Tony Award Predictions. Are you watching this Sunday?

by Patrick Ball and Nathaniel R

Will SLAVE PLAY emerge as the big winner?

The first leaves of Autumn 2021 will soon fall and we're finally wrapping up the ‘19/'20 Broadway season. The long-awaited Tony Awards are here this weekend from 7-9 PM EST on Paramount+ (where they will hand out most of the statues including the acting prizes) followed by a concert celebration of sorts from 9-11 PM EST on CBS where they will hand out the final few awards. These pandemic postponed awards will be divided among a smaller slate of shows than usual, as the Broadway shutdown instituted in March of 2020 cut the eligibility window off early. Broadway shows are only now in the process of reopening. All this affected the way we awards enthusiasts are able to predict this year’s show as well. The normal circuit of precursor awards happened a year and a half ago, if they even happened at all, and final voting took place last March (!) well before any shows had reopening dates. So there isn’t much in the way of narratives or momentum to consider. But, hey, the odd and unprecedented nature of this awards cycle presents a challenge, and who doesn’t love a challenge? Follow along below as we try to make sense of it all and be sure to tune in on Sunday to see how it all pans out... 

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20 Appropriate Ways to Celebrate "Moulin Rouge!" for its 20th Anniversary

by Nathaniel R

Moulin Rouge! opened wide in the US twenty years ago today. We had already seen it in limited release on opening night at the historic Ziegfeld Theatre in NYC, a night we will literally never forget. It was immediately polarizing but also instantly beloved to those on its wavelength. Nicole Kidman ascended. Ewan McGregor became the ultimate dreamboat. And Jim Broadbent won the Oscar (we pretend it was for this instead of Iris...  hey, it sorta was!) The hit musical made a huge difference for Hollywood, leading to a still-going-strong resurgence of a long dormant movie genre. It also made a huge difference to this very site; The Film Experience had been taking baby steps up until then in various forms and the rise of the movie coincided with a surge in popularity for the site that effectively put us on the map. We will love this movie until our dying day. 

Here are twenty ways to celebrate Baz Luhrmann's masterpiece this week. How many will you accomplish? Report back in the comments as to how it went...

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We're rejoicing over Broadway's Return

by Nathaniel R

Patti Lupone in "Company"

When Broadway was shut down on March 12th, 2020 the official story was "until April 12th, 2020". That one month time frame is hilariously optimistic in retrospect (and even raised some eyebrows at the time). Cut to mid May 2021 and Broadway is still closed but with notice that theaters can reopen at full capacity in September. 

But what gives with the Tony Awards? They announced a strange set of nominees after the Broadway closing culled from a very limited pool of shows since a lot hadn't yet opened (Broadway is typically busiest in the spring). Seven months later they still haven't uttered a peep about when those awards will take place. Aaron Tveit, the only nominee for Best Actor in a Musical, still doesn't know whether or not he won. All three of the current nominees in the marquee Tony category of Best Musical (i.e. the one that gets all the headlines and makes the box office difference) will be reopened by late October...

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Tony Nods 2020: "Jagged Little Pill" and "Slave Play" dominate

by Nathaniel R

The controversial "Slave Play," featuring multiple interracial couples and sexual power dynamics, transferred from Off-Broadway and was huge at the Tony nominations

We're not sure what possessed the Broadway League to announced Tony nominations in mid October (and some probable virtual ceremony in December), just after announcing that Broadway will not return before next summer (thereby missing another Tony season -- the theater season runs June to May). It's especially baffling because earlier it was understood that because the shutdown happened in March while so many of the shows that were expected heavyhitters were still in previews (like revivals of Company and West Side Story) so they never got a chance to be seen by Tony voters. Curious. As are the unusual nominations. But for those who miss Broadway (or just news of it from afar) here is the list that was announced this afternoon...

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Stage Door: "Moulin Rouge!" on Broadway

Stage Door is our intermittent theater review column, which might seem odd for a movie site, but we're headquartered in NYC so...

by Nathaniel R

Do you remember the sensation of watching Moulin Rouge! (2001) for the first time? I remember exactly where I was (the much-missed Zeigfeld theater in NYC)  and exactly how it felt as it washed, no, exploded all over me. Twas a dizzying overwhelming sensory experience from the moment the red curtain appeared. Moulin Rouge! (the movie) eventually calms down… or you acclimate to it (I’ve never known definitively which). The moment I gave in fully, convinced it was something emotionally special and not just a flurry of exciting images, was Ewan McGregor’s spontaneous inspirational belting of “The hills are alive… with the sound of music”. The moment the movie belonged to me, and I to it, was the entrance of the Sparkling Diamond herself, Satine (Nicole Kidman) descending on a trapeze to sing “Diamond’s are a Girl’s Best Friend”. 

These moments are dutifully recreated for the new Broadway incarnation. The experience is not quite the same. Some cinematic bliss cannot be easily transferred to a different medium. Nevertheless there’s still green fairy dust sprinkled on this musical. It just takes a bit longer to lift off...

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