The 2018 Tony Award nominations were announced on May Day. The nominations specifically acknowledge work done on Broadway in the current theater season. But numerous nominees are noteworthy to Connecticut theatergoers, among them:
“Junk,” nominated for best play, is written by Ayad Akhtar, whose “The Invisible Hand” will be staged this month at TheaterWorks — a remounting of a production first done at Westport Country Playhouse last year.
“Three Tall Women,” nominated for best play, was written by Edward Albee in 1991. TheaterWorks staged it in 1991. Hartford Stage embraced Albee’s work in the 1970s, when he’d fallen out of favor in New York, and several Connecticut theaters have championed his plays. Albee attended Choate Academy in Wallingford. He also attended, but was expelled from, Trinity College in the late 1940s.
“The Iceman Cometh,” nominated for best play, is by Eugene O’Neill, who grew up in New London.
“The Band’s Visit,” nominated for best musical, lists Hartford-area businessman and philanthropist Thomas Perakos among its producers. Best-actress nominee Katrina Lenk starred in the play “Indecent” at Yale Rep and on Broadway. Best-actor nominee Tony Shalhoub is a Yale School of Drama grad. Itamar Moses, nominated for best book of a musical, was a Yale undergrad.
“My Fair Lady,” nominated for best revival of a musical, premiered in 1956 at the Shubert in New Haven. Bart Sher, nominated for best direction of a musical, was associate artistic director of Hartford Stage in the early 1990s. Lauren Ambrose, nominated for best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical, grew up in New Haven. Michael Yeargan, nominated for best scenic design of a musical, has taught at the Yale School of Drama for decades and has designed numerous shows at Connecticut regional theaters. Donald Holder, nominated for best lighting design of a musical, is a Yale School of Drama grad and the husband of longtime YSD faculty member Evan Yionoulis; his Connecticut theater credits include “Anastasia” and “The Master Builder.” Christopher Gattelli, nominated for best choreography, has worked many times at the Goodspeed Opera House.
“Carousel” is another best revival of a musical nominee that had its pre-Broadway try-out at the Shubert in New Haven. The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic premiered there in 1945. Alexander Gemignani, nominated for best actor in a featured role in a musical, is the new artistic director of the National Music Theater Conference at the O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford.
Tina Landau, nominated for best director of a musical for “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical,” was hard at work on that project while she was also directing the new musical “Deathless” last summer at Goodspeed Musicals‘ Norma Terris Theatre in Chester.
Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Yale grad Robert Lopez, nominees for best original score for “Frozen,” have workshopped several of their shows at the O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, which honored them with a gala in 2016.
That’s really just the tip of the iceberg. Many Tony nominees have done shows in Connecticut at some point in their careers or have had their work seen here in post-Broadway national tours.
The complete list of Tony nominations is at tonyawards.com. The Tony Awards will be broadcast June 10 on CBS.
‘A Lesson From Aloes’ Cast
Ariyon Bakare, Randall Newsome and Andrus Nichols will star in Athol Fugard’s apartheid-themed drama “A Lesson From Aloes” May 17 through June 10 at Hartford Stage. Bakare (who plays Steve) is the famed English actor whose film and TV work includes “A Respectable Trade,” “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell,” “Life,” “Rogue One” and the forthcoming “Good Omens” miniseries. Newsome (who plays Piet) was in Broadway productions of “An Enemy of the People” and “A Touch of the Poet.” Nichols is the co-founder of the off-Broadway theater company Bedlam.
“A Lesson from Aloes” is directed by Darko Tresnjak, who had originally announced he would be directing another Fugard play, “Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act.” The change of scripts was announced in February.
“A Lesson from Aloes” will feature a set by Timothy Mackabee, costumes by Blair Gulledge (TheaterWorks’ “Raging Skillet” and “The Wolves”) and sound design by Jane Shaw (Hartford Stage’s “Seder” and “The Comedy of Errors”).
Pre-Show Announcement
Of The Week
“It has been a really trying, pretty tumultuous year, an upheaval here. And every trustee and staff member has stepped up and done exceptional work. So I would like to, for our final opening night of the season, ask them to stand.”
— Long Wharf Theatre Managing Director Josh Borenstein, inviting a rapturous show of support for the theater on opening night of “Crowns” on April 25. The Long Wharf’s artistic director Gordon Edelstein was removed in January following allegations of inappropriate conduct.
‘Cinderella’ At Foxwoods
Last year, Foxwoods Resort Casino announced its first-ever Broadway series of nationally touring musicals. The inaugural season went well enough for there to be a second Broadway series, but only one title has been announced thus far: the current non-Equity tour of “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” playing at the casino’s Fox Theater May 8 to 13.
Last year’s Foxwoods’ Broadway series featured three tours that hadn’t played any other theaters in Connecticut. By contrast, various tours of “Cinderella” have been seen in recent seasons at The Bushnell, the Shubert and the Waterbury Palace. This is, however, a show that can be happily seen multiple times, thanks to its magical quick-change costume effects and Douglas Carter Beane’s witty script revisions. Details at foxwoods.com.
Angels Everywhere
The book “The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of ‘Angels in America'” by Isaac Butler and Dan Kois covers a lot of ground. (Angels can do that.) It begins with “Angels in America” being written and developed at regional and college theaters over a period of years through its New York success, HBO miniseries and modern-day classic status.
But new chapters will need to be written about Tony Kushner’s epic play, (subtitled “A Gay Fantasia on National Themes”) as it continues to enthrall new audiences. The current Broadway revival (which began as a British production) just nabbed 11 Tony nominations, including for best revival of a play, best direction of a play for Maxine Elliott and acting nominations for Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, Susan Brown and Denise Gough.
Another currently playing “Angels in America” is at Berkeley Rep in California through July 22. The director of the Berkeley Rep production is Tony Taccone, who directed the premiere of the Tony Kushner/Maurice Sendak double feature of “Brundibar” and “Comedy on the Bridge” at Yale Rep in 2006. Taccone is a key character in the “World Only Spins Forward” book, since he was artistic director of the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco when “Angels” was developed there in the late 1980s and had its premiere in 1991.
