How'd We Do? Show Showdown Tony Predictions Wrap-Up 2016

Our correct predictions are highlighted.

	Wendy	Sandra	Cameron	Liz
Best play: The Humans	The Humans	The Humans	The Humans	King Charles III
Best musical: Hamilton	Hamilton	Hamilton	Hamilton	Hamilton
Best revival of a play: A View From the Bridge	A View from the Bridge	A View from the Bridge	A View from the Bridge	The Crucible
Best revival of a musical: The Color Purple	The Color Purple	Fiddler on the Roof	The Color Purple	The Color Purple
Best book of a musical:  Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton	Hamilton	Hamilton	Hamilton	Hamilton
Best original score: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton	Hamilton	Hamilton	Hamilton	Hamilton
Leading actor in a play: Frank Langella, The Father	Mark Strong, A View from the Bridge	Mark Strong, A View from the Bridge	Frank Langella, The Father	Mark Strong or Frank Langella (Liz gets ½ point here, since she guessed two.)
Leading actress in a play: Jessica Lange, Long Day’s Journey into Night	Jessica Lange, Long Day's Journey Into Night	Jessica Lange, Long Day's Journey Into Night	Jessica Lange, Long Day's Journey Into Night	Sophie Okonedo,    The Crucible
Leading actor in a musical: Leslie Odom, Jr., Hamilton	Leslie Odom, Jr., Hamilton	Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton	Leslie Odom, Jr., Hamilton	Leslie Odom, Jr., Hamilton
Leading actress in a musical: Cynthia Erivo, The Color Purple	Cynthia Errivo, The Color Purple	Philippa Soo, Hamilton	Cynthia Errivo, The Color Purple	Cynthia Errivo, The Color Purple
Featured actor in a play: Reed Birney, The Humans	Reed Birney, The Humans	Reed Birney, The Humans	Reed Birney, The Humans	Reed Birney, The Humans
Featured actress in a play: Jayne Houdyshell, The Humans	Jayne Houdyshell, The Humans	Jayne Houdyshell, The Humans	Megan Hilty, Noises Off	Megan Hilty, Noises Off
Featured actor in a musical: Daveed Diggs, Hamilton	Daveed Diggs,        Hamilton	Daveed Diggs,   Hamilton	Christopher Jackson, Hamilton	Daveed Diggs, or Christopher Jackson (Liz gets ½ point here, since she guessed two.)
Featured actress in a musical: Renee Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton	Renée Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton	Renée Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton	Renée Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton	Renée Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton
Scenic design, play: David Zinn, The Humans	Jan Versweyveld A View from the Bridge	Jan Versweyveld A View from the Bridge	Christopher Oram, Hughie	David Zinn, The Humans
Scenic design, musical: David Rockwell, She Loves Me	David Korins, Hamilton	David Korins, Hamilton	David Korins, Hamilton	David Korins, Hamilton
Costume design, play: Clint Ramos, Eclipsed	Michael Krass, Noises Off	Jane Greenwood, Long Day's Journey Into Night	Jane Greenwood, Long Day's Journey Into Night	Clint Ramos, Eclipsed
Costume design, musical: Paul Tazewell, Hamiltom	Paul Tazewell, Hamilton	Paul Tazewell, Hamilton	Paul Tazewell, Hamilton	Paul Tazewell, Hamilton
Lighting, play: Natasha Katz, Long Day’s Journey Into Night	Natasha Katz, Long Day's Journey Into Night	Jan Versweyveld, The Crucible	Jan Versweyveld, A View From the Bridge	Jan Versweyveld, The Crucible
Lighting, musical: Howell Binkley, Hamilton	Howell Binkley, Hamilton	Howell Binkley, Hamilton	Howell Binkley, Hamilton	Howell Binkley, Hamilton
Direction, play: Ivo Van Hove, A View From the Bridge	Ivo Van Hove, A View From the Bridge	Ivo Van Hove, A View From the Bridge	Ivo Van Hove, A View From the Bridge	Ivo Van Hove, A View From the Bridge
Direction, musical: Thomas Kail, Hamilton	Thomas Kail, Hamilton	Thomas Kail, Hamilton	Thomas Kail, Hamilton	Thomas Kail, Hamilton
Choreograpy: Andy Blanken-buehler, Hamilton	Andy Blankenbuehler, Hamilton	Andy Blankenbuehler, Hamilton	Andy Blankenbuehler, Hamilton	Andy Blankenbuehler, Hamilton
Orchestrations: Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton	Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton	Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton	Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton	Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton
Total correct	20/24 (83%)	16/24 (67%)	18/24 (75%)	17/24 (71%)

Show Showdown's Tony Picks (Not All of Which Are "Hamilton")

If you are a reader of this blog, we probably don't have to tell you that early June means the annual Tony awards. Even if you are not a reader of this blog, we also probably don't have to tell you that Hamilton is up for a record-breaking 16 awards, and that it will very well end up getting most of them. But wait! That doesn't mean the broadcast will be dull! There have been some remarkable shows and performances on Broadway (and beyond) this year, and we’re looking forward to seeing excerpts on tv--and finding out who wins in some of the non-Hamilton categories. Plus, who knows? Major upsets happen sometimes, so it's not over 'til it's over--or at least 'til Burr takes deadly aim.

Without further ado, then, Show Showdown's humble contributors offer you our Tony predictions--and much, much more!---after the jump and this fetching picture of James Corden holding a Tony and maybe talking or singing to it.

2015 On Stage

It may be redundant at this point, but I want to echo my colleagues and reiterate that it's really just gob-smacking to be able to live in a time of such bounteous creation, and to have the opportunity to see as much theater as I do. Between my personal theater-going, my responsibilities for our humble blog and my position as a regional critic for Talkin' Broadway (where I cover theatrical productions in Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware), I saw well over 100 shows in 2015. Some were unbelievably good, some unbelievably bad, and many held moments of wonder. Narrowing down the list to a manageable number of "bests" wasn't easy, but that is what I have attempted to do herein. So, without further ado, here are the theatrical experiences that have remained foremost in my mind throughout the year (in alphabetical order):

Daniel N. Durant and Krysta Rodriguez in Spring Awakening.
Photo: Joan Marcus

Barbecue

Photo: Joan Marcus

My colleagues Wendy and Liz generally offered praise for Robert O'Hara's Barbecue, which runs through next Sunday at The Public's Newman Theater (read their thoughts here and here). In keeping with their earlier reviews, mine will be somewhat cagey, as I agree that knowing too much about this play before going in may spoil the experience. However, unlike my co-writers, I am not going to enthusiastically recommend this play, which too often feels like a Tyler Perry movie without the Christian subtext. O'Hara may have set out to skewer the ways in which Hollywood/Broadway/the memoir industry prey on the sad, drug-addled lives of the downtrodden, but the finished product is neither profound nor particularly interesting. The large cast work their butts off but can't overcome the fact that the play isn't as funny the author thinks -- and I had a hard time believing that many of the actors, playing siblings, were family. (Most of them seemed like they'd just met moments before taking the stage.) Kent Gash's production is, oddly, too slow and too short. I wanted to like Barbecue, but like a burger that stays on the grill a few minutes too long, it left an odd and unsatisfying taste in my mouth. -- by Cameron Kelsall

[Member tickets, mid-orchestra]

Sylvia

Annaleigh Ashford garnered praise and a Tony nomination for her scene-stealing work in Kinky Boots; a year later, she walked away with the prize for her dizzyingly satisfying turn as Essie Carmichael in an otherwise banal revival of You Can't Take It With You. The occupational hazard of being a brilliant supporting performer is that one can end up fenced into the sidelines, never given the chance to shine in a leading role. And, of course, there are those whose talents don't translate to the ability to carry a production (I'm reminded of the usually wonderful character actor Michael Park, who floundered when tasked with leading Atlantic Theatre Company's revival of The Threepenny Opera). When it was announced that Ashford would headline the Broadway premiere of A.R. Gurney's sweetly funny 1995 play Sylvia, I found myself excited and trepidacious. Would her quirky comic style extend widely enough to cover this fairly substantial role? Or would it become clear that her gifts are best sampled in small doses?

I don't know why I worried. Ashford's Sylvia is a marvel, and one of the most ebulliently joyous comic performances I've witnessed in years. The role is tricky -- in case you didn't know, the lady in question is a an anthropomorphized dog -- and some of Gurney's humor can feel middlebrow. Ashford transcends any weakness in the writing, offering a master class in physical comedy, pitch-perfect timing, and even surprising subtlety.

Fool For Love

Sam Shepard's Fool For Love is a strange, searing play. Although it takes place in real time, in the stark and unforgiving Western landscape the author so often favors, one cannot shake the feeling that the play is part dream, part nightmare. Does the dusty motel room occupied by May (Nina Arianda) truly exist? Is her long-lost cowboy lover, Eddie (Sam Rockwell), recently returned from a long absence, a figment of her imagination? And who, exactly, is the old man (Gordon Joseph Weiss) who haunts the periphery?

The weirdness that can make this work thrilling also renders its execution beastly. The two central actors need to be in perfect syncopation; the play's single act (70 minutes) must unfurl at a breathless clip. The director must strike a delicate balance between realism and fantasy. Robert Altman took too heavy a hand in the 1985 film version, starring Shepard and Kim Basinger. When watched today, it comes across as an unintentional comedy. A 2006 London production starring Juliette Lewis drew poor reviews. What, then, would be the fate of its long-awaited Broadway debut, at Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, under the direction of Daniel Aukin?

Cameron Kelsall Joining Talkin' Broadway

I am pleased to announce that I will be joining Talkin' Broadway as a contributing critic. I will be covering theatrical productions in New Jersey and Philadelphia. Although I can't provide a firm date at this time, I expect to begin filing reviews sometime in the very near future. I will continue to serve in my capacity as a contributor for Show Showdown. -- Cameron Kelsall

Spring Awakening

Two young women reflect each other through a mirror. One is dark-haired and slight, with a deeply expressive face. The other is blond and fuller-bodied, with a guitar strapped to her back. They both sing: one uses her voice; the other, her hands. Despite their differences, there is no question that they reflect the same person. This is how Deaf West's extraordinary production of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's Spring Awakening announces itself.

photo: Kevin Parry

Directed by the actor Michael Arden, this revival of the 2006 musical -- currently playing at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, after a successful run in Los Angeles -- puts the action in the context of the 1880 Second International Conference on Education of the Deaf, which occurred a decade prior to the publication of Franz Wedekind's Spring's Awakening, on which the musical is based. Known colloquially as the Milan Conference, it banned the teaching of sign language in favor of lip reading and oralism. Assimilation was prescribed as the only answer to the "deaf question;" those who could not essentially pass for hearing had no place in society.

Mercury Fur

I find it hard to believe that Philip Ridley's Mercury Fur -- written in 2005, but just now receiving its New York premiere, under the auspices of The New Group -- caused such ire upon its original London bow that the critic Charles Spencer to basically call Ridley a pervert and the author's regular publisher, Faber and Faber, refused to issue the text in print. After all, the play premiered a decade after Sarah Kane's Blasted, a truly unsettling piece that actually simulated rape, mutilation and cannibalism in full view. Horrible things are the purview of this dystopian drama, but the vehicle is almost entirely talk. The talk is laced with fucks and cunts, but it's hardly shocking on the language or the content level. The play portrays a post-apocalyptic world in which any fantasy can be bought for the right price; brothers Elliot (Zane Pais) and Darren (Jack DiFalco) facilitate these encounters and act as purveyors of the drug-du-jour, taken in the form of butterflies.

photo: Michelle V. Agins

I won't reveal the particular fantasy being bought in Mercury Fur, though other critics have. But I will say that by the time it becomes clear -- after nearly two intermissionless hours -- it's hard not to feel that the playwright hasn't earned the shock he's trying to sell. Ridley is obsessed with the minutiae of life in a dystopia -- surviving in a nightmarish landscape becomes just as boring as trying to climb the corporate ladder. But does his writing and the action that surrounds it (Pais and DiFalco spend much of the play's first half-hour cleaning an apartment, doing little else) have to actually be so boring in order to portray banality?

Although the acting is largely good -- Tony Revolori (late of The Grand Budapest Hotel) and Paul Iacono (apparently playing a cisgender woman, for reasons never fully understandable) are particular standouts -- the play never catches fire. And it never feels disquieting. The best works of art in this genre should make you question the darker aspects of your own society. That is something Mercury Fur simply doesn't achieve.

[discounted ticket, almost impossible to accurately describe my seat given the theater's current configuration]