Tuesday, May 13, 2008

ALMOST AS WIDELY WATCHED AS THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS: The nominations for the 62nd annual Tony Awards arrived this morning. A few surprises and notes:
  • Your nomination leader? New musical In The Heights with 13, including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, Best Actor, Best Featured Actor, Best Featured Actress, Best Direction (the only new musical in that category), Best Choreography, and oodles of technical nominations. Theoretically, Heights could break the Producers record, as it's nominated in 13 separate categories. (Won't happen, since it's an ultra-long shot in the featured acting and director categories.)
  • The panned musical Cry-Baby (with music from the guys behind Fountains of Wayne and lyrics by former Daily Show writer David Javerbaum) surprises, getting the fourth slot for Best Musical, as well as book and score nominations, without a single acting nod.
  • While August: Osage County has begun its inexorable march toward the Best Play Tony, it only racked up two three acting nominations, not the cornucopia many expected.
  • All five nominees for Featured Actor in a Play come from shows that are long-closed.
  • Shut out? Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention, the all-African-American Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Harvey Fierstein's book/performance for Catered Affair, Norbert Leo Butz in Is He Dead?, and, aside from a compulsory Best Revival nomination to fill the category, Grease was not the one the nominators wanted.
  • A lifetime achievement award to Stephen Sondheim.

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