Marked Safe from a Nick Jonas Tony Nomination

You knooow I got the only correct Tony takes.

Even on a relatively calm Tony nominations day, I find I have somehow willed a headache into existence. I’m really quite pleased, all things considered, but I simply cannot feel completely at ease when I feel even ONE injustice has been perpetrated. And frankly, I’d say there were four or five injustices. As always, I’ll dive deeper into the musical nominations, but a rapid fire analysis of play noms is in order:

• Othello clearly made some enemies with its exorbitant pricing, and Jake Gyllenhaal and Denzel Washington both went unrecognized. ZERO nominations. I feel nothing about this, except that their loss is Harry Lennix’s (Purpose) gain.

• Other plays that went unrecognized that I do feel some type of way about: JOB and Cult of Love. Too early in the season, I suppose, but Sydney Lemmon DEFINITELY could’ve been in that Lead Actress category. One or two sneaks there and it’s not Sadie Sink or Laura Donnelly…

• Overall Hills of California and Purpose love is so correct, though Alana Arenas being the only cast member snubbed from the latter when hers was my favorite performance. No one has the taste level that I have, simply too good for Tony acknowledgement, sort of like when there are pitches so high only dogs can hear them.

• Ummm… Yellow Face did very little for me, and I thought Daniel Dae Kim was also… not great in it?

• Jessica Hecht you will always be famous.

• No one can make me interested in Good Night, and Good Luck short of them casting Mandy Patinkin as George Clooney’s replacement.

• Pissed I didn’t see English.

• If anyone wants to get me tickets to John Proctor Is the Villain I promise I will only be nice.

• Our Town nomination I have to laugh.

• No Kieran Culkin Triple Crown this year thank GOD.

• Glengarry Glen Ross snub, oh Eureka Day is taking it.

• My big swing prediction of James Scully in Oh, Mary! did not pan out and that’s wrong to me. No one has ever been hotter. Wait, hold on… They’re telling me that’s not what the award is for…

I didn’t think I’d have that much to say about the plays which frightens me for what’s to come with musicals. Into the great unknown we boldly go, or something.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

• Natalie Venetia Belcon, Buena Vista Social Club

• Julia Knitel, Dead Outlaw

• Gracie Lawrence, Just in Time

• Justina Machado, Real Women Have Curves

• Joy Woods, Gypsy

I have been so bad about seeing shows this season and I don’t super know what changed and why, but like… I haven’t seen Buena Vista or Just in Time OR Real Women. What business do I even have writing this post? Pausing for self reflection… and continuing to write!

I’m a biiig Dead Outlaw fan (see below).

That being said, the Julia Knitel nomination gives me pause. Ultimately, it’s not a huge role, and she’s not especially showy in the performance, which normally I am a champion for. I love an unassuming fabulous performance, someone who is stealthy in how good they are. But I feel that Andrew Durand, Jeb Brown, and Thom Sesma (and even Trent Saunders as Andy Payne) have more impact. But then when I sit with it for more than a moment, and I remember “Millicent’s Song”, and all of a sudden I’m thrilled for Julia. After all, she was on my personal choice list last year. So I think I net out positive here.

For Gypsy, Joy Woods’ nomination was sort of solidified from the cast announcement as she has been riding continuous momentum from Little Shop of Horrors and The Notebook, and Louise is sort of THE featured role that gets nominated. Having seen the show though, I left thinking a lot about Jordan Tyson, and I know the Lesli Margherita champions have been around for over a decade and are always vocal, and I think one of those nominations simply would’ve made me feel more… something. Joy was the early season favorite but the more talk I hear, I think it’s Natalie’s.

Snubs galore here, though. Jinkx Monsoon had a major shot at showing up here (though I thought she was only fine), and the fact that NONE of the women from Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends (Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga, Beth Leavel, Bonnie Langford) were nominated is inexcusable.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

• Brooks Ashmanskas, Smash

• Jeb Brown, Dead Outlaw

• Danny Burstein, Gypsy

• Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat

• Taylor Trensch, Floyd Collins

I’m always so gagged when I relearn that Brooks Ashmanskas is gay because I feel like he’s always playing gay in such a flamboyant way that only straight actors do. Sort of like Nathan Lane, like something sliiightly disingenuous. You’re lying, Mr. Ashmanskas! Anyway, this was the only acting nomination for Smash, which is right and wrong. Not elaborating, use your imagination!

Jeb Brown campaigned for Lead Actor last season during the off-Broadway awards, but this season he consistently went Featured at the expense of Thom Sesma, who showed up everywhere off-Broadway and nowhere on Broadway. I think Jeb is probably miscategorized here, I do think it’s a lead performance, sort of the Leading Player to Andrew Durand’s Pippin, but I’m thrilled to see him regardless. Jak Malone ate, and he’s the frontrunner. Work, I’m not mad. I think this will be Mincemeat’s only win, and I have a theory that American audiences have developed an adversarial relationship with the show’s in-your-face, very British marketing, but I don’t have to get into it. I mean there’s not much more to it than that. Or any more to it.

First Tony nom for Taylor Trensch huuuge W but my heart weeps for Nicholas Barasch and Michael Urie.

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

• Erik Della Penna and David Yazbek (music and lyrics), Dead Outlaw

• Noel Carey and Julia Mattison (music and lyrics), Death Becomes Her

• Will Aronson (music and lyrics) and Hue Park (lyrics), Maybe Happy Ending

• David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts (music and lyrics); Operation Mincemeat

• Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez (music and lyrics), Real Women Have Curves

Not a ton to say here except that this is so correct. Dead Outlaw and Maybe Happy Ending there is not much more positive I can say that I haven’t already, and Mincemeat is a perfectly serviceable, very British, very Musical Theatre musical theatre score. Death Becomes Her’s score is very fun, some great melodies that are obviously 21st century MT pop and some super smart lyrics. Haven’t heard Real Women’s score but I’m thrilled to see new Latinx composers get recognized for what I hear is a very pleasant and adept score! I felt a little bad (not too bad) after tearing down Kate Diaz’s Redwood score, but I am open to loving Real Women Have Curves, and now that (SPOILER ALERT) it didn’t get a Best Musical nom, I don’t fear the impending hike in ticket prices!

Best Book of a Musical

• Marco Ramirez, Buena Vista Social Club

• Itamar Moses, Dead Outlaw

• Marco Pennette, Death Becomes Her

• Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending

• David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts; Operation Mincemeat

Smart, fresh, funny, and pretty timeless books all around (cannot speak on Buena Vista), but I think Maybe Happy Ending’s and Dead Outlaw’s are a cut above (me=record, record=broken). No bad picks though.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

• Megan Hilty, Death Becomes Her

• Audra McDonald, Gypsy

• Jasmine Amy Rogers, BOOP! The Musical

• Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Blvd.

• Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her

Okay, here’s where the American Theatre Wing got me fucked up… WHERE is Helen J. Shen? This is baffling to me… In my mind, the potential nominees in this category had been subcategorized into three categories: the frontrunners (Audra, Nicole), the breakout stars (Helen, Jasmine), and the Death Becomes Her ladies, of which one get in, both if the category had six nominees. Jen Simard looked to have the edge on Megan in the precursor awards, but I actually preferred Megan. In the end, though Helen, star of the frontrunner for Best Musical, in her Broadway debut, was snubbed. Inside Baseball analysis: I think Jasmine’s gotten more of a star push than Helen because BOOP! as a whole does not have the reviews and word-of-mouth that Maybe Happy Ending does. Helen is on par with the excellence of her show; Jasmine elevates hers. I’m furious regardless!

Randomly, Sutton Foster did give a career-best performance in Once Upon a Mattress and a nom here would’ve been deserved.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

• Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending

• Andrew Durand, Dead Outlaw

• Tom Francis, Sunset Blvd.

• Jonathan Groff, Just in Time

• James Monroe Iglehart, A Wonderful World

• Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins

James Monroe Iglehart ONLY showing up at the Tonys — no OCC, Drama League, or Drama Desk — after his show has been closed for months is kind of a gag. It coming at the expense of David Hyde Pierce or Davide Cumming though… not so fierce… This was also the only acting nomination for a musical no longer running this season, though in this category alone I had heard more chatter about Grey Henson (Elf) and John Gallagher Jr. (Swept Away). Darren, Andrew, Tom, Jonathan, and Jeremy were all kind of locks, so expanding this to six nominees when Lead Actress, a stronger category (sorry fellas), was capped at five is perplexing. I never know why these decisions are made.

Best Revival of a Musical

• Floyd Collins

• Gypsy

• Pirates! The Penzance Musical

• Sunset Blvd.

The collective Once Upon a Mattress amnesia…

Best Musical

• Buena Vista Social Club

• Dead Outlaw

• Death Becomes Her

• Maybe Happy Ending

• Operation Mincemeat

This was the five I predicted, though the only thing I wavered about was whether the aforementioned American apathy toward Mincemeat would leave room for Real Women Have Curves to break through. Alas, it didn’t, but I hope its package of Score and Featured Actress is enough to bring some sort of boost to their business. As with book, I think Outlaw and MHE are a rung above Mincemeat and DBH, and I think voters will agree. Putting it in writing now: Maybe Happy Ending sweep: Musical, Actor, Direction, Book, Score, Scenic Design, Lighting Design, Sound Design… maybe not Costume Design or Orchestrations. Eight awards. Count ‘em!!!

My prediction accuracy on GoldDerby was my highest since 2018, with 74.12%, up from 70.59% last year:

Okay that’s it! See Maybe Happy Ending! See Dead Outlaw! See Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends in spite of this!