Fifteen new musicals opened on Broadway this season, but you wouldn’t know that from the brutal 2024 Tony Award nominations announced on Tuesday.
When the list was read aloud by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Renée Elise Goldsberry, it was snub city.
Barry Manilow’s “Harmony,” the Britney Spears pop-sical “Once Upon a One More Time,” Huey Lewis’ funny “The Heart of Rock and Roll” and “How To Dance in Ohio” were all totally shut out.
The musicals “The Great Gatsby” (one mention), “The Notebook” (three) and “Back to the Future” (two) got a dusting, but you can’t very well put “Best costume design nominee!” on a poster.
Well, not on a good poster, anyway.
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s Imelda Marcos disco show “Here Lies Love” managed four noms, and “Days of Wine and Roses” got three, including Best Original Score and Best Actress and Actor for terrific Kelli O’Hara and Brian d’Arcy James, respectively. But those productions both closed months ago.
In the end, we’re left with an eclectic quintet of best musical contenders: “Hell’s Kitchen,” Alicia Keys’ exciting semi-autobiographical show; “Illinoise,” a tender dance piece set to the music of Sufjan Stevens; “The Outsiders,” a galvanizing take on S.E. Hinton’s classic novel; “Suffs,” about the early days of women’s suffrage; and “Water for Elephants,” a dreadful circus thing.
The real race though is now between “Hell’s Kitchen,” with 13 nominations — including Best Actress for its breakout star Maleah Joi Moon — and “The Outsiders,” with 12.
“Hell’s Kitchen,” featuring Keys’ hits such as “Empire State of Mind” and “Girl on Fire,” has the makings of a traditional hit that Broadway is craving, while “The Outsiders” is, in most people’s estimations, the better-made show.
Now that the fog of confusion has lifted, those two will duke it out for the love of about 800 Tony voters.
Over in the musical revival categories, the cheap-looking “The Wiz” goose-egged. And “The Who’s Tommy,” brilliant, managed only a best revival of a musical mention, despite its lead Ali Louis Bourzgui making the most electric debut of the year. That omission, along with the snub of choreographer Lorin Latarro, has me seething.
So, Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along,” fabulous, will steamroll all the other musical revivals. The critically reviled “Cabaret,” starring nominee Eddie Redmayne, got nine nods. Cute, but you’ll never turn the vinegar to jam, mein herr.
“Merrily’s” stars Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe will win Best Actor and Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Their co-star Lindsay Mendez, in the Best Featured Actress category, will have a tougher time against the formidable women of “Hell’s Kitchen,” Kecia Lewis and Shoshana Bean, and Bebe Neuwirth (“Cabaret”).
The play categories went down, for the most part, as expected.
“Stereophonic” landed 13 — the most for a play ever — because of its unique rock musical element and (honestly, too many) actor nominations. You can bet it’ll win Best Play.
Best Actress in a Play is a hot category. Sarah Paulson will take it for “Appropriate,” but she battles former “American Horror Story” co-star Jessica Lange (“Mother Play”), Rachel McAdams (“Mary Jane”), Amy Ryan (“Doubt”) and Besty Aidem (“Prayer for the French Republic”).
There are a lot of familiar faces in Best Actor in a Play: the MCU’s William Jackson Harper (“Uncle Vanya“), Leslie Odom Jr. (“Purlie Victorious”), Liev Schreiber (“Doubt”), Jeremy Strong (“An Enemy of the People“) and Michael Stuhlbarg (“Patriots”). Steve Carell and Danny DeVito both got the brush.
Best Revival of a Play will go to the excellent “Appropriate,” which competes with “An Enemy of the People” and “Purlie Victorious.”
One thing everybody agrees on in this otherwise hotly debated season is there were just too many financially risky musicals for ticket-buyers to possibly support.
We got 15 brand-new ones and yet “The Lion King,” “Wicked” and “Hamilton” are still the highest grossers on Broadway. Most of the 2023-24 crop will be lucky to run a year, let alone 20.
Producers might want to think twice — or, ya know, at all — next time about shoving their niche shows into such a crowded marketplace willy-nilly.
Because Times Square is about to have a lot of vacancies.
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