MAY 3, 2016
One hashtag you will definitely not be seeing this year is #TonysSoWhite.
Unlike their compatriots in the Motion Picture Academy, voters for the 2016 Tony Awards, honoring the best in Broadway theatre, wrapped their arms around diversity on Tuesday as this year’s Tony nominations were announced. With five nominees in each of eight acting categories available, fully 14 actors of color were nominated in Tony’s 40 slots.
Besides diversity, the other big Tony news was, not surprisingly, “Hamilton.” The Pulitzer Prize-winning musical earned 16 nominations, more than any show in Broadway history, breaking the record of 15 held by “The Producers” in 2001 and equaled by “Billy Eliot” in 2009. A whopping 7 cast members from “Hamilton” were nominated for acting awards, and creator/star Lin-Manuel Miranda received 3 nominations by himself — as Best Actor and for his book and score to the show.
Second to “Hamilton” in total nominations was the new musical “Shuffle Along, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed,” which garnered 10 nominations, though surprisingly not one for its star Audra McDonald, who with 6 awards under her belt, has won more acting Tonys than any actor in Broadway history.
“Shuffle Along” caused a bit of a kerfuffle in the theatre world last week when its producers, knowing that their show would probably be steamrolled by “Hamilton” in the Best Musical category, petitioned the Tony Committee to consider the show for Best Revival instead, arguing that “Shuffle Along,” a backstage look at the making of the real 1921 show of the same title, contains the same music as the original show. The committee said no dice, and “Shuffle Along” stays as a Best Musical nominee.
The other nominees for Best Musical are “Waitress,” based on the Keri Russell film, starring Tony-winner Jesse Mueller (“Beautiful”) with a score by pop-star Sara Bareilles; “School of Rock,” based on the Jack Black film, with a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber and a book by “Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes; and, in somewhat of a surprise, “Bright Star,” a small musical with a score by Steve Martin (yes, that one) and Edie Brickell of New Bohemians fame.
In the Best Musical Revival race, there’s “The Color Purple,” a revival that received better reviews than the original did a decade ago; a reimagined take on “Fiddler on the Roof,” starring now-6-time Tony nominee Danny Burstein; the well-reviewed revival of “She Loves Me,” which received 8 nominations in all and “Spring Awakening” with a cast largely made up of hearing-impaired actors.
On the play side, the nominees are Stephen Karam’s “The Humans,” about one New York family’s life post-9/11; “Eclipsed,” Danai Gurira’s look at the plight of women during the Liberian war; Mike Bartlett’s “King Charles III,” a what-if play imagining what Prince Charles’ rule would be like if QE II died; and “The Father,” dealing with one man’s struggle with Alzheimer’s Disease.
The Best Play Revival looks to be a tough race with two different Arthur Miller plays nominated, “The Crucible” and “A View From the Bridge,” both helmed by Belgian director Ivo von Hove; the starry revival of Eugene O’Neill’s 4-hour “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” with nominees Jessica Lange, Gabriel Byrne and Michael Shannon; the sexual drama “Blackbird” starring nominees Jeff Daniels and Michelle Williams; and the only comedy in the group, Alan Ayckbourn’s “Noises Off.”
This season, you can’t wander into a Broadway show without tripping over a movie star, and in addition to Lange, Byrne, Shannon, Daniels and Williams, among the starry nominees are Lupita Nyong’o (“Eclipsed”), Frank Langella (“The Father”), Mark Strong (“A View From the Bridge”), and Megan Hilty & Andrea Martin (“Noises Off”).
Tony-winner James Corden hosts this year’s ceremony, which airs live on CBS on June 12. Be there or be square!
