Tony Nominations Update: Who Got Dissed Big-Time

Posted by Michael Musto at 3:00 PM, May 13, 2008

I've now had a few hours to get myself off the floor and re-review the Tony nominations announced this morning and realize that, seeing as I got 44 out of 56 right, they MUST be pretty spot-on. It's a respectable, inclusive batch of nominees—yay for August: Osage County, Gypsy, In The Heights, and Mary McCormack—though, of course, the seething omissions are what I always love to dwell on. Somehow there was no Kevin Kline, who always opens too early in the season to be remembered for his textured brilliance. Nothing for the black Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which was an interesting mess, but without one outstanding factor for nominators to seize on. Not much love for the divinely challenging Top Girls, which was a love/leave proposition. Utter hatred for Young Frankenstein, which only got three nominations thanks to a backlash against Mel's $450 ego. (Even its original songs lost out to the ones for The Little Mermaid). Cold contempt for A Catered Affair, which was squeezed out in Best Musical by the much livelier Cry-Baby. (By the way, hooray for Cry-Baby. The show was unfairly compared to Hairspray, though it's a funfest all its own.) And nothing for the ineligible flop Glory Days—or as drag stars Mimi Imfurst and Eve Starr call it, Glory DAY.

Kudos to the Tony comittee for not automatically going for any big name who would beef up the public interest in the telecast. They resolutely didn't nominate Morgan Freeman, Terrence Howard, Frances McDormand, James Earl Jones, Laura Linney, or Megan Mullally. As a result, the Tony show may have toilety ratings, but it'll have integrity, and that's the main thing you need in the the-ah-ter (in addition to hard candies without wrappers that make a lot of noise)!

See them all at www.tonyawards.com!

Who Will Get Tony Nominations? Only I Know--Or Care

Posted by Michael Musto at 9:00 AM, March 28, 2008

I know I'm the only one within miles who gives a rat's ass about this, especially so early in the game, but please humor me as I put out my predictions for my favorite Tony awards category, Best Actress in a Musical. (Come on, please! This can't really harm anyone and it'll make me feel so good.) It's shaping up as a real wowser category, even better than last year when Christine Ebersole beat Audra McDonald and three other indestructible divas. This time, the nominees will surely be (drumroll): Patti LuPone, Gypsy (Ben Brantley raved! Yay!); Kelli O'Hara, South Pacific; Faith Prince, A Catered Affair; Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park With George; and Kerry Butler, Xanadu. I am so dead sure about these picks that I'm willing to suggest a very special can't-harm-anyone offer: If I'm wrong, you can buy me lunch to make me feel better.

What the Butler Saw: How Gay is Xanadu!

Posted by Michael Musto at 3:00 PM, March 26, 2008

Kerry Butler, the one on the left

As I mentioned in the column, I finally met Kerry Butler, the winning star of Broadway's nutty Xanadu, and she told me she LOVES it when she looks out into the audience and spots a lot of gays. "I think, 'Yay! it's gay night!'," Kerry exulted with a glinty smile. Of course the show has official Boys Nights, promotional events whereby they BEG for decorators from Hell's Kitchen to fill the seats. And Kerry simply adores that too. As she told me, "I wish every night was gay night!" Honey, over at Gypsy, it IS.