The Broadway Season So Far
With the arrival of the new year and with only four months remaining in the 2005-2006 Broadway season, I thought I'd take a look at where things stand in terms of success, failure, and Tony Awards, and at what's still to come.
The season for new straight plays began unpromisingly with Elaine May's latest, After the Night and the Music, which won a mostly negative reception and played out its limited Manhattan Theatre Club engagement. Its most outstanding performance was turned in by Eddie Korbich, recently seen in the L.A. run of The Drowsy Chaperone, about which more later. Things took a turn for the better with Antony Sher's solo play Primo, which received strong reviews and did well enough during its limited engagement. Sher is not likely to be forgotten when award nominations are handed out in the spring.
Roundabout had a disappointing entry in Richard Greenberg's A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, which, like After the Night and the Music, did not leave a strong impression. Better received was Souvenir, even if it was the star of the show, Judy Kaye as off-key diva Florence Foster Jenkins, who received most of the raves. Kaye seemed like a strong candidate for a Tony nomination, in the non-musical actress category because of Souvenir's designation as a play with music. But the fact that the play is closing this week could hurt Kaye's chances.
Although Primo and even Souvenir stand a chance at nominations, neither of those titles presents itself as a particularly strong candidate for the Best Play Tony. Which leaves lots of room for the plays coming in the new year. They include Well, which was much acclaimed at the Public Theatre; The History Boys, which was lauded at England's National Theatre; Rabbit Hole; Shining City; and Festen.
The same holds true of the five new play revivals Broadway has gotten thus far: Not one has received the sort of acclaim that leads to Tony wins. First came the pleasantly reviewed The Constant Wife, and while there were good notices for Kate Burton, Lynn Redgrave, and others, it was the sort of early-season mounting that tends to be forgotten by awards time. Manhattan Theatre Club's Absurd Person Singular was not well received. Lincoln Center Theater's Seascape got a decent reception, but struggled at the box office and was not extended. The greatest praise in Roundabout's revival of A Touch of the Poet went to leading man Gabriel Byrne.
And then, of course, there was The Odd Couple, the only show in recent history guaranteed sell-out business no matter what the reviews turned out to be. Of course, that's because the show's limited engagement to April was sold out in advance. Although it had its adherents, the production proved to be something of a disappointment. But that hardly seemed to matter. There is talk that this Odd Couple will be continuing into the spring and Tony time. Yet stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, who were such strong Tony candidates for The Producers, seem less so this time around.
The spring equivalent of The Odd Couple is likely to be the revival of Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain starring Julia Roberts. The revival of Brian Friel's Faith Healer sounds promising, and there's also Barefoot in the Park, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, and Lincoln Center Theater's Awake and Sing.
It must be said that the 2005-2006 Broadway musical season commenced on an unpromising note with the arrival of the critically lambasted, quickly folding Lennon, and the out-of-town closure of The Mambo Kings, the latter happening at least providing a Broadway home for The Color Purple.
Depending how you look at it, things either got no better with the arrival of In My Life, or they got pretty amusing, as In My Life was an unintentional hoot. And the millions poured into advertising what was an obvious loser that would, years ago, have closed overnight made In My Life into something of a Broadway laughing stock. In any case, it's possible to maintain that we may never see another Broadway musical quite like In My Life.
Then came the season's first unqualified hit, Jersey Boys, somewhat unexpected because Lennon, All Shook Up, and Good Vibrations had seemed to toll the death knell for jukebox musicals. But through sleek staging, adept writing, superb performances, and irresistible songs, Jersey Boys turned things around and looks likely to continue at the August Wilson Theatre for years to come.
Two more musicals followed. First was Andrew Lloyd Webber's return with The Woman in White, which received a mostly unfavorable reception with a few notable exceptions. While it started solidly enough at the box office, it appears to be a questionable bet for a long run. Looking likely to succeed, however, is The Color Purple, which got a mixed critical reception but is a crowd-pleaser that seems to move audiences. Word of mouth appears to be good, and there's always co-producer Oprah Winfrey, who's bound to continue to promote the show.
At this point, I'd have to say that Jersey Boys looks like the strongest candidate for the Best Musical Tony, with Color Purple also guaranteed a nomination. But there are a couple of big question marks ahead in Elton John's Lestat which has its official San Francisco opening on Sunday and Disney's Tarzan, the latter, unlike other Disney stage musicals, making the daring move of eschewing an out-of-town tryout. Another potentially strong candidate is the stage version of The Wedding Singer, which sounds like it could be along the lines of another sweetly comic musical, Hairspray.
Given its regional reception, the Johnny Cash songbook Ring of Fire could be another jukebox success. Rumored for Broadway is The Drowsy Chaperone, which recently completed a well-received tryout in Los Angeles, and is just the sort of self-referential love letter to musical comedy that's in favor these days. Something called Hot Feet has also been announced for this season. It's not clear if that will actually happen, though, and we seem to have lost, at least for now, such other announced titles as Princesses and In the Pocket.
The musical-revival season is thin indeed, with just three candidates and no other titles even rumored. The season's only commercial musical revival, Sweeney Todd, won mostly rave reviews and started off strongly at the box office. Its recent decline may be cause for concern, but I would expect the revival to survive the season. It could very well take the musical-revival Tony; its director, John Doyle, will be a strong contender in the musical-director category; and its stars, Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris, would both appear to be guaranteed nominations.
Thus far, the musical-actress category might have Color Purple's LaChanze in the lead, with LuPone and Woman in White's Maria Friedman also likely candidates. As for men, Cerveris' main competition is the much-lauded Frankie Valli of Jersey Boys, John Lloyd Young, who, at this early juncture, looks like the front runner. But of course such forthcoming shows as The Wedding Singer, Lestat, and Tarzan all feature juicy roles for men.
The two upcoming musical revivals are both Roundabout productions, which means they can't really fail commercially, even if they only play out their limited engagements and are not extended. The Pajama Game could be tricky to revive, with a revised book that may or may not help, but it does boast Harry Connick, Jr.'s Broadway acting debut. The Threepenny Opera can be a tough sell these days, but the forthcoming revival offers several attractive box-office names. One suspects that, at the very least, it will be better received than the last Broadway revival of the Kurt Weill-Bertolt Brecht musical, the one that starred Sting.
The special-theatrical-event category began unpromisingly with the Suzanne Somers vehicle The Blonde in the Thunderbird, which was quickly hooted out of town. A previous entry in the category, the return of Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight, had too brief a run to qualify for the Tony category. Next up was Latinologues, which never caught on at the box office. Then there was Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life, which got a mixed-to-pleasant reception but seems unlikely for a long run.
Two forthcoming shows look to be major contenders. Sarah Jones in her solo evening Bridge and Tunnel won raves off-Broadway, and could be the front runner in this Tony category. Indeed, it's difficult to see why Jones has only been booked for a brief Broadway engagement, as one supposes that she might be able to continue longer.
But there's also Martin Short in his forthcoming show. He can always be counted on to entertain, but he still appears to be in search of a theatre. Also eligible in the category: ventriloquist Jay Johnson in the return of The Two and Only.
