Tony Nominations 2018

It's that time again, when Tony nominators offer their lists of the best and brightest in Broadway shows.

On the play side, there's new work by Ayad Akhtar and Lucy Kirkwood, revivals of Albee, Kushner, O'Neill and Stoppard, and the hotly anticipated Harry Potter shows, while the musicals range from something sweet and silly--SpongeBob SquarePants--to something deep, meaningful and moving in The Band's Visit.

This year's awards ceremony will be hosted by pop stars with Broadway connections, with Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban doing the honors on June 10. Bareilles wrote the score for Waitress (and popped in to play the lead for a couple of shifts) and contributed some songs to the SpongeBob SquarePants musical, for both of which she's earned Tony nominations, while Josh Groban was nominated for his leading role in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.

Here's the complete list of nominees:

BEST PLAY
The Children by Lucy Kirkwood
Farinelli and the King by Claire van Kampen
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two by Jack Thorne
Junk by Ayad Akhtar
Latin History for Morons by John Leguizamo

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
Angels in America by Tony Kushner
The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill
Lobby Hero by Kenneth Lonergan
Three Tall Women by Edward Albee
Travesties by Tom Stoppard

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY
Glenda Jackson, Three Tall Women
Condola Rashad, Saint Joan 
Lauren Ridloff, Children of a Lesser God
Amy Schumer, Meteor Shower

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY
Andrew Garfield, Angels in America
Tom Hollander, Travesties
Jamie Parker, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Mark Rylance, Farinelli and the King
Denzel Washington, The Iceman Cometh

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY
Susan Brown, Angels in America
Noma Dumezweni, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Deborah Findlay, The Children
Denise Gough, Angels in America
Laurie Metcalf, Three Tall Women

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY
Anthony Boyle, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Michael Cera, Lobby Hero
Brian Tyree Henry, Lobby Hero
Nathan Lane, Angels in America
David Morse, The Iceman Cometh

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Marianne Elliott, Angels in America
Joe Mantello, Three Tall Women
Patrick Marber, Travesties
John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
George C. Wolfe, The Iceman Cometh

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY
Miriam Buether, Three Tall Women
Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and the King
Christine Jones, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Santo Loquasto, The Iceman Cometh
Ian MacNeil & Edward Pierce, Angels in America

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY
Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and the King
Nicky Gillibrand, Angels in America
Katrina Lindsay, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Ann Roth, Three Tall Women
Ann Roth, The Iceman Cometh

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY
Neil Austin, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Paule Constable, Angels in America
Jules Fisher & Peggy Eisenhauer, The Iceman Cometh
Paul Russell, Farinelli and the King
Ben Stanton, Junk

BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A PLAY
Adam Cork, Travesties
Ian Dickinson, Angels in America
Gareth Fry, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Tom Gibbons, 1984
Dan Moses Schreier, The Iceman Cometh

BEST MUSICAL
The Band's Visit
Frozen
Mean Girls
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
Carousel
My Fair Lady
Once on This Island

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady
Hailey Kilgore, Once on This Island
LaChanze, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
Katrina Lenk, The Band’s Visit
Taylor Louderman, Mean Girls
Jessie Mueller, Carousel

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady
Joshua Henry, Carousel
Tony Shalhoub, The Band’s Visit
Ethan Slater, Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Ariana DeBose, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
Renée Fleming, Carousel
Lindsay Mendez, Carousel 
Ashley Park, Mean Girls
Diana Rigg, My Fair Lady

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Norbert Leo Butz, My Fair Lady
Alexander Gemignani, Carousel 
Grey Henson, Mean Girls
Gavin Lee, Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical
 Ari’el Stachel, The Band’s Visit

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Michael Arden, Once on This Island
David Cromer, The Band’s Visit
Tina Landau, Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical
Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls
Bartlett Sher, My Fair Lady

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL 
Tina Fey, Mean Girls
Kyle Jarrow, Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical 
Jennifer Lee, Frozen
Itamar Moses, The Band’s Visit

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Frozen
Jeff Richmond & Nell Benjamin, Mean Girls
Adrian Sutton, Angels in America
David Yazbek, The Band’s Visit
Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler & Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper & Rob Hyman, John Legend, Panic! at the Disco, Plain White T's, They Might Be Giants, T.I., Domani & Lil'C, Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Christopher Gattelli, My Fair Lady
Christopher Gattelli, Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical 
Steven Hoggett, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two 
Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls
Justin Peck, Carousel

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS
John Clancy, Mean Girls
Tom Kitt, Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical
AnnMarie Milazzo & Michael Starobin, Once on This Island
Jamshied Sharifi, The Band’s Visit
Jonathan Tunick, Carousel  

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Dane Laffrey, Once on This Island
Scott Pask, The Band’s Visit 
Scott Pask, Finn Ross & Adam Young, Mean Girls 
Michael Yeargan, My Fair Lady
David Zinn, Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Gregg Barnes, Mean Girls 
Clint Ramos, Once on This Island 
Ann Roth, Carousel 
David Zinn, Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical
Catherine Zuber, My Fair Lady

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Kevin Adams, Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical 
Jules Fisher & Peggy Eisenhauer, Once on This Island 
Donald Holder, My Fair Lady 
Brian MacDevitt, Carousel 
Tyler Micoleau, The Band’s Visit

BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Kai Harada, The Band’s Visit 
Peter Hylenski, Once on This Island 
Scott Lehrer, Carousel 
Brian Ronan, Mean Girls 
Walter Trarbach and Mike Dobson, Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical

SPECIAL TONY AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Chita Rivera
Andrew Lloyd Webber

REGIONAL THEATRE TONY AWARD
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club

DEAR EVAN HANSEN Wins Big at Lackluster Tony Awards

After last year's Hamilton-a-palooza, I suppose any Tony Awards ceremony would've been a let-down. But this year... Yeah, it was really a let-down. Most of that stemmed from host Kevin Spacey, who seemed more interested in showcasing himself than the various winners and nominees. One more impression and I was going to throw something. Do the people who are in love with Dear Evan Hansen even know who Johnny Carson is?

Don't get me wrong. There were a couple of fun performances -- Bandstand and Natasha, Pierre et al. looked like fun and had a lot of energy -- and some more-than-worthy wins, like the marvelous Gavin Creel for the revival of Hello, Dolly! and Illinois' own Laurie Metcalf for A Doll's House Part 2. I was also happy to see Kevin Kline win his third Tony, with this one 36 years after his last. In case you're wondering, he last won as the lead actor in a musical for The Pirates of Penance back in 1981 and before that, as a featured actor in a musical for On the Twentieth Century in 1978. All he needs is featured actor in a play, and he will have the acting categories covered.

I also loved that the authors of nominated plays got the spotlight to introduce their own plays instead of dragging out some unrelated hockey player or Hollywood star. Playwrights Lynn Nottage and Paula Vogel should've been on Broadway well before this, so let's applaud the fact that we got to see them on the Tony stage if only to introduce their plays. More of that, please!

On the downside, it's a travesty that James Earl Jones received his Special Tony for Lifetime Achievement during a commercial, along with sound designers Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin, who received a special Tony for their work on The Encounter, the folks from Regional Tony winner Dallas Theater Center, and Isabelle Stevenson humanitarian award winner Baayork Lee. I'd rather see any and all of them ten times over than Kevin Spacey's impressions or the Rockettes.

Here are your nominees, with winners in bold and listed first:

BEST MUSICAL
Dear Evan Hansen
Come From Away
Groundhog Day
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812

BEST PLAY
Oslo by J.T. Rogers
A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath
Indecent by Paula Vogel
Sweat by Lynn Nottage

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
Hello, Dolly!
Falsettos 
Miss Saigon 

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
Jitney by August Wilson  
The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman
Present Laughter by Noel Coward
Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen
Christian Borle, Falsettos
Josh Groban, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
David Hyde Pierce, Hello, Dolly! 
Andy Karl, Groundhog Day

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Bette Midler, Hello, Dolly! 
Denée Benton, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 
Christine Ebersole, War Paint 
Patti LuPone, War Paint
Eva Noblezada, Miss Saigon 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Gavin Creel, Hello, Dolly!
Mike Faist, Dear Evan Hansen 
Andrew Rannells, Falsettos
Lucas Steele, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 
Brandon Uranowitz, Falsettos 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Rachel Bay Jones, Dear Evan Hansen 
Kate Baldwin, Hello, Dolly! 
Stephanie J. Block, Falsettos 
Jenn Colella, Come From Away 
Mary Beth Peil, Anastasia

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY
Kevin Kline, Present Laughter 
Denis Arndt, Heisenberg
Chris Cooper, A Doll’s House, Part 2 
Corey Hawkins, Six Degrees of Separation
Jefferson Mays, Oslo

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY
Laurie Metcalf, A Doll’s House, Part 2 
Cate Blanchett, The Present
Jennifer Ehle, Oslo
Sally Field, The Glass Menagerie
Laura Linney, The Little Foxes

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY
Michael Aronov, Oslo 
Danny DeVito, The Price 
Nathan Lane, The Front Page
Richard Thomas, The Little Foxes
John Douglas Thompson, Jitney 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY
Cynthia Nixon, The Little Foxes 
Johanna Day, Sweat 
Jayne Houdyshell, A Doll's House, Part 2
Condola Rashad, A Doll's House, Part 2
Michelle Wilson, Sweat

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Christopher Ashley, Come From Away 
Rachel Chavkin, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 
Michael Greif, Dear Evan Hansen 
Matthew Warchus, Groundhog Day 
Jerry Zaks, Hello, Dolly! 

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Rebecca Taichman, Indecent 
Sam Gold, A Doll's House, Part 2 
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Jitney
Bartlett Sher, Oslo
Daniel Sullivan, The Little Foxes

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Santo Loquasto, Hello, Dolly! 
Linda Cho, Anastasia
Paloma Young, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Catherine Zuber, War Paint 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY
Jane Greenwood, The Little Foxes
Susan Hilferty, Present Laughter
Toni-Leslie James, Jitney
David Zinn, A Doll's House, Part 2

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Mimi Lien, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Rob Howell, Groundhog Day
David Korins, War Paint
Santo Loquasto, Hello, Dolly!

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY
Nigel Hook, The Play That Goes Wrong
David Gallo, Jitney
Douglas W. Schmidt, The Front Page
Michael Yeargan, Oslo

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Bradley King, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Howell Binkley, Come From Away
Natasha Katz, Hello, Dolly!
Japhy Weideman, Dear Evan Hansen

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY
Christopher Akerlind, Indecent
Jane Cox, Jitney
Donald Holder, Oslo
Jennifer Tipton, A Doll's House, Part 2

BEST SCORE
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Dear Evan Hansen
David Hein and Irene Sankoff, Come From Away
Dave Malloy, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Tim Minchin, Groundhog Day 

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL
Steven Levenson, Dear Evan Hansen  
David Hein and Irene Sankoff, Come From Away
Dave Malloy, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Danny Rubin, Groundhog Day 

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Andy Blankenbuehler, Bandstand 
Peter Darling and Ellen Kane, Groundhog Day 
Kelly Devine, Come From Away
Denis Jones, Holiday Inn
Sam Pinkleton, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS
Alex Lacamoire, Dear Evan Hansen 
Bill Elliott and Greg Anthony Rassen, Bandstand 
Larry Hochman, Hello, Dolly!
Dave Malloy, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812

And that's all she wrote for the Tony Awards of 2017. Let's hope that's also all she wrote for Kevin Spacey as a Tony host.

The Tony Awards 2016

James Corden's best moment was right at the top. "This is like the Super Bowl for people who don't know what the Super Bowl is."

Here are all the nominees and winners, in the order they were awarded and/or announced:

FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Pascale Armand, Eclipsed
Megan Hilty, Noises Off
*Jayne Houdyshell, The Humans

Andrea Martin, Noises Off
Saycon Sengbloh, Eclipsed

FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple
*Renee Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton
Jane Krakowski, She Loves Me
Jennifer Simard, Disaster!
Adrienne Warren, Shuffle Along

COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Gregg Barnes, Tuck Everlasting
Jeff Mahshie, She Loves Me
Ann Roth, Shuffle Along
*Paul Tazewell, Hamilton

COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY
Jane Greenwood, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Michael Krass, Noises Off
*Clint Ramos, Eclipsed
Tom Scutt, King Charles III

FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
*Daveed Diggs, Hamilton
Brandon Victor Dixon, Shuffle Along
Christopher Fitzgerald, Waitress
Jonathan Groff, Hamilton
Christopher Jackson, Hamilton

ORIGINAL SCORE
Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, Bright Star
*Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Glenn Slater and Andrew Lloyd Webber, School of Rock
Sara Bareilles, Waitress

DIRECTION OF A PLAY
 Rupert Gold, King Charles III
Jonathan Kent, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Joe Mantello, The Humans
Liesl Tommy, Eclipsed
*Ivo Van Hove, A View From the Bridge

DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Michael Arden, Spring AwakenTheing
John Doyle, The Color Purple
Scott Ellis, She Loves Me
*Thomas Kail, Hamilton
George C. Wolfe, Shuffle Along

SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY
Beowulf Boritt, Thérèse Raquin
Christopher Oram, Hughie
Jan Versweyveld, A View from the Bridge
*David Zinn, The Humans

SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Es Devlin and Finn Ross, American Psycho
David Korins, Hamilton
Santo Loquasto, Shuffle Along
*David Rockwell, She Loves Me

FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
*Reed Birney, The Humans
Bill Camp, The Crucible
David Furr, Noises Off
Richard Goulding, King Charles III
Michael Shannon, Long Day's Journey Into Night

LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY
*Natasha Katz, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Justin Townsend, The Humans
Jan Versweyveld, The Crucible
Jan Versweyveld, A View from the Bridge

LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
*Howell Binkley, Hamilton
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Shuffle Along
Ben Stanton, Spring Awakening
Justin Townsend, American Psycho

LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
*Jessica Lange, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Laurie Metcalf, Misery
Lupita Nyong'o, Eclipsed
Sophie Okonedo, The Crucible
Michelle Williams, Blackbird

LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Gabriel Byrne, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Jeff Daniels, Blackbird
*Frank Langella, The Father 
Tim Pigott-Smith, King Charles II
Mark Strong, A View from the Bridge

ORCHESTRATIONS
August Eriksmoen, Bright Star
Larry Hochman, She Loves Me
*Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton
Daryl Waters, Shuffle Along

CHOREOGRAPHY
*Andy Blankenbuehler, Hamilton
Savion Glover, Shuffle Along
Hofesh Shechter, Fiddler on the Roof
Randy Skinner, Dames at Sea
Sergio Trujillo, On Your Feet

BOOK OF A MUSICAL
Steve Martin, Bright Star
*Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Julian Fellowes, School of Rock
George C. Wolfe, Shuffle Along

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
*A View From the Bridge, by Arthur Miller
Blackbird, by David Harrower
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller
Long Day's Journey Into Night, by Eugene O'Neill
Noises Off, by Michael Frayn

BEST PLAY
Eclipsed by Danai Gurira
The Father by Florian Zeller
*The Humans by Stephen Karam
King Charles III by Mike Bartlett

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
*The Color Purple
Fiddler on the Roof
She Loves Me
Spring Awakening

LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Alex Brightman, School of Rock
Danny Burstein, Fiddler on the Roof
Zachary Levi, She Loves Me
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
*Leslie Odom, Jr., Hamilton

LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Laura Benanti, She Loves Me
Carmen Cusack, Bright Star
*Cynthia Erivo, The Color Purple
Jessie Mueller, Waitress
Phillipa Soo, Hamilton

BEST MUSICAL
Bright Star
*Hamilton
School of Rock
Shuffle Along
Waitress

Catching Up with the Merry, Murderous Month of May

It's May, which can only mean one thing. Tony Awards! Or at least the Tony nominations and a whole lot of discussion about who will win. If you haven't seen the nominations list yet, go take a look now. As expected, Hamilton cleaned up in the musical categories, picking up a historical number of nominations with 16. Yes, that's more than The Producers got back in 2001 (15), as well as more than the number of colonies (13) when Hamilton was helping to nation-build and more than the number of dollars (10) a Hamilton is worth and will continue to be worth after dodging a bullet from the Treasury and their money redesign people. History! It's fun! The awards will be presented June 12 on CBS with James Corden hosting.

If you're looking for a major piece of film history, you need to see Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game, which will be on screen tonight at 7 pm at the Normal Theater as part of their Tuesday Night Classics series. Renoir's film was made in 1939, when France was on the brink of World War II, but it was not well received at that time, and with no love from audiences, Nazis invading and Americans bombing, this masterpiece about different classes of French men and women playing at games of sex and romance in a country house was almost lost completely. But a restored print resurfaced twenty years later, putting The Rules of the Game at the top of "best of" lists ever since. Roger Ebert called it "magical and elusive" as he concluded it was "so simple and so labyrinthine, so guileless and so angry, so innocent and so dangerous, that you can't simply watch it, you have to absorb it."

Life looked very different 45 years later in the movie that has the late-night slot at the Art Theater and Co-op in Champaign Wednesday and Thursday. In memory of Prince, they'll be playing Purple Rain May 4 at 10 pm and May 5 at 11 pm. I lived in Minneapolis-St. Paul when Purple Rain was released in 1984, and let's just say people in those Twin Cities embraced their native son and then some. Purple Rain's picture of a talented musician with a fantastic sense of fashion, a beautiful love interest and a very messy home life defined the 80s for a lot of people. The Mod Squad's Clarence Williams III played the abusive father in the mix, with Apollonia as the stunning woman Prince's character, called "The Kid" was interested in. Prince's soundtrack for Purple Rain includes songs like "I Would Die 4 U," "When Doves Cry," "Darling Nikki" and "Let's Go Crazy" along with the title tune.

Marriage and betrayal are at the heart of Frederick Knott's thriller Dial M for Murder, on stage at Community Players from May 5 to 15. It's not so much a whodunit, since we know from the get-go that Tony Wendice, a man with murder on his mind, is the bad guy. Tony, played by Maurice Evans in the 1952 Broadway production of the play and by Ray Milland in the 1954 Hitchcock movie, has decided to do away with his wealthy wife, both because she's been having an affair and because he wants her money. But he doesn't want to get caught, so he blackmails a ne'er-do-well acquaintance into doing it for him at a time when he has a perfect alibi. And that's when things fall apart. Grace Kelly famously played the wife for Hitchcock, with Robert Cummings as her lover and Anthony Dawson and John Williams reprising their roles from the Broadway production as the criminal colleague forced into murder and the police inspector trying to make sense of it all. For Community Players, Andrew German is Tony, with Hannah Artman as his wife, Branden Smith as her boyfriend, Brian Artman as the would-be murderer, John D. Poling as Inspector Hubbard, and Jason Maloy as Thompson, another policeman.

Back at the Normal Theater, Ingrid Bergman fans have reasons to celebrate. The Normal Theater will show three of her movies -- Gaslight, Murder on the Orient Express and Notorious -- between May 17 and 28, with a documentary called Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words shown on other evenings as counterpoint to Bergman's films. Gaslight will be on screen on May 17 as a Tuesday Night Classic, with Murder on the Orient Express on May 20 and 22 and Notorious on May 26 and 28. The documentary plays on May 18, 21, 27 and 29.

Released in 1944, Gaslight stars Bergman as the victim of a scheme -- flickering lights, mysterious noises -- to convince her that she is mad. This is the movie that coined the verb "gaslight" to mean exactly that sort of scheme. Bergman plays opposite Charles Boyer, as her husband, and a very young Angela Lansbury as their maid. Bergman won her first Oscar for Gaslight and then earned her third 30 years later in Murder on the Orient Express. In this all-star adaptation of the Agatha Christie mystery novel, Bergman was cast against type as a frumpy, devout Swedish missionary who happens to be a passenger on the train where a horrible man was murdered in the middle of the night. Albert Finney plays detective Hercule Poirot, with a supporting cast that includes Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave and Michael York. Out of all of those actors, Bergman was the only one to walk away with the Academy Award.

And then there's Notorious, a sexy, suspenseful Hitchcock piece from 1946, with Bergman caught up in spy games with Cary Grant. Her father was a bad, bad man, a German who lived in the United States but was caught and tried for treason after World War II. Now Bergman's character, Alicia, has a bad reputation of her own, but Cary convinces her to team up with him to try to take down a creepy band of Nazis in Brazil. Her job entails romancing -- and even marrying -- Claude Rains, leader of the band, and trying not to get on the bad side of his evil mother. It's all very tricky, Cary plays down and dirty, and you'll need to keep an eye on the beverages in the plot, since both tea and champagne turn out to be important. I love this movie. I have its poster on my wall. Go see it on the big screen when you have a chance!

The last theater piece I have for May is Annie Baker's Body Awareness, scheduled for Illinois Wesleyan University's E. Melba Kirkpatrick Lab Theatre for three 8 pm performances between May 22 and 24. Baker's play is set in the fictional town of Shirley, Vermont, also the setting for her Circle Mirror Transformation and The Aliens. This time, Baker looks at a college professor who has set up campus seminars on the topic of Body Awareness, her partner, her son, and the photographer who specializes in female nudes who comes to stay in their house. The play involves gender, art and what happens to when people are not only aware of bodies, but what's inside. Click here for what information is currently available on the IWU SOTA production.

If you are willing to drive to Springfield or perhaps Joliet, you can catch the Royal Shakespeare Company's Shakespeare Live! in a movie theater on May 23. The RSC celebrated the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death with Shakespeare Live!, which included "performances of some of the greatest dramatic scenes ever written, played by some of our greatest actors, as well as songs, comedy, dances and music celebrating Shakespeare's legacy. The show was conceived and directed by Gregory Doran and hosted by David Tennant and Catherine Tate." Other actors who appeared included Dame Judi Dench, Benedict Cumberbatch, Joseph Fiennes, Rory Kinnear and Sir Ian McKellen. It was broadcast in Britain on BBC Two on April 23, but May 23 will be our first chance to see it in the states, now under the title The Shakespeare Show. If you're in England, you can watch the show on the RSC site, and the RSC Shop is also promising a DVD at some point. Let's hope they make a  DVD we can see watch here, too!

Time for the Tony Nominations!

It's an exciting time of year for theater fans. Time for the Tony nominations!

The annual Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre honor the best shows, performers and designers on Broadway. Earning nominations has helped plays of the past gain visibility, while getting a performance slot on the awards show has helped sell tickets for many a musical.

So whose show will reign supreme this year? The way this year's nominations have fallen into place, coming-of-age musical Fun Home, film-to-stage musical An American in Paris, Shakespeare spoof Something's Rotten!, revivals of The King and I and Skylight, and British imports The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Wolf Hall are leading the pack.

Here's the complete list of nominations:

BEST PLAY
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Disgraced
Hand to God
Wolf Hall Parts One & Two

BEST MUSICAL
An American in Paris
Fun Home
Something's Rotten
The Visit

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
The Elephant Man
Skylight
This Is Our Youth
You Can't Take It With You

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
The King and I
On the Town
On the Twentieth Century

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL
Craig Lucas, An American in Paris
Lisa Kron, Fun Home
Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell, Something's Rotten!
Terrence McNally, The Visit

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Jeanine Tesori (music) and Lisa Kron (lyrics), Fun Home
Sting (music and lyrics), The Last Ship
Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick (music and lyrics), Something Rotten!
John Kander (music) and Fred Ebb (lyrics), The Visit

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY
Steven Boyer, Hand to God 
Bradley Cooper, The Elephant Man
Ben Miles, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Bill Nighy, Skylight
Alex Sharp, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY
Geneva Carr, Hand to God
Helen Mirren, The Audience
Elisabeth Moss, The Heidi Chronicles
Carey Mulligan, Skylight 
Ruth Wilson, Constellations

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Michael Cerveris, Fun Home
Robert Fairchild, An American in Paris
Brian d’Arcy James, Something Rotten! 
Ken Watanabe, The King and I 
Tony Yazbeck, On the Town

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL  
Kristin Chenoweth, On the Twentieth Century
Leanne Cope, An American in Paris
Beth Malone, Fun Home
Kelli O’Hara, The King and I 
Chita Rivera, The Visit

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY
Matthew Beard, Skylight 
K. Todd Freeman, Airline Highway
Richard McCabe, The Audience 
Alessandro Nivola, The Elephant Man
Nathaniel Parker, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Micah Stock, It’s Only a Play

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY
Annaleigh Ashford, You Can’t Take It with You
Patricia Clarkson, The Elephant Man 
Lydia Leonard, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two 
Sarah Stiles, Hand to God 
Julie White, Airline Highway

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Christian Borle, Something Rotten! 
Andy Karl, On the Twentieth Century 
Brad Oscar, Something Rotten! 
Brandon Uranowitz, An American in Paris
Max von Essen, An American in Paris 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Victoria Clark, Gigi 
Judy Kuhn, Fun Home
Sydney Lucas, Fun Home 
Ruthie Ann Miles, The King and I 
Emily Skeggs, Fun Home

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Stephen Daldry, Skylight
Marianne Elliott, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Scott Ellis, You Can't Take It With You
Jeremy Herrin, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Hand to God

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Sam Gold, Fun Home
Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten!
John Rando, On the Town
Bartlett Sher, The King and I
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Joshua Bergasse, On the Town
Christopher Gattelli, The King and I
Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten!
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS
Christopher Austin, Don Sebesky and Bill Elliott, An American in Paris
John Clancy, Fun Home 
Larry Hochman, Something Rotten! 
Rob Mathes, The Last Ship

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY
Bunny Christie and Finn Ross, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Bob Crowley, Skylight 
Christopher Oram, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
David Rockwell, You Can’t Take It with You 

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Bob Crowley and 59 Productions, An American in Paris
David Rockwell, On the Twentieth Century
Michael Yeargan, The King and I 
David Zinn, Fun Home

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY
Bob Crowley, The Audience 
Jane Greenwood, You Can’t Take It with You
Christopher Oram, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
David Zinn, Airline Highway

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Gregg Barnes, Something Rotten! 
Bob Crowley, An American in Paris 
William Ivey Long, On the Twentieth Century 
Catherine Zuber, The King and I

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY
Paule Constable, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time 
Paule Constable and David Plater, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two 
Natasha Katz, Skylight 
Japhy Weideman, Airline Highway

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Donald Holder, The King and I
Natasha Katz, An American in Paris
Ben Stanton, Fun Home
Japhy Weideman, The Visit

In other Tony news, Tommy Tune will receive the special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, while  the Cleveland Play House will be awarded the Regional Theatre Tony.

Other special Tony honors will be given to composer Stephen Schwartz, recipient of the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award, and to John Cameron Mitchell, who wrote and starred in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, now receiving a Tony for his return to that show. Tony Awards for Excellence in Theatre will be presented to press agent Adrian Brian-Brown; Gene O'Donovan, founder of the Hudson Scenic Studio; and scenic designer and painter Arnold Abramson.

The Tony Awards will be broadcast on Sunday, June 7 on CBS. For all the Tony news you need now and then, check out their official website.

Tony Nods Go to GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE, HEDWIG, Rylance and McDonald

Today was Tony nominations day, when multi-media performers Jonathan Groff (Frozen, Looking, Spring Awakening) and Lucy Liu (Charlie's Angels, Elementary, God of Carnage) took the podium at the Paramount Hotel in New York City to announce who among Broadway performers and which among Broadway shows Tony voters wanted to honor.

But first... Hugh Jackman crashed the announcement to offer a reminder that the Tony Awards themselves will take place on Sunday, June 8 at 8 pm Eastern time. Don't forget!

Back to the nominees. A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder, a musical version of the Alec Guiness movie Kind Hearts and Coronets, landed at the top of the nominations heap with ten overall, with Neil Patrick Harris and Hedwig and the Angry Inch coming up next with eight.

There were some surprises, like the fact that they mustered only four nominees in the Best Musical category, with no love for The Bridges of Madison County, Bullets Over Broadway or If/Then. The nomination for Chris O'Dowd as Best Actor in a Leading Role for Of Mice and Men wasn't entirely surprising, although the production wasn't exactly a critics' favorite. But there was no space for Daniel Radcliffe in The Cripple of Inishmaan or Denzel Washington in A Raisin in the Sun, which were more well regarded. Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart also came up empty for their performances in No Man's Land and Waiting for Godot and Zachary Quinto was the only member of The Glass Menagerie cast not to get a nomination.

I'm also a little miffed that Santino Fontana didn't score a nod for playing Moss Hart in Act One, although the oldest version of Hart in the play, Tony Shalhoub, did. Fontana has to run several miles a performance to play his Hart, and he should've been recognized for that, as well as for being adorable and fabulous in general. While we're on the subject of Act One, it might have been nice to see Andrea Martin on the Featured Actress list for her scene-stealing performance as Aunt Kate.

Meanwhile, Britain's Mark Rylance, a two-time Tony winner, took two nominations this time out for roles in Shakespeare plays. His turn as Richard III in Richard III earned him another nod as Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, while his Olivia in an all-male Twelfth Night pulled in a nomination in the Featured Actor category. I am not a big Rylance fan -- he was the first Artistic Director of the Globe Theatre but he's a Shakespeare denier, which I find quite odd -- plus I'm not enthusiastic about the conceit of all-male Shakespeare shows when good roles for women in Shakespeare are already scarce. But he certainly does play well to the Tony committee.

The only one who plays better may be Audra McDonald. She's won five Tonys already, and if she picks up the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for her work in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, she will set a new record with six acting Tonys, including one in each of the four major categories.

So who else was nominated? Here's the list:

Best Play
Act One, by James Lapine
All the Way, by Robert Schenkkan
Casa Valentina, by Harvey Fierstein
Mothers and Sons, by Terrence McNally
Outside Mullingar, by John Patrick Shanley

Best Musical
After Midnight
Aladdin
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder

Best Revival of a Play
The Cripple of Inishmaan, by Martin McDonagh
The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams
A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry
Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare

Best Revival of a Musical
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Les Misérables
Violet

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Tyne Daly, Mothers and Sons
LaTonya Richardson Jackson, A Raisin in the Sun
Cherry Jones, The Glass Menagerie
Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill
Estelle Parsons, The Velocity of Autumn

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Samuel Barnett, Twelfth Night
Bryan Cranston, All The Way
Chris O'Dowd, Of Mice and Men
Mark Rylance, Richard III
Tony Shalhoub, Act One

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Mary Bridget Davis, A Night With Janis Joplin
Sutton Foster, Violet
Idina Menzel, If/Then
Jessie Mueller, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Kelli O'Hara, The Bridges of Madison County

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Ramin Karimloo, Les Misérables
Andy Karl, Rocky
Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Sarah Greene, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Celia Keenan-Bolger, The Glass Menagerie
Sophie Okonedo, A Raisin in the Sun
Anika Noni Rose, A Raisin in the Sun
Mare Winningham, Casa Valentina

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Reed Birney, Casa Valentina
Paul Chahidi, Twelfth Night
Stephen Fry, Twelfth Night
Mark Rylance, Twelfth Night
Brian J. Smith, The Glass Menagerie

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Linda Emond, Cabaret
Lena Hall, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Anika Larsen, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical
Adriane Lenox, After Midnight
Lauren Worsham, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Cabaret
Nick Cordero, Bullets Over Broadway
Joshua Henry, Violet
James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin
Jarrod Spector, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical

Best Director of a Play
Tim Carroll, Twelfth Night
Michael Grandage, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Kenny Leon, A Raisin in the Sun
John Tiffany, The Glass Menagerie

Best Director of a Musical
Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Michael Mayer, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Leigh Silverman,Violet
Darko Tresnjak,A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder

Best Book of a Musical
Chad Beguelin, Aladdin
Douglas McGrath, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Woody Allen, Bullets Over Broadway
Robert L. Freedman, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics)
Alan Menken, music, and Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin, lyrics, Aladdin.
Jason Robert Brown, music and lyrics, The Bridges of Madison County
Steven Lutvak, music, and Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak, lyrics, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Tom Kitt, music, and Brian Yorkey, lyrics, If/Then

Best Choreography
Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Steven Hoggett and Kelly Devine, Rocky
Casey Nicholaw, Aladdin
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway

Best Orchestrations
Doug Besterman, Bullets Over Broadway
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Steve Sidwell, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Jonathan Tunick, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Beowulf Boritt, Act One
Bob Crowley, The Glass Menagerie
Es Devlin, Machinal
Christopher Oram, The Cripple of Inishmaan

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Christopher Barreca, Rocky
Julian Crouch, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Alexander Dodge, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Santo Loquasto, Bullets Over Broadway

Best Costume Design of a Play
Jane Greenwood, Act One
Michael Krass, Machinal
Rita Ryack, Casa Valentina
Jenny Tiramani, Twelfth Night

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Linda Cho, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
William Ivey Long, Bullets Over Broadway
Arianne Phillips, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Isabel Toledo, After Midnight

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Paule Constable, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Jane Cox, Machinal
Natasha Katz, The Glass Menagerie
Japhy Weideman, Of Mice and Men

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kevin Adams, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Christopher Akerlind, Rocky
Howell Binkley, After Midnight
Donald Holder, The Bridges of Madison County

Best Sound Design of a Play
Alex Baranowski, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Steve Canyon Kennedy, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill
Dan Moses Schreier, Act One
Matt Tierney, Machinal

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Peter Hylenski, After Midnight
Tim O’Heir, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Mick Potter, Les Misérables
Brian Ronan, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

The 2014 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater will be presented to costume designer Jane Greenwood, while President and CEO of The Actors Fund Joe Benincasa, photographer Joan Marcus and general manager Charlotte Wilcox will receive this year's Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theater.

As announced a few days ago, the Signature Theatre will receive the 2014 Regional Theater Tony Award. Yes, the Signature is in New York. This is the first year that New York theaters were eligible for the Regional Tony. Why? I have no idea. The whole point of the Regional Tony was to honor theaters outside New York, after all.

Tony Tony Tony!

The Tony Awards are a wonderful night for those who follow what's happening on Broadway, and pretty much of a mystery to everyone else. So while I was at home thinking that Laura Benanti looked lovely and OMG, Patina Miller's water-color dress was awesome, aren't Santino Fontana and Laura Osnes just the cutest Prince Charming and Cinderella ever, wow, Christopher Durang doesn't look like I remember, and how does Martha Lavey not know where stage right is, I'm sure most people who happened across the telecast while trying to find Game of Thrones or the NBA finals were all, WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE AND WHAT ARE THEY SHOUTING ABOUT?

There were non-whos, there, of course, like nominees Tom Hanks, the most A+++-list movie star of our time, Glee's Jane Lynch, David Hyde Pierce of Frasier fame, and Tony Shalhoub, TV's Monk. Some of the presenters -- Jesse Einseberg, Sally Field, Jake Gyllenhaal, Scarlett Johansson, Zachary Quinto -- also brought movie cred, while Mike Tyson brought... I don't know what he brought. But he was there.

And host Neil Patrick Harris brought his chutzpah, charm, TV icon status and Broadway connections back once again to shepherd the whole thing from beginning to end. The Tony Awards? Well, maybe more like *NEIL PATRICK HARRIS* presents the tony awards.

I know, I know. Everybody loved his opening number, built around the idea of the show going BIGGER this year, combining bits from each of the nominated musicals, with a little Pippin magic, some cheerleaders from Bring It On and a girl group from Motown, Kinky Boots booting their way on stage, waltzing couples from Cinderella, and more kids (Annie, Matilda, Christmas Story) than you can shake a stick at, plus some shoutouts to past winners like Once and Newsies and Billy Elliot. I thought it was okay, but found the lyrics less than connected to the idea of making the show bigger. And I could've done without Mike Tyson and the bit about Berry Gordy banging Diana Ross. I mean, really?

I preferred the second number, the one written by Michael John LaChiusa to lampoon all the Broadway stars who flock to TV shows and then kinda, sorta don't make it. In the wake of NBC slaughtering Go On, Smash, and The New Normal, amazingly talented stars Laura Benanti, Megan Hilty and Andrew Rannells were more than welcome center-stage, showing just how wasted they were playing second fiddles on TV, anyway. Plus they got to sing LaChiusa's funny lyrics to music from West Side Story, Gypsy and Company, with Benanti pretending to be drunk so she could sashay her way through a "Here's to the actors with shows" version of Stephen Sondheim's "Ladies Who Lunch" (fabulous!) and then all three joining NPH to sing a take-off on "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line that ended with Hilty singing about how she'd done TV not for love, but for "the chance for producers and directors and writers and casting agents and just, well, everybody to see me and love me because after all, that's essentially what we all crave. Because nobody ever hugged us as children which is how we got into this business in the first place. Especially you, Neil."

Y'all can keep your opening number. I'm sticking with THIS one as the best Tony number ever.

Other highlights included Steppenwolf Theater's production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf winning Best Revival, plus Best Director for Pam MacKinnon and Best Actor for Tracy Letts, doing Chicago proud and showing that Hollywood star power is not the be-all and end-all on Broadway. (Sorry, Tom Hanks. You're going to have to wait a little longer to get the T in your future EGOT.)

Surprisingly, the person who is now closest to filling out her EGOT is Cyndi Lauper, who added a T for Tony to the Emmy and Grammys she already owns by virtue of winning Best Score for the musical Kinky Boots. Kinky Boots also took Best Musical, edging out Matilda, even if the Kinky Franken-number we saw on the awards show seemed like a rehash of 9 to 5 stitched together with a little Full Monty, La Cage aux Folles and Pajama Game. Or, you know, nothing new here, even if its heart is in the right place and the crazy shoes are a lot of fun. Not that I am begrudging Kinky its Tonys. It certainly seemed more interesting than Matilda, which looked like Spring Awakening, Grammar School Edition.  Who puts a big sign that says "revolting" at the back of the stage when they don't want you to think their show is, I don't know, revolting?

Just to make for an overall dandy night for the Kinky crowd, the show also won for lead actor Billy Porter, who plays the main drag queen who helps restore the shoe factory at the center of the plot, Jerry Mitchell's choreography, Stephen Oremus' orchestrations and John Shivers' sound design.

The revival of Pippin, with its emphasis on the circus, acrobatics and a recreation of the original Fosse moves, took awards for Best Revival of a Musical, Best Director of a Musical Diane Paulus, leading actress Patina Miller (in the Ben Vereen role), and featured actress Andrea Martin (of SCTV fame), while Matilda the Musical took home awards for Best Featured Actor in a Musical Gabriel Evert, Dennis Kelly's book, Rob Howell's scenic design and Hugh Vanstone's lighting design. Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella picked up Best Costume Design for William Ivey Long..

Paulus and MacKinnon together make 2013 the first time since 1998, when Julie Taymor and Garry Hynes were honored for their direction of The Lion King and The Beauty Queen of Lenane, respectively, that female directors won both the big prizes.

The late Nora Ephron was the lone woman nominated for her writing, but the Tony voters went with playwright Christopher Durang, giving him his first Tony for the dysfunctional family comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Veteran Cicely Tyson was named Best Actress for her work in the revival of The Trip to Bountiful, while Lucky Guy's Courtney B. Vance won Best Actor in a Featured Role and Judith Light, last year's winner in the same category, took home Best Actress in a Featured Role for The Assembled Parties.

John Lee Beatty was honored for his scenic design, Ann Roth for her costume design and Leon Rothenberg for his sound design, all for The Nance, with Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer from Lucky Guy awarded the Tony for Best Lighting Design in a Play.

Check out the Tony site for complete info, lots of pictures and videos, and all the acceptance speeches, too. For the fashion report, Tom and Lorenzo are on top of it. My own Best Dressed award goes to Patina Miller and her big, beautiful gown, with Cicely Tyson's purple people eater and Debra Messing's Donna Reed dress from 1953 at the bottom of the list.

It's Tony Nomination Time!

Sutton Foster and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, two Broadway stars who've made it big on the small screen as well, announced this year's Tony Award nominations today. If you missed the announcement, you can see it here. If you want a handy reference list, you can check out the interactive guide the Tony folks have created here. Or you can peruse this list of the nominations (in the order they were announced):

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy
Nathan Lane, The Nance
Tracy Letts, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
David Hyde Pierce, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Tom Sturridge, Orphans

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Laurie Metcalf, The Other Place
Amy Morton, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Kristine Nielsen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Holland Taylor, Ann
Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Bertie Carvel, Matilda The Musical
Santino Fontana, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella
Rob McClure, Chaplin
Billy Porter, Kinky Boots
Stark Sands, Kinky Boots

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Stephanie J. Block, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Carolee Carmello, Scandalous
Valisia LeKae, Motown The Musical
Patina Miller, Pippin
Laura Osnes, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

Best Revival of a Play
Golden Boy by Clifford Odets
Orphans by Lyle Kessler
The Trip to Bountiful by Horton Foote
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee

Best Revival of a Musical
Annie
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Pippin
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

Best Play
The Assembled Parties by Richard Greenberg
Lucky Guy by Nora Ephron
The Testament of Mary by Colm Toíbín
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang

Best Musical
Bring It On: The Musical
A Christmas Story, The Musical
Kinky Boots
Matilda The Musical

Best Book of a Musical
Douglas Carter Beane, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella
Harvey Fierstein, Kinky Boots
Dennis Kelly, Matilda The Musical
Joseph Robinette, A Christmas Story, The Musical

Best Original Score
Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green, Hands on a Hardbody
Cyndi Lauper, Kinky Boots
Tim Minchin, Matilda the Musical
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, A Christmas Story, The Musical

Best Choreography
Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On: The Musical
Peter Darling, Matilda The Musical
Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots
Chet Walker, Pippin

Best Orchestrations
Chris Nightingale, Matilda The Musical
Stephen Oremus, Kinky Boots
Ethan Popp and Bryan Crook, Motown The Musical
Danny Troob, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella

Best Scenic Design of a Play
John Lee Beatty, The Nance
Santo Loquasto, The Assembled Parties
David Rockwell, Lucky Guy
Michael Yeargan, Golden Boy

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Rob Howell, Matilda The Musical
Anna Louizos, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Scott Pask, Pippin
David Rockwell, Kinky Boots

Best Costume Design of a Play
Soutra Gilmour, Cyrano de Bergerac
Ann Roth, The Nance
Albert Wolsky, The Heiress
Catherine Zuber, Golden Boy

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes, Kinky Boots
Rob Howell, Matilda The Musical
Dominique Lemieux, Pippin
William Ivey Long, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

Best Sound Design of a Play
John Gromada, The Trip to Bountiful
Mel Mercier, The Testament of Mary
Leon Rothenberg, The Nance
Peter John Still and Marc Salzberg, Golden Boy

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Jonathan Deans and Garth Helm, Pippin
Peter Hylenski, Motown The Musical
John Shivers, Kinky Boots
Nevin Steinberg, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Lucky Guy
Donald Holder, Golden Boy
Jennifer Tipton, The Testament of Mary
Japhy Weideman, The Nance

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kenneth Posner, Kinky Boots
Kenneth Posner, Pippin
Kenneth Posner, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella
Hugh Vanstone, Matilda The Musical

Best Direction of a Play
Pam MacKinnon, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Nicholas Martin, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Bartlett Sher, Golden Boy
George C. Wolfe, Lucky Guy

Best Direction of a Musical
Scott Ellis, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots
Diane Paulus, Pippin
Matthew Warchus, Matilda The Musical

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Danny Burstein, Golden Boy
Richard Kind, The Big Knife
Billy Magnussen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Tony Shalhoub, Golden Boy
Courtney B. Vance, Lucky Guy

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Carrie Coon, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Shalita Grant, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Judith Ivey, The Heiress
Judith Light, The Assembled Parties
Condola Rashad, The Trip to Bountiful

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Charl Brown, Motown The Musical
Keith Carradine, Hands on a Hardbody
Will Chase, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Gabriel Ebert, Matilda The Musical
Terrence Mann, Pippin

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Annaleigh Ashford, Kinky Boots
Victoria Clark, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella
Andrea Martin, Pippin
Keala Settle, Hands on a Hardbody
Lauren Ward, Matilda The Musical

The Tony Awards celebration will be televised live in a three-hour broadcast on CBS on June 9, 2013. For the whole scoop on Tony night, click here.

The Tony Wrap-Up: Lackluster Was the Name of the Game

How do you solve a problem like the Tonys?

Theater people love them. They live for this one night. But the pool that is "theater people" seems to be shrinking, if the Tony Awards ratings on TV, the fact that they've now cut half the awards and don't show them to us on our screens, and all the hoops they're jumping through to try to make the evening work for the film and TV world are any indications. (The way "Smash" has been treated is also evidence that the people at the top of the TV pyramid do not respect Broadway, but that's a discussion for another day.)

My first problem: They keep giving us Neil Patrick Harris. Lots and lots of Neil Patrick Harris. Don't get me wrong -- I like NPH. I was there with everybody else lauding him in the past for bringing pizzazz, good spirits and what is presumably a high Q score to an event which sometimes plays as too much of an insider game for Middle America.

Still, with Broadway performers like Christian Borle, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Audra McDonald, Matthew Morrison, Cynthia Nixon, Denis O'Hare, Mary Louise Parker, Sara Ramirez  and Vanessa Williams playing high-profile roles on high-profile TV shows, it's not like Broadway isn't already on Middle America's TV sets. (And Sutton Foster, more Broadway royalty, will be joining that group tonight, in her own starring role on TV in ABC Family's "Bunheads." More about "Bunheads" tomorrow...)

Meanwhile, so many TV and film stars have gone the other direction, putting themselves on stage to keep the box office going, that Harry Potter, a kid from "Glee" and a Jonas Brother all played J. Pierrepoint Finch in Broadway's "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" within the space of a month, hitting the film/TV/pop music trifecta.

All of that is my way of saying that Neil Patrick Harris may be charming, but he isn't necessary to bridge the TV/Broadway gap anymore. And what once played as fresh and funny from NPH came off more tired and self-serving for me in this year's Tony broadcast. So the show opened with the fresh-faced Mormon boys from "The Book of Mormon," last year's winner for Best Musical, knocking on stars' doors, only to be followed up by a second opening number with Harris lamenting the fact that life isn't more like a musical. It was okay, but who needs two opening numbers?

Then he had another musical number at the mid-point, and a third to wrap up the show. And he got to hang from the rafters as a scene-stealer while Angela Lansbury and Ted Chapin sped through the American Theatre Wing explanation we hear every year. Angela Lansbury does not need Neil Patrick Harris to steal her focus or spice up her appearance, no matter what she's delivering.

Amanda Seyfried at the Tonys

My second problem: Half the presenters were people with minimal connection to Broadway. Amanda Seyfried, Anne Hathaway, Josh Groban, Tyler Perry, Jessica Chastain, James Marsden, Sheryl Crow, I'm looking at you. If the only people watching are real Broadway enthusiasts, then why not give them presenters like Tommy Tune (who owns the record for most individual Tony awards), Julie Harris (who owns the record for most nominations), Harvey Fierstein, Barbara Cook, Boyd Gaines, Sutton Foster, Bobby Cannavale, Joe Mantello, Kathleen Chalfant, Joel Grey, Donna Murphy, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Victoria Clark, Robert Sean Leonard, Laura Benanti, Howard McGillin... And I could go on all night. Angela Lansbury, Mandy Patinkin, Patti Lupone and Bernadette Peters were a step in the right direction, but... More Broadway stars, please.

My third problem: They didn't give "Follies," my favorite musical ever, the Best Revival of a Musical award, instead handing it over to what is being called "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess," even though it is the least Gershwin (or DuBose and Dorothy Heyward) version of "Porgy and Bess" ever. The orchestrations were changed, the book was diced and spliced, the recitatives were excised in favor of new dialogue from Suzan-Lori Parks, Porgy's goat-cart was taken so he could have a limp and a new, more self-actualized storyline... And no matter whether the Gershwin estate approved it, that's not "Porgy and Bess." Everyone I know who has seen it has said that Audra McDonald, the one-woman Tony machine, was spectacular, and deserved her award for Leading Actress in a Musical. But... That's still not "Porgy and Bess" and it shouldn't be winning awards for being a revival when it's not a revival, it's a whole new show.

Of course there's no way to stop the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League and their voters from giving their awards to whoever they feel like. That's part of the game in any awards show, where disgruntled fans of other shows or other performers swear and throw things at the TV when their faves are bypassed. So you can regard my third problem as my chance to vent about my beloved "Follies" being overlooked again and leave it at that, if you really want to.

My fourth problem: The pieces from nominated shows didn't make me want to hop a plane to Broadway tomorrow. The scenes shown on the Tony Awards show usually get me all fired up to get to New York immediately, before the nominated works close or their stars move on. But the awful, screechy and incomprehensible power trio from "Ghost," the bizarre Matthew Broderick number from "Nice Work If You Can Get It," wherein he looked bloated and uncomfortable as he half-heartedly warbled "Sweet and Lowdown," one of my favorite songs, and flung his hair around with some chorus girls, the muddled bits of "Peter and the Starcatcher," which is from all reports a terrific show but certainly didn't display what's good about it here, the odd choices for numbers from "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Godspell," Ricky Martin and Elena Rogers sounding none-too-good for "Evita," and James Corden, who later won the Best Actor in a Play award for "One Man, Two Guvnors," rolling around on the floor like Mary Lou Retton in the 1984 Olympics... Well, it made me want to stay away, not see those shows.

Unfortunately, there was too little of "Clybourne Park" or the Tony-winning parts of "Nice Work If You Can Get It," (i.e. Michael McGrath and Judy Kaye) to get much idea of whether I want to see them or not. All in all, only Steve Kazee and the "Once" cast, the spiffy dance number from "Newsies" and Nina Arianda's acceptance speech for "Venus in Fur" made Broadway look appealing.

And you wonder why the Tony Awards get so little coverage.

As a side-note, if I were being all Central Illinois-centric, I would've led with the fact that all three of the shows featuring alumni from our area universities had good nights. "Clybourne Park," with U of I's Crystal A. Dickinson and Brandon Dirden in the cast, won Best Play, while "Newsies," featuring IWU's Evan Kasprzak, took home Tonys for its score and choreography. IWU's Bryonha Parham is part of the "Porgy and Bess" I already told you about, and my unhappiness over its award for Best Revival has nothing to do with Parham, who has been singled out for her vocal chops in the role of Serena.

The big winner of the night, however, was "Once," a small, intimate musical about a street performer and a girl he meets one night in Dublin, based on the movie of the same name. "Once" was named Best Musical and took awards for lead actor Steve Kazee and director John Tiffany, as well as for its book, lights, sound, orchestrations, and the warm Irish pub set designed by the fabulous Bob Crowley.

Talking Tony!

Nominations for the American Theatre Wing's Antoinette Perry Awards (AKA the Tony Awards) were announced yesterday, with some surprising choices and yes, a few snubs, in the mix.

For local theater fans, three shows with connections to local colleges were nominated. Musicals "Newsies," which features IWU grad Evan Kasprzak, and "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess," with another IWU alum, Bryonha Parham, in the cast, both scored multiple nods, as did "Clybourne Park," the Chicago-based play whose cast includes Crystal A. Dickinson, who earned her MFA at the University of Illinois in Urbana.

"Newsies the Musical" received a total of eight nominations, including nods for Best Musical as well as its score, book, choreography, orchestrations and scenic design. Director Jeff Calhoun also got a nod, as did Jeremy Jordan, who plays the leader of the newsboy revolt, who was nominated for Best Performance in a Leading Role for an Actor in a Musical.

This "Porgy and Bess" was controversial when it started, with protests from Stephen Sondheim, among others, over the changes to the original book to try to make the show more friendly to contemporary audiences. Casting the much-beloved Audra McDonald as Bess probably took out some of the sting, and the Theatre Wing has rewarded the show with ten total nominations. McDonald got a nod, along with Norm Lewis, her Porgy, David Alan Grier and Phillip Boykin, nominated in the Featured category for their roles as Sporting Life and Crown. Diane Paulus, the one who spearheaded the changes to the book, is nominated as Best Director, with the costumes, lights, sound and orchestrations. "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess" is also nominated as Best Revival of a Musical; it will vie against Sondheim's "Follies" revival plus two ALW shows -- "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita" -- in that category.

Bruce Norris's "Clybourne Park" has also had a rocky road to the Great White Way, although not because of its content. Instead, the play and its cast faced possible doom when producer Scott Rudin abruptly pulled the rug out from under it because of a squabble with playwright Norris over a different project*. But "Clybourne Park" and its Pulitzer Prize managed to survive without Rudin, opening in previews at the Walter Kerr Theatre March 26, with official opening night on April 19. Now that it's up and running, "Clybourne Park" has snagged four Tony nominations, including Best Play, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for Jeremy Shamos, Best Direction of a Play for Pam McKinnon and Best Scenic Design of a Play for Daniel Ostling.

Overall, the musical "Once," an adaptation of the indie movie from 2006 about an Irish street musician and a woman he meets and creates music with over the course of one week, led nominations with 11, including nods for Best Musical, leading actors Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti, supporting player Elizabeth A. Davis and director John Tiffany, plus the book, choreography, lighting design, sound design, orchestrations and scenic design (for the always amazing Bob Crowley).

After that, the above-mentioned "Porgy and Bess" and "Nice Work If You Can Get It," a new Gershwin musical weaving together songs from old Gershwin musicals, much like "Crazy For You" and "My One and Only" before it, each received ten nominations, with the Peter Pan prequel "Peter and the Starcatcher" right behind with nine.

"Peter and the Starcatcher" is a bit of an oddity, a straight play (nominated for Best Play) with enough music to also earn a nomination in the Best Original Score category. Christian Borle, who stars in "Smash" on NBC, is nominated for his featured role in "Starcatcher," and one of my favorite actors, Roger Rees, is nominated as one of two directors for the piece.

Three of the four major players in the recent "Follies" revival -- Jan Maxwell, Danny Burstein and Ron Raines -- were nominated, leaving out only Bernadette Peters. No worries -- Ms. Peters is getting this year's Isabelle Stevenson Award for humanitarian and charitable contributions. And veteran Jayne Houdyshell, who belted out "Broadway Baby" in the revival, is nominated in the Featured Actress category.

For the complete list of Tony nominees, click here. If you'd like just the highlights, here are a few of the major categories for your perusal:

Best Play
"Clybourne Park," by Bruce Norris
"Other Desert Cities," by Jon Robin Baitz
"Peter and the Starcatcher," by Rick Elice
"Venus in Fur," by David Ives

Best Musical
"Leap of Faith," with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater, and book by Janus Cercone and Warren Leight
"Newsies," with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman, and book by Harvey Fierstein
"Nice Work If You Can Get It," with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and book by Joe DiPietro
"Once," with music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová and book by Enda Walsh

Best Revival of a Play
"Death of a Salesman," by Arthur Miller
"The Best Man," by Gore Vidal
"Master Class," by Terrence McNally
"Wit," by Margaret Edson

Best Revival of a Musical
"Evita," with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and book and lyrics by Tim Rice
"Follies," with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Goldman
"The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess," with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by DuBose Heyward, Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin, and book adapted by Suzan-Lori Parks and Diedre Murray
"Jesus Christ Superstar," with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Nina Arianda in "Venus in Fur"
Tracie Bennett in "End of the Rainbow"
Stockard Channing in "Other Desert Cities"
Linda Lavin in "The Lyons"
Cynthia Nixon in "Wit"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
James Corden in "One Man, Two Guvnors"
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Death of a Salesman"
James Earl Jones in "The Best Man"
Frank Langella in "Man and Boy"
John Lithgow in "The Columnist"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Jan Maxwell in "Follies"
Audra McDonald in "Porgy and Bess"
Cristin Milioti in "Once"
Kelli O’Hara in "Nice Work If You Can Get It"
Laura Osnes in "Bonnie & Clyde"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Danny Burstein in "Follies"
Jeremy Jordan in "Newsies"
Steve Kazee in "Once"
Norm Lewis in "Porgy and Bess"
Ron Raines in "Follies"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Linda Emond in "Death of a Salesman"
Spencer Kayden in "Don’t Dress for Dinner"
Cella Keenan-Bolger in "Peter and the Starcatcher"
Judith Light in "Other Desert Cities"
Condola Rashad in "Stick Fly"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Christian Borle in "Peter and the Starcatcher"
Michael Cumpsty in "End of the Rainbow"
Tom Edden in "One Man, Two Guvnors"
Andrew Garfield in "Death of a Salesman"
Jeremy Shamos in "Clybourne Park"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Elizabeth A. Davis in "Once"
Jayne Houdyshell in "Follies"
Judy Kaye in "Nice Work If You Can Get It"
Jesse Mueller in "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever"
Da’Vine Joy Randolph in "Ghost"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Phillip Boykin in "Porgy and Bess"
Michael Cerveris in "Evita"
David Allen Grier in "Porgy and Bess"
Michael McGrath in "Nice Work If You Can Get It"
Josh Young in "Jesus Christ Superstar"

Best Direction of a Play
Nicholas Hytner for "One Man, Two Guvnors"
Pam MacKinnon for "Clybourne Park"
Mike Nichols for "Death of a Salesman"
Roger Rees and Alex Timbers for "Peter and the Starcatcher"

Best Direction of a Musical
Jeff Calhoun for "Newsies"
Kathleen Marshall for "Nice Work If You Can Get It"
Diane Paulus for "Porgy and Bess"
John Tiffany for "Once"

The so-called "Regional Tony," awarded annually to a non-profit, professional theater outside New York City, will go to Washington DC's Shakespeare Theatre Company. Every year, the American Theatre Critics Association, of which I am a member, recommends a recipient, and the award is then presented by the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing as part of the Tony ceremonies.

And speaking of ceremonies... This year's Tony Awards will be broadcast on CBS on Sunday, June 10, with Neil Patrick Harris once again hosting.

*That project was a TV version of Jonathan Frantzen's "The Corrections," which went ahead with a pilot, but was recently passed over by HBO. So there you have it. No love for Scott Rudin. Although there has been speculation that "Clybourne Park" would've received more than just the four nominations if not for the Rudin kerfuffle, given its Pulitzer, Olivier and general critical acclaim.