If you thought Awards Season was over, you are very, very much mistaken. The one awards show I always look forward to is The Tony Awards. My level of anticipation and excitement can be compared to that of Cookie’s when it’s Oscar time. Yesterday, the Tony nominations were announced, much to the delight of us theatre nerds. Here is what we can expect and look forward to.
Nominees for Best (and Best Revival of) Play include Disgraced, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and The Elephant Man. For Best (and Best Revival of) include An American in Paris, Fun Home, The King and I and On the Twentieth Century. The acting nods are beyond intense this year. It will be tighter than the Oscars this year. Among the actors nominated for the musicals (leading and featured) this year include Ken Watanabe, Andy Karl, Christian Borle and Brian d’Arcy James. Actresses (lead and featured) include Chita Rivera, Kelli O’Hara, Judy Kuhn, and Emily Skeggs. For plays, actors range from Bradley Cooper, Bill Nighy, K. Todd Freeman and Nathaniel Parker. Actresses include Annaleigh Ashford, Carey Mulligan, Helen Mirren and Sarah Stiles.
The technical awards are also vast. They include Best Original Score (Music and/or lyrics), Best Scenic Design of a Play and a Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Costume Design for both Play and Musical, and more The Tonys and the Olivier’s are two of the biggest award shows that contain more categories than any other awards shows.
This year is going to be beyond tight. I’m not even sure who will win this year. Last year, it was a solid year and it was obvious who would win (hello, Neil Patrick Harris and Hedwig). Surprisingly, Finding Neverland, the one show everyone swore would get nominated, received absolutely no nominations this year and no one can understand why. This marked Matthew Morrison’s return to Broadway, and the show is receiving praise left, right and centre. There is something not quite right there, but let’s save that for another article. The excitement for this year’s Tony’s is HIGH. I apologize in advance to anyone who may get railroaded by my over enthusiasm for this show.