TONYS 2024: REACHING FOR A LIFE JACKET
In a spring season where almost nothing is selling as well as it should, can Tony nominations save some of Broadway's big-budget shows?
The Tony nominations come out today, and by most people’s reckoning it’s a radically wide open field, with no clear front runners in most categories.
I wonder if this year’s nominations and awards aren’t also among the most important in recent memory. Over the weekend TKTS, which was created to support struggling shows by selling unsold seats at a discount, had tickets on sale for every single new musical on Broadway, and many of the new plays, too. (With the exception of Stereophonic, the only plays not on TKTS were populated by film and TV stars.)
With the staggering number of new shows that have opened on Broadway in the last 6 weeks—I count 16, and there may be more—it’s no surprise that a number of them might be eating one another’s lunch. But the idea that even Times’ Critic Picks like Water for Elephants or shows with strong built-in fan bases like The Notebook are on TKTS just weeks after opening is deeply concerning.
You’d expect every show to hold out through the Tony Awards and see whether at the very least performing a number from the show can generate interest. But if they don’t get any big nominations, can some of the more poorly-reviewed shows like Lempicka or The Great Gatsby even make it to July? Even with stars like Eden Espinosa or Jeremy Jordan, it’s hard to see that math working.
I’m particularly fascinated to watch the paths of The Wiz and Cabaret. Everyone I know who has seen The Wiz talks of it with shock at the cheapness of the production. And yet, it’s still The Wiz, a much beloved show that hasn’t been on Broadway in almost 50 years. Do those factors give it the legs to survive the summer? (I sort of think so.)
Meanwhile, Cabaret seems like a sure-fire hit, with big names in the cast and a pre-show entertainment in what had been the lobbies of the theater that feels immersive and sexy. But the show cost $24.5 million, the largest ever for a Broadway revival, including $9.4 million alone for the physical renovations to the August Wilson Theater. And the production itself is only okay, with a take on the material that very intentionally refuses to give the audience the moments they came for. Gayle Rankin’s wailing/screaming performance of the title song is definitely going to be remembered, but it’s not the kind of moment that will make anyone want to see the show again. Eddie Redmayne similarly plays the M.C. with a predatory menace that is interesting to see from him, and it’s definitely a major departure from Alan Cumming’s iconic take on the character. But it’s not a ticket seller.
And whither goes The Who’s Tommy, another big-budget massive revival with mixed reviews? It seemed to disappear from the conversation almost as soon as it opened. Truly, Broadway this spring is like Netflix. With almost no exceptions, each new show gets about 24 hours before it’s lost to the ether.
Tommy will no doubt get some Tony love. If the universe was just the kids who play the younger Tommys would themselves receive a special Tony just for allowing themselves to be whipped around like they are. (That choreography is crazy, and those kids are amazing.)
But if the long-standing fait accompli logic of Merrily We Roll Along holds true, Tommy is not going to win any major revival awards. And honestly, for all its talents, including star-in-the-making Ali Louis Bourzgui, the show can’t really hold a candle to the cheery magnetism of Daniel, Lindsay, Jonathan, and company.
(For as much attention as Broadway’s Holly Jolly Trinity is about to get again, I really hope Reg Rogers and Krystal Joy Brown get nods, as well. Brown’s performance as Gussie has grown in fascinating ways throughout the run. And Rogers’ Joe Josephson, despite its initially-strong-and-odd similarities to Michael Richards’ Kramer, has become one of the most consistently delightful performances on Broadway this season. Getting to watch him in what should be a minor role is like getting to hear great jazz.)
But again, do Tony awards matter for Tommy? It’s certainly another show with a huge following of a certain age. If they blow the roof off at the Tonys—and good God they should—they should be a solid player with tourists throughout the summer.
But that TKTS booth warns of a different story. And a year after the can’t-miss John Kander/Susan Stroman musical New York, New York closed within six weeks of the Tonys, you’ve got to think almost all of the bigger budget shows are sweating.
(I still mourn for New York, New York. It definitely wasn’t a perfect show, but nowhere will you find a more glorious and heartfelt love letter to New York, or a greater celebration of the elements of stagecraft like scenic design that usually only garner attention when they insist on drawing attention to themselves.)
Water for Elephants just announced it was opening ticket sales through February, which may be as much of a p.r. move as anything. But buzz has been good. Still, can it win any Tonys? I’m not sure. Gregg Edelman’s performance as the older Jacob Jankowksi is absolutely wonderful. In a season with a weirdly large number of “Older person remembers their youth” stories, Edelman, Harmony’s Chip Zien, and Notebook’s Maryann Plunkett and Dorian Harewood have all been exceptional to their shows. Honestly, they should have a category of their own, Featured Older Version of the Actor.
When it comes to Elephants, though, the member of the cast I’d most love to see celebrated is Stan Brown, the show’s Camel. He’s 61 years old, he’s making his Broadway debut, and he absolutely crushes it, delivering a heartfelt and grounded performance that gives the show its stakes and an awful lot of its humanity.
There are plenty of performances and shows deserving of praise—the choreography and direction of The Outsiders, which includes a fight scene like nothing I’ve ever seen on stage before; also Joshua Boone as Dallas Winston and Brent Comer as Ponyboy and Sodapop’s older brother Darrel—good Lord can they sing; Natalie Joy Johnson is a consistent delight in an otherwise hard-to-love Lempika; and there’s the choreography, music, and direction of Illinoise, which just transferred to Broadway and lost a bit of its room to move, but none of its joy.
(My kingdom for a Best Moth Tony—and a three-way-tie for the award between the show’s singers Elijah Lyons, Shara Nova, and Tasha Viets-VanLear.)
But right now, perhaps because I’ve only just seen it, the performances I’m most eager to see celebrated are those of the cast of Uncle Vanya. William Jackson Harper is receiving well-deserved accolades for his complex (and sexy as hell) take on the lost doctor Astrov. But for me, the real surprise is Steve Carell. Vanya is one of those characters that the Great Actors love to sink their teeth into and make their mark, and Carell absolutely refuses to take that approach, allowing the rest of the cast to take the focus for much of the play and in doing so creating a version of the character that feels more relatable, familiar and yet also surprising.
(I’ve got a lot more to say on Carell’s Vanya. Coming soon!)
Unlike the rest of the big Tony contenders, Vanya is on a limited run with few tickets remaining. But for Lincoln Center, which has had such a bad spell in recent years—Ah, Camelot, how we longed to see your face—some Tony awards would be a wonderful change.
By the time you read this the nominations will probably already be out. We’ll see where we go…