A scene from Hamilton, with creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, center, as the first secretary of the Treasury. OK, this is the year to jump into the Tony Awards pool. The problem is you have to find people who do not know that Hamilton is likely to sweep the musical categories. Or you have to know which of the three featured actors in Hamilton will emerge triumphant. Even if you … [Read more...]
Tony nominations show it’s been a good season for Broadway
Want to know how you can tell it was a good season on Broadway? In most years, the nominators have to struggle to find shows, performers and designers to fill all the categories. This season, there was enough quantity — and even quality — to afford a surfeit of snubs. Significantly absent from the nominations list announced this morning were Finding Neverland, the … [Read more...]
Circus consultant helped reimagine, revitalize ‘Pippin’
Setting the musical Pippin inside a circus, as the recent Tony Award-winning revival does, seems perfectly natural to Gypsy Snider, the show’s co-choreographer and circus consultant. “Circus is dangerous, physically dangerous. That is a theme in ‘Pippin,’ the idea that you would risk your life every day on stage. That became very much a part of re-writing the show,” she says. … [Read more...]
Artists Intensive at Kravis seeks young people with dreams of Great White Way
How did a little girl with big talent get from the regional stage lights of the Maltz Jupiter Theatre to the big lights on Broadway, earning a major role as one of the orphans in the revival of the musical hit, Annie? The same way you get to Carnegie Hall — practice, practice, practice — and study with the husband-and-wife team of Jason and Jackie Bayne Gillman and Greg … [Read more...]
Hap’s (not-so-) fearless Tony predictions
Oy, this is not a good year for sticking one’s neck out and predicting the Tony winners this Sunday evening (8 p.m., CBS-TV). There are no front-runners, like The Book of Mormon, which won in every category in which it was nominated and pundits could look prescient. I’m thinking the honors are going to be spread around so that all shows can have bragging rights and a chance … [Read more...]
‘Gentleman’s Guide’ gets Tony love, but no front-runner emerges in nominations
The Tony Awards nominating committee showed a lot of love this morning to A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, the small, clever musical about mercenary homicide, which will compete for best musical and nine other categories honoring the just completed Broadway season. A Gentleman’s Guide was the top nominations-getter, but the awards remain up for grabs with no clear … [Read more...]
Tony redux: Lauper musical walks all over Matilda
Put away your grade-school uniforms and bring out the transvestite footwear. After Sunday night’s 67th annual Tony Awards telecast, Matilda is out and Kinky Boots is in fashion. The Cyndi Lauper-Harvey Fierstein musical walked off with six statuettes including Best Musical in what has to be considered an upset over the Olivier Award winner from London. (Translation of … [Read more...]
Tony Awards were unpredictable (at least by me)
Forbidden Broadway, that delicious satirical revue about the commercial New York theater, used to do a number declaring Thoroughly Modern Millie as “the worst best musical ever.” But that was before Once won the top Tony Award on Sunday night. And seven other Tonys, too. Mind-boggling. OK, chalk my derision up to sour grapes, since I did terribly at predicting the winners of … [Read more...]
Hap’s fearless Tony picks: ‘Other Desert Cities,’ ‘Newsies’ will win
There seems to be no clear favorite for most of the categories in this year’s 66th annual Tony Awards, with winners expected all over the map. So tune in this Sunday at 8 p.m. on the CBS network to see my unscientific projections and out-and-out guesses proven wrong: Play: Other Desert Cities, by Jon Robin Baitz Musical: Newsies, book by Harvey Fierstein Book of a Musical: … [Read more...]
Tony broadcast one of best in years, but plays deserve more time
It was a great night for smiling proselytizers and equine puppets. Of course, I’m referring to The Book of Mormon and War Horse, which cemented their hit status by taking a victory lap at last night’s 65th annual Tony Awards telecast, grabbing nine and five statuettes respectively. The ceremony itself was one of the best in many years, though it continued to give short … [Read more...]