The Play's the Thing

The 2017-2018 Broadway season was, in a word, disappointing. After a great one last season, this season was incredibly embarrassing, especially when it came to new plays. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is going to win by default, and quite frankly, it deserves to. The only other new play I remotely liked was Farinelli and the King , and even that had a very clumsy second act. And the musicals, well, the less said about the musicals the better. That being said, have you no decency, Tony nominating committee? Where is James McArdle's nomination?  That is such an embarrassing omission that I can't even wrap my head around it. McArdle gave the best performance on Broadway this season, and to not nominate him in favor of Michael Cera, whom I thought was great but is clearly the lead in Lobby Hero (it's ridiculous they didn't even consider him for lead) and David Morse, who is in a different play than everyone else in The Iceman Cometh . (Please, I can't even wit...

I think you all need to calm down about the Drama Desk nominations. First of all, I think they're mostly fair (other than a few glaring omissions) and they represent the kind of season 2017-2018 has been; overall it was a weak one but the strongest work has been done off-Broadway. People overreact because they're so Broadway-oriented, and need to realize that the nominating committee sees about 280 shows a season, performed all over the city. Theater does not only exist between 41st and 54th streets in midtown Manhattan. Here are some reactions I had to the nominations: The Outstanding Play category is amazing, and good for the committee for only nominating off-Broadway work but I would've nominated Harry Potter and the Cursed Child over Miles for Mary or Admissions. But finally some love for Mary Jane. Outstanding Musical is kind of ridiculous, and I suspect the snobbery around Spongebob Squarepants will make it an easy victory for Mean Girls , which is the weaker o...

And now, here's what I suspect tomorrow Tony nominations will look like: Best Musical The Band's Visit Frozen Mean Girls  Spongebob Squarepants Best Revival of a Musical Carousel My Fair Lady Once On This Island Best Actor in a Musical  Henry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady Joshua Henry, Carousel Tony Shaloub, The Band's Visit Ethan Slater, Spongebob Squarepants Best Actress in a Musical Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady Hailey Kilgore, Once On This Island Katrina Lenk, The Band's Visit Taylor Louderman , Mean Girls Jessie Mueller, Carousel Jessie Mueller, Carousel Best Featured Actor in a Musical Norbert Leo Butz, My Fair Lady  Grey Hensen, Mean Girls Gavin Lee, Spongebob Squarepants Alex Newell, Once on This Island * Ari'el Stachel, The Band's Visit  * I know the hive mind has decided he's a lock but the OCC and Drama Desks nominated Tony Yazbeck, and I think he can be a spoiler here. Best Featured Actress in a Musical Ariana De...

Tony nominations will be announced tomorrow! Here's what they'd look like if I had my say: Best Musical The Band's Visit Frozen Mean Girls  Spongebob Squarepants Best Revival of a Musical Carousel My Fair Lady Once On This Island Best Actor in a Musical  Henry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady Joshua Henry, Carousel Tony Shaloub, The Band's Visit Ethan Slater, Spongebob Squarepants Best Actress in a Musical Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady Katrina Lenk, The Band's Visit Taylor Louderman , Mean Girls Jessie Mueller, Carousel Patti Murin, Frozen Best Featured Actor in a Musical Phillip Boykin, Once on This Island  Grey Hensen, Mean Girls Adam Kantor, The Band's Visit Gavin Lee, Spongebob Squarepants Tony Yazbeck, The Prince of Broadway  Alternate:  Jellani Alladin, Frozen Best Featured Actress in a Musical Merle Dandridge , Once on This Island Lindsay Mendez, Carousel Kenita R. Miller , Once on This Island Ashley Park , Mean Girls Ka...

The Outer Critics Circle Awards, announced on Monday, are equal parts great and odd. Here are a few thoughts I have about them: It's really, really exciting that all of the nominees of the John Gassner Award are female.  I'm really pleased Mean Girls did not get an Outstanding New Score nomination but I can't say the Desperate Measures one is any better. Torch Song deserved an Outstanding Revival of a Play nomination over Travesties and Lobby Hero . Guess you can't beat Broadway, huh? So happy to see Sean Carvajal nominated! In that category, with those performances (sorry, Greg Mazgola is not a lead in Cost of Living , Victor Williams is), he is the one who deserves to win. Alright, alright, let's address the elephant in the room. I was looking at these nominations, and naturally I was just looking at the list of names. So I saw Michael Urie, did a fist pump at my desk, and moved on. It was not until my boyfriend emailed me later on in the morning did I rea...

Last week the Drama League Award nominations were announced . Now, this is always a fun award that doesn't really mean anything because they seem to play by their own rules and basically nominate anyone who was merely competent on stage during the season (except bizarrely Ethan Slater, Denise Gough, and Carrie Coon. What's up with that?) And the award is usually given out as some kind of Lifetime Achievement Award. So this year I suspect Glenda Jackson will win it for Three Tall Women . Which is...fine. I think it's an overrated performance in an overrated production but she's back on Broadway and she's had a storied career and this will probably be the last time she's on a New York stage. She's basically going to win the Tony for just showing up for a show that isn't a complete inessential bore (unlike the other potential Best Actress in a Play nominees) so why not give her the Drama League. (I think there are quite a few better performances from actr...

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Next Monday, April 16, the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama will be announced! This year is an interesting one because I don't think there's a clear-cut favorite. And quite frankly, I don't think anything from the last year was particularly Pulitzer-worthy (not that I thought Sweat was but moving on.) Here are a few plays I think could possibly get nominated or even win: Mary Jane by Amy Herzog. It's no secret that I loved this play. It's about a unique situation we don't often see on stage, with a unique protagonist. Herzog does a great job making us feel for Mary Jane and her situation without making the action too heavy-handed or sentimental. It is simply honest. Mary Jane's health insurance issues also make it timely without being preachy, and a great reflection of American life. The Antipodes by Annie Baker. Baker is one of my favorite playwrights but I think this one is one of her weaker works. But a wea...

Here are a few thoughts on the Lucille Lortel Award nominations that were announced earlier this week: It seems bizarre that Mary Jane by Amy Herzog was not nominated for Outstanding Play. First of all, it received six other nominations, so the committee clearly liked it. Second, it is one of the best things of the season, in my opinion, and a much stronger offering than basically everything else in the category, especially The Treasurer and Pipeline . It also would've been nice to see Amy and the Orphans remembered for Outstanding Play. The Outstanding Musical is downright embarrassing. Bella and Hundred Days are two of the worst things I've ever seen, and the praise Desperate Measures received is baffling. It's akin to a well-done high school production, amateurish in every way. The Outstanding Revival category contains four of my favorite shows of the season: Jesus Hopped the A Train, Torch Song, Fucking A, and In the Blood . While I thought The Government Inspec...