Outer Critics Circle Awards

Last night, the Outer Critics Circle Awards winners were announced this morning in anticipation of a gala to be held on May 22nd at Sardi's, hosted by Tony-winner Billy Porter.  The OCC Awards honor theatrical achievements both on Broadway and off-Broadway and are given out by critics who write for non-New York based media outlets and publications.  This year's winners are listed below.  For a full list of nominees, click here.  In each category, Broadway shows compete with off-Broadway shows for the same award unless specifically noted otherwise.

Outstanding New Broadway Play -- All the Way
Outstanding New Broadway Musical -- A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play -- The Explorer's Club
Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical -- Fun Home
Outstanding Book of a Musical -- A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Outstanding New Score -- The Bridges of Madison County
Outstanding Revival of a Play -- The Glass Menagerie
Outstanding Revival of a Musical -- Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Outstanding Director of a Play -- Tim Carroll, 12th Night
Outstanding Director of a Musical -- Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Outstanding Choreographer -- Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Outstanding Set Design (Play or Musical) -- Christopher Barreca, Rocky
Outstanding Costume Design (Play or Musical) -- William Ivey Long, Bullets Over Broadway
Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical) -- Kevin Adams, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Outstanding Actor in a Play -- Bryan Cranston, All the Way
Outstanding Actress in a Play -- Cherry Jones, The Glass Menagerie
Outstanding Actor in a Musical -- Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Outstanding Actress in a Musical -- Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play -- Brian J. Smith, The Glass Menagerie
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play -- Andrea Martin, Act One and Mare Winningham, Casa Valentina
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical -- Nick Cordero, Bullets Over Broadway
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical -- Marin Mazzie, Bullets Over Broadway
Outstanding Solo Performance -- John Douglas Thompson, Satchmo at the Waldorf

First Look at Venus in Fur Film

Roman Polanski (Surprise, Surprise!) has made the film adaptation of David Ives' play Venus in Fur -- the play that turned Nina Arianda into a star and a Tony winning actress.  Broadway.com has posted to their site the poster and a trailer for the film adaptation which will be released stateside on June 20th.  The film stars Mathieu Amalric and Emanuelle Seigner (Polanski's wife, no less!) in the roles played by Hugh Dancy and Nina Arianda on Broadway.  Here's how the film is being touted:  "The film tells the story of an obnoxious actress who tries to convince an acclaimed director that she's the leading lady to star in his newest play."

New Productions Announced for Next Season

Two productions have been announced for the fall -- a revival of an old chestnut and a new play by a Tony-nominated playwright.

The first production is a revival of the classic musical On the Town, in what is being touted as the show's 70th anniversary revival.  The historic comedy was written and created by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jerome Robbins.  This production will be directed by John Rando, a Tony winner for Urinetown, with a design team that includes set designer Beowulf Boritt and costume designer Jess Goldstein.  The show will begin previews on September 20th with an October 16th opening night and will play at the newly christened Lyric Theatre.  The Lyric is a relatively new Broadway theater.  Constructed in 1998, the house combines the former Lyric and Apollo theaters and the venue has hosted such productions as the original productions of Ragtime and Young Frankenstein.  The new Lyric Theatre has 1,930 seats, making it the second largest theater on Broadway after the Gershwin.

This fall will also see the return to Broadway of Tony-nominated playwright Jez Butterworth.  He will be represented on Broadway with a new play called The River, which will star Tony winner and Oscar nominee Hugh Jackman.  The play will run from late October through next January at the Circle in the Square Theatre, the current home of Audra McDonald as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill.  The production will be directed by Ian Rickson, who also directed Mr. Butterworth's previous Broadway outing, Jerusalem, as well as the 2009 revival of Hedda Gabler and the 2008 staging of The Seagull.  Mr. Jackman's co-stars will be Laura Donnelly and Cush Jumbo.

Exciting Performance Transfer News

Two stories came across my desk today about productions that will now be available to wider audiences, one through a Broadway transfer and another through broadcast on PBS.

Plans have been announced for a Broadway transfer of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize nominated musical Fun Home.  The musical, with a score by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, is adapted from the graphic memoir by Alison Bedchel.  The production had its premier at the Public Theatre and is aiming to arrive on Broadway next spring.  According to this article on Playbill.com, the show will have a budget between $5 million and $6 million.

In other exciting news, the New York Philharmonic production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd will air nationally on Live From Lincoln Center on PBS stations on September 26th at 9pm.  This production of the Tony-winning 1979 musical starred 5 time Tony winner Audra McDonald as the Beggar Woman, Oscar-winner Emma Thompson as Mrs. Lovett, and famed opera singer Bryn Terfel as the titular character.  Audra McDonald will host the event.

1st Tony Predictions

The Tony's are about a month away (32 days, to be exact) and it's time I put up my first round of Tony predictions.  As usual, I'm putting my guess as to who WILL win, who SHOULD win, and who I believe to be the dark horse in the category.

Best Play
Will Win:  Act One
Should Win: Mothers and Sons
Dark Horse: Outside Mullingar

Best Musical
Will Win: A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Should Win: A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Dark Horse: Aladdin

Best Book of a Musical
Will Win: A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Should Win: Beautiful
Dark Horse: Beautiful

Best Score
Will Win: A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Should Win: Bridges of Madison County
Dark Horse: Aladdin

Best Revival of a Musical
Will Win: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Should Win: Violet
Dark Horse: Violet

Best Revival of a Play
Will Win: 12th Night
Should Win: Glass Menagerie
Dark Horse: Glass Menagerie
The Cripple of Inishmaan

Best Actor in a Musical
Will Win: Neil Patrick Harris
Should Win: Neil Patrick Harris or Jefferson Mays
Dark Horse: Ramin Karimloo

Best Actress in a Musical
Will Win: Jessie Mueller
Should Win: Kelli O'Hara
Dark Horse: Mary Bridget Davies

Best Actor in a Play
Will Win:  Bryan Cranston
Should Win: Samuel Barnett
Dark Horse: Chris O'Dowd

Best Actress in a Play
Will Win: Tyne Daly
Should Win: Cherry Jones
Dark Horse: Estelle Parsons

Best Featured Actor in a Musical
Will Win: Nick Cordero
Should Win: Danny Burstein
Dark Horse: Danny Burstein

Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Will Win: Linda Emond
Should Win: Linda Emond
Dark Horse: Anika Larsen

Best Featured Actor in a Play
Will Win: Mark Rylance
Should Win: Reed Birney
Dark Horse: Reed Birney

Best Featured Actress in a Play
Will Win: Celia Keenan-Bolger
Should Win: Celia Keenan-Bolger
Dark Horse: Mare Winningham

Best Director of a Musical
Will Win: Warren Carlyle
Should Win: Darko Tresnjak
Dark Horse: Leigh Silverman

Best Director of a Play
Will Win: John Tiffany
Should Win: John Tiffany
Dark Horse: Tim Carroll

Best Choreography
Will Win: Stephen Hoggett and Kelly Devine
Should Win: Stephen Hoggett and Kelly Devine
Dark Horse: Casey Nicholaw

Best Orchestrations
Will Win: Steve Sidwell
Should Win: Jason Robert Brown
Dark Horse: Jonathan Tunick

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Will Win: Rocky
Should Win: Rocky
Dark Horse:  Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Best Scenic Design of a Play

Will Win: Machinal
Should Win: Machinal
Dark Horse: Glass Menagerie

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Will Win: A Genteleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Should Win: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Dark Horse: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Best Costume Design of a Play
Will Win: 12th Night
Should Win: Casa Valentina
Dark Horse: Casa Valentina

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Will Win: Rocky
Should Win: Bridges of Madison County
Dark Horse: After Midnight

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Will Win: Machinal
Should Win: Glass Menagerie
Dark Horse: Of Mice and Men

Best Sound Design of a Musical

Will Win: After Midnight
Should Win: After Midnight
Dark Horse: Beautiful

Best Sound Design of a Play
Will Win: Machinal
Should Win: The Cripple of Inishmaan
Dark Horse: The Cripple of Inishmaan

Film Version of "Jersey Boys" to Premier at Los Angeles Film Festival

It has been announced that Clint Eastwood's movie adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway smash Jersey Boys will have its premier at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 19th.  It will be the concluding presentation of the festival.  The film will then be released nationwide on June 20th.  The cast of the film includes John Lloyd Young as Franki Valli, a role for which he won the Best Actor in a Musical Tony in 2006, as well as Erich Bergen, Michael Lomenda, and Vincent Piazza as the other three members of The Four Seasons.  The screenplay is written by Oscar-, Emmy-, and Golden Globe-nominee John Logan (The Aviator, Gladiator, Hugo, RKO 281) based on the show's book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice,  and the films dances will be choreographed by Sergio Trujillo, repeating the duties he performed on the original Broadway production.

2014 Regional Theater Tony Award

The 2014 winner of the Regional Theater Tony Award is New York's own Signature Theatre.  This award is presented annually by the Tony Awards Administration Committee on the recommendation of the American Theater Critics Association and includes a grant of $25,000.  One of the objects of the award is to honor and promote incubators of new plays and productions.  So far, no organization has won twice, and this is the first year in which New York theater companies have been eligible.  Past winners include The Arena Stage in Washington, DC, The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, The Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, Connecticut, and both the Goodman Theatre and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.  For a full list of past winners, click here.

For more information about the Signature Theatre Company, check out their website and check out the Tony Awards' website for more on their decision to award this year's non-competitive Regional Theater Award to them.

There Are HOW MANY Nominees This Year?

After the announcement this past Tuesday of the 2014 Tony nominations, everyone began buzzing about the number of nominees in each of the four Best Show categories (Best Play, Best Musical, Best Revival of a Play, and Best Revival of a Musical).  Why were there five nominees for Best Play but only four each for Best Musical and Best Revival of a Play?  And, if there were four eligible shows for four nomination slots in the Best Revival of a Musical category, why was it not a slam dunk that they'd all get nominated automatically?  Well, I have found the answer, thanks to Playbill.com.

The nominations appear to be determined by a mathematical formula, rather than a .  According to rules which the nominating committee must follow, "When there are nine or more eligible shows in a Best Show category, at the Tony Nominating Meeting, the Nominating Committee will be instructed to cast one vote each for four eligible shows as nominees on his/her secret ballot.  Such ballots shall be collected and tabulated by a representative of the Accounting Firm."  With twelve new musicals, ten new plays, and fifteen play revivals this season, there were definitely enough to put this rule into effect for all but the revival of a musical category.

Once the votes are tabulated according to the rules above, the four shows with the most votes automatically become the nominees.  If the fifth-place show (the show with the fifth-highest vote count) is three votes or fewer away from the fourth place contender, then and only then is there a fifth nominee in the category.  This way, in a season with not many new plays or musicals, the committee is not obligated to inflate the slate out to 5 nominees, but in a crowded year like this one -- with several contenders in a tight race -- a fifth nominee can enter the race in a contentious year.  What does this mean for the 2014 nominees?  It means that the Best Play race was a tight one -- the fourth- and fifth-most voted for plays amongst the committee were within three votes of each other.  But in the Best Musical and Best Revival of a Play categories, the competition was not that steep -- only the top four got in because nothing else was close enough to sneak into that fifth spot.

There is an entirely different rule, however, that caused there to be only three nominees in the Best Revival of a Musical category.  That rule states, "When there are five or fewer shows eligible in a Best Show category, at the Tony Nominating Meeting, the Nominating Committee will be instructed to cast one vote each for thee eligible shows as nominees on his/her ballot."  The result here would be that the top three vote getters would automatically become nominees, and there would only be a fourth nominee if the fourth-place vote getter was within three votes of the third place one.

Now that we've gotten that clarified, I'm going to go back to the grind and work on my first round of predictions on who will WIN the Tony's this year.

2014 Tony Awards by the Numbers

Broadway.com has come up with a wonderful set of statistics about this year's Tony nominations that was so wonderful that I had to share it with you all.

A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder received 10 nominations -- the most of any show this year.

21 of this year's acting nominees received their first nomination this year, including Bryan Cranston, Neil Patrick Harris, Chris O'Dowd, and Sophie Okonedo.

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill star Audra McDonald has now been officially nominated for eight Tony Awards, though Julie Harris is still the record holder for the most nominations, with 10.

Ms. McDonald is also the fifth person in history to have been nominated in all four performance categories in which she is eligible (no one has been eligible in all eight categories due to the gender split).  Audra is in good company with Raul Esparza, Boyd Gaines, Jan Maxwell, and Angela Lansbury.

Mark Rylance was a double nominee this season for the repertory productions of 12th Night and Richard III.  He is only the fifth person, and first man, to receive this distinction.  The others are Amanda Plummer, Dana Ivey, Kate Burton, and Jan Maxwell.

Nine people who have previously won Tony Awards for acting have a shot at a second win, including Jefferson Mays, Anika Noni Rose, Adriane Lenox and Idina Menzel.  Cherry Jones and Sutton Foster could win their third awards this year.

Six Tony-nominated men wore dresses in their performances: Neil Patrick Harris, Reed Birney, Smauel Barnett, Paul Chahidi, Mark Rylance, and Jefferson Mays.

Two actors, Danny Burstein and Tony Shalhoub, are repeat nominees from 2013.

Three Tony-nominated revivals had their first Broadway productions this year -- Violet, The Cripple of Inishmaan, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Most interestingly, the 2013 production of The Glass Menagerie -- which received seven 2014 Tony nominations -- is the first Broadway production of the show to receive ANY Tony nominations.  None of the previous productions of this show have ever been nominated in any category.

First Tony Casualties

As often happens after the Tony nominations are released, two shows have already become casualties to the decisions of the nominating committee.

The Velocity of Autumn, which was only nominated for Estelle Parson's leading performance, will close this Sunday, May 4th.

The Bridges of Madison County, which was nominated for Jason Robert Brown's score and orchestrations, Kelli O'Hara's leading performance, and Donald Holder's lighting design, failed to receive crucial nominations for Best Musical and for Marsha Norman's book.  The show will be closing on May 18th.