By JOHN BONAZZO & RICKY BORDELON
The Broadway community is anxiously awaiting its biggest night of the season, June 9, when the American Theatre Wing bestows the Tony Awards for the 2012-13 Season. On Tuesday, April 30, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Sutton Foster announced the nominees for the 26 competitive awards at the Lincoln Center Public Library for the Performing Arts.
The Harvey Fierstein/ Cyndi Lauper musical Kinky Boots led the way with 13 nominations, followed by the West End transplant Matilda: The Musical, which had 12. Matilda and Kinky Boots will battle for the major awards (Best Musical, Score, Book), including one of the most heated competitions: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. Billy Porter, who plays the drag queen Lola in Kinky Boots, faces tough competition in Bertie Carvel, who plays the evil Ms. Trunchbull in Matilda.
Bring It On and A Christmas Story: The Musical, two musicals that have already closed, pushed Motown: The Musical, Chaplin and Hands on a Hardbody out of the Best Musical race, though Hardbody reaped a Best Score nomination and all three shows received acting nominations.
Pippin, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Annie and The Mystery of Edwin Drood will do battle for Best Revival of a Musical. Diane Paulus directs Pippin, the first revival of the famous Schwartz show, which imagines the show in a circus atmosphere and garnered 10 nominations, including for actors Patina Miller, Andrea Martin and Terrence Mann. Best Revival was Annie’s only nomination, but ticket sales will certainly benefit from Jane Lynch’s run as Ms. Hannigan, which begins in mid-May.
Kathie Lee Gifford’s ill-fated Scandalous managed to rear its ugly head as Carolee Carmello, one of the show’s bright spots, received a nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play will be a competition among celebrities and Broadway professionals. Tom Hanks, in his Broadway debut Lucky Guy, will face the ever-popular Nathan Lane (The Nance), David Hyde Pierce, of “Frasier” fame (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike); Tracy Letts (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) and Tom Sturridge (Orphans).
Notable snubs in the nominations include Alan Cumming’s tour-de-force performance in Macbeth and Bette Midler’s one-woman show I’ll Eat You Last, which received critical acclaim. Fiona Shaw also failed to get a nomination for her solo show The Testament of Mary; even though the production was nominated for Best Play, producers announced Tuesday afternoon that the show would close May 5. The only nominee from a solo show was Holland Taylor for Ann.
Besides Testament, the other Best Play nominees were The Assembled Parties, Lucky Guy and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Besides Hanks’ nomination, Lucky Guy also reaped a best featured actor nomination for Courtney B. Vance. Four actors from Vanya were nominated (Pierce, Kristine Nielsen, Billy Magnussen and Shalita Grant) but star Sigourney Weaver did not get a nod.
Nominees for Best Revival of a Play were the critically acclaimed Golden Boy and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, along with The Trip to Bountiful, which has received acclaim for its star, Cicely Tyson, who got a Best Lead Actress in a Play nomination. The fourth nominee was the critically panned Orphans, which got press when Shia LaBeouf exited the production due to creative differences and was replaced by Ben Foster.
The directing categories for respective genres normally hold clues to the frontrunners. If this year is any indication, Best Musical will be between Matilda and Kinky Boots, as expected, while Musical Revival will be Drood against Pippin. As for plays, the directors of Lucky Guy and Vanya face off against those of Virginia Woolf and Golden Boy.
The 67th Annual Tony Awards will air on Sunday, June 9 on CBS at 8 PM/ 7 central. Stay tuned to The Fordham Ram online at www.thefordhamram.com for predictions and analysis before and during the awards show.
