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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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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Review: Mary Shelley

by Jason Adams

In the summer of 1816 one of the most legendary of literary happenings occurred - the poet Percy Shelley and his wife Mary went to stay at the poet Lord Byron's house near Lake Geneva for the summer. Mary's step-sister Claire wrangled them an invite (or so she said) since she was having an affair with the spitefully torrid Lord himself. Also joining them at the house was the Lord's physician John Polidori, who also fancied himself somewhat of a writer. And birthed from those weeks of most gothic merrymaking was basically the entirety of the horror genre to come: Mary Shelley would come up with her lovely little monster Frankenstein, while Polidori would write "The Vampyre," the inspiration for a certain Bram Stoker a swift generation later.

The story of that time and place has been well-trod by fiction before...

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Review: Far From The Madding Crowd

In Far From the Madding Crowd, a new film adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel, every eligible man wants Carey Mulligan’s winsome Bathsheba. But she cannot be tamed! (Funny how commitment phobia reads as strength in a female protagonist and weakness in a male protagonist). Or at least she won’t “settle” for less than what she’s already planned for herself. Nevertheless the wanting continues and the camera, observes her, often at a distance as with a memorable shot of Bathsheba laying back from her saddle, as if enjoying the tactile and visual sensations of the powerful creature beneath her and the vibrant foliage and sky above her.

(This review contains a general trajectory ending spoiler but it is based on a 151 year-old classic novel.)

Three bachelors and Bathsheba's issues after the jump... 

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Stage Door: Tom Sturridge Oscar's it Up in "Orphans"

Jose here. From its start, the new production of Lyle Kessler's famous Orphans, has been plagued with controversy and an aura of pure chaos. First, Shia LaBeouf infamously quit the play during the first week of rehearsals leading members of the press to wonder exactly what had gone wrong. While some blamed Alec Baldwin for his notorious bad temper, others wondered if there was indeed more than met the eye. LaBeouf was handily replaced by Ben Foster in the midst of a Broadway scandal that combined leaked emails, unexpected theater appearances and juicier drama than anyone in Smash could ever come up with.

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