Neil Patrick Harris french-kissed Sunny, the dog playing Sandy in “Annie” (did they both get their shots?) but there was little love that American Tony voters showed the British in the 67th annual Tony Awards, choosing “Kinky Boots” over “Matilda.”
Despite the oh-so-certain prognosticators, “Kinky Boots” won six of its 13 nominations, including Best Musical, while “Matilda” won only four of its 12 nominations; Billy Porter of Kinky Boots beat out Bertie Carvel of Matilda for best leading actor in a musical. Also defying expectations, Tracy Letts of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf beat out Tom Hanks of Lucky Guy as best leading actor in a play,
Full guide to current Broadway offerings
But the biggest surprise was that the Tonys unintentionally made history: One could call this the Tony Year of the Woman. Cyndi Lauper was the first woman to win a Tony for best score not in a team with a man. Two women won for best director, Diane Paulus for best musical for directing Pippin, and Pam MacKinnon for best play for directing “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.” It was the first Tony win for both.
Also intriguing: Four of the eight winners of the performance awards are African-American.
For all the Tony hoopla, life — i.e. theater — goes on.
The Week in New York Theater
June 3, 2013
Matt Damon, Christine Baranski join free Public Forum, Shakespeare, Money and Morals, June 17 at The Delacorte
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Astaire Awards for choreography to Pippin and Motown, for performance to Pippin’s Charlotte d’Ambroise, and Motown’s Eric LaJuan Summers won Astaire Awards
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Broadway theater marquees dim at 8 for Jean Stapleton, All in The Family’s Edith Bunker, but also a veteran of eight Broadway productions, including the original Funny Girl.
Starleisha Gingrich (@StarleishaG) For a time, she owned the theatre where I got my roots! My family loaned her some pigs for a few productions.
Jonathan Mandell: Stapleton’s husband William Putch ran @TotemPolePlay house in Caledonia, Pa. for 20 years, and she performed in it.
Starleisha Gingirch: Yup! That’s the one!! 🙂 my mom is looking for the autographed photos she gave us as a thank you for the pigs
Girls Just Want To Have Fun – And so does Raymond J. Lee, Broadway performer and viral music videomaker
Does theater reduce the deleterious effects of aging? Apparently, says the National Institute on Aging, which taught people in retirement residences how to act. They chose acting because, said one researcher, other arts “require some previous training or talent. With acting instruction,you just have to be able to walk, talk, and think.”
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Shakespeare’s Globe, making their New York debut, is bringing Mark Rylance back to Broadway to lead all-male ensembles of Richard III and Twelfth Night. The theater company is also bringing something to Broadway it sorely needs: Low ticket prices. 250 seats every performance for $25. Opens at Belasco Nov 10
Block and Chase
Drood’s Tony nominees Stephanie J. Block and Will Chase will reunited in the Fall to star in a new musical by James LaPine and William Finn, “Little Miss Sunshine” based on the 2006 movie.
Harry Potter and the Fallow Follow: My review of Potted Potter
Lilly Award Winners 2013: Women in the Theater Lois Smith, Paula Vogel, Jessica Hecht, etc.
Cyndi Lauper gets her caricature at Sardi’s
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The Bridges of Madison County musical by Jason Robert Brown and Marsha Norman arrives on Broadway in January, directed by Bartlett Sher (South Pacific). This is an adaptation of Robert James Waller’s novel, which was filmed by Clint Eastwood in 1995.
New Sound Scape theater festival opens tonight at The Brick Theater: Making Sound the Star
Sound on stage can be awesome, something that some dozen other sound designers hope to demonstrate in “Sound Scape,” a new theater festival, which runs June 7 to 29, 2013. No longer should sound designers be taken for granted, good only for ”making recordings of crickets, doorbells and phone rings” and “filling your Tempests with winds, your Streetcar with street noise and your Vanyas with gunshots.”
Audio excerpts and descriptions of shows in Sound Scape
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My review of Enemies: A Love Story
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My Tony Picks
(who I think SHOULD win)
Never won a Tony: Julie Andrews, Lee J. Cobb, Laurence Olivier, Katharine Hepburn, Raul Esparza, George C. Scott.
No Tony for best play/musical to: A Streetcar Named Desire, West Side Story, Talley’s Folly, Hair, Wicked.
