Tonys '05 #3

Let's begin this installment with an easy one, the category of Special Theatrical Event. Here we have a healthy seven available titles, mostly solo or near-solo shows, available for four slots. They are Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays, Whoopi, Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance, Eve Ensler's The Good Body, Mario Cantone's Laugh Whore, Jackie Mason's Freshly Squeezed, and Forever Tango. Guaranteed of nominations are 700 Sundays and Dame Edna, with the other two slots pretty much a toss-up. Because Jackie Mason is still running, a nomination for Mason's show is conceivable, especially after his disastrous showing last season with the ill-advised musical Laughing Room Only.

And who will be the winner? Billy Crystal and 700 Sundays, of course, one of the season's biggest financial successes and a warm and much admired evening. It was one of the year's few clear-cut smash hits, and, in the face of popular demand, Crystal has continued to run it through the season. 700 Sundays is also the "special theatrical event" of the season that comes closest in feel to an actual play. Indeed, at one time it was thought that Sundays might be ruled eligible to compete as a play. But it would not have won in that category, so, in terms of the Tonys, it's best that Sundays was deemed a special event. The only other special event that might have given Crystal serious competition was Sarah Jones' Bridge and Tunnel, which was to have opened at Circle in the Square late this season but instead postponed to next season, when a more suitable venue becomes available.

Then there's the category of Best Revival of a Musical. There might have been as many as five titles eligible here. But the revival of Forever Tango was ruled eligible to compete in the "special theatrical event" category. And an announced revival of The Wiz never happened.

Which leaves just three candidates for the category, all of which are virtually guaranteed nominations. The first two titles opened a week apart in December, Roundabout's revival of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures and the commercial Broadway revival of Jerry Herman's La Cage aux Folles. Roundabout took the musical-revival Tony in 2003 for Nine and 2004 for Assassins. But it seems unlikely that Pacific Overtures will give Roundabout a third consecutive win. That's because it opened to disappointing reviews and, more significantly, closed back in January, after a run of only two months.

Then there's La Cage aux Folles, which did not receive sensational reviews and has not been doing terrific business. But because it is regarded as a reasonably successful mounting of a popular crowd-pleaser, and because it has survived the season, the La Cage revival is a strong contender here. If it wins, La Cage will join the list of musicals that won Tony Awards as Best Musical and as Best Musical Revival.

La Cage's competition comes from Sweet Charity, which is opening as the final event of the Broadway season. This Charity received disappointing reviews in all three of its tryout engagements, so it arrives here with fairly low expectations. But there's always the chance that things will come together during local previews, and that this Charity will prove to be better than expected. If the local reception for Charity is not good, La Cage is the likely winner. But if things turn out well for Charity, it could easily take the prize.

Let's move on to the book and score categories. There's the obvious possibility that they will simply be filled with the books and scores of the four titles nominated for best musical. So it's possible that in the book category, nominations will go to Jeffrey Lane Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Eric Idle Spamalot, Craig Lucas The Light in the Piazza, and Rachel Sheinkin The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

One assumes that the books for Dracula and Good Vibrations are out of the question for consideration, with Brooklyn also an unlikely choice. The other viable candidates would be The Frogs, with Nathan Lane adapting Burt Shevelove and Aristophanes; Allen Knee for Little Women; Joe DiPietro for All Shook Up; and Jeremy Sams for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Of the season's eleven new musicals, those that offered an "original score written for the theatre" are The Frogs, Dracula, Brooklyn, Little Women, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Spamalot, The Light in the Piazza, and Spelling Bee. Good Vibrations with its Beach Boys songs and All Shook Up with its Elvis hits are obviously ineligible here. The title that will need to be ruled on in the original-score category is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It would appear that the majority of that score was written for the film rather than for the stage version. Still, the show contains a number of new songs.

Of the titles listed above, which seem likeliest for nods in the score department? Certainly David Yazbek for Scoundrels. Yazbek is an original talent who was previously nominated for another fine score The Full Monty that some thought was at least as good as the score that beat it for a Tony, Mel Brooks' Producers music and lyrics.

William Finn is guaranteed a nomination for his music and lyrics for Spelling Bee. Adam Guettel is a likely nominee for his music and lyrics for Piazza. Although the Spamalot score by Eric Idle, John Du Prez and others is somewhat negligible, it does have songs i.e. "The Song That Goes Like This," "You Won't Succeed on Broadway" that were singled out for praise in the reviews.

So Yazbek, Finn, Guettel, and Idle/Du Prez could take the four slots, with the front runner perhaps to be found in the first two of those names. But that's to overlook the possibility of a sentimental nod to Sondheim, for The Frogs, or the less likely nomination of the scores of Little Women or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, should the latter be deemed eligible.