year will bring some surprises in terms of what is nominated - and not nominated - for best new musical. Ten years ago, the question was a lot easier. One year, you might remember, SUNSET BOULEVARD was the only musical nominated - it was the only new musical.

Only one new muscical is guaranteed a nomination - SPRING AWAKENING. But will it win? Hard to say.

Let's look at the other possibilities:

1. LEGALLY BLONDE - received some mixed-to-negative reviews last week, but it's doing pretty well commercially at the moment and has a lot of buzz since it opened last week. If it is nominated, and it probably will be, it could be the greatest challenge to the success of SPRING AWAKENING.

2. CURTAINS - this also received mixed-to-negative reviews, but has the distinction of being a posthumous Kander and Ebb musical, sporting a well-liked cast of great ensemble muscial theater performers.

3. GREY GARDENS - Besides SPRING AWAKENING, this is surely the most well-constructed new musical of the season. However, it opened too early, and has possibly lost its buzz. It also has the impression now of being seen mainly for Christine Ebersole's star-powering performance, rather than the intelligence of its score and book.

4. LOVEMUSIK - this seemed like a sure bet for a nomination, but though Donna Murphy and Michael Cerveris got great reviews for their performances, everyone essentially smashed the book and the overall construction. In any event, I can't help but imagine this being a very awkward show to highlight at the Tonys, rather like THREEPENNY OPERA was last year.

5. MARY POPPINS - you know, I think it's chances of getting nominated are pretty good, all things considered. As much as I dislike the show and was disappointed by it, it would be fun to see Mary Poppins glide down the auditorium of Radio City Music Hall.

6. THE PIRATE QUEEN - no chance in hell.

7. THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN' - no chance in hell.

8. HIGH FIDELITY - no chance in hell.

So, here is the list that I suspect will make up the nominated musicals:
1. SPRING AWAKENING
2. LEGALLY BLONDE
3. GREY GARDENS
4. MARY POPPINS