THEATER TALK: Tony Award Nomination Predictions
UPDATE: Read our recap of who was nominated here.
Disclaimer: I have not seen all of the eligible shows this season, but I've seen most of the the musicals, and a few of the plays. As always, though, I keep my ear to the grapevine for theater buzz, and as such, these are the shows I think should be nominated.
Also, since I've barely seen any plays this season ("Seminar," "Peter and the Starcatcher," "Death of a Salesman," and "Clybourne Park," when it was at the Taper), I'll gloss over those categories, as I can't really speak to them. I wouldn't be surprised to see "Starcatcher" and "Salesman" both do quite well though!
Best Musical
- "Newsies"
- "Once"
- "Lysistrata Jones"
- "Nice Work If You Can Get It"
Best Book of a Musical
- "Lysistrata Jones"
- "Once"
- "Nice Work If You Can Get It"
- "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark"
Yup. I did it. I put "Spider-Man" for best book. Could be my contrary streak, I don't know. Not a great year for books (then again, is it ever? I'm so often underwhelmed by libretti), so I might as well put "Spider-Man." Besides, I enjoyed the show, and the book did keep it moving along.
Best Original Score
A surprisingly lackluster year for new scores… so much so that I predict "Starcatcher" will be nominated over one of the new musicals. The last slot was a tough one, and I'm reluctant to say "Bonnie & Clyde" will be nominated, but I think its strong moments are better than the totalities of the other shows.
Best Revival of a Musical
Godspell's a dark horse, too, and I didn't love it, but I'm just going to be contrary and say it will be nominated over "Evita." Plus I'd rather Andrew Lloyd Weber didn't have two nominations...
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
- Jeremy Jordan, "Newsies"
- Steve Kazee, "Once"
- Norm Lewis, "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess"
- Danny Burstein, "Follies"
- Jeremy Jordan, "Bonnie and Clyde"
I didn't just nominate Mr. Jordan twice to be difficult, I think he did a tremendous job in both shows.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
- Audra McDonald, "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess"
- Cristin Milioti, "Once"
- Jan Maxwell, "Follies"
- Kelli O'Hara, "Nice Work If You Can Get It"
- Laura Osnes, "Bonnie & Clyde"
This one's a bit of a head-scratcher category. Like I mentioned last week, there aren't a ton of female roles on Broadway, and I've been a bit underwhelmed by what I've seen so far. Hopefully that opinion will change after I see "Follies" for myself next week. [Editor's note: after having seen more shows on Broadway, I now classify this category a whole other kind of head-scratcher!]
Other standout potential nominees include:
Best Revival of a Play
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Death of a Salesman"
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
- David Alan Grier, "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess"
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
- Andrew Garfield, "Death of a Salesman"
- Christian Borle, "Peter and the Starcatcher"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
- Lindsay Nicole Chambers, "Lysistrata Jones"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
- Celia Keenan-Bolger, "Peter and the Starcatcher"
- Hetienne Park, "Seminar"
Direction of a Musical
- Jeff Calhoun, "Newsies"
- Dan Knechtges, "Lysistrata Jones"
- Diane Paulus, "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess"
Direction of a Play
- Mike Nichols, "Death of a Salesman"
Best Choreography
- Christopher Gattelli, "Newsies"
- Dan Knechtges, "Lysistrata Jones"
- Sergio Trujillo, "Leap of Faith" (presuming it has not changed considerably since I saw it at the Ahmanson last fall)
Best Orchestrations
- Danny Troob, "Newsies"
- Martin Lowe, "Once"
- Michael Holland, "Godspell" (if eligible, and I couldn't find anything saying it's not)
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
- George Tsypin, "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark"
Best Scenic Design of a Play
- David Zinn, "Seminar"
- Donyale Werle, "Peter and the Starcatcher"
- Dan Ostling, "Clybourne Park"
The nominations will be announced at 8:30 Eastern/5:30 Pacific tomorrow morning. I should be seeing more of the nominees before the ceremony, on June 10, so check back to see what I have to say!
Reach Katie here, or follow her on Twitter @kelisabethb.
For more Tony Awards coverage, click here.