E10 EZ EE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, JUNE 12 , 2022
TheaterMARC J. FRANKLIN; MATTHEW MURPHY; JOAN MARCUS; ISTOCK/WASHINGTON POST ILLUSTRATION)ogy,” the story of the rise and fall
of Lehman Brothers, as drama-
tized by three protean actors,
Simon Russell Beale, Adam God-
ley and Adrian Lester (all of
whom are nominated as best
actor in a play).
Other races to watch: two
young newcomers making their
Broadway debuts — Jaquel Spiv-
ey in “A Strange Loop” and Myles
Frost in “MJ,” the Michael Jack-
son musical — seem to me the
favorites for best actor in a
musical. Look to Sharon D.
Clarke to nab the prize for best
actress in a musical, for her
sterling turn as the exhausted
housekeeper in the revival of
“Caroline, or Change.” If there is
justice in Times Square, “Trouble
in Mind” — Alice Childress’s play
about backstage racism, making
its Broadway debut more than 60
years after it was written — will
win for best revival of a play.
I’d also love to see LaChanze
win for her portrayal of an actress
frustrated by being consigned to
Black stereotypes in Childress’s
comedy-drama. And in that sev-
en-man sprint for best actor in a
play, Sam Rockwell would be a
worthy Tony recipient as a manic,
small-time scam artist in the
satisfying revival of “American
Buffalo.” (Although a three-way
tie among the “Lehman Trilogy”
trio would also suit me just fine.)
No matter who else might be
covered in glory on Sunday,
there’s one universally loved win-
ner already: Angela Lansbury, at
96, is being honored with a
lifetime achievement award.
That’s one Broadway denizen a
theater lover wishes would al-
ways come back.The Tony Awards begin Sunday at
7 p.m. on Paramount Plus, and then
continue on CBS at 8 p.m. for three
hours of coverage.tors and other theater profes-
sionals — decide to go. If it were a
three-way tie among “Minutes,”
“Lehman” and “Clyde’s,” I’d be a
happy critic. In the end, I predict
the trophy will go to the now
closed, epic-length “Lehman Tril-— are vying with Martin McDon-
agh’s “Hangmen” and Dominique
Morisseau’s “Skeleton Crew.”
This is one of those unusual
years in which you couldn’t quib-
ble no matter which way the 650
Tony voters — producers, direc-cast — which on Sunday begins
with an hour of awards in design
and other categories on Para-
mount Plus and continues with a
three-hour event on CBS —
draws a nationwide audience in
the 5^1 / 2 million-viewer range.
That may be minuscule by net-
work TV standards. But history
demonstrates that a sparkling
production number in prime
time can give a show a substan-
tial box-office boost, because
those who tune into the Tonys
tend to be theater patrons.
A total of 29 shows earned
nominations in the 26 eligible
categories this year. Nineteen of
those shows are still running,
including all six vying for best
musical. (These also include
“Paradise Square,” “MJ” and “Mr.
Saturday Night.”) The race, I
think, is between “Six,” a rollick-
ing, revue-style musical that tells
the stories in witty, contempo-
rary fashion of the six wives of
Henry VIII, and “A Strange
Loop,” Michael R. Jackson’s bril-
liant Pulitzer-winning portrait of
a struggling Black queer compos-
er of Broadway musicals. I’d give
the edge to the groundbreaking
“A Strange Loop.”
In the other most coveted cat-
egory, best new play, the call is
harder because the competition
is so fierce. The aforementioned
nominees — Tracy Letts’s “The
Minutes,” Stefano Massini and
Ben Power’s “The Lehman Trilo-
gy” and Lynn Nottage’s “Clyde’s”“Shows were opening five times
a week for four weeks,” the pro-
ducer said, explaining the dearth
of buzz-fueled momentum. “Ev-
eryone was having one good day,
and no one could break out.”
In such an environment, the
need to acquire the publicity-en-
hancing luster of a Tony Award
takes on a more urgent dimen-
sion. The traditional Tony broad-stown” and the star-driven Hugh
Jackman revival of “The Music
Man,” reporting brisk business.
At the same time, such newcom-
ers as the musical version of
“Mrs. Doubtfire” and the revival
of “For Colored Girls Who Have
Considered Suicide When the
Rainbow Is Enuf” prematurely
cratered.
A glance at statistics published
by the Broadway League — the
trade group that runs the Tonys
with the American Theatre Wing
— reveals the slow progress. For
the week ending June 2, 2019, for
example, Broadway shows col-
lected a total of $37 million; for
the week ending June 5 of this
year, the take dropped to $29
million. In 2019, 11 shows were
sold out; for the comparable
week this year, it was two.
“Christmas and January in
New York felt like chaos,” said
one veteran Broadway producer,
who spoke on the condition of
anonymity to discuss the indus-
try more freely. For some main-
stay Broadway shows, the pro-
ducer added, “all the profits were
made before the shutdown. They
did not come back well.”
The pandemic roller coaster
has also wreaked havoc on thea-
ter reliability. Few things raise
consumer anxiety more forceful-
ly than a well-planned visit to
New York scuttled by perform-
ance cancellations. Broadway
menace, thy name was omicron:
The coronavirus variant raced
through acting ensembles and
stage crews regularly throughout
the holiday season. So a mad
rush to open delayed produc-
tions in April, right up to the
deadline for Tony Award eligibil-
ity, created an unprecedented
traffic jam. That affected the
bottom line, too, as shows that
garnered outstanding reviews
had little chance to lasso the
media’s, and therefore the pub-
lic’s, attention.
TONY AWARDS FROM E1
The Tonys are crucial for an industry staging a comeback
MARC J. FRANKLIN
Above from left, L Morgan Lee, Jason Veasey, John-Michael Lyles, Jaquel Spivey, John-Andrew Morrison, James Jackson Jr. and Antwayn
Hopper in “A Strange Loop.” Spivey, also pictured t op right, was nominated for best actor in a musical along with Myles Frost, top center,
for “MJ.” Adrianna Hicks, top left, is one of the stars of “Six,” which is vying for best new musical.JEREMY DANIEL
From left, Jeff Still, Tracy Letts a nd Cliff Chamberlain star in “The Minutes,” which is in the running
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