Tony nomination mornings are always filled with joy for the many performers, stage artists, and producers who are vying for Broadway’s biggest recognition. But there are also always some who are overlooked, and others who are just stolen.
The nominees have expressed their admiration fairly widely: Of the 34 programs that qualified, 29 received at least a nod, including the critically-criticized “Diana.” But five new plays were completely omitted. Most surprising: “Pass”, Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s well-reviewed and compelling TV series, and also the first play to open after the pandemic shutdown. No nominations either: “Birthday Candles,” by Noah Haidle; “Chicken & Biscuits” by Douglas Lyons; “Is This a Room,” by Tina Satter; and “Thinking of Colored People” by Keenan Scott II.
The Civil War musical “Paradise Square” was special winding road to Broadway, and so far ticket sales have been rather weak. But Monday’s show’s fortunes ought to offer solace and hope: It earned an impressive 10 nominations, second of any show. Joaquina Kalukango Always firmly in the Lead Actress category in a musical, but the nominees also singled out her two supporting co-stars, Sidney DuPont and AJ Shively. The performance drew attention in most major technical categories, including Bill T. Jones’ choreography, but a key member of the creative team was disqualified: the director, Moisés Kaufman.
Some of the big stars who are drawing large crowds to their shows have failed to impress. Among them: couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, who are starring in the strong revival of “Plaza Suite” scoring just one nomination, for costume design, and Daniel Craig, who is playing the role. key in the revival of “Macbeth. (His co-star, Ruth Negga, was nominated, and the production was also nominated for light and sound design.)
The Tony nominees followed the critics, pouring rain in the parade for the much-anticipated revival of “Funny Girl.” While it’s a favorite musical back to Broadway for the first time in nearly 60 years, it only scored one nomination for supporting actor Jared Grimes. And Beanie Feldstein, who captured everyone’s attention as Barbra Streisand’s Fanny Brice, didn’t receive a Best Actress nomination.
How to handle so many group-driven shows has always been a challenge for nominees. In the case of “The Lehman Trilogy,” they bestowed wealth on everyone, nominated all three main actors — Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Adrian Lester — and expanded the genre to make room for them. all. For the musical “Six,” on the other hand, a cast twice as large proved difficult to rank for, and no actress who played Henry VIII’s six wives was crowned.
The fact that Jesse Tyler Ferguson will be nominated for his role in “Take Me Out” seems like a sure bet. And the great star power of Jesse Williams, like baseball demigod Darren Lemming, also landed him in a nomination. But the big surprise was a third nod in the supporting actor category to the much less famous Michael Oberholtzer, whose aggressive behavior was injured because a racist teammate brought him into the fray. (friendly?) With his co-stars.
Another show that is also struggling at the box office – the revival of the choreography “For Black Girls Who Was Considered Suicide / When The Rainbow Is Enuf” – also performed quite well on Monday. The production has been announced an early closing day of May 22 and must now decide whether its seven nominations, plus a paid social media-supported campaign to get tickets into the hands of people who might not be able to afford them, can enough to prolong the race time or not.
