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.