Stage Addiction: UPDATE, 2010 Tony Predix, Part IV (Musicals)

UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE APRIL 30 TONY ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE ELIGIBILITY CHANGES:

The final installment in our prognostications for the 2010 Tony Award nominations next week:

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
La Cage Aux Folles
A Little Night Music
Promises, Promises
Ragtime

Dark Horse: Finian's Rainbow
Also-Rans: Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Bye Bye Birdie

Since the bad buzz started to spread on Promises, Promises early last week, the producers have mobilized significant forces to keep the show's Tony hopes alive. With its only serious competition coming from a sweetly-archaic, long-closed retread from the fall (Finian's Rainbow), it looks to me as if they'll make it to the nomination. As far as the eventual win goes, however, they are hopelessly out of their league...it'll be a showdown between glitz (La Cage) versus glam (Night Music) on Tony night.

BEST MUSICAL
American Idiot
Fela!
Million Dollar Quartet
Sondheim on Sondheim

Dark Horse: Come Fly Away, Memphis
Long Shot: The Addams Family, Everyday Rapture
Also-Rans: All About Me, Burn The Floor

Sure, Come Fly Away and Memphis are imperfect works of art. But don't count them out just yet. They've got seductive subjects (Sinatra and the birth of R&B) and starry creative teams (Twyla Tharp for the former, Bon Jovi's keyboardist for the latter). Not to mention eager, hungry producers willing to play to Tony game to the hilt. So although I think the rock of Quartet, the punk of Idiot, and the afrobeat of Fela will nose the others at the finish line, in truth, there's only one thing I'm sure of in this category: Stephen Sondheim.

BEST DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL
Michael Mayer, American Idiot
Trevor Nunn, A Little Night Music
Bill T. Jones, Fela!
James Lapine, Sondheim on Sondheim

Possible Spoiler: Terry Johnson, La Cage Aux Folles
Dark Horse: Christopher Ashley, Memphis; Twyla Tharp, Come Fly Away
Long Shot: Rob Ashford, Promises, Promises; Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Ragtime; Michael Mayer, Everyday Rapture
Also Rans: Walter Bobbie, Irving Berlin's White Christmas; Warren Carlyle, Finian's Rainbow; Jason Gilkison, Burn The Floor; Richard Longbottom, Bye Bye Birdie; Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch, The Addams Family; Casey Nicholaw, All About Me; Eric Schaeffer, Million Dollar Quartet

Although there were many noteworthy efforts this season -- the epic whimsy of Ashford, the epic sludge of Dodge, the Rat Pack-ery of Tharp -- I can't believe anyone disputes the genre-redefining work of Mayer, Jones and Lapine, who turned their own personal secret weapons -- youthful alienation, visionary dance, and dramatic context, respectively --into staggering directorial achievements. (That leaves the two imports from London's Menier Chocolate Factory, Night Music and La Cage, to duke it out for the last slot. And in that regard, the only bona fide legend on the list is Nunn. Case closed.)

Stage Addiction: UPDATE, 2010 Tony Predix, Part III (Plays)

UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE APRIL 30 TONY ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE ELIGIBILITY CHANGES:

Time for the big guns, continuing in our series preceding -- and handicapping -- the 2010 Tony Award nominations next week:

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
Fences
Lend Me A Tenor
The Royal Family
A View from the Bridge

Dark Horse: Hamlet
Long Shot: Present Laughter
Also-Rans: The Miracle Worker, Oleanna

Call it the Battle Royal at the Cort -- Broadway's long-suffering "cursed" theatre hosted both of the absolute locks in this category: View with Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson, then Fences with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. Scrambling for the remaining two spots are the inconsistently funny Tenor, which is inconceivably building audience each week, and two respected shows from last fall, Manhattan Theatre Club's chuckle-worthy Royal Family and Jude Law's transfer of Hamlet. The elegant, old-school casting of Family -- including vets like Rosemary Harris, Tony Robbins and Jan Maxwell -- will give it the razor-thin edge with Broadway nominators.

BEST PLAY
Enron
In The Next Room, or the Vibrator Play
Next Fall
Red

Possible Spoiler: A Behanding in Spokane
Dark Horse: Collected Stories, Superior Donuts, Time Stands Still
Long Shot: A Steady Rain, Race
Also-Rans: After Miss Julie, Looped, Wishful Drinking

A large, gangly field of candidates in this category, including oddities like Carrie Fisher's solo biography Wishful Drinking and the only Pulitzer finalist to land in New York City to date, In The Next Room. (I don't count the "winner" of the Pulitzer, Next To Normal, as a finalist. Because it wasn't. That was some bullshit dilettantes came up with.) The conventional wisdom heard on 42nd Street is that Next Fall and Red are certainties, and I agree. Enron was a near-lock...until the so-so reviews came out. (I think it'll still squeak into contention, but it'll be a close race between it and another play with mixed reviews, A Behanding in Spokane.) I think In The Next Room will play well in the memories of the nominators, and as Lincoln Center's only shot at a nomination, it would be hard to pass up.

BEST DIRECTOR OF A PLAY
Rupert Goold, Enron
Michael Grandage, Red
Gregory Mosher, A View from the Bridge
Kenny Leon, Fences

Possible Spoiler: David Mamet, Race; Stanley Tucci, Lend Me A Tenor
Dark Horses: John Crowley, A Steady Rain; John Crowley, A Behanding In Spokane; Michael Grandage, Hamlet; Doug Hughes, The Royal Family; Tina Landau, Superior Donuts; Daniel Sullivan, Time Stands Still
Long Shots: David Cromer, Brighton Beach Memoirs; Sheryl Kaller, Next Fall; Lynne Meadow, Collected Stories; Les Waters, In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play
Also-Rans: Mark Brokaw, After Miss Julie; Doug Hughes, Oleanna; Nicholas Martin, Present Laughter; Rob Ruggiero, Looped; Tony Taccone, Wishful Drinking; Kate Whoriskey, The Miracle Worker

It's in cases like this where you start to realize that Tonys are not a recognition of artistic excellence, but a haven for industry politics. The presence of two celebrities in the category, both relative newbies to directing -- playwright David Mamet, actor Stanley Tucci -- will test the nominators' ability to resist star power. (Both did competent work. Neither should be nominated.) Furthermore, the actual "best" effort in this category -- Waters' beautiful, streamlined, imaginative take on In The Next Room -- isn't even in contention. In the end, bet on the flashy pyrotechnics of Goold, the passionate drama of Grandage, and the elegant tragedy of Mosher. Flip a coin for the fourth slot, which I'm giving to Leon, who deserves some reward at this point in his career.

Tomorrow: The Musicals!!!

Stage Addiction: UPDATE, 2010 Tony Predix, Part II

UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE APRIL 30 TONY ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE ELIGIBILITY CHANGES:

Continuing with the Tony Award Nomination predictions from yesterday, here are my best guesses for the musical performances of 2010!

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
John Gallagher, Jr., American Idiot
Sean Hayes, Promises, Promises
Douglas Hodge, La Cage aux Folles
Chad Kimball, Memphis
Sahr Ngaujah, Fela!

Dark Horses: Kelsey Grammer, La Cage Aux Folles; Alexander Hanson, A Little Night Music; Nathan Lane, The Addams Family
Long Shots: Jim Norton, Finian's Rainbow; Robert Petkoff, Ragtime
Also Rans: James Clow, Irving Berlin's White Christmas; Quentin Earl Darrington, Ragtime; Cheyenne Jackson, Finian's Rainbow

The most competitive category of the year, hands down. Essentially, you've got a dozen great performances, with eight or nine Tony-worthy turns among them. Will the Tony committee deign to put Nathan Lane on the bench? Can Sean Hayes overcome growing negative buzz for Promises? Can Gallagher get older voters grooving along to punk rock? Do the romantic charms of La Cage merit two nominations here? Will long-simmering fans of Finian and Ragtime decide to make their affections known? Your guess, as they say, is as good as mine.

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Kate Baldwin, Finian's Rainbow
Kristin Chenoweth, Promises, Promises
Montego Glover, Memphis
Sherie Rene Scott, Everyday Rapture
Catherine Zeta-Jones, A Little Night Music

Dark Horse: Bebe Neuwirth, The Addams Family
Long Shot: Christiane Noll, Ragtime
Also Rans: Melissa Errico, Irving Berlin's White Christmas

Three months ago, if you told me that a Broadway titan like Neuwirth would be passed over for an unknown like Glover, I'd have bought your ticket to Bellevue. But truthfully, I'm pretty confident that it's going to happen...as mind-boggling as it may be. Kristin Chenoweth should thank her lucky stars that she has aggressive producers working the votes for her...and that the Tony Administrative Committee decided to put Sondheim On Sondheim's Barbara Cook and Vanessa Williams into the Featured category.

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Robin de Jesus, La Cage Aux Folles
Levi Kreis, Million Dollar Quartet
Charlie Neshyba-Hughes, Come Fly Away
Bobby Steggert, Ragtime
Tony Vincent, American Idiot

Dark Horses: Kevin Chamberlin, The Addams Family; Christopher Fitzgerald, Finian's Rainbow; Lance Guest, Million Dollar Quartet; Tom Wopat, Sondheim on Sondheim
Long Shot: Dick Latessa, Promises, Promises
Also Rans: Bill Irwin, Bye Bye Birdie; Norm Lewis, Sondheim on Sondheim

If there are fans out there of The Addams Family -- and really, there must be one or two, right? Right? -- Chamberlin is the show's best hope for a performance nod. But it's hard to argue with the career-making, show-stopping performances of Kreis, Neshyba-Hughes, Steggert and Vincent, as stunning a quartet of newcomers as Broadway has ever seen. And de Jesus, a recent Tony nominee for In The Heights, has solidified his status as Broadway's most adorable comic upstart.

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Barbara Cook, Sondheim on Sondheim
Katie Finneran, Promises, Promises
Angela Lansbury, A Little Night Music
Lillias White, Fela!
Vanessa Williams, Sondheim on Sondheim

Dark Horse: Carolee Carmello, The Addams Family; Rebecca Naomi Jones, American Idiot; Karine Plantadit, Come Fly Away
Long Shot: Cass Morgan, Memphis; Terri White, Finian's Rainbow
Also Rans: Elizabeth Stanley, Million Dollar Quartet

Although Lansbury is the prohibitive favorite, one can't deny the razzle-dazzle firepower that Finneran and White provided to their productions. And the ladies from Sondheim on Sondheim are its most alluring feature. But what if the fans of other, lesser shows decide to make a statement? This is where that's most likely to happen, I think; from where I sat, Carmello was the best thing about Addams, Jones lit up American Idiot, and there could be a surge of voter support for either Plantadit (brilliant dancer!) or Terri White (brilliant singer!). Even Cass Morgan has been getting buzz recently.

Coming next: The Plays!

Stage Addiction: UPDATE, 2010 Tony Nomination Predictions

UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE APRIL 30 TONY ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE ELIGIBILITY CHANGES:

The Tony Award nominations are next week, so it's time for ModFab to play a little inside Broadway baseball. In this very uneven season, the highs and lows are startingly clear when you begin to look at the award categories -- some with intense competition, others that struggle to find enough quality performances to fill out a full roster. Today, we'll begin with the performers in a play:

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Norbert Leo Butz, Enron
Alfred Molina, Red
Liev Schreiber, A View from the Bridge
Christopher Walken, A Behanding in Spokane
Denzel Washington, Fences

Dark Horses: Patrick Breen, Next Fall; Hugh Jackman, A Steady Rain; Jude Law, Hamlet
Long Shot: Daniel Craig, A Steady Rain
Also Rans: Michael Cerveris, In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play; Victor Garber, Present Laughter; Josh Grisetti, Brighton Beach Memoirs; Gregory Itzin, Enron; Michael McKean, Superior Donuts; Jonny Lee Miller, After Miss Julie; Bill Pullman, Oleanna; James Spader, Race

A simple rule: never bet against Streep at the Oscars...or Jackman at the Tonys. But I'm doing just that; it's been a long time since the ho-hum Steady Rain closed last fall, and Jackman was hardly the only Hollywood heartthrob slumming it on the Rialto this year. I'm going with more recent turns by big stars for the nominations, plus a perennial Broadway favorite, Tony winner Butz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), who is surprisingly brilliant in Enron. I'd be surprised, however, if Molina doesn't stomp the competition come June.

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Viola Davis, Fences
Valerie Harper, Looped
Linda Lavin, Collected Stories
Laura Linney, Time Stands Still
Jan Maxwell, The Royal Family

Dark Horse: Laura Benanti, In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play; Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking
Long Shot: Alison Pill, The Miracle Worker
Also Rans: Sienna Miller, After Miss Julie; Julia Stiles, Oleanna

Watch out for Benanti and Pill; both have their advocates among Tony voters.

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Stephen Kunken, Enron
Sam Rockwell, A Behanding in Spokane
Eddie Redmayne, Red
Tony Shalhoub, Lend Me A Tenor
Mykelti Williamson, Fences

Dark Horses: Michael Cristofer, A View from the Bridge; Brian d'Arcy James, Time Stands Still
Long Shot: David Alan Grier, Race; Reg Rogers, The Royal Family
Also Rans: Justin Bartha, Lend Me A Tenor; Patrick Heusinger, Next Fall; Jon Michael Hill, Superior Donuts; Anthony Mackie, A Behanding in Spokane; Noah Robbins, Brighton Beach Memoirs; Tony Robbins, The Royal Family; Cotter Smith, Next Fall

Again, Fences is the question mark: there are a number of performances that could cut through in this category -- Russell Hornsby, Chris Chalk, etc. -- but I doubt Tony nominators will make room for more than one, so I'm (rather arbitrarily) picking Williamson. Shalhoub, Redmayne and Kunken are locks; I'm a fan of Rockwell and Spokane in general, but old-school Tony voters might prefer Michael Cristofer's gently tragic turn in A View from the Bridge.

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Viola Davis, Fences
Jessica Hecht, A View from the Bridge
Scarlett Johansson, A View from the Bridge
Jan Maxwell, Lend Me a Tenor
Marin Mazzie, Enron

Dark Horse: Alicia Silverstone, Time Stands Still
Long Shot: Rosemary Harris, The Royal Family; Kerry Washington, Race
Also Rans: Abigail Breslin, The Miracle Worker; Marin Ireland, After Miss Julie; Zoe Kazan, A Behanding in Spokane; Sarah Paulson, Collected Stories

So Viola Davis, if she indeed ends up in this category, is a mortal lock. I've gone out on a limb with a double-nomination prediction for the actresses of AVftB, but they were both stunning. As was Maxwell, who I'm guessing will get two nominations of her own this year. Personally, I'm hoping that Mazzie's career-changing work in Enron (Remember that sex scene? Wowsa!) will trump Silverstone's better-than-expected turn in Time Stands Still (and the career legacy effect of Rosemary Harris).

Tomorrow...the musicals!

Not A Day Goes By, Not A Single Day

Among musical theatre queens, there is a rare but hardy breed, the few, the proud: the Stephen Sondheim Geeks. You can identify us by our love for intricate lyrics and melodies, our inability to realize that Glynis Johns cannot sing, and our messianic belief that Follies is a wildly underrated work of genius.

For my fellow Sondheimanics, I gift you the New York Times' interactive timeline of our lord and master's career. It's been built in conjunction with their review of the new Broadway production Sondheim On Sondheim, an exquisite career retrospective that you must run to see. Trust me, no matter how many times you've heard "Being Alive," you haven't truly heard it until you hear Norm Lewis sing it. (And Vanessa Williams is pretty brilliant, too.)

Georgia Destroys Its Cultural Heritage

The state of my birth, Georgia, is responsible for some of the greatest artists of the 20th century: Flannery O'Connor, Gladys Knight, Alice Walker, Steven Soderbergh, Kanye West, Julia Roberts, Otis Redding, Johnny Mercer, Carson McCullers, Ma Rainey, Little Richard, Mary J. Blige, and, of course, Ryan Seacrest. (Well, they can't all be winners.)

So it's devastating to realize that Georgia may become the first state in the union to entirely eliminate its state arts council. Without it, the museums, classical music groups, theater, art, dance, and writing centers will probably close in the next few years, if not months. Devastating for kids, who've already seen art education disappear from the schools. Appalling. Appalling and shameful. I'm embarrassed to be from such a place.

ModMusic: The Gossip "Pop Goes The World"

Because she is everything the world needs, and ModFab is her devoted and helpless slave, I give you: La Ditto. 'Bout time this got released as a single.


Pop Goes The World

GOSSIP | MySpace Music Videos

Required Post-Tax-Day Reading

Most Americans have been fooled into the idea that taxes are inherently bad. In fact, however, taxes help the overwhelming majority of us far more than we pay in. This article from Truthdig spells it out in glorious detail...a must-read for everyone, really.

America's double-bind idiocy -- that we pass tax cuts again and again (on the super-rich no less, who don't need cuts!) while going deeper and deeper in debt -- will eventually destroy our nation. Will we ever learn? And will we learn in time?

(And the next time you see a Republican Tea Party freak bitching about the size of Obama's spending, ask them if they'll give up their Social Security and Medicare. They're complete hypocrites, demanding entitlemnets for themselves while complaining about them for everyone else. The only federal handouts the Tea Partiers like is the one in their own hand.)

Idina Menzel: Revisiting Her Best

On her new EP (coinciding with her run on Glee and the apparent dead-end rock career), Tony winner Idina Menzel has included new acoustic versions of some of her biggest Broadway hits: "No Day But Today" from Rent, and "Defying Gravity" from Wicked. "No Day" is breathtaking, dazzling, and a stark reminder of the power in Jonathan Larson's music. Get it.

Normally, I would just link to the new Scissor Sisters song, "Night Work," and rave at length about how deliciously slutty it is (and how juicy this Robert Mapplethorpe print is, which graces the single's new cover). But XO's Middle Eight did it better than I ever could have, so I insist you go over there, pay the cover charge, get your towel and your locker key, and have a good time.

Modmusic Download: Detroit Starrzz

ModFab HQ has been shaking something fierce this week, thanks to dance outfit Detroit Starrzz, a London collective who count among their number Colin Waterson (who I first saw as a dancer in Matthew Bourne's fabulously homoerotic version of Swan Lake) and Victoria Wilson-James, who music geeks will remember from her stint in Soul II Soul back in the day.

The single, Halo, is available for free at the band's Facebook page. It's got a little bit of everything we love: the stomp of early Fischerspooner, the dark edge of Depeche Mode, the funky rhythm of Stereo MCs, and buzzy production values reminiscent of Adam Lambert. Check 'em out.

Halo (Radio Edit)bycolinwaterson

Waltz Darling (An Elegy For Malcolm McLaren)

One of music's seminal figures of the 20th century, Malcolm McLaren, passed away yesterday at the age of 64. It's rough when one of your heroes dies, but McLaren was, to me, one of the great inspirational artists of our day. Tough to take.

Most people know McLaren as the brains behind the British punk gods The Sex Pistols, but McLaren was an astonishingly versatile artist in his own right. From the operatic grandeur of Fans to the dance acculturation of Waltz Darling to the icy elegance of Paris, McLaren adopted styles and genres as readily as others don wardrobes. Jazz, pop, rock, hip-hop, opera, club music...all found their way into McLaren's vision of a musically interconnected world.

In short, he was the Andy Warhol of pop: a cultural ambassador, tour guide, and majestically talented thief. I don't think there's been anyone like him (maybe Bowie?), and I doubt in our rapidly-devolving musical age that there will ever be another.

A sampling of his work:



The first album that connected me to McLaren's genius was 1989's Waltz Darling, an exploration of classical impulses juxtaposed against funk and dance rhythms. Years before Madonna made "Vogue," McLaren recorded the far-superior "Deep In Vogue," collaborating with choreographer Willi Ninja (who would later gain fame from the documentary Paris is Burning). On my iPod at all times, whenever life needs a dance break.



Transmogrified Puccini, spoken word, and a drum machine? It should never have worked, but here it is. 25 years later and still there's nothing like it, the blend of high and low cultures, the simultaneous cultural awareness and appropriation.



It may be difficult today to understand how visionary "Buffalo Girls" (and the album it comes from, Duck Rock), was back in the day -- sampling is ubiquitous in modern music, but it was revolutionary at this time. I remember clubs going insane when this track came on. And underneath it all, a real sense of musicality pervades the track...as does a prescient idea of the power of rap.



"Paris Paris," with its seductive swirls and lush vocal by Catherine Deneuve, is representative of the rich concept album Paris, still in heavy rotation in my house on Sunday mornings while making breakfast. I could swim in this track.



The Sex Pistols. Just imagine -- a world where the Bee Gees are the biggest band in the world, and disco is all the rage. Can you imagine what these guys must have been like? Wow. Stunning.

ModMusic: You Gotta Tip On The "Tightrope"

I'm telling you, if this summer is even half as shimmy-shaking as the recent crop of music singles promises to be, I'm going to dance all the way to September. Here's the latest, Janelle Monae's iPod must-have, "Tightrope," a bracing hipswinger that slaps you so hard you just have to start moving. It precedes her new album, The ArchAndroid, conveniently coming out on my birthday, May 18. (Here's the Hype Machine link, if you just can't wait.)