CONGRATULATIONS WINNERS: Outer Critics Circle Announces 2018 Best of Broadway and Off Broadway

Congratulations to the winners of the 2018 Outer Critics Circle Awards for the best of Broadway and Off Broadway.

I am a proud member of this esteemed organization, which is celebrating its 68th season of bestowing awards of excellence in the field of theater.

The winners will be honored at the annual Gala Awards Dinner on May 24th at Sardis Restaurant. Be looking for my photos I will be posting on Upstage-Downstage. 

NOTE:  One of the front runner musicals for the Tony Awards, The Band's Visit, was not eligible for an Outer Critics Circle Award because it was previously honored for its Off Broadway production.  

Here is the list.  The winners are highlighted in blue.  

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child received the largest number of awards, a total of 6 in all, including Outstanding New Broadway Play.  My Fair Lady earned 5. SpongeBob SquarePants garnered 4, including Outstanding New Broadway Musical. Carousel and Angels in America each won 3.  

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY

The Children
Farinelli and the King

Junk
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL

Escape to Margaritaville

Frozen
Mean Girls
Prince of Broadway
SpongeBob SquarePants

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY

Cost of Living
Hangmen
The Low Road

Mlima's Tale

Admissions

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL

Cruel Intentions
Jerry Springer- The Opera
Miss You Like Hell
Woody Sez

Desperate Measures

OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Quiara Alegría Hudes for Miss You Like Hell
Kyle Jarrow for SpongeBob SquarePants
Peter Kellogg for Desperate Measures
Tina Fey for Mean Girls


OUTSTANDING NEW SCORE - Musical or Play
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Desperate Measures
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Miss You Like Hell
Frozen
SpongeBob SquarePants 

Original songs by Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper & Rob Hyman, John Legend, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants, T. I., Domani & Lil’C. And songs by David Bowie and Brian Eno, Tom Kenny and Andy Paley. Additional lyrics by Jonathan Coulton. Additional music by Tom Kitt. 

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train
Lobby Hero
Three Tall WomenTravesties

Angels in America

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Carousel
Once on This Island
Pacific Overtures
My Fair Lady


OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A PLAY
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Jo Bonney for Cost of Living
Marianne Elliott for Angels in America
Patrick Marber for Travesties
Joe Mantello for Three Tall Women
John Tiffany for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child



OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

                  A TIE
Michael Arden for Once on This Island
Bill Castellino for Desperate Measures
Casey Nicholaw for Mean Girls
Tina Landau for SpongeBob SquarePants
and
Bartlett Sher for My Fair Lady


OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Camille A. Brown for Once on This Island
Christopher Gattelli for My Fair Lady
Christopher Gattelli for SpongeBob SquarePants
Steven Hoggett for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Justin Peck for Carousel


OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Miriam Buether for Three Tall Women
Myung Hee Cho for In the Body of the World
Michael Yeargan for My Fair Lady
David Zinn for SpongeBob SquarePants
Christine Jones for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child


OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Katrina Lindsay for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Clint Ramos for Once on This Island
Paloma Young for Time and the Conways
David Zinn for SpongeBob SquarePants
Catherine Zuber for My Fair Lady


OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Kevin Adams for SpongeBob SquarePants
Paule Constable for Angels in America
Paul Russell for Farinelli and the King
Lap Chi Chu for Mlima’s Tale
Neil Austin for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child


OUTSTANDING PROJECTION DESIGN
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Tim Reid for 1984
Finn Ross for Frozen
Finn Ross for In the Body of the World
Finn Ross & Adam Young for Mean Girls
Finn Ross and Ash Woodward for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Kate Marvin for [Porto]
Fitz Patton for Napoli, Brooklyn
Marc Salzberg for My Fair Lady
Darron L. West for Mlima’s Tale
Gareth Fry for Harry Potter/Cursed Child


OUTSTANDING ORCHESTRATIONS
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Jason Robert Brown for Prince of Broadway
Tom Kitt for SpongeBob SquarePants
AnnMarie Milazzo & Michael Starobin for Once/Island
Claire Van Kampen for Farinelli and the King
Jonathan Tunick for Carousel


OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY

Sean Carvajal in Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train
Tom Hollander in Travesties
Gregg Mozgala in Cost of Living
Michael Urie in The Government Inspector
Andrew Garfield in Angels in America


OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY

MaameYaa Boafo in School Girls/African Mean Girls Play
Jessica Hecht in Admissions
Lauren Ridloff in Children of a Lesser God
Katy Sullivan in Cost of Living
Glenda Jackson in Three Tall Women


OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Harry Hadden-Paton in My Fair Lady
Joshua Henry in Carousel
David M. Lutken in Woody Sez
Conor Ryan in Desperate Measures
Ethan Slater in SpongeBob SquarePants


OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Erika Henningsen in Mean Girls
Hailey Kilgore in Once On This Island
Taylor Louderman in Mean Girls
Patti Murin in Frozen
Lauren Ambrose in My Fair Lady


OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY

Anthony Boyle in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Johnny Flynn in Hangmen
David Morse in The Iceman Cometh
Paul Sparks in At Home at the Zoo
Nathan Lane in Angels in America


OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Jamie Brewer in Amy and the Orphans
Denise Gough in Angels in America
Harriet Harris in The Low Road
Mary Testa in The Government Inspector  
Laurie Metcalf in Three Tall Women


OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Alexander Gemignani in Carousel
Gavin Lee in SpongeBob SquarePants
Nick Wyman in Desperate Measures
Tony Yazbeck in Prince of Broadway
Norbert Leo Butz in My Fair Lady


OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Kerry Butler in Mean Girls
Lauren Molina in Desperate Measures
Ashley Park in Mean Girls
Emily Skinner in Prince of Broadway
Lindsay Mendez in Carousel


OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE

Eve Ensler in In the Body of the World
Alison Fraser in Squeamish  
John Lithgow in Stories By Heart
Sharon Washington in Feeding the Dragon
Billy Crudup in Harry Clarke


JOHN GASSNER AWARD

(Presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright)

Kate Benson for [Porto]
Lindsey Ferrentino for Amy and the Orphans
Meghan Kennedy for Napoli, Brooklyn
Dominique Morisseau for Pipeline
Jocelyn Bioh for School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play
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Feel free to share this blog with your friends, and to offer up your own theater stories by posting a comment. I also invite you to check out the website Show-Score.Com, where you will find capsule reviews of current plays from Yours Truly and many other New York critics.

PREDICTING THE TONYS 2018 - THE PLAYS

Earlier this week, I presented my predictions for the winners of the 2018 Tony Awards for the various musical categories (link here ).  Now let's take a look at the plays. 

Nominees for Best Play

The Children

Farinelli and The King

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Junk

Latin History for Morons

My favorite.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Upside: Its appeal is obvious for the gazillions of HP fans. But setting aside the ingenious stage magic, it tells a compelling story of dodgy relationships between adolescents and parents, the difficulty of growing up in the shadow of famous relatives, and the importance of courage and friendship to get you through those tough times. That's the real magic that makes this my favorite and the likely winner. Working against: The first of the two plays that make up the production is mostly used to introduce the new characters and revisit some old favorites via cameo appearances. Non-Potterites will have a hard time relating, although the Part II does a far better job of standing up even to newcomers. 

What I think will win.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. 

Possibility of Sneaking In. 
I can't imagine any other nominee pulling off a coup here. If you were to remove Harry Potter and the Cursed Child from the race, I'd go with The Children, another British import, this one imagining the nuclear power plant accident that is still wreaking havoc in Japan, but relocating it to a setting in England and raising serious questions about the Boomer generation's culpability with respect to the messes it is leaving behind. 

Nominees for Best Revival of a Play

Angels in America

Three Tall Women

The Iceman Cometh
Lobby Hero
Travesties

My favorite.
Three Tall Women

What I think will win.
Three Tall Women but this feels as close to a tie as possible, with Angels in America. Three Tall Women is just about flawless in terms of casting, performances, design elements, and brilliant direction. But it is a short play, with only three cast members, whereas Angels in America is a massive undertaking made up of two plays, a very large cast, sprawling design elements, etc. So which do you honor? I'd love to see a tie, but I'll stick with Three Tall Women.

Possibility of Sneaking In.
If it really turns into a vote-splitter, then it might go to The Iceman Cometh, another difficult and lengthy play with a starry cast, headed up by Denzel Washington.  

Nuh-uh. 
Travesties and Lobby Hero have their strengths, and undoubtedly, their supporters, but the competition puts them out of the running. 

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

Glenda Jackson, Three Tall Women
Condola Rashad, Saint Joan
Lauren Ridloff, Children of a Lesser God
Amy Schumer, Meteor Shower

My favorite.

Glenda Jackson. Utter perfection.

Who I think will win

Glenda Jackson.

Nuh-uh. 

Lauren Ridloff is a revelation. Condola Rashad is ideally cast in a role that fits her acting style. Amy Schumer takes a cartoonish character and humanizes her.  But Glenda Jackson is unbeatable. 

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

Andrew Garfield, Angels in America
Tom Hollander, Travesties
Jamie Parker, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Mark Rylance, Farinelli and The King
Denzel Washington, The Iceman Cometh

My favorite
Andrew Garfield shines as Prior Walter, the AIDS-Infected lead character in Tony Kushner's masterwork. 

Who I think will win
Andrew Garfield.

Possibility of Sneaking In. 
If there is a lot of split among the voters, Denzel Washington might come through the door, largely on name recognition.   

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

Susan Brown, Angels in America
Noma Dumezweni, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Deborah Findlay, The Children
Denise Gough, Angels in America
Laurie Metcalf, Three Tall Women

My favorite.

Denise Gough. I thought she gave the best performance overall in Angels in America, as the unhinged Harper Pitt who finds the strength and courage to leave her mess of a marriage and strike out on her own.  

Who I think will win

Denise Gough.

Possibility of Sneaking In. 

Either Noma Dumezweni or Laurie Metcalf, both excellent in their respective roles. I'd say that Noma Dumezweni has the edge here as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Voters would be very familiar with Laurie Metcalf's always excellent performance style, which she has polished to a sheen, but Noma Dumezweni gives them someone new to applaud and recognize. 

Nuh-uh. 

Susan Brown and Deborah Findlay both give excellent performances, but neither can stand up against the competition.

Nominees Best performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

Anthony Boyle, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Michael Cera, Lobby Hero
Brian Tyree Henry, Lobby Hero
Nathan Lane, Angels in America
David Morse,The Iceman Cometh

My favorite.

Anthony Boyle. In his mid-20s, he's a little old to be playing a 14-year-old, but his character, Scorpius in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is someone to side with and root for, and Boyle, who already picked up an Olivier for the role, is outstanding. 

Who I think will win.
Anthony Boyle. 

Possibility of Sneaking In. 
Nathan Lane does quite a fine job in accomplishing the nearly impossible task of humanizing the heinous Roy Cohn in Angels In America. I still think Anthony Boyle will take this one, but you never know.  

Nuh-uh. 
Brian Tyree Henry, David Morse, and Michael are the also-rans here. All three are good, but none of their performances rises to the Tony Award level. 

Nominees for Best Direction of a Play

Marianne Elliott, Angels in America
Joe Mantello, Three Tall Women
Patrick Marber, Travesties
John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
George C. Wolfe,The Iceman Cometh

My favorite.

Joe Montello. Again, the production of Three Tall Women was just about perfect. It would have to be to beat out Angels in America. 

Who I think will win
Marianne Elliott. For this one, I do think the massive undertaking that resulted in an a generally thrilling revival of Angels in America will bring its director the Tony. 

Possibility of Sneaking In. 

John Tiffany could slip in if Joe Montello and Marianne Elliott split the vote between them. 

Nuh-uh. 

Patrick Marber and George C. Wolfe don't stand a chance against the others. 

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Feel free to share this blog with your friends, and to offer up your own theater stories by posting a comment. I also invite you to check out the website Show-Score.Com, where you will find capsule reviews of current plays from Yours Truly and many other New York critics.

PREDICTING THE TONYS 2018 - THE MUSICALS

I will never get rich by predicting the winners of the Tony Awards, but that won't stop me from giving it my best shot. 

For now, let's take a look at the musicals. Later, in separate posts, I will discuss straight plays and the design elements (lighting, sound, costumes, set). 

Nominees for Best New Musical

The Band's Visit
Frozen
Mean Girls
SpongeBob SquarePants

My favorite. 
SpongeBob SquarePants. Upside: A truly creative delight from start to finish. Working against: For voters who aren't a fan of the cartoon character who lives in a pineapple under the sea, it won't resonate as much. 

What I think will win. 
The Band's Visit. Upside: It's the kind of small show that voters like to get behind, with a fine cast and an excellent score by a highly respected composer.  Working against: Some voters might not think it fair to give the top prize to a show that is a transfer from Off Broadway, where it already received praise and awards last year.  

Possibility of Sneaking In.  
Mean Girls. Upside:  The show's creator, Tina Fey, is very popular among voters. It is certainly well acted, and the design elements are strong.  Working against: It's just not that good. The score is ho-hum, and the "mean girls" are not mean enough to get much of a satiric treatment. 

Nuh-uh. 
Frozen.  Upside: Disney. Familiarity to potential audience. Working against: Resting too much on Disney name and fans of the film. Tries too hard to reproduce the movie. Music and design elements are ho-hum. 

Nominees for Best Revival of a Musical

My Fair Lady
Once On This Island
Carousel

My favorite. 
Once On This Island.  Upside: Directing, design elements, and performances are all first-rate. Working against:  Small show. Somewhat dark in tone. Not clear on who the audience is (kids, families, more traditional theatergoers?). Not easily taken on the road because of design elements that would need to be rethought.

What I think will win. 
Once On This Island. Upside: It's simply the best all-around musical revival.  Working against: What I said above. 

Possibility of Sneaking In. 
Carousel. Upside: It's Rodgers and Hammerstein at the top of their game, with a strong cast of singers and dancers. Working against:  Murky direction and choreography.  

Possibility of Sneaking In. 
My Fair Lady. Upside: It's a show that rests favorably in the recollections of theatergoers from the original cast recording (Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison) or the film (Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison). It's also a very intelligent conceptualization by a popular director, who has done wonders with South Pacific and The King and I.  Working against: Some won't like the fact that it is not being played as a romantic comedy. The stars are relatively unknown.  

Nominees for Best Book of a Musical

The Band's Visit: Itamar Moses
Frozen: Jennifer Lee
Mean Girls: Tina Fey
SpongeBob SquarePants: Kyle Jarrow

My favorite. 
SpongeBob SquarePants.  Upside: If you know the TV cartoon, you'll know that it is full of sly, quirky, and clever writing that can be enjoyed by adults as well as kids. Working against:  Unconventional. Competitors are more likely to be known by the voters. 

What I think will win. 
The Band's Visit. Upside: If the show itself wins the Tony, it's likely its writer will win as well. It's not a bad thing; it's just that I was taken more with SpongeBob.  Working against:  It's a small story without a lot going on to warrant much attention to the book.  

Possibility of Sneaking In. 
Mean Girls. Upside:  The show's creator, Tina Fey, is very popular among voters, and she certainly is a good writer. Working against: It's kind of a familiar story, based on Tina Fey's own movie script. Far cleverer and funnier is Off Broadway's School Girls: Or, The African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh - which, of course, is not eligible for a Tony.    

Nuh-uh. 
Frozen.  Upside:  Disney. As they say, nothing succeeds like success. Working against:  Tries too hard to reproduce the movie; same writer for both, by the way.

Nominees for Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics)

Angels in America
Music: Adrian Sutton 

The Band's Visit
Music and Lyrics: David Yazbek 

Frozen
Music and Lyrics: Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez 

Mean Girls
Music: Jeff Richmond
Lyrics: Nell Benjamin 

SpongeBob SquarePants:
Music and Lyrics: Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman, John Legend, Panic! at the Disco, Plain White T's, They Might Be Giants, T.I., Domani and Lil'C 

My favorite. 
SpongeBob SquarePants.  Upside: Loved the contributions by so many different song writers and teams. I give a lot of credit to Tom Kitt, whose arrangements and orchestrations make it seem like a cohesive show score rather than a assorted collection of different tunes. Working against:  Nothing, except see below.

What I think will win. 
The Band's Visit. Upside: David Yazbek has written a score that is ideally suited to this show; not a clunker in the bunch. it's just that I was taken more with SpongeBob. Working against:  Sweet little story for grownups, with a score that matches it. Voters might be looking for bigger audience grabbers. 

Possibility of Sneaking In.  
Mean Girls. Upside:  Some decent songs, aimed at a much broader audience. Working against: Can't stand up against either Spongebob or Band's Visit in terms of quality. 

Nuh-uh. 
Frozen.  Upside: "Let It Go." Working against: Generally weak score altogether, with several numbers that serve practically no purpose with respect to the story that is being told here. 

Nuh-uh. 
Angels In America.  Upside: Attached to a great show. Working against: Music is used for transitions - hardly the stuff of a Tony-worthy score. 

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

Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady
Hailey Kilgore, Once On This Island
LaChanze, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
Katrina Lenk, The Band's Visit
Taylor Louderman, Mean Girls
Jessie Mueller, Carousel

My favorite. 
Katrina Lenk.  Upside: Lovely performance, showing warmth, intelligence, and depth of character - plus a terrific singing voice. Working against: Got me.

Who I think will win. 
Katrina Lenk. Upside: Like I said.  Working against:  If someone gets more votes.

Possibility of Sneaking In. 
Hailey Kilgore. Upside: A career-launching performance. Lovely stage presence and a powerful belting singer. Working against:  Too much belting; needs to develop some subtlety in her performance.

Possibility of Sneaking In.  
LaChanze. Upside: Not only the best reason to see Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, but, really, the only reason. Working against: She shares the title role with two other performers.

Possibility of Sneaking In. 
Lauren Anbrose. Upside: Quite good in director Bartlett Sher’s re-visioning of that old warhorse My Fair Lady. Working against: Hard to ignore memories of Julie Andrews and Audrey Hepburn. 

Nuh-uh. 

Taylor Louderman. Upside:  Good singer and well cast as the queen bee-atch in Mean Girls. Working against: Lack of name recognition. Voters may have to look her up to see which role she played in the show. 

Nuh-uh.  

Jessie Mueller.  Upside:  Wonderful singer and performer. Won a Tony for playing Carole King in Beautiful and nominated for the lead role in Waitress Working against: Playing Julie in Carousel, she is all but invisible after "If I Loved You." I recommend you watch her as Carrie in the semi-staged Lincoln Center production of Carousel from 2013, available at multiple streaming sites. She is fantastic in that role. 

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

Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady
Joshua Henry, Carousel
Tony Shalhoub, The Band's Visit
Ethan Slater, SpongeBob SquarePants

My favorite.  

Ethan Slater. Upside:  If you could bottle talent, charm, and energy, it would look like this. Working against: Voters with an aversion to the whole idea of a cartoon character coming to life on a Broadway stage will look elsewhere. 

Who I think will win. Joshua Henry. Upside: Some odd directing decisions lead to making his portrayal of Billy Bigelow a little odd at times, but he sings and performs the part well and leaves a lasting impression of a difficult and complicated character.  He's been nominated twice before, for his excellent performances in Violet and The Scottsboro Boys.  It's time he be recognized with the Tony.  Working against: That quirky performance may not sit well with some voters. 

Possibility of Sneaking In. 

Tony Shalhoub. Upside: He is quite good in the role of the Egyptian bandleader.  He is a very popular theater actor, apart from his successful television career.  This is his fourth Tony nomination, and so, as with Mr. Henry, now may be his time.  Working against: He has been on hiatus from the show since March due to TV filming commitments. 

Nuh-uh.

Harry Hadden-Paton. Upside: He is fine as Henry Higgins in the revival of My Fair Lady, fitting in well with director Bartlett Sher's reconceptualization of the musical as a feminist vehicle for Eliza Doolittle. Working against: No magic here, and he lacks the ability to charm an audience the way Rex Harrison was able to. 

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

Ariana DeBose, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
Renée Fleming, Carousel
Lindsay Mendez, Carousel
Ashley Park, Mean Girls
Diana Rigg, My Fair Lady

My favorite. 

Diana Rigg. Upside: For one thing, she's Diana Rigg. For another, she is perfectly delightful in the role.  Working against: This is a musical; she does no singing.

Who I think will win. 

Lindsay Mendez. Upside: In this rather gloomy Carousel, her perky portrayal of Carrie is a breath of fresh air. Working against: Voters may split between her and Renée Fleming, which could give the win to another.

Possibility of Sneaking In. 

Renée Fleming. Upside: For one thing, she's Renée Fleming. She sings up a storm with "You'll Never Walk Alone." Working against: Her acting is not up to Broadway standards; she's used to being the diva in the spotlight.  Also, she may split the vote with her Carousel co-nominee, Lindsay Mendez.

Nuh-uh. 
Ariana DeBose. Upside: She gets a lot of visibility in the mess that is Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, and she can sing and dance. Working against: She's not really right for the part (Donna Summer at the height of her disco glory), and she splits the title role with two others, among them the far better LaChanze. 

Nuh-uh.  
Ashley Park. Upside: She is fine in the role of one of the Plastics in Mean Girls, the one whose self-esteem is in seriously short supply. Working against: Mean Girls is an ensemble piece. It is very difficult to distinguish which actress is playing which character except when you are watching it.    

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

Norbert Leo Butz, My Fair Lady
Alexander Gemignani, Carousel
Grey Henson, Mean Girls
Gavin Lee, SpongeBob SquarePants
Ari'el Stachel, The Band's Visit

My favorite. 

Gavin Lee. Upside: He's glorious as SpongeBob's cantankerous neighbor Squidward, and he dances up a storm in the 11 o'clock number. Working against: Voters who are not "into" Spongebobmay look elsewhere.

Who I think will win. 

Gavin Lee. Upside: See above. Working against: Nope. He's that good.  

Possibility of Sneaking In. 

Norbert Leo Butz. Upside: As always, he gives it his all. The role of Liza's father in My Fair Lady is always a crowd pleaser, and may please the voters as well.  Working against: His character comes of as more than a bit of a jerk here, something Butz embraces but that the voters might not like.

Possibility of Sneaking In. 

Alexander Gemignani. Upside: He's a perfect foil to Lindsay Mendez's Carrie in Carousel. If she wins, they may pull it off as a matched pair.  Working against: Though he plays and sings the role of Mr. Snow well, if it weren't for Ms. Mendez sharing the stage with him, there'd not be enough for him to cross the finish line ahead of the others. 

Nuh-uh. 
Grey Henson. Upside: He plays everyone's favorite character in Mean Girls, the "almost too gay to function" Damian, and he gets to perform two of the better songs.  Working against: Too much of an unknown entity.  

Nuh-uh. 
Ari'el Stachel. Upside:  He's fine as the self-declared lady's man and Chet Baker wannabe. Working against: Not enough there to make him a standout. Others in the cast could just as well have been nominated. 

Nominees for Best Direction of a Musical

Michael Arden, Once On This Island
David Cromer, The Band's Visit
Tina Landau, SpongeBob SquarePants
Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls
Bartlett Sher, My Fair Lady

My favorite. 

Michael Arden. Upside: Right now, he's the king of revivals, surpassing even Bartlett Sher, whose direction of South Pacific a few years back was one for the ages but who hasn't quite found the same magic since then. On the other hand, Arden has, with this and with his earlier revival of Spring Awakening. Working against:  Nada. But if Tina Landau wins, I'm ok with that. 

Who I think will win. 

Michael Arden. Upside: What I said. Working against:  See above. 

Possibility of Sneaking In. 
Tina Landau. Upside: This is a remarkably creative and busy production with delights at every turn. If Arden doesn't win, I'd be more than happy to see it go to Landau. Working against:  The Anti-Spongebob crowd may pass her over. Arden's work, as creative and imaginative as it is, fits more into a traditional mold.

Possibility of Sneaking In. 

Bartlett Sher. Upside: His reconsideration of My Fair Lady has a strong feminist perspective that is consistent, yet all of the familiar music, and even some of the look of many of the fondly-recalled iconic design elements remain in place. Working against: The director's strong point of view will not be everyone's cup of tea. And, while no one has mentioned this, one wonders how some of the voters will take to a man trying so hard to prove he is "woke." 

Nuh-uh. 
Casey Nicholaw. Upside: He keeps things moving, and he has done a good job with his young cast. Working against: The show is pretty conventional, with not a lot of opportunities for him to shine as a director.  

Nominees for Best Choreography

Christopher Gattelli, My Fair Lady
Christopher Gattelli, SpongeBob SquarePants
Steven Hoggett, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls
Justin Peck, Carousel

My favorite. 

Christopher Gattelli for Spongebob SquarePants. Upside: Lots of big showy numbers with terrific dancing.  Squidward's 11 o'clock number is a showstopper. I do expect we'll see it on the Tony show. Working against: Hard to imagine, but possibly Justin Peck will pick up more votes from the traditionalists.  

Who I think will win. 

Close call, but I think it will go to Justin Peck. Upside: He is a very good choreographer, with lots of experience. The second act pas de deux is georgeous, and the all-male dancing to "Blow High, Blow Low" is a crowd-pleaser in the Jerome Robbins mold. Working against: Lots of inconsistencies. The "Carousel Waltz" is murky, and much of the other dancing has him filling the stage with so many people at a time, you can't really see what's going on. Nevertheless, this is a dance-rich production of a beloved classic show of the sort that wins Tonys. 

Nuh-uh: 
Christopher Gattelli for My Fair Lady. Upside: Fine work that suits the production well. "I'm Getting Married in the Morning" is pretty much everything you'd expect to see. Working against: He can't compete with himself with respect to the amazing work he did for SpongeBob SquarePants. 

Nuh-uh: 
Steven Hoggett. Upside: Movement is an important element in the design of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, sometimes being used to support the story and sometimes used as a means of distracting us from seeing the set-ups for the magic.  Working against: It's awfully hard for the choreography within a straight play to rise to the level of winning the Tony. 

Nominees for Best Orchestrations

John Clancy, Mean Girls
Tom Kitt, SpongeBob SquarePants
Annmarie Milazzo + Michael Starobin, Once On This Island
Jamshied Sharifi, The Band's Visit
Jonathan Tunick, Carousel

My favorite. 

Tom Kitt. Upside: He has taken all of the music from all of the many contributors to the school and arranged and orchestrated it into one cohesive whole. It is a remarkable effort that makes his work a standout. Working against:  Not really. 

Who I think will win. 

Tom Kitt. Upside: Yep. Working against: Nope. 

Possibility of Sneaking In. 

Any of the rest. Upside: All did fine, if conventional orchestrating. Working against: Tom Kitt's unique contributions to the success of SpongeBob SquarePants.  

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