NEW YORK: The Oscars, Grammys, Emmys and Golden Globes have all held their ceremonies during the pandemic. Now it’s time for the Tony Awards, celebrating an art form that really needs to promote live theater.
Sunday’s show has been expanded from its usual three hours to four hours, with Audra McDonald handing out Tonys for the first two hours and Leslie Odom Jr. hosting Back on Broadway! Celebrations for the second half, which included the top three trophies for Best Drama Revival, Best Drama and Best Musical.
What it does is that it mixes with the joy of whatever Broadway brings to these shows a chance to help remind the general public who were here and there to come back and do it safely. way, McDonald’s said.
While other entertainment industries like TV and film found ways to restart during the pandemic, Broadway was unable until now due to financial and physical constraints. Broadway economics was key to the reopening of all capacity restrictions since the demand for full venue capacity.
The sobering musical Jagged Little Pill, which tells the story of an American family spiraling out of control to Alanis Morissette’s 1995 breakthrough album, goes into the night with a major 15 Tony nominations.
On its heels is the Moulin Rouge!, a jukebox adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s hyperactive 2001 film, running a turn-of-the-century Paris nightclub, with 14 nods.
Slave Play, Jeremy O. Harris’ ground-breaking, bracing work that mixes race, gender, taboo desires, and class earned a dozen nominations, making it the most nominated drama in Tony history.
Other shows to keep an eye on are The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez, which garnered 11 nominations. It is a two-part, seven-hour epic that uses Howard’s End as the starting point of a play that looks at gay life in the early 21st century. and Tina the Tina Turner Musical, which chronicles the life of the rock icon with songs like Let’s Stay Together and Proud Mary, earned the award 12 times.
This season’s nominations were drawn from only 18 character plays and musicals from the 2019-2020 season, a fraction of the 34 shows from the previous season. During most years, there are 26 competing categories. This year there are 25 of which there are many less. But theater insiders think an awards show has become even more important now.
I would argue more important than ever, in a way, said James Corden, who hosted the Tons in 2016. If there is one year that we should ever celebrate, it is this year, where people’s entire lives are just torn apart and turned upside down.
Some interesting races include whether Celia Rose Gooding, daughter of Tony Award winner Lachanz, will win a Tony of her own for her work on Jagged Little Pill and if fan favorite Danny Burstein will eventually win a Tony for Moulin Rouge! musical. Many will be watching if Karen Olivo wins Best Leading Actress in a Musical, despite quitting her show, Moulin Rouge! In despair with the musical, Broadway.
The six-time Tony-winning McDonald’s isn’t just a host. She is up for the award for Best Actress in a Play, which if she wins, will win her seven awards, breaking her own record for the most tons won by a performer. And it must be somewhat bizarre to refuse to win Aaron Tweet for Best Leading Actor in a Musical; He is the only person nominated in this category. Voting for the candidates was held in March.
The last Tony Awards ceremony was held in 2019. The virus forced Broadway theaters to close abruptly on March 12, 2020, leading to the closure of all shows and the start of the spring season. Many have restarted, including the so-called big three rogues, Hamilton and The Lion King.
The Jagged Little Pill goes into the broadcast on the defensive surrounded by two brawls.
A former cast member, Nora Schell, a black nonbinary actor who made her Broadway debut in Chorus in 2019, posted a statement on social media this week describing repeated instances at the start of the show in which He was bullied, coerced, and forced by several higher authorities to put off important and necessary surgery to remove the growths from my vagina that were making me anemic.
Jagged Little Pill producers say they are deeply troubled by the claims, have hired an independent investigator, and the union Actors Equity Association said Sunday that it is also conducting a fully independent investigation into the show’s workplace.
In another controversy, the show’s producers have apologized to fans for changing a character from gender-nonconforming to a cisgender woman after the show moved from Boston to Broadway.
___
Entertainment writer Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits.
read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here