Forget about Kate Baldwin and Christiane Noll, we all know the real person who will benefit from the news re Cook is Gina Gershon While I think some categories are harder to predict than others, I think Douglas Hodge pretty much has it in the bag and even though I'll be rooting for Zeta-Jones through the Tonys, I'm not holding my breath (though I don't think that's a done race in the way that Lead Actor kinda is). I'd love to see a play win Best Score over something as pedestrian as MEMPHIS.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
I'll be rooting for Zeta-Jones through the Tonys, I'm not holding my breath (though I don't think that's a done race in the way that Lead Actor kinda is).
I really think she will win. We need to take politics into account. We know CZJ will damn well be campaigning this Spring at all of the Tony events, etc. Regardless, I think she deserves it over Scott, and I am a fan of Scott as well.
Does anyone think American Idiot will be nominated for Best Book? I am cringing at the thought. I liked the musical, but it has 3-4 spoken lines with one-dimensional characters.
"Does anyone think American Idiot will be nominated for Best Book? I am cringing at the thought. I liked the musical, but it has 3-4 spoken lines with one-dimensional characters."
EVITA won Best Book in 1980 and it practically has no spoken dialog. It's nothing more than a string of songs.
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
EVITA won Best Book in 1980 and it practically has no spoken dialog. It's nothing more than a string of songs.
Actually, it is a bit more than a string of songs. Nothing occurs randomly in the show with no connective thread or narrative structure. The book is defined by more than spoken dialogue. Dreamgirls, Cats, Les Miserables, Falsettos, Sunset Boulevard, Rent and Ragtime won Best Book as well and they all have a relatively small percentage of the show devoted to spoken material.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
That's the problem. American Idiot has virtually no narrative structure. Sure there's a minor plot line, but that's about it. Updated On: 4/30/10 at 04:47 PM
Fine, here's a better example. CATS won Best Book and the plot is very ambiguous. I had no idea what was going on the first time I watched it. It's nothing more than T.S. Eliot poems strung together.
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
That Best Book Tony for 'Cats' was idiotic. T.S. Eliot was awarded for a show he never worked on, and he had been dead for nearly 2 decades by the time it reached Broadway. Updated On: 4/30/10 at 05:02 PM
Cats winning Best Book also has to do with putting the show into perspective. The other nominees included A Doll's Life, Merlin and My One and Only. Cats was a phenomenon of its day and its book contained a combination of the selection of poetry and the order of its songs to create an unconventional narrative structure to drive dramatic tension and balance the emotional content. The show was structured very carefully and very specifically to achieve its purpose and it did so quite successfully.
From a sort of opposite view, Two Gentlemen of Verona's spoken lines were almost entirely lifted from Shakespeare's play, but the way the play had to be edited to include the songs without diluting the plot was what gave it an edge and ultimately won it the award over Grease (the unexpected runaway hit), Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death and Follies.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
A win for Zeta-Jones is far from a sure thing. At this point, I'd say it's a 50/50 race between she and Scott, the latter of which has the backing of the NY Times, which worked wonders for Karen Olivo last year, who lost all the lead-up awards to Haydn Gwynne, but still (rightfully) won the Tony.
I don't have a problem with Cats winning Best Book - I just cannot understand how they decided that T.S. Eliot would be the only person eligible to receive it. Shouldn't it have gone to Trevor Nunn and Andrew Lloyd Webber? And shouldn't the Best Score Tony have gone to Webber alone since the lyrics were neither new nor written for the theatre?
I honestly think that Eddie Redmayne is the closest to being a sure thing for Best Featured Actor in a Play, but even that is hardly a lock.
It's sure to be an interesting awards season though.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
CZJ is also a huge star, a fact not to be taken lightly. Her delivering a winning speech on Tony night equals bigger ratings than a speech from Scott, whom most folks outside this board wouldn't be able to pick out of a lineup.
I'm not saying it's right, but it's something to consider.
I can see where you're coming from, taz. I disagree that there is no coherence, though. While some numbers could be switched around (which is common in countless other musicals), other numbers were very strategically placed. And its originality took people by surprise. Do I think it's a great book? Of course not. But I do think it was the Best Book that season.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
The difference with Karen Olivo was that she wasn't up against a well-liked Hollywood star. I expect CZJ to campaign heavily this Spring, she is not stupid.
Well I think she would like to add a Tony to her Oscar. Who wouldn't? But she's been having such a great experience, I doubt the award means everything to her.
I am not saying she wouldn't LIKE it. I am saying she doesn't seem like the type of person to campaign hard for it.
Why do you think that? You must know her (and us) extremely well. Well, I HAVE met her and talked to her backstage and I can tell you she is a very lovely person who is having a great time on Broadway, and that's the most important thing to her. But psh! What do I know? Everyone on Broadway is OBVIOUSLY obsessed with getting awards. It's not about art at all.
Again, I am not saying she wouldn't like the Tony; I am saying it's not what she lives and breathes for.