Judgment is nigh; now that the theater season has ended, the awards season begins. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama has already been bestowed (see April 14 below.) The winners will be announced tonight, May 4th, for the Lucille Lortel Awards for Off-Broadway (Lortel nominees). Lortel winners. Then:
New York Drama Critics Circle: May 5
Outer Critics Circle: May 12, announced (ceremony May 22). Outer Critics Circle nominees
Drama League Awards: May 17. Drama League nominees
OBIEs: May 19
Drama Desk Awards: June 1 Drama Desk nominees
Tony Awards: June 8. Tony Award nominees
The Theatre World Awards, for performers making their Broadway debuts, will be announced soon as well.
For a run-down of the differences in these awards, please see my 2013 Theater Awards Roundup and Guide. For my take on theater awards, see my piece for Howlround: Tony Snubs, Pulitzer Flubs, Theater Award Excitement
The Week(s) in New York Theater
Monday, April 14, 2014
2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Winner: Annie Baker’s The Flick
Now that it’s won the Pulitzer, The Flick will reopen at Barrow Street Theater, says producer.
Pulitzer finalists:
Fun Home
The Curious Case of the Watson Intelligence
15
Santino Fontana’s Act One, The Unluckiest Lucky Actor in New York
16
My review of Of Mice and Men: James Franco, Chris O’Down Relive The Great Depression
17
Meryl Streep’s advice to new actors: “…educate yourself in everything but acting. Learn about the world”
My review of Act One: Moss Hart’s Beloved Theater Memoir Brought To Broadway
19
Broadway trivia, courtesy of Broadway Trivia:
1. The lead of Funny Girl was originally offered to Carol Burnett, who turned it down.
2. Hair was the first Off Broadway musical to move to Broadway. #Broadwaytrivia
3. Two people who have played roles of the opposite gender won Tony Awards: Harvey Fierstein (Hairspray), Mary Martin (Peter Pan)
4. Away We Go, a musical based on the play Green Grow The Lilacs, changed its title to its most popular song, Oklahoma.
NYC is a stimulating city for performers, says @AnikaNoniRose in Q&A. Even its rats! http://t.co/Eq8jNlaZ1k pic.twitter.com/Z36wDvM1nP
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) April 19, 2014
20
My review of The Cripple of Inishmaan: Daniel Radcliffe Back on Broadway
My review of Violet: Sutton Foster on a Bus to Beautiful
21
Jonathan Lethem’s novel The Fortress of Solitude will be a musical by Itamar Moses & Michael Friedman, at the Public Theater, from September to November.
My review of The Velocity of Autum: Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella Fight, Age
22
2014 Outer Critics Circle Nominations: Gentlemen’s Guide, Aladdin, Fun Home Lead.
My review of Hedwig and the Angry Inch: Neil Patrick Harris Rules, and Rocks, and Licks
23
The most prolific playwright in New York City this season — Kirk Lynn – lives in Texas.
Sex, Death, Marriage, Greed and Football: The Plays of Kirk Lynn
Shakespeare at 450
He isn’t personally eligible for #TonyAwards, but his plays have earned 71 nominations & 9 Tonys.
The first Shakespeare performed in NYC was King Richard III in 1750. The latest on Broadway was Macbeth, in Jan.
Boys from Syracuse, Kiss Me Kate, West Side Story, Two Gentleman of Verona, The Lion King: What do these musicals have in common?
Ran, 10 Things I Hate About You, O, She’s The Man, Deliver Us From Eva, Forbidden Planet. What do these movies have in common
My review of Casa Valentina: Straight Men in Dresses on Broadway
24
James Earl Jones will star in revival of Moss Hart-Kaufman 1936 comedy “You Can’t Take It With You,” starting in August.
More than 20 Broadway shows will perform in #StarsinTheAlley Shubert Alley, Wed May 21, 11am-12:30 pm rain or shine.
Brian Stokes Mitchell,John Glover join Lily Rabe, Hamish Linklater in Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare in the Park June 3-July 6
Time Mag’s 100 Most Influential People include Diane Paulus, and Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.
To director Diane Paulus, writes Audra McDonald, “nothing is sacred and everything is sacred… she’s willing to try anything.”
My review of Cabaret: Second Cumming on Broadway
25
2014 Drama Desk Awards Nominations
26
Shakespeare deniers are not just harmless; their contempt for scholarship is toxic, argues Fintan O’Toole.
27
Hollywood beckons to characters on Broadway shows The Cripple of Inishmaan, Of Mice and Men, Violet, and Act One.
My review of Bullets Over Broadway: Woody Allen’s Contempt for Theater
28
Signature Theater is the first-ever New York City theater to win the Regional Tony Awards.
NBC has competition: Fox says it will broadcast a 3-hour live version of “Grease” with (unnamed) “young ensemble cast”
29
Complete Tony nominations, with links to my reviews.
9 am: Estelle Parsons Tony- nominated for The Velocity of Autumn. 4 pm: Show announces closing Sunday.
April 30
Leslie Odomjr joins Lin-Manuel Miranda and Karen Olivo in Jonathan Larsen’s tick,tick..BOOM June 25-28 Encores! Off-Center.
New “special guest stars” After Midnight:
Patti LaBelle, June 10 – 29
Gladys Knight July 8 – Aug 3
Natalie Cole (making her Broadway debut August 5 – 31
May 1, 2014
Tony Snubs, Pulitzer Flubs, Theater Award Excitement.
2
Back on Broadway in September: Matthew Broderick as nervous playwright,Nathan Lane as backbiting pal in Terrence McNally’s It’s Only a Play
What a shame: The Bridges of Madison County will close May 18 after just 137 performances.
Randy Harrison has joined the cast of Atomic, about the creation of the atomic bomb, June 26-Aug 16 Theater Row.
Congratulations to musical theater creators Nathan Tysen and Arthur Perlman for their $100,000 Kleban Prize
