TONY NOMINEES 2008

From what I could tell from NY1, it seems that the Tony nominees were posted online before they were announced live, in a very subdued, almost grim, fashion, by David Hyde Pierce and Sara Ramirez. (They were at the Lincoln Center Library for Performing Arts, so maybe scads of scary librarians were shooshing them the whole time.)

Perhaps because I've yet to see a bunch of productions (and I missed the opportunity to see a bunch of others), I'm most excited that Stephen Sondheim will be the recipient of the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. He's had at least a hand in creating such shows as Gypsy, Follies, Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum—and revivals of his work remain Broadway staples to this day, with Gypsy and Sunday in the Park with George running and West Side Story on the way.

Sunday... is one of the big nominees of this season; garnering even more nominations than Sunday (9) are In the Heights (the leader at 13) and South Pacific (11)...oops, I mean Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific. I believe that August: Osage County is the top-nominated play, with strong showings from Macbeth (by William Shakespeare, another staple of Broadway programming), Boeing, Boeing, and The 39 Steps.

As you might imagine based on my recent coverage, I'm sorry that Alli Mauzey of Cry-Baby didn't score a nomination. Also among the missing: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Not nominated for Best Musical: Young Frankenstein. Oops, I mean The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein. Grease managed to score one nomination, for Best Musical Revival.

Here's a newly posted video of yet another side of Mauzey: in character as Galinda/Glinda in Wicked.



Source (3:28)

JOURNEY'S END. I've recently mentioned a number of witty, satirical musicals that appeared on Broadway around 1930, but of course there was more than comedy on Broadway during that period. Eugene O'Neill explored the lighter side with the satirical Marco Millions (1928) as well as Ah, Wilderness! (1933), but he also continued his exploration of drama and tragedy with very substantial works such as Strange Interlude (1928) and Mourning Becomes Electra (1931). And, in 1929, British playwright R. C. Sherriff's World War I drama Journey's End began a successful Broadway run that lasted more than a year.

Now revived at the Belasco Theatre and well worth seeing, Journey's End is an example of excellent conventional playwriting applied to exceptionally troubling subject matter. Portraying a group of soldiers literally entrenched in one of the war's catastrophic stalemates, Journey's End involves characters who today must seem very familiar to anyone who has seen a few war movies. There's the very experienced Osborne (Boyd Gaines), the newcomer Raleigh (Stark Sands), the convivial Trotter (John Ahlin), and the jittery Hibbert (Justin Blanchard)--and there's Captain Stanhope (Hugh Dancy, pictured), who feels responsible for all of their fates and for maintaining his sense of duty to his country. In a very British way, there's even a private (Jefferson Mays) who serves as a kind of butler. As the play unfolds through Sherriff's subtly calibrated dialogue, it becomes ever clearer that we are watching these men "strut and fret their hours upon the stage," as Shakespeare put it (more or less) in Macbeth.

Sherriff, himself a veteran, seems to stay true enough to the actual experience to do justice to the soldiers' beastly predicament. Thanks to his writing and the excellent acting and direction, the play and the characters come across as meaningful and vibrant rather than hackneyed. Standing out among the company is Dancy, whose compulsive Stanhope seems to personify values compromised by war.

James Whale directed Colin Clive in a 1930 movie version of Journey's End, but it seems that no version of the play is readily available in the United States. That's the case with Aces High, which transposed the setting to the air war.

Now...about the ticket situation. As far as I can tell, there's no reason (except the very good reason of "supporting the arts") for a reader of this post to pay full price for a ticket to Journey's End. Discounts are available via online sites such as Playbill. Tickets should also be available via TKTS. (Save time by using the express window for plays.) And, based on my experience (granted, on St. Patrick's Day, when the weather wasn't great), a $36.25 balcony seat might get you an automatic upgrade into the mezzanine zone (where there was a very annoying noise by audience right). So if money is no object, pay full price; if it's a slight object, go for the discount on the better seats; and if you need a bargain, you can still go for the cheaper seats and have a good experience.

Photo: Paul Kolnik