Tony Nominations: First Impressions

At first I decided to wait until I went to New York to weigh in on the Tony nominations, but I decided to write about my initial reactions now, and post my [not-so] official predictions later...

The biggest surprise for me is that Kristen Chenoweth was not nominated for The Apple Tree. It's probably the toughest category of the season, but the girl played three contrasting leading ladies in the show, for chrissakes. And never missed a performance! At least she knows she's amazing, and is probably too busy to deal with the stress of being nominated again. I'm happy that her career is taking off, and I hope that she was able to reap the benefits of starring in such a challenging role, even though she isn't being recognized for it by the Tony voters.

Other surprises in terms of actors missing from the nominations are Lea Michele for Spring Awakening (I'll have a stronger opinion on this after I see the show this weekend), Ashley Brown for Mary Poppins, Marian Seldes for Deuce, and Michael Arden and Thom Sesma for The Times They Are A-Changin'. I feel bad for Lea because she has been with the show for so long, seen it through every incarnation, and her two co-stars are nominated. Ashley has a huge responsibility of starring in a Disney musical of huge proportions. But the two of them are so young, and the category is full of old pro's (Audra McDonald, Debra Monk, Christine Ebersole, and Donna Murphy), it's a hard sell. But Laura Bell Bundy is quite a surprise. I'm not sure what the Tony committee see in her that they don't see in Lea or Ashley, but I would put the 3 of them in the same category of exposure, experience, and star calibre. Marian Seldes I feel bad for because she and Angela Lansbury allegedly share equal billing. It'd be kind of like in 2004 if Idina Menzel were nominated for Wicked but Kristen Chenoweth was snubbed. And Michael Arden and Thom Sesma were the only two good things mentioned about The Times... (although Lisa Brescia got positive reviews, too), and they are missing out this year again. I know I'm a bit biased because of my adoration for Michael, but perhaps the nominations would have been different had the show been more successful.

If Laura Bell Bundy, Christian Borle, and Orfeh (I know she's a great talent, but I'm curious tho know how great she can really be in this show) were worthy of being nominated, along with Jerry Mitchell for choreography (although not for director...his directorial debut) and countless other creative nominations, I wonder why Legally Blonde was not recognized for Best Musical. It was eligible, but perhaps it wasn't open long enough for people to really catch on to it.

I feel bad for shows like Xanadu and The Times... or other shows that open early in the season. Whether or not they are successful, they have to maintain their popularity and buzz throughout the year so as to not be snubbed by the Tony's. This is not to say that shows that are not popular or have limited runs don't get nominated, but it's harder for a show with great performers or design teams to keep their names in the running...it must be easy to fall through the cracks. So best wishes to Xanadu, and better luck next time to Twyla Tharp and Michael Arden.

I'm so stoked about my trip to NYC! I feel like I'm going at such an exciting time for Broadway theater, and I hope to be able to gain some insight from the shows I am seeing (only Spring Awakening and Talk Radio on Broadway) as well as from the buzz and hype of the other productions.