Awards season

Drama Desk nominations were announced today and once again, there are some real puzzling choices. In my opinion, there were three egregious omissions. First, I was suprised that there was not one nomination for the Atlantic's fine production of THE VOYSEY INHERITANCE. Surely one of the actors in the show deserved a nod, especially the excellent performances by Michael Stuhlbarg and Fritz Weaver. Second, where was the nomination for lighting design for SPRING AWAKENING? I liked the show a lot and I thought the design was terrific and certainly more worthy than at least two of the other nominations. Although, I must admit the categorizing of John Gallagher, Jr. as a lead performance was a bit odd. In this ensemble piece, the only true "lead" that emerges is Jonathan Groff. Third, I was struck by the lack of nominations (not a single one, in fact) for Signature's August Wilson season. All three shows were worthy of a revival nod and the acting, especially by Stephen McKinley Henderson in two very different parts, was superb.

I still don't understand all the love for MARY POPPINS. I have not yet seen LOVEMUSIK so I can't really pass judgement on that set of nominations, but from the word of mouth buzz on the show, I was surprised.

And once again, the Drama Desk people, like all the other awards nominators, has included shows in previews, which seems to me to be just plain wrong. Why not wait until shows actually open for them to eligible? Many shows make significant changes during previews and to consider them while they continue to evolve just seems unfair. It is possible that a show receiving a nod for one actor could receive more if the nominators wait to see the finished product. Perhaps the directing or lighting design will come together by opening night - or perhaps an actor will find his voice and give it his all once he is no longer rehearsing a part by day. I haven't seen much discussion on this subject so I'd be interested to see what others have to say about it.

OCC Noms - bizarre

Now, I normally don't expect much from the OCC. After all, this is mostly a group of older "critics" whose record indicates that they really favor Broadway and they looooove musicals. In fact, many of them don't actually visit too many of the off-Broadway houses, especially those that live in NJ, CT, Westchester, etc. I remember when I was a young press agent I tried to get Marge Gunner, the then president, to one of my shows. I even called her to see if she had received my invite and she just hung up on me. Not a polite no or even a "don't call me"--just a rude sigh and hang up. And this was for a legit off-Broadway house not some fledgling theatre company. She struck me as a cantankerous old lady who couldn't be bothered with a non-Broadway show and I'm glad to see she's no longer their president.

Today's nominations are just plain bizarre. 11 nominations for MARY POPPINS but nary a one for one of the best play of the season, BUSY WORLD IS HUSHED? What about Signature's THREE excellent August Wilson revivals? Surely ONE of them was better than the okay TALK RADIO, which was good only because of its lead actor. I guess any year has omissions but this year, they seem to be more glaring than usual.

What about squeaking in CORAM BOY and RADIO GOLF? The shows might be worthy but CB only began performances on Monday and RG began on FRIDAY. Even if they did the nominations last night and were up last night all night to get them done, did all of the Nominating Committee actually see these shows in its first week - did the whole committe go to RG between Friday night and Sunday afternoon? Or were they both nominated sight unseen? And if they did go en masse to the theatre, is it fair to judge a show in previews? Perhaps both will be completely different shows by the time they open.

I guess the problem with mixing Broadway and off-Broadway awards is that they committee can get star-struck and overpowered by the starrier names and production values of the Broadway shows. It's a real shame to reward Disney's mediocre kiddie show in this way, especially in a year that featured so many other worthy candidates.

OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE

Quick post today: the OCC nominations are announced tomorrow at 11am. This set of awards covers both Broadway and Off-Broadway, but traditionally does get dominated by the higher profile Broadway shows. It will be interesting to see what the critics thought this year - the strongest field will no doubt be Outstanding Lead Actor, which has many candidates - Liev Schrieber (TALK RADIO), Hugh Dancy and Boyd Gaines (JOURNEY'S END), Michael Stuhlbarg (VOYSEY INHERITANCE), Russell Hornsby (KING HEDLEY II), the Coast of Utopia folks and several others. Hell, I would even throw Pablo Schreiber in there for his terrific performance in DYING CITY. I don't think RADIO GOLF, CORAM BOY or FROST/NIXON opened in time for the nomination cut-offs but we'll see. Otherwise, I'd say Frank Langella is the front-runner.

I think the weakest field is LEAD ACTRESS - I'm hard pressed to come up with one other than Vanessa Redgrave (MAGICAL THINKING) and Jill Clayburgh (BUSY WORLD IS HUSHED). I do believe Vanessa's got this all sewn up.

The Outer Critics are probably the least prestigious of the three non-Tony Awards, with I think the Drama Desk being #1, followed by the Lortels (which are only off-Bway.) Yeah, I know there are other awards, but those are a lot less legit (Drama League is just a fundraiser, really).

HAMLET and LEAR

Two Shakespeare performances I'm looking forward to:

I'm reading on the bulletin boards that Michael Stuhlbarg will play Hamlet next season at the Public. Hope it's true! Is there a finer actor of our generation than MS? I think not. The man is a virtual chameleon. I have no idea what he actually looks like. He gained, what sixty (?) pounds for BELLE EPOQUE and PILLOWMAN, then lost most of it for the next gig. He looked like he was back to his normal weight for MEASURE FOR PLEASURE and THE VOYSEY INHERITANCE.

There is something so beautiful and heartbreaking about his acting - I can already picture him doing the "what a rogue and peasant slave am I..." speech. I'm a fan - I've been following his career over the years and am happy to see that he's risen to leading roles. Those that know him say he's a nice guy as well.

Ian McKellen coming to BAM in September to do Lear. All I can say is WOW. I saw his RICHARD III about ten years ago and have never forgotten it. I also still have a program he autographed for me. Couldn't have been nicer. I've seen him in other shows, like DANCE OF DEATH with Helen Mirren, but Sir Ian doing Shakespeare is such a special experience - maybe it's the writing...can't wait.

First Post

The inaugural post. Yep.

Seems weird to be out here alone in cyberspace. Will anyone read this blog? Thought I'd join the rest of the rabid theatre goers out here with some observations of my own.

More later.