The Tony Awards - who will win, and who should win.

        It's finally here, Gay Christmas! Otherwise known as the Tony Awards! It's Broadway's biggest night, hosted once again by the mayor of Broadway, Neil Patrick Harris. There will be more performances than ever this year, as shows that are nominated, and shows from years past will grace the stage at Radio City Music Hall. It's sure to be an exciting night, and now what you've all been waiting for.

Should Win Wi
Will Win
Should and Will


Best Choreography

Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On: The Musical
Peter Darling, Matilda The Musical
Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots
Chet Walker, Pippin

Chet Walker has truly helped create stage magic in the revival of Pippin. Truthfully, it should be a joint nomination with Gypsy Snyder, but I digress. Making the dance style of Bob Fosse work with the circus creations of Gypsy Snyder is definitely worthy of a Tony win! 

Best Direction of a Play

Pam MacKinnon, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Nicholas Martin, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Bartlett Sher, Golden Boy
George C. Wolfe, Lucky Guy

Pam MacKinnon deserves to win for her superb direction of Virginia Woolf. More than likely to win is Nicholas Martin for the well received, and well reviewed Vanya and Sonia. 

Best Direction of a Musical

Scott Ellis, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots
Diane Paulus, Pippin
Matthew Warchus, Matilda The Musical

This is one of only two categories in which I'm not 100% certain of my choice. I'm sure of my choice of who SHOULD win, and that is most certainly Dianne Paulus for her stunning revival of Pippin. She has taken a piece of theater that has become synonymous with one style of direction and given it new life. 

Her only real competition is Matthew Warchus for Matilda. Matilda is a huge show, and a huge undertaking. It's possible that Tony voters have seen fit to reward Mr. Warchus simply for being the captain of a very large, splashy, and audience satisfying ship. I'm putting the odds slightly in Ms. Paulus' favor.

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

A Christmas Story, The Musical

Music and Lyrics: Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

Hands on a Hardbody

Music: Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green
Lyrics: Amanda Green

Kinky Boots

Music & Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper

Matilda The Musical

Music & Lyrics: Tim Minchin 

People are calling this a two horse race between Kinky Boots and Matilda (as they are most of the categories in which they share a nomination). I personally prefer the score to Kinky Boots. Truthfully, if I had to choose, I'd actually give it to Hands on a Hardbody but that shows award is it's nomination. Matilda is likely to best Kinky Boots in this category even though Kinky Boots has a more hummable and memorable score.

Best Book of a Musical

A Christmas Story, The Musical

Joseph Robinette

Kinky Boots

Harvey Fierstein

Matilda The Musical

Dennis Kelly

Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella

Douglas Carter Beane

In my opinion Douglas Carter Beane's new book for Cinderella is the best reworking of a Rodgers and Hammerstein book that has ever been done on Broadway. Usually when they "rework" one of these books they end up adding more problems than the fixed. Matilda is based on beloved source material, and it's unlikely that it will not win this award.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

Carrie Coon, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Shalita Grant, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Judith Ivey, The Heiress
Judith Light, The Assembled Parties
Condola Rashad, The Trip to Bountiful

It's very likely that Judith Light will win back to back Tony awards for her performance in The Assembled Parties. It's a very high profile performance with a lot of buzz around it. I'd rather seen the Tony go to Condola Rashad for her fantastic turn in The Trip to Bountiful.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

Danny Burstein, Golden Boy
Richard Kind, The Big Knife
Billy Magnussen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Tony Shalhoub, Golden Boy
Courtney B. Vance, Lucky Guy

Richard Kind has won other awards for this performance and he's likely to walk away with the Tony as well. He is admittedly wonderful in a roll that is not usually the type he gets to play in The Big Knife. I'd give the award to Tony Shaloub for his understated and heart breaking turn in the other Odetts revival of the season, Golden Boy.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

Charl Brown, Motown The Musical
Keith Carradine, Hands on a Hardbody
Will Chase, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Gabriel Ebert, Matilda The Musical
Terrence Mann, Pippin

Most people are saying that this is a toss up between Gabriel Ebert and Terrance Mann. While I think the Tony will ultimately go home with Gabriel Ebert for Matilda, it should go home with the wonderful Will Chase for his turn in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. This was a wonderful and satisfying revival that was beloved by critics, but didn't seem to catch on with audiences, most likely because it didn't contain any stars.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

Annaleigh Ashford, Kinky Boots
Victoria Clark, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Andrea Martin, Pippin
Keala Settle, Hands on a Hardbody
Lauren Ward, Matilda The Musical

It will be a complete and utter shock if Andrea Martin does not win this award. This woman is giving a life changing performance in what is usually a throw away moment of Pippin. That's not to say that audiences don't always enjoy the scene and song, but this is something altogether different. Her only competition is Annaleigh Ashford for kinky Boots, who in any other year would be deserving of taking home the gold.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

Laurie Metcalf, The Other Place
Amy Morton, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Kristine Nielsen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Holland Taylor, Ann
Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful

This was one of the hardest categories to choose this year. There were so many fantastic female performances in plays this year. It's the strongest category of the night to be sure. Laurie Metcalf broke my heart into tiny little pieces in The other place. She not only broke it, she obliterated it. Cicely Tyson is returning to Broadway for the first time in 30+ years and she's in her 80's. I'll be shocked if she doesn't win. Though if she DOES lose, it will probably be to Kristine Nielsen for Vanya.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy
Nathan Lane, The Nance
Tracy Letts, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
David Hyde Pierce, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Tom Sturridge, Orphans

That's right I picked two Should wins. That's because I can't choose between the two of them! It doesn't matter though because Tom Hanks is America's favorite actor and there is no way that he is not going to win for Best Actor even though there are at least two others in the category that deserve it more.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Bertie Carvel, Matilda The Musical
Santino Fontana, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Rob McClure, Chaplin
Billy Porter, Kinky Boots
Stark Sands, Kinky Boots

Everyone is talking about Billy Porter in Kinky Boots. This is one of the weakest categories this year, and the weakest performance category for certain. The only real competition is between Billy Porter and Bertie Carvel, dueling drag performances. Billy Porter brings down the house as Lola, and deserves to bring home the Tony.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

Stephanie J. Block, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Carolee Carmello, Scandalous
Valisia LeKae, Motown The Musical
Patina Miller, Pippin
Laura Osnes, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella

I love Laura Osnes. She is wonderful in Cinderella, but Patina Miller sings wile hula hooping for goodness sake! Not only that, but she brings something new to a character that is synonymous with the man who created it, and not just breasts. 

Best Revival of a Play

Golden Boy

Producers:  Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten

Orphans

Producers:  Frederick Zollo, Robert Cole, The Shubert Organization, Orin Wolf, Lucky VIII, Scott M. Delman, James P. MacGilvray, StylesFour Productions

The Trip to Bountiful

Producers:  Nelle Nugent, Kevin Liles, Paula Marie Black, David R. Weinreb, Stephen C. Byrd, Alia M. Jones, Kenneth Teaton, Carole L. Haber/Philip Geier, Wendy Federman/Carl Moellenberg/Ricardo Hornos, Fifty Church Street Productions/Hallie Foote/Tyson and Kimberly Chandler, Joseph Sirola, Howard and Janet Kagan/Charles Salameno, Sharon A. Carr/Patricia R. Klausner, Raymond Gaspard/Andréa M. Price, Willette Murphy Klausner/Reginald M. Browne

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Producers:  Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Susan Quint Gallin, Mary Lu Roffe, Kit Seidel, Amy Danis & Mark Johannes, Patty Baker, Mark S. Golub & David S. Golub, Richard Gross, Jam Theatricals, Cheryl Lachowicz, Michael Palitz, Dramatic Forces/Angelina Fiordellisi, Luigi & Rose Caiola, Ken Greiner, Kathleen K. Johnson, Kirmser Ponturo Fund, Will Trice, GFour Productions, Steppenwolf Theatre Company 

To be honest, I think both revivals are deserving of the win, and as long as one of them wins I wont be upset. It really was difficult to choose. I only gave the should win to Golden Boy because it's so rare to see a revival of this play, and it'll only be another ten years until we see another George and Martha on Broadway.

Best Revival of a Musical

Annie

Producers:  Arielle Tepper Madover, Roger Horchow, Sally Horchow, Roger Berlind, Roy Furman, Debbie Bisno, Stacey Mindich, James M. Nederlander, Jane Bergère/Daryl Roth, Eva Price/Christina Papagjika

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Producers:  Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Harold Wolpert, Julia C. Levy

Pippin

Producers:  Barry and Fran Weissler, Howard and Janet Kagan, Lisa Matlin, Kyodo Tokyo, A&A Gordon/Brunish Trinchero, Tom Smedes/Peter Stern, Broadway Across America, Independent Presenters Network, Norton Herrick, Allen Spivak, Rebecca Gold, Joshua Goodman, Stephen E. McManus, David Robbins/Bryan S. Weingarten, Philip Hagemann/Murray Rosenthal, Jim Kierstead/Carlos Arana/Myla Lerner, Hugh Hayes/Jamie Cesa/Jonathan Reinis, Sharon A. Carr/Patricia R. Klausner, Ben Feldman, Square 1 Theatrics, Wendy Federman/Carl Moellenberg, Bruce Robert Harris/Jack W. Batman, Infinity Theatre Company/Michael Rubenstein, Michael A. Alden/Dale Badway/Ken Mahoney, American Repertory Theater

Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella

Producers:  Robyn Goodman, Jill Furman, Stephen Kocis, Edward Walson, Venetian Glass Productions, The Araca Group, Luigi Caiola & Rose Caiola, Roy Furman, Walt Grossman, Peter May/Sanford Robertson, Glass Slipper Productions LLC/Eric Schmidt, Ted Liebowitz/James Spry, Blanket Fort Productions, Center Theatre Group 

I absolutely loved the revival of Drood and I saw it twice. I would have seen it a third time if I'd not been out of town the entire month before it closed. That being said, the current revival of Pippin is something completely extraordinary. It's beyond words. Every aspect of the production is exactly what a revival should be, a re-examining of the original work.

Best Play

The Assembled Parties

Author:  Richard Greenberg

Producers:  Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Barry Grove

Lucky Guy

Author:  Nora Ephron

Producers:  Colin Callender, Roy Furman, Arielle Tepper Madover, Roger & William Berlind, Stacey Mindich, Robert Cole & Frederick Zollo, David Mirvish, Daryl Roth, James D. Stern/Douglas L. Meyer, Scott & Brian Zeilinger, Sonia Friedman Productions, The Shubert Organization

The Testament of Mary

Author:  Colm Toíbín

Producers:  Scott Rudin, Stuart Thompson, Jon B. Platt, Roger Berlind, Broadway Across America, Scott M. Delman, Jean Doumanian, Roy Furman, Stephanie P. McClelland, Sonia Friedman Productions/Tulchin Bartner Productions, The Araca Group, Heni Koenigsberg, Daryl Roth, Eli Bush

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Author:  Christopher Durang

Producers:  Joey Parnes, Larry Hirschhorn, Joan Raffe & Jhett Tolentino, Martin Platt & David Elliott, Pat Flicker Addiss, Catherine Adler, John O’Boyle, Joshua Goodman, Jamie deRoy/Richard Winkler, Cricket Hooper Jiranek/Michael Palitz, Mark S. Golub & David S. Golub, Radio Mouse Entertainment, ShadowCatcher Entertainment, Mary Cossette/Barbara Manocherian, Megan Savage/Meredith Lynsey Schade, Hugh Hysell/Richard Jordan, Cheryl Wiesenfeld/Ron Simons, S.D. Wagner, John Johnson, McCarter Theatre Center, Lincoln Center Theater 

The show that I really would have liked to pick was not nominated, and that would be Sharr Whites gripping drama The Other Place. However, of the choices available it's almost a lock for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.

Best Musical

Bring It On: The Musical

Producers:  Universal Pictures Stage Productions/Glenn Ross, Beacon Communications/Armyan Bernstein & Charlie Lyons, Kristin Caskey & Mike Isaacson

A Christmas Story, The Musical

Producers:  Gerald Goehring, Roy Miller, Michael F. Mitri, Pat Flicker Addiss, Peter Billingsley, Timothy Laczynski, Mariano Tolentino, Jr., Louise H. Beard, Michael Filerman, Scott Hart, Alison Eckert, Bob Bartner, Michael Jenkins, Angela Milonas, Bradford W. Smith

Kinky Boots

Producers:  Daryl Roth, Hal Luftig, James L. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, Independent Presenters Network, CJ E&M, Jayne Baron Sherman, Just for Laughs Theatricals/Judith Ann Abrams, Yasuhiro Kawana, Jane Bergère, Allan S. Gordon & Adam S. Gordon, Ken Davenport, Hunter Arnold, Lucy & Phil Suarez, Bryan Bantry, Ron Fierstein & Dorsey Regal, Jim Kierstead/Gregory Rae, BB Group/Christina Papagjika, Michael DeSantis/Patrick Baugh, Brian Smith/Tom & Connie Walsh, Warren Trepp, Jujamcyn Theaters

Matilda The Musical

Producers:  The Royal Shakespeare Company and The Dodgers 

Matilda  is the big hit musical of the year and it's very unlikely that Kinky Boots will be able to best the prestige that comes along with coming from London and being produced by The Royal Shakespeare Company. That's not to say that Matilda doesn't deserve to win, but - Kinky Boots is a bigger theatrical feat, despite all of Matilda's stage effects.

And there you have it folks! Those are my picks! Tune in to the 2013 Tony Awards at 8pm on your local CBS station to see if I'm correct!

The Testament of Mary

    It has been quite a few weeks since I saw The Testament of Mary in fact, it's been almost a full month. I feel as though I'm better equipped to write about it now than I was when I first saw the play. This is rare piece of theater that requires a time to think about what you've seen and heard before you can really make your mind up about it.

    This may be one of the reasons why The Testament of Mary closed on the same day that it received a Tony nomination for best play (it's only nomination). Seeing as it's a one woman show, one would think that the woman who plays Mary, the mother of Jesus, would have also gotten a nomination, but she didn't.

    It's difficult to discuss the topic of the play, because it's very controversial. Though, in a sense, it's not. It tells the events of Jesus' life through the eyes of a mother. A mother wants nothing more than to protect her children, to shield them from those who would do them harm. A mother wants her children to lead long and happy lives.

   Colm Toibin, who has written the play and the novel that it is based on, has set the action in present day, which is a tad confusing. When you walk into the theater - you are greeted with an open stage that has many loose objects on it. A ladder, a real live falcon, a pool of water, a table, chairs, and sitting off center, Fiona Shaw (Mary) dressed as Mary might appear in a Pieta, or a stained glass at a Catholic Church. She is in a glass box, and surrounded by dozens of lit candles. Audience members are invited up onto the state before they take their seats to examine the scene before them. They are even allowed to take pictures.

   Here is one such picture if you'd like to take a look.

http://www.nyc-arts.org/events/48988/the-testament-of-mary

   Five minutes before the play is to begin, audience members are asked to take their seats. The Glass box flies out, the candles and falcon are removed, and the stage is now the home that Mary now lives in. For the next nearly two hours, we are told her side of the story in a way that we never have been before.

   Fiona Shaw is a formidable actress. She has superb material to work with. The first problem with the play is the theater. The Walter Kerr seats a little over 1,000 people. For such a small, intimate story the audiences feels slightly disconnected from what is happening on stage in a way that they should not. The play would have been suited in a much smaller venue. The Booth, The Hayes, or Circle in the square are the only suitable Broadway houses for this type of production.

   The second problem is the direction. Rather than letting Fiona Shaw just act and say her lines, Deborah Warner has given her endless amounts of stage business to do. Washing, wood working, chopping, making snacks, it's exhausting to watch! Not to mention the endless amounts of symbolism that make very little sense practically. The text is sometimes lost because the stage action is so frenetic.

    This is the first time this play has been produced anywhere. No doubt that it will resurface regionally, or perhaps in London, and be better the next time around. This production lacked focus. The set and costumes were drab in a way that brought the show down.

    The text is wonderful however, and well worth reading if you have the time. If you were brought up with religion, or enjoy the study of religious iconography and belief structure than you will probably find it immensely interesting. Some might find it offensive, because of the way that it depicts the very tenets of Christianity, but it certainly will give you something to think about.

The Big Knife

        Clifford Odets is one of America's greatest playwrights, and perhaps one of the most under appreciated as well. The average American has probably never even heard of Odets the way they have say, Arthur Miller or Tennessee Williams. This Broadway season we were lucky enough to have two different Odets plays produced on Broadway. Unfortunately, they were the two with almost identical plots and thematic elements.

        The first of these revivals was one of Odets earliest plays, Golden Boy which you can read about in my blog post. The other is the show that I'm about to talk about, The Roundabout Theater Company revival of The Big Knife.

        The Big Knife tells the store of Charlie Castle, a 1940's Humphrey Bogart style tough guy film star who's got a dirty little secret. The secret is being kept by Studio head Marcus Hoff, Castles wife Marion, and a few close confidants. When Charlie and Marion's marriage hits the skids, Charlie is left with a tough choice, leave pictures behind - or face the possibility of Hoff going public if he doesn't resign with the studio. It may seem flimsy in description, but it's really a story about the price of fame, and the choices and compromises we make along the way to achieving our dreams.

        To say that The Big Knife is not one of Odets best is not fair to the author. The structure, and the written dialogue are beautiful and at times even poetic - but not to the point of being flowery. There are scenes in The Big Knife which are magnificent and breath taking to watch. It is unfortunate that the basic outline of the story and it's thematic elements are almost identical to Golden Boy, but the man is dead and the plays were written over 50 years ago, so what are you going to do about it?

        Reviewers, main stem reviewers anyhow, did not much take to this particular revival of The Big Knife. Perhaps in part to the high bar set earlier this season by that other previously mentioned Odets revival. Bobby Cannavale is well cast, physically, in the lead role of Charlie Castle. Cannavale is exhibiting his usual charm and magnetism in the role, but there seems to be some what of an emotional disconnect. One could argue that he is building to the explosive end of the play, but we are getting too much aloof, and not enough of a man who trying desperately to hold everything together.

        While I was in the theater, I very much adored the performance of Marin Ireland as Charlie's Long Suffering wife, Marion Castle. Upon further reflection, however, I grew more frustrated with it. If this were a modern drama, I probably wouldn't have any problem with the way the character was portrayed. But despite her spot on period costumes from the ever so talented Catherine Zuber, there is not much about Miss Ireland's portrayal of a suffering 40's era housewife that is accurate. Furthermore, she doesn't do much in the way of adding chemistry to her onstage relationship with her husband. That is not to say that there are not moments that are astounding - the final scene in the play between husband and wife is absolutely on point, but it's the performance as a whole that I'm talking about.

        The worst scene in this production is that which is between Charlie Castle, and a small contract studio player who is keeping is secret. The young up and comer is played by Rachel Brosnehan, and it's everything about her performance which drags the scene down. Immediately upon entering she strikes a note of a young Lena Lemont from singing in the rain. The type of character that is portrayed in such a way as to make the audience realize through her the tone of her voice that she isn't that smart, and has loose morals. The end of the scene doesn't come fast enough.

        One bright spot in this production is Richard Kind. Usually type cast into playing large comedic parts, Kind gets to show his acting chops with great bravura and force. He is playing the role of studio head Marcus Hoff. Hoff is the type of man who comes off as everybody's friend, but if you cross him, whoa to you. Kind is striking every note on the scale, rather than playing just the surface of the character. He is very likely to go home with the gold come Tony night.

      The rest of the supporting cast is very good. Chip Zien perfectly nails the character of Charlie's agent Nat Danzinger. Reg Rogers is also very good as Charlie's friend and Marcus Hoff's lackey, Smiley Coy, which is a perfect name for that character. Ana Reader, Joey Slotnick, and Billy Eugene Jones also hold their weight.

        The Big Knife is one of the only plays that gives us an inside look at what The Hollywood Studio system was really like. It not only shows us how it affected actors and their choices of roles, social lives, and salaries, it gives us a good picture of how it affected everyone from their family's to agents to press agents to servants. The Big Knife will close on Broadway at The American Airlines Theater on June 2, 2013 after 29 previews and 56 regular performances.

Jekyll and Hyde, or The worst production of a mediocre musical I've ever seen.

        I've seen a lot of musicals. I've seen a lot of shows in general. There are plenty of people who have seen more shows than I have - but still, I've seen a lot of shows. Those who know me personally know that I usually have strong opinions, and they are also usually right on the money when it comes to what's happening on stage. This revival of Jekyll and Hyde is the worst production of a show I have ever seen.

        Jekyll and Hyde has been around for a while. The flaws in the material are well known. The book is terrible and at times even laughable. The score, while powerful, doesn't sound anything like what a musical that  takes place in Victorian England should sound. I have always considered Jekyll and Hyde to be a guilty pleasure.

        For those who are unfamiliar, Jekyll and Hyde is an adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson story about a well intentioned Doctor who creates a potion that brings out an alternate and evil personality. The musical borrows heavily from the film adaptation and adds female characters for romantic effect, as well as a back story involving a mentally ill father in order to give a stronger justification for Dr. Jekyll's actions. The book and lyrics are by Leslie Bricusse, with music by Frank Wildhorn.

     The trouble with this particular production begins with the book scenes. The book scenes have been trimmed down to get to the songs faster. The dialogue is being rushed through as quickly as possible. Everyone is doing laughable British accents. It brings to mind Waiting for Guffman. It also seems that director Jeff Calhoun as given everyone the note "That was great, try it again, but this time read the line a bit sexier". It's absolutely ridiculous.

        The staging of the musical numbers is not much better. Jekyll and Hyde is one of those shows that walks a fine line between serious theater and camp. The best productions walk that line, and the worst fall over. The trouble is, no matter which side you fall over on, you end up in disaster. This production is taking itself far too seriously, and as a result looks incredibly campy, but you get the feeling that it's not on purpose.

     Set and Costume designs are not helping matters. Tobin Ost has designed a set that looks like a cross between a Theme Park stunt show and a Las Vegas Spectacular. His costumes look like the type that come in a bag at Halloween time and have names like "Naughty Nurse" and "Busty Victorian debutante". The lighting design by Jeff Croiter is fine and doing it's job justly.

       Now we come to the performances. Vocally speaking, the score sounds wonderful. Constantine Maroulis and Deborah Cox are displaying some fine vocal pyrotechnics. The highlight of the evening is Ms. Cox performance of A New Life. Not only is it the best sounding song in the score, but it's also the best acted and well staged. The acting is just plain awful all around. I'm not sure if perhaps so much time on the road before coming into New York made everyone complacent, or if perhaps there weren't enough (or any) brush up rehearsals before opening in New York, but the results are just plain terrible. I had the pleasure of seeing Deborah Cox in Aida and she was wonderful. Constantine was nominated for a Tony for Rock of Ages. This was just a mess.

      The question that needs to be asked is, how many tens of millions of dollars to people have to lose before they stop investing in Frank Wildhorn musicals? He has had 7 musicals produced on Broadway in the past 15 years and not one of them has made any money. In fact all of them have lost money, a grand total of nearly 80 million. Attention producers, I think your money could be better spent elsewhere!

Orphans

        This seems to be the season for long awaited Broadway returns. We have a stunning revival of Pippin hitting the great white way for the first time in 30 years. There have numerous stars returning for the first time in quite a spell, among them Cicely Tyson, Bette Midler, and Al Pacino. In Lyle Kessler's 1980's drama Orphans Alex Baldwin returns to Broadway for the first time since appearing in The Roundabout Theater companies revival of The Twentieth Century in 2004.

        For those who are unfamiliar, Orphans follows the story of two orphaned brothers. Treat, the older brother, supports his handicapped younger brother Phillip by going out and robbing people on the street. One night he meets an rich older man named Harold at a bar, and brings him home intent on holding him for ransom. Here is where the plot gets a little cattywampus. Harold, the rich older man, rather than being angry at being kidnapped, offers Treat a job working as his bodyguard. Harold becomes intent on becoming a father figure to these two orphaned young men.

      There is some excellent writing in the play. Even if the scenario seems a bit far fetched, some of the passages of dialogue, particularly between the two brothers, and also between damaged Philip and Harold are quite moving. Alec Baldwin comes off most of the time as a bit too much of Jack Donaghy, or perhaps there was just too much of him in that role to  begin with. Ben Foster is making a strong Broadway debut as Treat, but it is Tom Sturridge who steals every moment of the play as the sweet natured Phillip.

      The true problem with this revival is that it lacks any real emotional teeth. Most of the audiences is laughing through the entire play instead of being truly moved by it. This is to do with Alec Baldwins hammy line delivery as well as Daniel Sullivan's sloppy direction. For the record, this is the second revival this season that Mr, Sullivan has poorly directed. Perhaps he is over extending himself?

     John Lee Beaty's set design, Jess Goldsteins's costumes, and Pat Collin's lighting all do their jobs effectively, though it's difficult to tell what specific decade we're in. If not for Harold stating they are in the 20th century it could have easily taken place in present day. Hopefully Alec Baldwins next Broadway outing will allow him to shed the skin of Jack Donaghy, or at least play a role in which he can make it work for him.

      Orphans will close on Broadway Sunday May 19th, at The Shoenfeld theater after 27 previews and 29 regular performances.

Lucky Guy

        When it was first announced that Tom Hanks would be making his Broadway debut in a new play, I cannot deny that I was excited. How could I not be? Hollywood does not make celebrities anymore, not the way that it used to, but Tom Hanks is one of the few remaining true Hollywood stars. It's not often that I get star struck for the sake of celebrity alone, but Tom Hanks is an exception to that rule.

       The time has come, and Mr. Hanks has now made his debut. I waited in line for over an hour to receive a ticket to stand in the back of the theater (the show is sold out nearly every night). Tom Hanks was as wonderful on stage as he is on screen. He is warm and charismatic, even when playing a character with few endearing qualities (as he happens to be doing in Lucky Guy). 

      All that being said, the entire experience was a bit disappointing. Lucky Guy is the final work of Nora Ephron, the beloved and revered film and play writer. Ms. Ephron was a fine lady, and much has been expostulated about her and her work on screen and off so I wont go into all of that here. The play is not exceptionally good. It's not bad, it's just not anything special.

   The story concerns Mike McAlary (pronounced MACaLary), and his rise to fame in the New York tabloid news paper business in the 80's and 90's. McAlary was a real person who lived and breathed, and much of what we see has been reconstructed from interviews and biographies and the like. Some of it is fiction from Nora Ephron's own time spent as a journalist during that period.

   More than the story of Mike McAlary, Nora Ephron is telling the story of the demise of News Paper journalism. She is using this story as a history lesson to show how new papers are no longer a relevant source of first hand news (and a little bit of why that is). It's not that this isn't an interesting subject matter, or that the play is not well written. The problem that I had with it is that it isn't much of a play at all.

      Ms. Ephron has opted for long monologues that tell you what happened rather than show you what happened. A lot of the characters are under served and a lot of fine actors under utilized (Mr. Hanks included) as a result.

   Courtney B. Vance comes off the best as he gets to deliver most of the monologues as Hap Hairston, McAlary's friend and sometimes boss. Maura Tierney is terribly underused as Mike McAlary's long suffering wife. There are many opportunities missed in that particular relationship.

    The play covers a long expanse of time, almost 10 or 15 years to be exact, perhaps even 20. I can understand the need for some expository monologues so as to catch the audience up on what happened in the mean time. Some other people may not have minded all of the monologues but it has always been my preference to see things happen than to hear about them.

    George C. Wolfe keeps things moving at a clip and has very smartly directed the piece. All of the acting performances are great - you only wish, as I said previously, that some of them had more stage time. The set and lighting design are both great, though nothing particularly wonderful.

   Lucky Guy has been nominated for 6 Tony awards. It has extended it's run at The Broadhurst Theater twice. Depending on the actors filming schedules and how it does at The Tony's on June 9th, you might expect it to extend for a third and final time. The show is currently scheduled to conclude it's run on July 3rd, 2013.

Hands on a Hardbody review

        Every year there are more and more musicals based on films. This season there was even a play based on a Hollywood classic. Usually these musicals are based on familiar titles of the silver screen designed to get audiences pay top dollar to see what they know from screen on stage. Hands on a Hardbody however, used a slightly different model.

       It's true that the Amanda Green and Trey Anastasio tuner is based on a film, but not a Hollywood blockbuster. It instead uses an award winning documentary film of the same name. The film follows a group of 24 contestants in an endurance and sleep deprivation contest in which the last person to let go of  a brand spanking new Nissan Hardbody truck wins.

       With a book by Tony and Pulitzer prize winner Doug Wright, Hands on a Hardbody pares the contestants down from 24 to 10. Though the characters have been combined into more simple archetypes, the basic story remains the same. These 10 contestants must keep at least one hand on the truck at all times or they will be disqualified.

         One might not think that a musical in which 10 pf the main characters are quite literally affixed to a truck would be terribly exciting. If you were under this impression you would be terribly wrong! Doug wright has taken the basic story of the film and woven it into a story that has wit, charm, and heart. The competition aspect of the story also serves to keep things exciting.

        Not only is the book exceptionally good (it should have been nominated for a Tony Award) the music is also wonderful. There are very few "stand out" song or "show stoppers", however, the score perfectly fits each moment, each character, and each level of the competition. The direction by Neil Pepe is fluid and smart. The musical staging by Sergio Trujillo is clever and entertaining. The hardbody of the title becomes a character without even speaking due to the inventiveness of the staging.

       In addition to the material, every role was perfectly cast. A lot of people complained that some of the vocals weren't pleasant to listen to. I would say that this is true. The creatives decided to cast people who looked and sounded like these real people probably would. Dale Soules gravelly voice is essential to her character of Janis Curtis. Tony nominated Keala Settle has the most show stopping number in the musical, and the largest voice of the bunch. It's a shame that the musical didn't get a nomination for Best Musical because now America will never be able to see the brilliance of "Joy of the Lord".

     Hands on a Hardbody closed on Broadway at The Brooks Atkinson Theater after 38 previews and 38 regular performances. Unlike other flops, this show did not close because it was not of good quality. It closed because it just failed to find it's audience. Perhaps the show would have done better to do another out of town, or to open off Broadway and try to make a transfer on positive press. It's pointless to speculate what might have been. What I DO know is that this show will probably have a strong life at colleges and universities across the country because of it's small set requirements and the ensemble cast. If this show comes to a theater near you, go, and enjoy yourself!