The Rush Line

Best Actor in a Play

This movie-star packed category includes four dynamic leading men, and Jude Law.  While I don’t love Alfred Molina’s performance fully, it is a capable and dense take on Mark Rothko.  Christopher Walken is a marvel as he manages to milk every moment in a pretty bad play, but makes it something that is wholly enjoyable, almost entirely on his own.  Liev Schrieber and Denzel Washington both give absolutely incredible turns in two of the best roles of dramatic literature.  This should be a two-man race, but I think Tony voters could be swayed by the pretentious critical darling, Red, and its star Molina.  The real crime of this category though is the snub of Norbert Leo Butz in Enron who gave a world class performance with his take on Jeffrey Skilling, but was sadly overlooked.

Who Should Win Rankings:

1) Liev Schreiber, A View From The Bridge

2) Denzel Washington, Fences

3) Christopher Walken, A Behanding in Spokane

4) Alfred Molina, Red

5) Jude Law, Hamlet

Who Will Win: Denzel Washington, Fences

Who Should Have Been Nominated: Norbert Leo Butz, Enron

Leading Actress in a Play

Another wonderful category of performers, with four performances I adored, and Valerie Harper, who gives a performance that isn’t exactly Tony-nomination material, but is certainly a wonderful scenery-chewing delight.  If any of the other four were to win, I would be very pleased.  I’ll throw in a nod to Carrie Fisher as well, who gives a much more human take on campy scenery chewing for the fifth slot.

Who Should Win Rankings:

1) Linda Lavin, Collected Stories

2) Laura Linney, Time Stands Still

3) Viola Davis, Fences

4) Jan Maxwell, The Royal Family

5) Valerie Harper, Looped

Who Will Win: Viola Davis, Fences

Who Should Have Been Nominated: Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking

Costume Design of a Musical

Who Should Win Rankings:

1) Paul Tazewell, Memphis

2) Marina Draghici, Fela!

3) Matthew Wright, La Cage aux Folles

Who Will Win: Matthew Wright, La Cage aux Folles

Who Should Have Been Nominated: Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch, The Addams Family

Costume Design of a Play

Who Should Win Rankings:

1) Catherine Zuber, The Royal Family

2) David Zinn, In The Next Room (or the vibrator play)

3) Costanza Romero, Fences

4) Martin Pakledinaz, Lend Me A Tenor

Who Will Win: David Zinn, In The Next Room (or the vibrator play)

Who Should Have Been Nominated: Jane Greenwood, A View From The Bridge

Scenic Design in a Musical

Who Should Win Rankings:

1) Christine Jones, American Idiot

2) Derek McLane, Ragtime

3) Marina Draghici, Fela!

4) Tim Shortall, La Cage aux Folles

Who Will Win: Marina Draghici, Fela!

Should Have Been Nominated: David Gallo, Memphis

Scenic Design of a Play

1) John Lee Beatty, The Royal Family

2) Santo Loquasto, Fences

3) Christopher Oram, Red

*Alexander Dodge, Present Laugher (did not see before closing)

Who Will Win: John Lee Beatty, The Royal Family

Should Have Been Nominated: Anthony Ward, Enron

Best Play

Best Play is not a thrilling category for me this year.  The most original, bold works I saw this season mostly happened Off-Broadway, namely Circle Mirror Transformation and Clybourne Park.  My favorite new play on Broadway, Enron, was unfortunately snubbed by the Tonys.  The four we are left with are solid, but certainly not extraordinary.  Time Stands Still is the standout of the bunch, a great story about the crutches we use to make our way through the world, and the results of those being stripped away.  Donald Margulies’ script is both humorous and dense in emotional depth, and Laura Linney and Brian D’Arcy James both give incredible performances that breathe life into the lead roles of war reporters sidelined in Brooklyn.  In The Next Room and Red are both fine works that are redeemable despite some fairly major flaws.  In The Next Room‘s wonderful script by Sarah Ruhl outshines the production as a whole which featured some clunky performances and inconsistent pacing, while Red‘s Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne and director Michael Grandage manage to get more out of the play than its rather meatless script should allow.  Rounding out the four is Next Fall, a minor work that slips into Lifetime-movie triteness time and again.

What Should Win Rankings:

1) Time Stands Still

2) In The Next Room, or the vibrator play
3) Red
4) Next Fall

What Will Win: Red

What Should Have Been Nominated: Enron

Best Revival of a Play

The Cort Theatre hosted back-to-back productions of two of the season’s best works: the revivals of Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge and August Wilson’s Fences.  Both featured star turns by Liev Schrieber and Scarlett Johansson, and Denzel Washington and Viola Davis.  The productions were both stellar, and while Bridge is my favorite to win, I will also be very pleased with Fences nabbing the category as I expect will happen.  Rounding out the category is Manhattan Theatre Club’s wonderfully glamorous fall production of The Royal Family, and the Stanley Tucci-helmed Lend Me A Tenor, a production I didn’t particularly love, however, this season lacked a serious frontrunner to overtake that fourth spot.

What Should Win Rankings:

1) A View From The Bridge

2) Fences
3) The Royal Family
4) Lend Me A Tenor

What Will Win: Fences

What Should Have Been Nominated: —

Leading Actor in a Musical

Sahr Ngaujah gives one of the most electric performances I have ever seen in Fela! delivering boundless energy, emotional depth, and he illuminates Fela Kuti in a way that I have never seen an actor achieve in portraying a real figure.  Him losing the Tony to any of the other four would be Tony highway robbery.  But it has happened before, and I expect it will happen again.  Brit Douglas Hodge seems to have awards momentum on his side for his turn as Albin in the dreadful revival of La Cage that New York has gone crazy for without me.  However, he is one of the very few things I liked about the production–as his mix of farce and heart balances perfectly with what the production seems to be trying to achieve, but no one but he is able to deliver it.  The role earned George Hearn a Tony in 1984 and I expect it will deliver again.  Also rans in the category include Promises Promises’ Sean Hayes, and Memphis’ Chad Kimball, both of whom are strong and capable, if not breathtaking, leading men.  La Cage’s Kelsey Grammer, who had me wishing Ted Danson, David Hyde Pierce, or anyone from the cast of “Hank” would have picked up the phone when the Weissler’s wanted a sitcom star for their revival, finishes the category with a thud.

Who Should Win Rankings:

1) Sahr Ngaujah, Fela!

2) Douglas Hodge, La Cage aux Folles
3) Sean Hayes, Promises, Promises
4) Chad Kimball, Memphis
5) Kelsey Grammer, La Cage aux Folles

Who Will Win: Douglas Hodge, La Cage aux Folles

Who Should Have Been Nominated: John Gallagher, Jr., American Idiot

Leading Actress in a Musical

Sherie Rene Scott delivers a bravura performance as Broadway semi-star Sherie Rene Scott in Everyday Rapture.  I have loved this show since I saw it as my first day as an intern at Second Stage to its Broadway debut.  It isn’t blatant 2ST pride that has me proclaiming this award hers to lose, as her emotional journey in 90 minutes packs more of a punch than any of the other fine actresses in the category.  However, I imagine that either the starpower of Catherine Zeta-Jones, or the 11 o’clock powerhouse voice of Montego Glover might derail Sherie on the Atchison….

Who Should Win Rankings:

1) Sherie Rene Scott, Everyday Rapture

2) Catherine Zeta-Jones, A Little Night Music
3) Montego Glover, Memphis
4) Kate Baldwin, Finian’s Rainbow
5) Christiane Noll, Ragtime

Who Will Win: Catherine Zeta-Jones, A Little Night Music

OR Montego Glover, Memphis

Who Should Have Been Nominated: Kristin Chenoweth, Promises, Promises