Tonys 2017 Reactions
So last week, possibly the biggest event in the theatrical calendar happened in New York - I have been on holiday this week so hadn't had chance until now - I am of course talking about the Tony Awards, which are pretty much the Oscars of the theatre world.
And with no further delay, let me grab my Pimms, and we'll get right into it. 😊
Going into the nominations, it seemed that Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (I'll refer to it as Great Comet from now on), based of a section of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace was the favourite to win the top prize, as it gained the most nominations with 12 (this was the case with Groundhog Day at the Oliviers this year, which this time went home empty handed). However, it only came out with 2 awards, Best Scenic Design and Best Lighting Design of a Musical.
Instead, the night belonged to original musical, Dear Evan Hanson, written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who won an Oscar this year for La La Land - it has been a very good year for them hasn't it...! It won 6 out of its 8 nominations, including the "Triple Crown" (Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score), Best Actor in a Musical for Ben Platt as the titular role (no surprises there), Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Rachel Bay Jones and finally, Best Orchestrations. Evan Hanson has been incredibly popular ever since it opened and I will not be surprised if there was not a UK transfer.
Not too far behind Evan Hanson was Dolly Levi, as the revival of Hello Dolly won 4 awards: Best Revival of a Musical, Best Costume Design of a Musical, Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Gavin Creel's Cornelius Hackl (on his 3rd nomination), and Best Actress in a Musical for its star, the one and only Bette Midler. This was a very safe bet, one that I would have even been tempted to put money on, because it seemed she was a shoe-in for the award ever since she got the part - even though she was up against 2 other Broadway legends, War Paint's Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, and 2 debutantes, Great Comet's Denee Benton and Miss Saigon's Eva Noblezada (this was a great surprise and it was fantastic to see her nominated; the show also received a nomination for Best Musical revival but, due to Dolly of course, failed to pick it up; sadly the show's Engineer, Jon Jon Briones failed to pick up a nomination 😢).
Elsewhere in the musical category, while the well-received revival of Falsettos (which garnered 4 nominations - there is a rumour of it going round cinemas in the autumn, if that's true, I will certainly try to review it) and the stage adaptation of the 1997 animated film Anastasia (which picked up 2 nominations) came away empty-handed, the new musicals Come From Away and Bandstand picked up one award apiece, Best Director of a Musical and Best Choreography respectively. We shall have to see if any of these decide to cross the pond in the next few years. I must admit, I am especially crossing my fingers for Anastasia.... 😉
I will finally say in this section that it was a very competitive year, with a record number of eligible productions - 13 new musicals to be presise, and of course, some didn't make the cut with A Bronx Tale, the London transfer of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Amelie falling short.
In the play categories, the top prize went to Oslo (I have heard that this is coming to London in a few months), with the Best Revival of a Play going to August Wilson's Jitney. It was a lot more spread out here than it was in the musicals category, with other awards going to Indecent, to Lillian Hellaman's The Little Foxes, Kevin Kline went away with Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Present Laughter and Laurie Metcalf picked up Best Actress in a Play for A Doll's House Part II. There was even a bit of British success as Nigel Hook walked away with Best Scenic Design of a Play for The Play That Goes Wrong.
Finally, I have to talk about a legend - James Earl Jones, who won the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre. And, as he already won 2 Tonys before last week and for just being an all-out legend, I think I can speak for the whole world when I say "about time"!!!
And with that, another Broadway season has ended. Here's to next year, where planned productions include the London transfer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a revival of the classic Carousel, and the stage adaptation of Frozen - sounds like an interesting package already 😁
And with no further delay, let me grab my Pimms, and we'll get right into it. 😊
Going into the nominations, it seemed that Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (I'll refer to it as Great Comet from now on), based of a section of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace was the favourite to win the top prize, as it gained the most nominations with 12 (this was the case with Groundhog Day at the Oliviers this year, which this time went home empty handed). However, it only came out with 2 awards, Best Scenic Design and Best Lighting Design of a Musical.
Instead, the night belonged to original musical, Dear Evan Hanson, written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who won an Oscar this year for La La Land - it has been a very good year for them hasn't it...! It won 6 out of its 8 nominations, including the "Triple Crown" (Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score), Best Actor in a Musical for Ben Platt as the titular role (no surprises there), Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Rachel Bay Jones and finally, Best Orchestrations. Evan Hanson has been incredibly popular ever since it opened and I will not be surprised if there was not a UK transfer.
Not too far behind Evan Hanson was Dolly Levi, as the revival of Hello Dolly won 4 awards: Best Revival of a Musical, Best Costume Design of a Musical, Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Gavin Creel's Cornelius Hackl (on his 3rd nomination), and Best Actress in a Musical for its star, the one and only Bette Midler. This was a very safe bet, one that I would have even been tempted to put money on, because it seemed she was a shoe-in for the award ever since she got the part - even though she was up against 2 other Broadway legends, War Paint's Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, and 2 debutantes, Great Comet's Denee Benton and Miss Saigon's Eva Noblezada (this was a great surprise and it was fantastic to see her nominated; the show also received a nomination for Best Musical revival but, due to Dolly of course, failed to pick it up; sadly the show's Engineer, Jon Jon Briones failed to pick up a nomination 😢).
Elsewhere in the musical category, while the well-received revival of Falsettos (which garnered 4 nominations - there is a rumour of it going round cinemas in the autumn, if that's true, I will certainly try to review it) and the stage adaptation of the 1997 animated film Anastasia (which picked up 2 nominations) came away empty-handed, the new musicals Come From Away and Bandstand picked up one award apiece, Best Director of a Musical and Best Choreography respectively. We shall have to see if any of these decide to cross the pond in the next few years. I must admit, I am especially crossing my fingers for Anastasia.... 😉
I will finally say in this section that it was a very competitive year, with a record number of eligible productions - 13 new musicals to be presise, and of course, some didn't make the cut with A Bronx Tale, the London transfer of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Amelie falling short.
In the play categories, the top prize went to Oslo (I have heard that this is coming to London in a few months), with the Best Revival of a Play going to August Wilson's Jitney. It was a lot more spread out here than it was in the musicals category, with other awards going to Indecent, to Lillian Hellaman's The Little Foxes, Kevin Kline went away with Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Present Laughter and Laurie Metcalf picked up Best Actress in a Play for A Doll's House Part II. There was even a bit of British success as Nigel Hook walked away with Best Scenic Design of a Play for The Play That Goes Wrong.
Finally, I have to talk about a legend - James Earl Jones, who won the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre. And, as he already won 2 Tonys before last week and for just being an all-out legend, I think I can speak for the whole world when I say "about time"!!!
And with that, another Broadway season has ended. Here's to next year, where planned productions include the London transfer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a revival of the classic Carousel, and the stage adaptation of Frozen - sounds like an interesting package already 😁
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