It's nail-biting time on Broadway as Tony Award nominations roll around
'Stranger Things: The First Shadow' co-director Justin Martin says he's been excited by the mixed offerings this season — silliness and seriousness and everything in between.
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'We can hold all that, but it does feel like there is a lot of desire for escapism at the moment. And I wonder whether that is to do with the political situation,' he says.
Predicting the top musicals and plays
Best new musical will likely contain the android rom-com 'Maybe Happy Ending,' the comedy about frenemies 'Death Becomes Her' and the corpse-centered 'Dead Outlaw.' That leaves two slots open, perhaps taken by the immigrant tale 'Buena Vista Social Club,' the British farce 'Operation Mincemeat,' the revue 'Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends' or the bio of a cartoon 'Boop!'
The best new play category will likely see the loony bio of Abraham Lincoln's wife 'Oh, Mary!,' the drawing-room drama 'Purpose' and the feminist 'John Proctor Is the Villain.' That leaves two slots for worthy candidates like the Pulitzer Prize-winning 'English,' the George Clooney-led 'Good Night, and Good Luck' — the first play to gross over $3 million in a week — and 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow,' an effects-driven prequel to the hit Netflix show.
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Two plays with starry casts and expensive tickets will probably get nods in the revival category — 'Glengarry Glen Ross' with Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk and Bill Burr, and 'Othello' with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. Two other possible candidates are 'Our Town,' starring Jim Parsons and Katie Holmes, and a millennial-targeting 'Romeo + Juliet' with Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler.
Safe bets for best musical revival candidates are McDonald's 'Gypsy' and the Nicole Scherzinger-led 'Sunset Blvd.' That means 'Floyd Collins,' 'Pirates! The Penzance Musical' and 'The Last Five Years' will likely be competing for the other two slots.
Tina Landau, a Tony-nominated director, playwright and lyricist, wasn't able to see any shows this season for a very good reason. She had two shows — 'Floyd Collins' and 'Redwood' — open months from each other.
'I'm very glad that there's so much work,' she says. 'I feel like when you have a season this big, there's room for everyone and everything. Some are apples and some are pears and some are bananas and some are peaches. I just feel very blessed to have had two works that matter to me so much open at the same time, or open ever at all.'
Turning to the actors
On the male side, outstanding work was turned in by Darren Criss in 'Maybe Happy Ending,' Jonathan Groff in 'Just in Time,' Tom Francis in 'Sunset Blvd.,' Jeremy Jordan in 'Floyd Collins' and Andrew Durand in 'Dead Outlaw.'
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Eyes will be on this season's 'Succession' stars — Culkin and Sarah Snook — hoping to join their old co-star Jeremy Strong with Tony love. Strong won the leading actor award last year in a revival of 'An Enemy of the People.'
Snook is virtually a lock in the best actress in a play category, playing all 26 roles in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray.' Her competition likely will be Sadie Sink from 'John Proctor Is the Villain,' Laura Donnelly in 'The Hills of California' and LaTanya Richardson Jackson from 'Purpose.'
Some Hollywood A-listers — Washington, Gyllenhaal and Clooney — could make the lead actor in a play category, along with Cole Escola, who wrote and starred in 'Oh, Mary!' The fifth slot could go to Connor, Parsons, Daniel Dae Kim in 'Yellow Face' or Robert Downey Jr., who made his Broadway debut in 'McNeal.'
As for competition for McDonald, Scherzinger in 'Sunset Blvd.,' Helen J Shen from 'Maybe Happy Ending,' Jasmine Amy Rogers in 'Boop!' and Sutton Foster from 'Once Upon a Mattress' are strong candidates.
The Tony Awards will be handed out June 8 at Radio City Music Hall during a telecast hosted by 'Wicked' star and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo.
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