The 69th annual Tony Award nominations were announced Tuesday morning by co-hosts Mary-Louise Parker, past Tony winner, and Bruce Willis (yes, since you just asked yourself, he's going to make his Broadway debut in the upcoming "Misery"). The awards will be handed out on June 7th in a live telecast from Radio City Music Hall, co-hosted by Kristen Chenoweth and Alan Cumming.
Kristen is one of the five nominated for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical" for her portrayal of "Lily" in "On the Twentieth Century." She joins Chita Rivera for "The Visit," Kelli O'Hara (who has never won a Tony) for "The King and I," Leanne Cope for "An American in Paris" (lots of great dancing), Chita Rivera (she's won two, will she get a third at 82 years of age?) for "The Visit," and Beth Malone (whom Buffalo audiences have seen years ago in "Ring of Fire" at the old Studio Arena) for "Fun Home."
As Anthony (let's call him Tony in this paragraph) says about the awards, the nominating committee usually has higher and more pure standards of what constitutes good theater than the ultimate voting group, who often choose to promote their own show or vote to give a Tony to a show that they have booked, knowing that a Tony Award will help their box office.
A bona-fide Tony Award winning Broadway star comes to Buffalo, one night only, this Saturday May 2nd at 8:00 at Kleinhans Music Hall when the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra presents Debbie Gravitte in "Bond and Beyond." Debbie won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway,”
Some openings of note include Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the New Phoenix Theatre. Directed by Kelli Bocock-Natale, Peter hopes that it will rival the magic and intensity of an unforgettable Shakespeare's "Macbeth" that Kelli directed several seasons past at New Phoenix. The ever-popular "She Loves Me" (a musical version of "The Shop Around the Corner") with music by Jerry Bock opens at the Kavinoky. And "Rust Belt Grotesque" is an evening of one act plays presented by American Rep at ART InTheBox at 16 Linwood.
"On The Roof" is a one-night only reading of a new play by Donna Hoke presented by BUA at the Alleyway's Main Street Cabaret and it is on Monday, May 4th.
