Curtain Call: Tony Awards Nominations Are Announced
PLAYBILL
Broadway: The nominations for the 74th annual Tony Awards have been announced. The nominees were disclosed by actor James Monroe Iglehart via a virtual presentation for the reduced eligible productions due to the ongoing Broadway shutdown, which started in March. The productions of Slave Play, Sea Wall/A Life, and The Inheritance reigned in the play categories, while Moulin Rouge! The Musical and Jagged Little Pill, with 14 and 15 nominations respectively, along with Tina- The Tina Turner Musical served as the representation for musicals this season.
In quite a few historic turns for Musical Theater categories, the category of Leading Actor in a Musical counts this year with Aaron Tveit as the only nominated actor for his portrayal of Christian in Moulin Rouge! The Musical, while the category for Best Revival was eliminated due to the season’s planned revivals of Caroline, or Change, West Side Story, and Company being deemed ineligible by the ceremony’s administration committee. Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris leads the pack in the play spectrum with 12 nominations, including Best Play and Best Direction, breaking Angels in America’s record for most nominations in 2018. The ceremony is set to take place virtually sometime this fall with more information set to be announced at a later date.
The cast of Ain’t Too Proud - The Life and Times of the Temptations have released a music video for the hit “I’m Losing You”. The recording showcases cast and orchestra members from the show and aims to entwine the message of Black Lives Matter with the importance of voting. Kenny Seymour, who served as the music director and arranger of the hit musical, produced the virtual reunion.
Librettist Dominique Morriseau expressed that the song parallels well with the current civic unrest across the nation though the scene was written in the show to showcase the irony of the group’s rise to fame, while their hometown was in a social turmoil. The Broadway production tells the story of the group The Temptations and their journey in the music industry. The musical opened in March 2019 at the Imperial Theatre and was nominated for 12 Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
Notorious theatre designer Ming Cho Lee has passed away at 90. Lee, who designed more than 300 productions, began his career in 1956 as the assistant to set designer Jo Mielziner in Happy Hunting before being recognized as a major set designer in the country. Born on October 3, 1930 in Shanghai, Lee moved to the United States in 1949.
Apart from his considerable credits in dance, opera, and theatre, Lee also served as a teacher at Yale University, where he started teaching set design in 1969 before succeeding Donald Oenslager as the Chair of the Design Department. Lee became the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Henry Hewes Design Awards, as well as being honored with the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2013, among other various recognitions. He is survived by his wife Betsy and his children.
The Michael Jackson bio-musical titled MJ has been pushed back to 2021. The show is aiming to begin performances in September at the Neil Simon Theatre due to the announcement of the Broadway shutdown extension until March 2021. The project, previously titled Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, was slated to start previews at the venue on July 6th with an opening on August 13th.
Tony-nominee Ephraim Sykes will star as Jackson in the musical written by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and choreographed by Tony winner Christopher Wheeldon. The show was expected to begin an Off-Broadway run at the Nederlander Theatre in Chicago before deciding to make the jump to New York City. The production announced that audiences who have previously purchased tickets will be refunded and notified via email of pre-sale priority access for new dates for the musical based on the life of the king of pop.
THE THEATRE CENTER
Off-Broadway: Eight Off-Broadway theatres have united to file a lawsuit in order to reopen. The coalition includes a group of theatres and comedy clubs in the lawsuit against New York governor Andrew Cuomo and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio for keeping their venues closed during the pandemic. The list of plaintiffs includes Theater Center, the Players Theatre, Actors Temple Theater, SoHo Playhouse, the Gene Frankel Theater, the Triad, Broadway Comedy Club, and New York Comedy Club in the complaint submitted to Manhattan’s Federal District Court on October 23rd.
Catherine Russell, general manager of Theater Center, is leading the suit which states that while most recreational spaces have opened, including rehearsal studios and TV sets, theaters have been forced to remain closed. The theatres have seen this as an act of infringement upon “the right to work, contract, and engage in commerce.” Council City members have also called for legislation in order to ease restrictions and have an efficient approval process for ticketed open-air performances in an additional effort to further ease the restrictions in the theater industry.
The Women’s Project Theater has announced its 2020-2021 season. The company is presenting various all-free events which started on October 23rd, with a live reading of Ole White Sugah Daddy, written by Obehi Janice and directed by Caitlin Sullivan. The lineup for 2020 continues with a reading of Final Boarding Call by Stefani Kuo on November 20th through the 24th and will conclude December 3rd through the 7th with the production titled Lockdown by Cori Thomas.
The 2021 season will kick off with projects including Rebecca Martinez’s The Nourish Project, MJ Kaufman’s Galatea, and the rock opera Weightless by The Killbanes. The theater is dedicated to developing, producing, and promoting the work of women at every stage in their careers. Access to the event requires a reservation at The Women’s Project official website for the monthly presentation of the company’s work.
International: The timer is set for the release of the cast album of Back to the Future The Musical. The cast recording will be released through Sony Masterworks Broadway close to the May 14, 2021 date announced for the premiere of the musical at the Adelphi Theatre. A single titled “Back in Time” performed by Olly Dobson has become available before the album’s release. The musical will make its West End debut following an out-of-town opening in Manchester.
Based on the iconic film Back to the Future starring Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox, the musical is directed by Tony winner John Rando and stars Roger Bart and Dobson as Dr. Emmett Brown and Marty McFly respectively. Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard have teamed up for the music and lyrics, which will also showcase songs featured in the film. Additional casting is set to be announced at a further date for this anticipated adaptation.
The musical adaptation of Beetlejuice is set to make its international debut. The show based on Tim Burton’s film of the same name is set to start performances in June 2021 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, South Korea. The production, which tells the story of a deceased couple who try to haunt the new inhabitant’s of their home with the bio-exorcist ghost’s help, is written by Eddie Perfect with a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King, which earned eight Tony Award nominations during its Broadway run.
Seoul has been known as one of the few places that has kept theatre venues open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with successful musical productions of Mamma Mia! and The Phantom of the Opera. All productions have followed a strict sanitation protocol and mask requirement for audiences without any socially distancing rules. The venue plans to keep theater productions alive with upcoming productions of Tosca, Little Woman, and A Midsummer’s Night Dream all set to premiere next year.
