Stage Door: Tony Award Nominations

They're here. The 2012 Tony Award nominations. For your perusal and discussion the nominee list. Unfortunately this year I saw relatively few shows: Follies (genius), Porgy & Bess (strong), Bonnie & Clyde (errrr). The stage adaptation of the film musical Once (2007) led the nominations with 11. I still haven't seen it (sniffle) but I love the film. Porgy & Bess is close behind with 10 nominations including a possible record-tying fifth win from the one and only Audra McDonald.

Audra McDonald & Norm Lewis (sensational) in Porgy & Bess

Best Play

• Clybourne Park
• Other Desert Cities
• Peter and the Starcatcher
• Venus in Fur

 Best Musical

• Leap of Faith
• Newsies
• Nice Work If You Can Get It
• Once

Yes, three movie adaptations out of four. 75% which is about right given what gets produced these days.

Best Revival of a Play

• Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
• Gore Vidal’s The Best Man
• Master Class
• Wit

Best Revival of a Musical

•  Evita
• Follies
• The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
• Jesus Christ Superstar

 Bernadette Peters Loses Her Mind -- she's the only lead Follies player without a nomination

Three of the four have had movie adaptations made of them.

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"Into the Woods" Watch...

When Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods" was announced as part of the great Shakespeare in the Park series for this summer (July 23rd- Aug 25th), I felt like living happily ever after. It's such a great show and seeing it outdoors may well feel like how it was always meant to be seen. With the recent announcement that Amy Adams would be playing the Baker's Wife (a wonderful part) it occurred to me ~ this won't be the first time she's sung in Central Park.

Lately Shakespeare in the Park has been easing up a bit on the star casting preferring midlevel stars or stage talent or one big name but the casting of Adams may signal a change. My friend Tom at the Broadway Blog got  me way too excited about what might follow with this little bit (after the jump).

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Stage Door: Carrie White, Sweeney Todd, and More...

Some people just can't be killed. Carrie White is one of them.

The bastard girl was born from a sweaty brief affair between religious fanatic Margaret White and a man unknown. (Maybe Margaret doesn't even know since the memory of sex seems to fill her with such masochistic horndog fever; can we trust anything that pours from her mouth not to have been thoroughly reworked by her demented faith?) By 1974 the shy teenager was infamous having massacred her whole town in the pages of Stephen King's best seller "Carrie". Brian de Palma's film adaptation Carrie (1976) immortalized the teenage telekinetic once and for all. Carrie White "burns in hell" but she's still aflame in popular culture, too. There will be no snuffing her out.

So what better time to resurrect her again than now when teen bullying is such a hot news topic? "Carrie" (the musical) was an infamous flop on Broadway in 1988 but the shy awkward girl has been given a makeover and is born again Off Broadway at the MCC Theater where she will rampage through April 22nd.

It's always a bit hard to imagine Carrie rampaging when you first meet her all shy awkward and lonely in that hell on earth: the high school locker room.

Marin Mazzie and Molly Ranson in "Carrie" Off Broadway

MORE AFTER THE JUMP...

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Sing "Far From Heaven", Sing!

Far From Heaven, one of our favorite movies here at TFE, is stage bound. Musical stage bound to be more precise. Not every property was meant to be reinterpreted for the musical form but you've generally got a head start on greatness if the story or appeal is already heightened as it were...

Some emotions are too deep to speak. You have to sing them. Imagine Cathy Whitaker's voice soaring over some poignant melody while her heart is quietly breaking? Imagine the opportunities for a great 11th hour duet that maybe becomes a solo at the train station.

Gives you chills it does.

Viola Davis in "Far From Heaven"But this could all go horribly wrong. Perhaps big brassy pastiche numbers like "Mr & Mrs Magnatech" await us? And Mr Whitaker's gay escapades in musical context could veer way too far into unintentional camp rather than 50s homage. The musical will premiere in July 2012 at the Williamstown Theater Festival but no cast has yet been announced.

Do you think they'll give the best sidebar song to Sybil the maid (the Viola Davis role) or Cathy's evil bestie Elle (the Patty Clarkson role)?

Invent song titles in the comments. May the best amateur composer win!

The musical is being written by the team behind the musicalized Grey Gardens. If you've never heard any songs from that show I've included the best one after the jump "Around the World".

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10 Things I Learned About Kathleen Turner This Week

Kathleen Turner as Molly Ivins

Those of you in the Los Angeles area have two enticing theater options coming up. The first -- an absolute must see -- is the Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies. It's coming to LA soon from Broadway intact but for Bernadette Peters who will be replaced by another major but less famous talent, Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza). The other theater option is currently playing. I can't vouch for since I haven't seen it, but it's the one and only Kathleen Turner playing Molly Ivins in the one woman show Red Hot Patriot.

I have however seen Kathleen Turner live on stage twice (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and High) and she doesn't lose even one ounce of her charisma or gift on the stage the way many screen stars do when they attempt the transfer. Earlier this week she had a live chat at the LA Times Culture Monster and, though I've never participated in one of those before it was my darling Kathleen (she along with Pfeiffer and Streep is how I became such an actress-obsessive in my formative years) so I had to!

I told her I missed her onscreen and her response went like so.

I have a film coming out called A Perfect Family sometime this Spring. I still enjoy camera acting, but it's not as exhilarating to me as being on stage."

Ten other things I learned during her chat with fans after the jump...

10 Notable Bits From Kathleen Turner's Live Chat

10. Her favorite actors are Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Judi Dench. How strange is that? MOMENTS before this live chat we had just made a major plea for them to present at the Oscars together. This is empirical evidence that Kathleen was reading the Film Experience as she answered questions! ;) But in all serious lord knows if she ever googles herself, she's seen the site.  

"PUSSY WILLOW"

09. Her favorite of her own films is Serial Mom because she has so many wonderful memories from the set ("most laughs") and she is still close with John Waters. This movie prompted the funnest questions from her gathered fans. Had she ever made a prank phone call "For heaven's sake, no! Nor will I". One fan said the house the real Serial Mom lived in in Baltimore was for sale. Should he buy it and give tours? "Good luck!" was her perfect succinct response. 

8-1 after the jump

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