Tony Awards Extravaganza Mega-Post!

Now that the big night is fast approaching - June 10th - and the nominees for the 61st Annual Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards have been announced, it's time to speculate as to who will be taking home statuettes this year!

I'll go through each of the 25 categories one by one, predicting the winner and musing a bit on those most deserving or overlooked.

Best Choreography

Rob Ashford, Curtains
Matthew Bourne & Stephen Mear, Mary Poppins
*Bill T. Jones, Spring Awakening
Jerry Mitchell, Legally Blonde The Musical

To me, it seems likely that, despite a relatively competitive year for choreography, the inventive choreography of Bill T. Jones will take home the Tony this year. Though I was very much impressed by the tremendously energetic choreography for Legally Blonde and by some of the inventive dances in Mary Poppins, I thought that Jones's choreography for Spring Awakening did the best job of adding an extra layer to the show, especially the sensual choreography for "Touch Me" and the spastic dance moves for "Totally F****d."

Best Orchestrations

Bruce Coughlin, Grey Gardens
*Duncan Sheik, Spring Awakening
Jonathan Tunick, LoveMusik
Jonathan Tunick, 110 in the Shade

While Jonathan Tunick is renowned in the Broadway community for his consistent excellence as an orchestrator, this year I think that the voters will acknowledge the work of Duncan Sheik, who managed to meld computerized music with the use of a live band to create a fresh sound for Spring Awakening. While many lament the downsizing of Broadway orchestras in favor of computer-enhanced orchestrations, in this case, the use of computer enhancement adds palpably to the effect of the music. I'm surprised not to see Mary-Mitchell Campbell's orchestrations for Company among those in the running for this award. Despite the fact that I missed the brassiness of the orchestrations on the original Broadway cast recording, orchestrating a John Doyle-directed show is no easy task. Jonathan Tunick (for LoveMusik) and Campbell tied for the Drama Desk Awards, so I suppose Tunick still has a chance, but I think it's likely that the Tony voters will have a different view of the orchestration race than the Drama Desk.

Best Book of a Musical

Rupert Holmes & Peter Stone, Curtains
*Doug Wright, Grey Gardens
Heather Hach, Legally Blonde The Musical
Steven Sater, Spring Awakening

I was terribly surprised when Rupert Holmes and Peter Stone won the Drama Desk for Curtains. I thought that the book for Curtains was perhaps one of the most trite and unfunny (especially for a comedy) that I'd ever come across. Any of the other nominees would, to me, be preferable, but I think that Doug Wright still has a chance at the Tony Award. Wright's book is lovely and subtle, underscoring brilliantly the blurring of the line between the past and the present. Steven Sater still has a shot as well. His book for Spring Awakening captures the feel of 1890s Germany evocatively without losing sight of the updated quality that this modern adaptation employs.

Best Score

Fred Ebb, John Kander & Rupert Holmes, Curtains
Scott Frankel and Michael Korie, Grey Gardens
Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin, Legally Blonde The Musical
*Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater, Spring Awakening

This award, hands down, will go to Spring Awakening. Despite the sentimantality toward Kander & Ebb's score for Curtains, particularly since Fred Ebb died just a few years ago, rewarding a score of this lackluster quality would be criminal. There will still be at least one or two more new Kander & Ebb musicals on Broadway, so I figure the Tony voters figure they'll still have another shot to reward Ebb posthumously. In the meantime, Spring Awakening's score, while perhaps lyrically imperfect, does a perfect job of upholding the production's conceit that, once the musical's 1890s German characters pull their microphones out of their school jackets, they're rock stars, able to express the angsty emotions they've kept pent up inside. The lovely pastiche score for Grey Gardens is also notable, but not to the degree that Spring Awakening's is.

Best Scenic Design (Play)

*Bob Crowley & Scott Pask, The Coast of Utopia
Jonathan Fensom, Journey's End
David Gallo, Radio Golf
Ti Green and Melly Still, Coram Boy

While I liked very much David Gallo's set for Radio Golf, which, besides for being extraordinarily naturalistic, also placed the play's campaign office setting in context within the overall Hill District setting of the play, the voters will likely reward Crowley & Pask for their work on the epic The Coast of Utopia. These design awards are often the most appropriate outlets to reward the more overblown shows on Broadway (they say it's best artistically not to leave humming the sets, and sometimes that's just what you end up doing). Whatever I have to say about the quality of The Coast of Utopia as a play, Lincoln Center Theater certainly devoted a lot of attention to the intricacies of their production, and it showed stunningly.

Best Scenic Design (Musical)

*Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins
Christine Jones, Spring Awakening
Anna Louizos, High Fidelity
Allen Moyer, Grey Gardens

It's likely that Crowley will win for the whimsy and efficiency of his sets for Mary Poppins. I suppose there's a chance that voters will recognize the sparse but highly effective set for Spring Awakening, heavily researched by designer Christine Jones and utilizing on-stage audience seating, but it seems like a long shot.

Best Costume Design (Play)

Ti Green and Melly Still, Coram Boy
Jane Greenwood, Heartbreak House
Santo Loquasto, Inherit the Wind
*Catherine Zuber, The Coast of Utopia

This is another category where spectacle is sure to win out. The Coast of Utopia was a jaw-droppingly large production for Lincoln Center Theater this past season, and its costumes were no exception. The shear number of costumes alone -- 450 -- is insane! And they are quite attractive.

Best Costume Design (Musical)

Gregg Barnes, Legally Blonde The Musical
*Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins
Susan Hilferty, Spring Awakening
William Ivey Long, Grey Gardens

My guess is that Bob Crowley may be taking home several awards on Tony night. His costumes for Mary Poppins are the best bet for a win in this category. It's one of the shows most reliant on splashy costumes, and Crowley's were particularly effective for Poppins. William Ivey Long may also have a shot at the award; his costumes for Grey Gardens were handsome and effective.

Best Special Theatrical Event

*Jay Johnson: The Two and Only
Kiki & Herb Alive on Broadway

I'm not familiar with Kiki & Herb, but The Two and Only was a charming, earnest little show. I went into it thinking, Oh, God, not a show with a ventriloquist, but I was very much pleasantly surprised. Johnson has winning personality and considerable talent. I'm not really sure who will win, but neither of these were particularly noteworthy in the 2006-2007 season.

Best Lighting Design (Play)

Paule Constable, Coram Boy
Brian MacDevitt, Inherit the Wind
*Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner and Natasha Katz, The Coast of Utopia
Jason Taylor, Journey's End

Another win for The Coast of Utopia, I suspect. What more is there to say -- the production was spectacular.

Best Lighting Design (Musical)

*Kevin Adams, Spring Awakening
Christopher Akerlind, 110 in the Shade
Howard Harrison, Mary Poppins
Peter Kaczorowski, Grey Gardens

Kevin Adams is sure to win this award. His inventive use of neon lighting (most effective when viewed from the mezzanine) absolutely enhanced Spring Awakening's already potent brand of theatrical magic. What, for me, constitutes what is considered the "best" in design categories is the success of a design element's integration into the whole of the theatrical experience at hand. If anyone else has a shot, it's Christopher Akerlind, who masterfully lit the gigantic sun onstage at Studio 54 during 110 in the Shade.

Best Direction (Play)

Michael Grandage, Froxt/Nixon
David Grindley, Journey's End
*Jack O'Brien, The Coast of Utopia
Melly Still, Coram Boy

The Coast of Utopia. Tired of hearing that title? So am I. But it takes a strong director to make a good case for a bloated, overblown play like The Coast of Utopia, and Jack O'Brien, a Broadway veteran, was that man. Perhaps Grandage or Grindley have a chance, but I suspect that O'Brien will be rewarded for taking on such a massive undertaking.

Best Direction (Musical)

John Doyle, Company
Scott Ellis, Curtains
Michael Greif, Grey Gardens
*Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening

Michael Mayer looks to be the frontrunner in the Best Director race. His guidance helped a vibrant young cast and inspired creative team put on one hell of a show. Ellis and Greif are longshots, but Doyle, whose inventive Sondheim stagings are all the rage nowadays, may have a chance at the statue for his actor-musician staging of Company.

Best Featured Actor (Play)

Anthony Chisholm, Radio Golf
*Billy Crudup, The Coast of Utopia
Ethan Hawke, The Coast of Utopia
John Earl Jelks, Radio Golf
Stark Sands, Journey's End

This is one category that seems like a wide open playing field. Chisholm and Jelks were both standouts in Radio Golf, and Crudup (and Hawke, to a lesser degree) were adequate in The Coast of Utopia. Sands was also quite effective in Journey's End. My guess is that Crudup will take home the award, but I think Chisholm and Stark Sands also have a palpable chance. This is an award I'm looking forward to.

Best Featured Actress (Play)

*Jennifer Ehle, The Coast of Utopia
Xanthe Elbrick, Coram Boy
Dana Ivey, Butley
Jan Maxwell, Coram Boy
Martha Plimpton, The Coast of Utopia

Though Martha Plimpton took home this award at the Drama Desk Awards (Ehle wasn't nominated), I think that Jennifer Ehle will probably take home the Tony. I'm not familiar with the work of Elbrick, Ivey, or Maxwell, but Ehle was one of the best things about Utopia. I wish she had had a more prominent role throughout the trilogy, but as Natalie Herzen in Shipwreck, she more than proved her acting chops. It was one of the most thrilling performances I saw all year.

Best Featured Actor (Musical)

Brooks Ashmanskas, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
Christian Borle, Legally Blonde The Musical
John Cullum, 110 in the Shade
*John Gallagher, Jr., Spring Awakening
David Pittu, LoveMusik

In order to reward, in some form, the talents of the young cast of Spring Awakening, I think it will be Gallagher who takes home this award. He's excellent as Moritz, the misfit character, and has excellent comic timing. Borle was winning in Blonde, as was Cullum in 110.

Best Featured Actress (Musical)

Charlotte d'Amboise, A Chorus Line
Rebecca Luker, Mary Poppins
Orfeh, Legally Blonde The Musical
*Mary Louise Wilson, Grey Gardens
Karen Ziemba, Curtains

Mary Louise Wilson was probably the most favorably reviewed among these nominees; she's excellent as Big Edie in the second act of Grey Gardens, just as formidable as Christine Ebersole, who plays her daughter. I guess Ziemba also has a shot, but Wilson looks to be the clear frontrunner.

Best Actor (Play)

Boyd Gaines, Journey's End
*Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Brian F. O'Byrne, The Coast of Utopia
Christopher Plummer, Inherit the Wind
Liev Schreiber, Talk Radio

Here is one of the most competitive categories. All five of these actors got very favorable reviews for their performances. It will likely be Frank Langella, who, despite very little physical resemblance to President Nixon, manages to be absolutely believable in Frost/Nixon. Schreiber also seems like a likely winner, but I'd really like to see Boyd Gaines, who gave a stunningly subdued performance in Journey's End take home this award. Both Langella and Gaines (who was, for the Drama Desk Awards, placed in the featured category) took home Drama Desk Awards last Sunday.

Best Actress (Play)

*Eve Best, A Moon for the Misbegotten
Swoosie Kurtz, Heartbreak House
Angela Lansbury, Deuce
Vanessa Redgrave, The Year of Magical Thinking
Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed

This has to be one of the hardest categories to predict. Kurtz is unlikely to win, but the other four all have a good shot. White gave a brilliant comic performance in The Little Dog Laughed, and Lansbury and Redgrave both reminded audiences of their "legend" statuses. Eve Best, in her first New York role, however, may just take home this award for her brilliant performance as Josie in A Moon for the Misbegotten. Though she doesn't meet the character's brutish character description requirements, her absolute commitment to the role really shone through. This one is hard to predict, but my money is ever so slightly on Best to best the rest. If I got what I wanted, it would probably be Lansbury.

Best Actor (Musical)

Michael Cerveris, LoveMusik
*Raul Esparza, Company
Jonathan Groff, Spring Awakening
Gavin Lee, Mary Poppins
David Hyde Pierce, Curtains

Esparza is the frontrunner in this category. He's brilliant in Company and long overdue for some Broadway recognition. Cerveris and Pierce may be possible winners, but it's most likely that Esparza will finally take home a Tony. Though his piano-playing is minimal in Company, he really allows an audience to tap into his vulerability. Plus, his singing is superb.

Best Actress (Musical)

Laura Bell Bundy, Legally Blonde The Musical
*Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens
Audra McDonald, 110 in the Shade
Debra Monk, Curtains
Donna Murphy, LoveMusik

There was Tony buzz surrounding Christine Ebersole this time last year, around the time when she was in Grey Gardens off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons. She's brilliant as Big Edie in the first act and Little Edie in the second act, and it seems almost certain that she'll take home her second Tony (the first was for 42nd Street). I think that Audra McDonald still has a fighting chance in the Best Actress category. She and Donna Murphy tied at the Drama Desk Awards (Ebersole won last year when Grey Gardens was off-Broadway and was therefore ineligible this time around), so there's a possibility of a shake-up, particularly since Grey Gardens opened so long ago, but Ebersole still seems to be the name on everybody's lips, so we'll have to wait to find out. Everyone in the category, however, is strong.

Best Play Revival

Inherit the Wind
*Journey's End
Talk Radio
Translations

Journey's End was this season's little play that couldn't. I had no idea what it would be about before I saw it. The playwright and director (and most of the cast) are all unknown, and it's a depressing-looking play about World War I. Journey's End has had a consistently hard time attaining an audience (most weeks, it played to 30% or less capacity), but I think it will be recognized for its superb quality come Tony night (which happens to fall on the same night as its closing performance). Boyd Gaines, Hugh Dancy, and Stark Sands, head a cast that is uniformly excellent, and the design elements all came together to present a stunningly powerful production. That reminds me that I've been thinking recently about how egregious it is that there's no category for Best Sound Design. Sound is an integral element to a great Broadway production, and Journey's End was a stunning example of what a great sound designer, in this case Gregory Clarke, can do.

Best Musical Revival

The Apple Tree
A Chorus Line
*Company
110 in the Shade

This one's probably going to John Doyle's inventive staging of Company. I found the overall production to be quite cold and distancing and the actor-musicianship to be inferior to that on display in last season's Sweeney Todd, but Company has favorable reviews and Raul Esparza going for it. With a flimsy book that barely holds up after 37 years, it's a wonder Doyle could salvage Company as well as he could. 110 in the Shade also has a shot, I think, but reviewers (and perhaps Tony voters) found the show a bit too quaint, with the star turn from its leading actress Audra McDonald the major standout of the production.

Best Play

*The Coast of Utopia
Frost/Nixon
The Little Dog Laughed
Radio Golf

When Tom Stoppard set out to write The Coast of Utopia, he was obviously feeling grandiose. He set out to write a play about Russian history and ended up with an 8-hour epic. The play is one huge demonstration of what happens when you're too vainglorious to subject yourself to a sensible regiment of good old-fashioned editing. There is no major story arc, and the play feels like a bloated, obscure history lesson. Nonetheless, it was a hit with critics and audiences alike, most of whom probably felt proud that they were able to sit upright for that long in a theatre. Whatever I found at fault in regards to playwright, however, was at least in part redeemed by a beautiful, well-executed production headed by Jack O'Brien. My pick would be for Radio Golf, the final play in August Wilson's 10-play cycle chronicling African-American life in the United States, but critics found the play to be less engaging than others in the cycle.

Best Musical

Curtains
Grey Gardens
Mary Poppins
*Spring Awakening

There was talk early on in speculation over the Tony race this year that Legally Blonde was going to give Spring Awakening a run for its money. Good out-of-town reviews and appeal to venues that host national tours across the country would have given Legally Blonde a huge leg up, but perhaps the nominators sensed the possibility of an upset and purposefully excluded Blonde. Spring Awakening will almost certainly take home top honors for its revolutionary Broadway production. If it doesn't, it'll be one of the biggest crimes in Tony history (I'd also be satified if Grey Gardens won, but that seems unlikely). I'm surprised by the amount of people who feel that Curtains still has a shot at the award, but Curtains and Poppins have the advantage of being more family-oriented shows with splashy productions that would be more popular for tour audiences (it's the tour producers who ultimately seem to have the greatest hand in these things). I hope Tony voters stick to their artistic guns and reward the show that's truly the best, Spring Awakening, which would also likely do good business in a national tour.