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Broadway Breakdown
2024 Tony Nominations Are Here! Reading YOUR Takes
02:08:46
People Said Things. Matt Read Them.
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Think of the prestige. Think of the respect. No, no, no. Think of the Tony. Hello all you theater lovers both out and proud and on the DL. And welcome back to Broadway Breakdown, a podcast discussing the history und legacy of American theater's most exclusive address, Broadway. I am your host, Matt Koplik, the least famous and most opinionated of all the Broadway podcast hosts. And it is pud season, y'. All. To quote Ms. Amy Poehler, when you do award shows, you don't really want the pudding. You never thought about the pudding, but then someone tells you you might be getting some pudding and damn it, you want pudding. And you know that's where we're at. Today. We have begun the pudding season. This is Wednesday, May 1st. It has been about 27 hours since the Tony nominations came out for 2024, and there are still some choices here. And all of you had opinions. I went to social media and I asked you to submit anonymous takes on the nominees this year. The things you've loved, the things you've questioned, and the things you're like. I don't think so. Not one bit. Not today, Satan. Lord knows I have some of those myself. Looking back on our predictions, both with Dan Rubins and David Lynch, I gotta say I was solid. I didn't do incredible, but I did solid. If you. If you were to combine my predictions with my wants, I did better. And of course, after my recording with Dan Rubens, I went on to see Mother play that afternoon and then I went out to see Mary Jane, Hell's Kitchen 2.0, as well as Illinois and Cabaret. And this week I am seeing the Wiz. I'm literally seeing the Wiz tonight. And then I see Uncle Vanya on Saturday. So I will have seen the entire season and I will be doing a ranking of everything because, you know, it's just a structured way to kind of offer a discourse about all of the shows when I'll be doing it solo. You know, it's not going to be in conversation with anybody. It's just going to be me. And so it's not necessarily a definitive ranking for the season. It's just my ranking and my explanations as to why, you know, each placement will give a kind of launching pad for my discussion of my thoughts on each one. But that'll be next week, so you have that to look forward to. Today we are reading all of your guys Tony nomination reactions and. And I'm going to do my best to not give away too many of my own thoughts when responding to y'. All. But of Course, I will be giving some things away. And yeah, let's just get into it. We'll see how long this takes. And some of these might not even be about the Tony. Some of these might just be anonymous messages like they've been in the past. But we have 143 submissions, so we'll see how this goes. The most I think we've ever gotten was 90. And that still was like a two and a half hour episode. Just me alone. So Godspeed y'. All. If you make it to the end. You are, you're all heroes, okay? You're all Mel Gibson and Braveheart, minus him actually being Mel Gibson. That's what I have to say about that. Okay, let's start with the number one, the first one. Wait a second, is this all of them? Okay, I'm not entirely sure if my phone has loaded all of them. This doesn't seem like quite enough, but we will check. Okay, first one. If I missed anyone, I'm sorry, I'm still not entirely sure that my phone has just loaded all of them. But we'll see. Okay, first one. Here lies Love. Absolutely spot on for best score. Happy to see that. And obviously scenic design. Glad it wasn't forgotten. I'm the same way. I'm very glad I got in for score. It was one of my more liked scores this season. And the scenic design you just can't deny. And I said that in the last two episodes. You know, I think it's. You can't nominate the Cabaret scenic design and not the Heroes Love scenic design. They are very similar just in terms of what they did for the playing space, of how they made that whole theater transform. Obviously Cabaret went a little more in depth with the lobby area and whatnot. But you know, Heroes Love was a very phenomenally designed show and that score bops, so yeah, I'm glad it wasn't forgotten either. Next one. How many other actresses have been nominated three years in a row? Kara is a freakin queen. In my opinion. That is, in my honest opinion, sorry, that is Kara Young for Pearly Victorious. She got nominated for it was Clyde's and then it was Cost of Living and now Pearly Victorious. There have been people nominated, you know, multiple years in a row. I know that Judith Light won two years in a row. She won featured actress in a play for other desert cities and then assembled parties two years in a row. I don't know how many people have done that, so that's a feat. I'm sure there have been other people who have Been nominated three years in a row. You know, the Tonys have been around since the mid-40s or, sorry, the mid-50s, I should say. 49, I think, was the first year, so I'm sure it's happened. First of all, there's also designers who get nominated every single year, sometimes multiple times a year. So it is a wonderful accomplishment for Kara. She is wonderful and pearly victorious and is definitely in my top two choices in that category. Moving on. What the fuck? Seven featured actress nominations. I know, and I'll be honest, I think there's some weight we could cut out. We didn't even really discuss this all that much during the predictions. We kind of. We mentioned it for, like a hot second, but we didn't really go fully in depth with this because this is a recent occurrence where, you know, you have the minimum. Or I should say the. Yeah, like the minimum number of nominations you can have based off of candidates. Right. So if it's like nine or more candidates, you have to have five nominees and then it can be more than that. If the final tallies for, like, the bottom two or three nominees are within, like three or four votes of each other. Something like that. And for featured actress in a musical, we got seven. And I think we got seven for scenic design of a musical. I believe featured actor in a musical is six. There are a couple of expanded ones and it's a little insane. I think 7 is quite excessive. But yeah, it's. It's bonkers, y'. All. Welcome to pudding season. Next one. Surprised Rebecca Frecknell didn't get in, considering Cabaret was otherwise the most nominated revival of the season. So this is the thing, and it's important to remember this going forward when we do things like tally nominations right, people, and I'm sure this is going to get brought up in someone else's hot takes. People look at the number of nominations and they go, oh, that's clearly the front runner. And that's not always the case. You know, something like a Hamilton. Yes. Or I would say like a producer's. But, you know, look at last year. Some Like It Hot versus Kimberly Akimbo. Kimberly Akimbo might have been the least nominated musical of its category, and Something Like It Hot very much was the most nominated. But Sunlike It Hot had a whole bunch of categories that not only was it eligible for, but it just made sense to nominate, you know, set design, costume design, lighting design. Sorry, burp lighting design. It was a very tech heavy show. Whereas Kimberly Akimbo. I think that the design of that show was perfect and should have been recognized, but it wasn't flashy for some people. We've talked about this before. Sometimes nominators and voters confuse most for best. And I think that's also the case with a couple of these nominations this year. But Rebecca Frecknell's direction for Cabaret, having just seen it, and I will give my take when I do my ranking next week. You know, everything that Cabaret got nominated for mostly was on a technical level. It was nominated for revival, obviously, which I don't think it was ever gonna get snubbed from. Cabaret as a musical is simply too good. Even if you don't like the production, you still walk out and you go, well, Cabaret still slaps. So it was nominated for that, obviously. It was nominated for scenic design, which it was never gonna not be nominated for. Lighting design, which it absolutely deserves. Sound design, it deserves. Cost less on. But, you know, I think that's sort of a weak category in musicals this year. BB And Steven, I'm thrilled. Are in. They absolutely should be in. So that's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. And then, yeah, Eddie and Gail, who were not wild cards, but not sure things. So that makes sense. I think it's maybe tricky to wonder if all four actors are nominated and just about everything else in the production is, why wouldn't Rebecca be? I think another telling thing is it not being nominated for choreography. There's a lot of technical achievement with this Cabaret, and Bebe and Steven absolutely are, in my opinion, the highlights of the production. Gale and Eddie are very divisive with audiences, and it seems that enough people really liked them or respected their work enough to nominate them. First of all, there's only so many people you can nominate. And with five best musical nominees and four revival nominees, there aren't nine director nominees. There are five, maybe six if there's a tie somewhere. But obviously, people are gonna get left out. And I hear you. With nine nominations for Cabaret, you'd wonder, well, why wouldn't the director be nominated? She's the one who helmed it all. It makes you think that maybe nominators were more impressed with elements of the show individually rather than as a cohesive unit. Because if they were impressed with the whole, then Rebecca would have been nominated, but she wasn't, and I think that speaks volumes. Moving on. Okay, next up, we have Hell's Kitchen for book, mkay. Yeah, y', all, I'm not gonna mince words here, and I'm sure, and I know many of you have heard me Say this before, that book for Hell's Kitchen is objectively bad. It is a bad, bad libretto for a musical. There are many songs that are shoved in there for no purpose. There are plot lines that go nowhere. There is one romantic plotline that I find actually kind of offensive, because if it's not, technically speaking, statutory rape, it is on the cusp of it. Our main character, Ellie, is 17 and her romantic partner is in his early to mid 20s. And this is the early mid to mid 90s. And the audience is meant to root for it. Think of it as this, you know, beautiful romance. And, okay, due to circumstances, they don't end up together. Spoiler alert. But, you know, it's not meant to be thought of as a mistake. It's. It's something that was very beautiful for them. And I kind of call bullshit on that. Especially when there was a time when the Internet really loved to drag Call Me by youy Name for the age disparity between Timothee Chalamet and the now canceled Armie Hammer. And, yes, Armie Hammer is cancelled. He's a bad person. It doesn't take much research to know why, but he is wonderful. And Call Me by youy Name, which is. Which sucks. It sucks when bad people do good work, but we can at least appreciate the work without having to honor him as a man. And I say this only because I think that movie is very beautiful and actually deals with the age difference better than Hell's Kitchen. First of all, I believe Elio was 18 in Call Me by youy Name. Not that a year makes a huge ton of difference, but they also show Elio's mental and emotional state in that movie where he is in his life versus where Oliver is in his life. And also the location they're in, the time period they're in the. And I'm also going to say it, the very fact that it's a queer relationship changes a lot of the dynamic. It's just. That's just how it works in this world. You know, how the world treats you changes the, you know, temperature of whatever life you're living. And Hell's Kitchen, you know, there's a lot of talk about the difficulties that Ali might have to face, her deadbeat dad being biracial, all that stuff. But, like, nothing actually ends up being hard for her. Yeah, her dad kind of sucks, but in the end, he's still kind of there. And she has heartbreak, yes. And she has loss, but, like, she's not alone in that. She's not even really special. In that it's. I could go on and on. Also, there's. That book is 95% narration. It's terrible. It's a bad book. But so was the book for New York, New York. So is the book for Paradise Square. Jagged Little Pill, I think, is an awful book. And that one, granted, that was a gas leak year. But the Jagged Little Pill, Loretto, is terrible. It is 90,000 seasons of the Next Generation smushed into two and a half hours, and nothing is resolved and nothing is explored. I think I talked about this when I was going into Stereophonic on the pod. I know I brought it up for a second in my video review for Stereophonic. There is a difference between addressing an issue in your show and exploring an issue in your show. Something like Appropriate explores its issues. Something like Mary Jane explores its issues. Something like say, Mother Play addresses its issues. And I'll get some other play when I'm sure that'll be brought up in one of these questions. And I'll talk about it when I do my rankings. Jagged Little Pill and Hell's Kitchen address issues and then drop them when it's convenient. And I find that infuriating. And I went to Hell's Kitchen again to give it the benefit of the doubt because of the reviews it got, because I expected Hell's Kitchen to either get, you know, reviews saying they didn't fix anything and I'm pissed, or they didn't fix anything. But you know what? I'm more used to the show now. I like it. I didn't expect critics to be like, oh, my God, they fixed it. It's wonderful. Now I've seen it. I saw it off Broadway, and I've seen it on Broadway. They might have shaved off five minutes, maybe, and they've got a bit more space. And I'm sure there's some design elements that have been spruced up a bit. But it is 90 to 95% the same show it was at the public. And sometimes, you know, only little tweaks are all you need for your show to fly. Clearly, that's all I needed for the critics. But I sat there feeling gaslit by everyone, and I fully intend to say so. Listen, they're making money right now. They are the most nominated show of the season. I'm not trying to punch up at them. I am talking to the critics whose job it is to notice these things. And I feel like they all bent over for Alicia Keys and I don't know why. Here we go. Moving on. Next one. Hell's Kitchen was terrible. Best musical, not as generous. I don't think Hell's Kitchen was terrible. There are things about it that are good. I think that the three central women are all wonderful. Malaya Joy Moon, Shoshana Bean, Keisha Lewis, Brandon. Victor Dixon is also really good in what is, in my opinion, a nothing part. And I'm sure someone will mention his nomination, or maybe I will. Who knows? There's some good lighting. There is great choreography in it. It's just half the time. I found that choreography to be intrusive to what was happening. It's also a very ugly set design, and there are some beautiful arrangements of Alicia's songs. I call her Alicia like I know her. It's not terrible. It is not. It's definitely in the bottom half of my rankings. I'll spoil that for y'. All. But, yeah, listen, if it were up to me, I would replace Hell's Kitchen with Here Lies Love for a best musical nomination. That is what I would do. Moving on, next up, how did seven people get nominated for Best Supporting actress in a musical? Is that something that has happened before? Who do you think was the three way tie? No, seven has never happened before in this category. I don't even think six has happened before in this category. Six has happened in other categories, but not here. And seven is most likely the largest number any Tony category has ever seen. And I think that in the future, if there ends up being a tie like this, there needs to be a revote of those three and people have to pick one or two. I don't know. I think I just find seven excessive because then at that point it's like, well, I've got a million people who should get in there in the three way tie. So I think that the three locks in this category and always we're going to get in were Lindsay Mendez from Merrily We Roll Along, BB north for Cabaret, and Keisha Lewis for Hell's Kitchen. I think those three were absolutely locked in. I would probably guess then that Shoshana or Leslie was number four. Leslie Kritzer wasn't on my predictions for a while, and I think Dan Rubins and David lynch both had her. I can't remember. I love Leslie Kritzer. Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer. I'm sorry. I love her. I think she's so talented. She's so funny. I didn't love her in Spam a lot. That's a story for another day. But I do love her in general. I think she's so incredibly talented. She's done Wonderful performances in the past that have been ignored. And she did get nominated for the Drama Desk, I believe, the Outer Critic circle as well, and the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. And as I mentioned, precursors don't usually matter, but they can sort of give you an idea if someone is popping up everywhere, you know, where there might be a little bit of community love that'll push them over the edge. And that might have been the thing with Leslie. I think Amber Aman was in that three way tie. And then who was the last person? It was Lindsay, B.B. keisha, Shoshana, Leslie, Amber, who is seven. Give me a second. Don't tell me, I'm gonna figure it out. It was. Oh, it was Nicki M. James. Yeah. I think for Suffs, I think. You know what, I actually would argue that Nikki M. James was probably number four. And then I would say that Shoshanna, Leslie and Amber were all a three way tie because even though Shoshanna does really wonderful work in in Hell's Kitchen, she is one of two. And you know, I'm sure that nominators wanted to nominate someone from Suffs. And Nikki does a lot of really fine work with what I think is kind of an under baked role. She's very well liked, she's a Tony winner and just good representation for Sephs. Okay, moving on. Also, do you think the Notebook deserved to miss out on a lot of nominations? Best musical, etc. Haven't seen yet. So was wondering your thoughts. I would have liked to see Notebook get in there for musical and score. The thing about score, and I'm sure someone will bring this up down the line, is I don't know who I would cut for the Notebook. Probably. I mean, if I'm being honest here, probably Days of Wine and Roses, because that is a score that I love 40% of. And the other 60%, I think needs like three more goes. But I also think that show needed like two more workshops. I found that show to be incredibly choppy and you know, every other score in that category, even if it wasn't like maybe brilliant or perfect, like I don't think the Outsiders has a brilliant score, but I think the Outsiders has a strong score that is consistent and really helps the show elevate. And stereophonic, I think is brilliant. Those songs are all incredible. They're just incredible songs on their own. But then on top of that, they fit the era in which the show takes place. They are, you know, rearranged multiple times throughout the show, which is why the orchestrations nomination makes total Sense. And you have an idea of, you know, who wrote what because, you know, it's a band and everyone writes different things. And it's. It's a very artistically fulfilling score as well as just creative, like, on an intellectual level. So I don't know what. I guess if I had to kick out one, it would be Days of Wine and Roses for Notebook. But my other thing about the Notebook is I think all that music is gorgeous. I think, like, half of those lyrics are kind of basic. You know, the opening number, time, time, time, time. It's. It's. I would have loved if someone had kind of pushed Ingrid to be a little less concept album y and a little more specific to the characters and the story, because there are times when she is in the Notebook score and when she is, it's great. I love the song that younger Ally and Noah sing when they're about to have sex. I think those lyrics are great. And there are other ones that are fantastic. But, you know, yeah, I would have loved to have seen it. I'm not bitter about it. Musical would have also been nice. I will also say that I was kind of getting a vibe already that musical wasn't going to happen. And in fact, I found out this week I've been talking about, like, my two Tony voter friends. I didn't realize that I actually know two of the nominators. I. I'm not gonna say who, but, like, all season long, I've been talking to them and, you know, we've been sharing our opinions about shows, and I'm just like, what? At the end, I was like, oh, shit. Like, you're. You're a nominator. And I didn't know until after the nominations came out. So that was funny. But. And I've. And I. I've known people who've been nominators in the past. In fact, I am related to someone who was a Tony nominator twice. Once, I believe, in the late 80s, and then again about eight or nine years ago. But, yeah, speaking to those two people, I just. They. Neither of them enjoyed the Notebook. They enjoyed Marianne and Dorian, which was why their nominations make sense. But had I realized that they were nominators, I probably would have been like, oh, I feel like maybe this show isn't gonna score super huge with nominations, but I think that book is a nice one. I'm glad they got in there, and I am thrilled that Marianne Plunkett got in. I think it's up to all of us now to campaign for her. Her or Kelly it's hard, really difficult for someone to win in a closed show when it's a musical. It's really difficult to have that happen. It hasn't happened in 25 years, and there was a specific reason for that. It could happen this year. You know, I don't think that any of the other four women are such an imposing threat on their own that Kelly should be worried or defeated. But I think Marianne has a strong shot. Malaya probably has a strong shot, too. Okay, next one. Paul Alexander Nolan has once again been snubbed for a Tony nomination. Sad face. He sure was. He sure was. I don't know what the man has to do anymore because he's done everything extraordinarily well. He is one of our best singing actors. The one thing is, you know, he doesn't always pick the best projects or rather just say he doesn't get cast in the best projects. I'm sure he's not sitting there with no papers out going, which one do I choose? That is so rare for actors. You're very lucky if that happens with you. But, yeah, Paul has not always been in the best projects, but he's always been the best thing in them. And on a couple of occasions, really truly nomination worthy, if not award worthy. And I think what makes this one sting for me more is that I've got at least two nominations in that category who I could easily swap out for Paul. One, I'll just say now because he's a Tony winner and he doesn't need my approval. I absolutely would cut Roger Bart in Back to the Future and put in Paul. I think that's kind of insulting that Paul didn't get that and Roger did, because Roger is a wonderful actor. He was hysterical in the Producers. I saw him in the producers in 2002 and he was so fantastic as Carmen Ghia. I saw him at the very end of the run of Young Frankenstein and he was working his ass off to keep a half empty then Hilton theater alive. And this is pre Harry Potter. So that was a 1,900 seat theater of which there were maybe like 950 of us. And it was a dead, dead, dead Sunday matinee. And he worked his ass off to get people to wake the fuck up. So I have a lot of respect for him, but I would have cut him easily in that category. Next one. Generally eagerly awaiting your episode on this. Well, thank you. It's happening now. Next up, Shoshana Bean deserves to be nominated for every eligible performance regardless to make up for her huge backlog of Tony worthy standby, understudy replacement roles. That is certainly your opinion. You know, the woman has done a wonderful job with her career. I never saw her Elphaba. I've only heard her Elphaba. I never saw her Jenna. I've only heard her Jenna. And I am a fan. I think her voice is great. I think she's especially in her groove now. She is a wonderful actress, which I didn't know I had only. I think my first live Shoshana performance was actually Mr. Saturday Night. And I went right after the nominations and I was like, how did she get nominated? And I saw it. I was like, oh, I see how she got nominated. You know, I think that show is not very good. I think her role is severely under baked. But she did really wonderful work in it with that role, so I get it. But, you know, I have never been a fan of nominating someone for their career. There are a few people nominated this year who I think were nominated because of their stature and their career, not necessarily for their performance. You know, it's fortunate that Shoshana is good in Hell's Kitchen. Hell's Kitchen is not good, but she is good in it. So there we go. Next up. I love that there are so many musical scenic nominations. Even with all of that many, I'm still a bit surprised Gatsby didn't get in. I know you said it was deceptively grand or something in your last episode. I can only judge by the great Gatsby's photos. So I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this category. Thank you for quoting me about that. Yeah. For first of all, especially now, Matthew Murphy is a really, really talented photographer. There's a reason why he's the go to now for Broadway. He has a really keen eye. He's got a really inventive point of view, and he can make shows look like a million bucks. I think my biggest issue with Matthew Murphy as a photographer is sometimes the photographs come out a little bit overcorrected. The, you know, the colors become a little too oversaturated and there is a bit of a tweaking with certain scenic elements in those photos. So something like Gatsby, the projections are not nearly as noticeable in the photos as they are in the theater. And that is, you know, Matthew Murphy doing a phenomenal job as a photographer because, you know, their job is to sell the show and. But it's not necessarily the most accurate description. And if you see Gatsby, you know, you can definitely tell I was surprised they Weren't nominated myself because even if it's deceptively grand, which. That. I mean, you know, there would be pieces that would come on, and then there would be projections on the paneling and the back wall to make it look a little more full and elaborate than it actually was. That's not a read. That's a very clever use of design. And, you know, our former guest of the POD shoot, Corey Paddock, the lightning designer for Great Gatsby, he worked with the set designer to really make that set look super detailed and. And make it look more realistic than it actually was. And I think that's very clever and requires a lot of skill. So I was surprised they were. They were not nominated. I think, you know, an immediate cut I would make would be the set for Lampica. I don't understand that set. It's. It looks like two. I think I said this before. It looks like two staircases in an M.C. escher painting, but just two of them. Like two out of 20, because they're at opposing angles. And, you know, there's, like, this little platform that slides on and off stage, but, like, it never fully goes off stage, so you always see it. And, yeah, I just. I found that set design to be incredibly lacking. And I would absolutely put Gatsby in there instead of it. I would also cut the Hell's Kitchen set design. Lord knows I did not like Back to the Future, and I do find that set design to be lazy because it's just an elaborate recreation from the movie. But you do see the money on the stage, and it does require skill to make all of those set pieces flow in and out of each other. So, yeah, that's what I've got to say about that next one. Best supporting Actor in a musical category is not good. It's okay. I'm very thrilled for Steven Skybell for Cabaret. He is wonderful in that show. I'm happy for Daniel Radcliffe and Mary Lou Roll Along. He is really good in that show. I think I've always thought that they were Lockes, and I'm glad that they're in. And I am happy for Joshua Boone for the Outsiders. He was really good. I'm disappointed Brent Comer wasn't in there. I thought he was kind of the heart of that show, more so than Johnny, although I'm not begrudging sky his nomination. I'm happy for him, and I hope that he's riding high right now, but I would have liked to see Brent Comer in there, and I. You know, as we all know, I would have demanded Paul, Alexander Nolan. I would cut Roger. I would probably cut Sky. And, you know, I would cut Paul. Not Paul. I would never cut Paul. I would cut Brandon. Brandon, as I said, does wonderful work for a very small role. And sometimes that's enough. It seems to be enough for these nominators. It wasn't enough for me. You know, it's star quality that he's got and a voice like butter. But ultimately, when he left the stage, I didn't miss him. Not in the same way that I missed when Keisha Lewis left the stage. Next up, I wish Ricky Ubaida had been nominated for Illinois. Yeah, I forgot about Ricky Ubaidah. I think the problem with Illinois is that it is mostly an ensemble piece. It becomes Ricky's show in the second half once we get into the Chicago number, and then the predator wasp of the Palisades is out to get us. Is that the name of the song? I really should learn the exact title of that song because ever since seeing Illinois, I've become incredibly obsessed with that music. And that song in particular has made me cry every single time. Ricky is wonderful in the show. They're all wonderful. I would have liked to have seen him get in, but I think Illinois should be very happy with what they did get because a lot of people were 100% sure the musical wasn't going to happen because it was so jammed in at the end of the season that, like, nominators were going to be upset that they had to, you know, rush to see it, that it was mostly a dance piece or, you know, it's because it is a dance use, but there is live vocals on stage and there is a story. So it's. It is musical theater, if not necessarily some people's binary definition of it. Yeah, Ricky would have been nice. Moving on Heart of Rock and Roll closing notice tonight. So this was posted yesterday, so. No, there has been no closing notice for Heart of Rock and Roll. Their grosses actually went up this past week, I think by like a solid 100K, which, I mean, they're still very much in the red, but that is a significant note jump, especially when you consider a lot of other shows went down and other shows that did go up went up by, you know, a small number. I'm hoping that word of mouth will get harder rock and roll to run for at least through the summer. And they should have gotten a best book nomination over Hell's Kitchen 1000%, because that book is fun. Next up, seven omnis for featured actress in a Musical. Has that ever happened before? No, it has not. And we. I don't mean to be snarky, guys, but this is going to be a long episode, so we're just going as fast as we can. Yo, stop leaving me on read. I don't know who that is. I've never left anyone on read. Next up, no score for Notebook is crazy. Yeah. You know, but the thing is, unless you can tell me who you would replace with Notebook, what are you gonna do? You know, I told you who I would replace, but I don't even stand by that fully. You know, it's more sort of like a happy with one, happy with the other or medium on one, medium on the other. Next up, Roger Bart. Roger Bart in bold, many question marks and then a couple of exclamation points. Yeah. You know, a friend of the pod, Alex Weissman, and I were actually talking about this. I think that. Yeah, the night before the nominations, he has a whole spreadsheet that he did and he. I don't remember this, but he confirmed for me yesterday. He did prepare me for Paul not getting in and Roger getting in, so. I should have listened. I should have listened to you, Alex. Another one about featured actress in a musical. Seven nominees, absolutely wild. It sure is. No Paul Alexander Nolan. Sad face. I know. Very sad. Next up, someone writes, sorry about Paul Alexander Nolan. Hashtag rip. It was peak dramatic irony that Roger Bart from Back to the Future was the nominee to steal it from him, though. Crying emojis. Yeah. I don't know if, like some of y' all are writing these sort of back to back to back or if it's just the timing of it all. So it's funny to, you know, go on about this and then have three more all about it. But, yeah, no, I. There's nothing else left to say. If you enjoyed Back to the Future, that's your right. I didn't. I don't think it's the worst musical I've ever seen. It's just one of the more insulting ones because it is such a carbon paste, such a copy paste job of the movie with a score that I don't think is good and actors in it who are very talented and some of them are working miracles with, in my opinion, bad material. Jelani Remy is working fucking miracle with his song. But, you know, I don't think Roger is. But it was enough for some people. Next up. No. Sound design for Illinois is crazy. It sure is. The sound design for Illinois is pretty incredible. I wonder who I would take out, though. Because I'm gonna look this up now. I know that it was Hell's Kitchen, Cabaret, Merrily, Outsiders, and what was the last sound design nominee? Here Lies Love. Okay, so I am not getting rid of Outsiders. That sound design is fantastic. And of these five nominees, it should win. I'm not getting rid of Cabaret again. I'll bring up my thoughts about it next week in the rankings. But the sound design of that production is pretty fantastic. And Merrily, I don't think I can do it. You know, while it's not necessarily the most, like, intricate or, like, obvious sound design, you do feel like you are engulfed in the music while being able to hear every single word of those lyrics, which is hard to do. And something else I mentioned was the orchestrations. I think 13, 14 piece band makes it sound a lot fuller. And part of that is the sound design, so good for them. So it's down to Here Lies Love and Hell's Kitchen. I will say, much as I do not like Hell's Kitchen, it does actually have a pretty good sound design. Hero Lies Love also had a good sound design, but it was a bit more rock concert y. I would absolutely put Illinois in instead of either of them. I'm not going to choose which one. But if you're like, oh, it should be, you know, Hell's Kitchen, then, yeah, put in Illinois instead of Hell's Kitchen. Or if some of you are like, it should be Here Lies Love, put in Illinois instead of Here Lies Love. But, yeah, it should be in there for either one of them. Next up, we have best book nomination for Water for Elephants is a joke, but I guess it was a weak season for book. To be honest, I wish Illinois had gotten in that category. Yeah. You know, this has been not a good year for books of musicals. I think of our five nominees, the Notebook is a good option. Outsiders is a very good option. I'll give Suffs a nomination. Even though I don't think that book is as strong as its score. It is not a disaster of a book, which, unfortunately is the bar we've set this year. Hell's Kitchen, get it the fuck out of here. That's where heart of rock and roll goes. And then, yeah, I would probably put in Illinois's Overwater for Elephants. You know, it's. I think because Illinois is much more not esoteric, but like. And not even avant garde, but, like, maybe more abstract than something that's sung through like Les Mis or Evita or Hamilton. It's harder for nominators to look at the book. Of Illinois and really think of it as a book, you know, because it is a structured story and those songs are used in ways that doesn't just make it like a concert. And they also give you a little journal in the playbill to help make sense of the book if you're having trouble with it. Although I didn't really have any trouble with it at all. It's a pretty, you know, easy story, but it's just very, very touching, and it's in its simplicity. So, yeah, I would have liked that as well. The Water for Elephants book, you know, it's not. I don't think it's terrible. I think it's fine. It's perfectly okay. Also, way overuses narration, but it does make some interesting changes to the original story to make it more adaptable for musical theater without changing the tone, without changing the point of view. Yeah, I mean, I think the weakest thing of Water for Elephants is the score, which it wasn't nominated for, thank goodness. Or not thank goodness. But, you know, I don't think that score was necessarily award worthy. So for a show that got nominated for best book and best musical, I'm not upset that Water of Elephants didn't get a score nomination. Yeah, I mean, I would put in Illinois over Water for Elephants or Hell's Kitchen, but I also want Heart of Rock and Roll in there. So moving on. Next up, I was hoping for more nominations for Gatsby. If not for Jeremy and Ava. I thought they would get one for Choreo scenic and lighting. Glad they got costumes, though. Well deserved. Yeah, the costumes are good in Gatsby. Maybe a little glitter heavy in my personal opinion, but they are good. And they are a combination of period appropriate and, you know, heightened for a theatrical space and for a large theatrical space. So it's a nice balance. I would have liked to see them get in for lighting and scenic design. I think they deserve that. I'm not mad about the choreography nomination, to be honest. I think I would have put. I don't know what I would put in instead of Here Lies Love, maybe, but was it choreography? It was. It's Hell's Kitchen, Water for Elephants, Outsiders, Here Lies Love, Illinois. So of those five, my rankings go currently Illinois, the Outsiders, Water for Elephants, Hell's Kitchen, Here Lies Love. So I could have put Gatsby in there instead of Here Lies Love, but. But honestly, I would have put in Once Upon a One More Time instead of Great Gatsby. Both of them have their flaws and their perks of the choreography. I Am not disappointed about Great Gatsby only getting one, though. I do not like that show. I don't think that it was very good. The, you know, the design is really what keeps it going. And I love Ava Noblezada. We all know that. I think she's just so special in a sea of not special musical theater actresses. She sounds different. She's a wonderful actress. She's very passionate on stage, which I really appreciate. And Jeremy, you know, I have really enjoyed in Newsies and Bonnie and Clyde. I don't think they're good in the show. They sound good. They always sound good, but I think their performances are misguided. Part of that is the material and part of that is probably direction. But, yeah, I don't think their performances really warranted nominations. And now we have Roger Bart for featured actor in a musical with five question marks. I know, guys, thank you for being on my side with that one. Next up, we have shocked to see the Notebook and Here Lies Love not nominated for best musical. We talked about this with Here Lies Love in Days of Wine and Roses. I had a hope that here's Lies Love could have been recognized in the end, even though it was closed because it was well liked. And in the end, you know, it got four, including a score nomination. So it shows that there they didn't forget it. They, they enjoyed it, if not necessarily so much that they were willing to kick out something that was currently running. Same thing with Days of Wine and Roses. You know, they gave it the three nominations that I think were always expected. Notebook, you know, that's really just a matter of the people that like it like it and the people that don't hate it and find it manipulative. Which musical theater is manipulative. But I think when it doesn't work for you, you are resentful of the manipulation. And when it does work for you, you just don't care. So, yeah, I'm, you know, sorry for Notebook. I thought it was a very lovely time. But I also want to go back because I said this before. I'm not sure if going to see Notebook when I did in this season might have affected my positive vibes about it because at that point, I hadn't seen a new musical that I liked, I think since Here Lies Love in like September. So I was feeling very, very bitchy and just wanted to like something. And I know Ryan Vasquez in the show and I'm a fan of Marianne Plunkett and I'm a friend of one of the producers. Not that that influenced me in any way. But, you know, you want the people you like and know to be in something that you like. So when you see them, you can honestly say, well done. That was good and I enjoyed it. And I think, I wonder if I saw it a few weeks later, after I saw Outsiders, after I saw Illinois, if I would have been as up on it as I was. So that's why I kind of want to go back. But, you know, I did enjoy it. So it was disappointing for most. Someone wrote just imagining how gleeful you must be at all the Stereophonic nominations with a big smiley face. I. I'm not gonna lie. I am very, very happy that I got ahead of the bandwagon, at least online with Stereophonic. That show already has its fans, if you go on, you know, Broadway World or Talking Broadway. And of course, also has its detractors. People who said it's too long, said it's boring. Nothing happens. They are wrong. Things do happen. But no, I thought Stereophonic was just incredible. I think it's so well acted. I was thrilled for all the acting nominations. I believe when I was talking to Dan about it and we were doing our predictions versus our wants in featured actor in a play. My want was Eli Gelb, Will Brill, and Top Vasynca. And that's what I got. So I was very happy about that. And I'm happy they got in for score. I had been saying that for a while, and, you know, I didn't even think about orchestrations. But I'm thrilled that happened for them, too. They got in everywhere where they could. There are two actors who didn't get nominated, and I don't think that is the nomination nominating committee being like they were bad. First of all, there's no world in which, you know, a whole category is just taken up with five actors from one show. This just doesn't happen. Three is usually where we're at. I wonder if four has ever happened. I don't think so, but three has happened a few times. And for this show, that's as well as you can do. I think those two actors who didn't get nominated, I'm sure, you know, they understand it's not them. They weren't given enough meaty material to really hit nominators over the head with how good they were. They did what they were supposed to do incredibly well. The very fact that this show got nominated for as many awards as it did means that there isn't a weak link to be had. And if you are in that Cast, that means you are one of those components that is not weak. So, yeah, that's good for them. I would love to have, like, a best ensemble nomination for the Tonys, Honestly, for plays. Not even for musicals. For plays. A collective ensemble award, because there has been some really good ensemble work this year. You know, I think that Ja Jaw's African hair braiding. Not a weak link in that cast. Stereophonic. Not a weak link. Appropriate. No necessarily. Weak, weak links. At least not when it was at the Haze. I didn't see it when it transferred to the Belasco. Although I have heard not great things about the replacement for Elle Fanning. I thought Elle was good at the Haze. That role is kind of. It's not a dud of a role so much as that role is the butt of the joke a lot of the times. And the only thing you can really do playing it is just be earnestly insufferable. And Elle did that very well. If maybe she still could do another show or two on stage before she really gets it under her belt. But I would still give them a nomination for ensemble, and I would give Enemy of the People an ensemble nomination. Really fantastic work from all of them. Next up, no Sweeney Todd for best revival. Hello, Sutton Foster. Say what? What? I'm not entirely sure what the. What this person's saying. If you. If you. Oh, my guess is that this person is being. Is being funny. Someone's being silly with me. Because if you're listening to this podcast, you know that Sweeney Todd was nominated last year and thus is ineligible this year, and Sutton is ineligible this year as well. So. Yeah, that's somebody just trolling me. Okay, they got it. Moving on. Next up, we have. Pearly deserved the same amount of love in nominations for feature performances as Stereophonic Billy. Eugene Jones, J. O Sanders, and Alicia Heather Sims all had dynamic performances. The question is, who would you take out? Because I will say in featured actor, I would not get rid of Corey Stoll. And who is our other one was? It was the three men from Seraphonic, Corey Stoll. And then wasn't Will Keane, because I wanted Keane to get in, and that didn't end up happening. Who was. Was. Oh, Jim Parsons from Mother Play. God. Yeah. Put Jo Sanders or Billie Eugene in instead of Jim. Please do it. I would love that. I would put. I would put in Jay over Billy. I said this last time, you know, I think Billy is such a wonderful actor. I loved him in Fat Ham and I thought he was wonderful. And Pearly victorious, but similar to the two Gents from Stereophonic. I don't think Billy's role was really an awards grabby role. It was, you know, there just wasn't enough stage time for me. And yeah, Alicia was wonderful and Pearly, but I think that Kara was the right one. Again, especially when there's so many others. I. If, you know, if you had to take someone out, a featured actress in a play, I would take out either Celia Keenan Bolger or Quincy Tyler Bernstein for Doubt and Mother Play. But, you know, I would much prefer either Natalie Gold for Appropriate. Victoria Pedretti for An Enemy of the People, one of the many actresses for Jaja. You know, that's. If Jaja doesn't get any acting nominations. I can't be mad that Pearly victorious, quote unquote, only got two. But I did, I did enjoy Pearly and I'm glad that they got the love that they got. I haven't seen any of the nominated best musicals or listened to parts of new scores, but I can usually tell when I'd be drawn to. I think you mean what I'd be drawn to. Even before today, I was thinking, I think mat has rights. Seems like a fairly underwhelming season for a new musical. Oh, sorry. I think Matt was right. Sorry. That's what. That's what they wrote. They wrote, I think Matt was rights. But they're trying to say I think Matt was right. Seems like a fairly underwhelming season for new musicals. It is an underwhelming season for new musicals. My favorite score of a musical this season is one that isn't eligible, and that is Illinois. The music in that is just so devastatingly gorgeous. And, you know, I think the Days of Wine and Roses has pockets that are fantastic. I think the first 15 minutes of days of Wine and Roses is gorgeous musical theater storytelling. And then it turns into a choppy, choppy show. Here lies Love. Very glad it got recognized. I don't find that show to be as deep as they pretend it is, but it is a very boppy show and very impressive technical feat. Outsiders obviously know. I think a lot of people have spoken to me that they found the lyrics for Outsiders to be kind of pedestrian. And yeah, they are. They're pedestrian lyrics, but they make sense for the characters and the atmosphere. So I'm not going to be quoting any of them as poetry anytime soon, but they don't embarrass me as much as some other lyrics this year. Cough, cough. Great Gatsby. Yeah, Take a listen to some of the scores. They're not all bad. There are some pretty solid ones. And I will say Suffs is actually a pretty strong score. It's not perfect, but there's a lot of really great stuff in there. Shayna is a very intelligent and talented woman. Let's do two more and then we'll take a break. Next up, why are the nominees for supporting in a musical so much more numerous than the leads? What determines how many they are? Many. There are ties. You know, it's ties. You know, I want, I want to emphasize to everyone, and I know if you're, if you listen to this podcast regularly, you all know this, but remember it so you can tell other people. Because if there's one thing about theater fans that I wish, I wish they would be better at, because movie fans, like movie Oscar Oscar buffs, absolutely understand how Oscar voting works. They understand how, you know, the nominations work. They're up to date on any changes to the system. A lot of theater fans have no idea how Tony nominating or Tony voting works. They just make up their own narratives because that's easier. And it annoys me because, you know, if you claim to be a theater fan, know how it works before you have an opinion about it. And I'm not saying this person asking this question is, you know, anything like that. They asked a question because they want to know. But I'm telling you now so you can know and tell people down the line, because we need to make sure that when people spew idiocy online that we can correct them. It is for however many candidates there are for a category that determines the minimum number of nominees. So if it's lower than nine candidates, then it's four. And I believe best actress in a play was going to be four minimum, and it ended up being five, which means that there was probably a tie or close to a tie between Amy Ryan for Doubt and Betsy Item for Prayer for the French Republic. Because it doesn't have to be an exact tie. I believe it has to be within three or four votes. Yeah, something like that. And there are something like 53 nominators in the committee. It used to be like less than half of that only, you know, a decade ago. So it's. They've expanded to have more points of view and to, you know, keep certain shows from necessarily dominating, although that doesn't seem to be working. But there were, I think, eight or nine nominators who had to recuse themselves because they were either eligible this year, like Whitney White for JA Jaw's African hairbraiding was eligible. So she had to recuse herself from nominating. And then some people, you know, it's either your spouse or a family member or you involved in a show in some way. You have to recuse yourself. So out of 45 nominators, that means, you know, a good number of them had all voted for three actresses in Featured. And the. And the tallies were close enough that they all had to get in again. It's not exact. It's not. They have to be the exact number, but within three or four votes of each other. So that's how that happened. Next up, I love Jaja's, but I'm honestly wondering if they got too many design nominations that they didn't necessarily deserve specifically set and sound. They absolutely deserved a sound nomination because of what they do with those televisions. That is. That is a wonderful nomination. And there isn't outside of maybe an Enemy of the People, which makes what is ultimately an unmiked show ricochet throughout a very intimate theater. I can't tell you that there's another play this year I would give a sound design nomination to. I think Jaw Jaws is a wonderful choice. These are. All. Five of. These are great. This is a great category. It's Jaw Jaws, Mary Jane, Greyhouse, appropriate and stereophonic. And I can't recall if it was Dan Rubens or if it was David lynch who had said with Mary Jane that there is really extraordinary sound design in that show that is not again, not obvious, but the way it's done is very important to the plot and is very effective. So those are all wonderful scenic design. You know, I don't. I didn't love the set for Jaja, but the way that they created that salon, there was a lot of character to each station. The whole thing felt incredibly lived in and relatable. So I get that if maybe it wasn't like the most impressive or theatrical design out there, like a prayer for the French Republic or something. But I'm not mad about it. I think they got. And I'm also so happy they had. They got in for costumes. I'm sure, you know, somebody will be disappointed that maybe, like, the cottage didn't get nominated for scenic design. And I talked about this in our predictions. I had the cottage as a set design possibility because it was a very ornate set. The problem was, I thought it did not lend itself to farce and slapstick in the way that Jason Alexander clearly wanted that production to be. So that wasn't terribly disappointing to me. And I think Greyhouse could have gotten in there. You know, ultimately, of the five design nominees for set, the one that I'm kind of least happy with is Pearly Victorious, which was a fine set and had a beautiful reveal at the end. That that reveal was stunning. But the rest of the time I thought that set was just sort of, okay, we'll do one more. And that last one is Hell's Kitchen. Might be one of the worst new musicals of the season. I was surprised by the reviews, but like, sure, whatever. But 13 nominations, absolutely ridiculous. Thirteen nominations is ridiculous. I can think of at least four categories it has no right to be in or say four categories that I wouldn't take it out of. We'll see what happens with this show. I personally think that it's not going to win musical. I think it's down to Suffs and Outsiders. Something that a friend of mine who works in awards pundit for the Tonys said to me at a party recently was the Tony Award voting pool tends to not vote for jukebox musicals if they can help happens sometimes. It happened with Moulin Rouge because it was the only one of three, or rather say all three of those were jukebox musicals. And that was obviously the most popular one and the most artistically fulfilling of them. And then another jukebox musical I don't think had won prior to Moulin Rouge since once in 2012. But I don't know if we can really count once because those songs were written for the story. It was the movie, but it was that story. It's calling, like Xanadu a jukebox musical. Those songs were written for it. And I think Once might have even had one or two extra songs added for it. But yeah, it wasn't like the catalog of a person. So I don't think anyone considered once a jukebox musical. So the last, like tried and true jukebox that won was Jersey Boys in 2006, which was. So we're talking like a 16, not 16, 15 year gap between jukebox musical wins and Jersey Boys. Its biggest competition was definitely Drowsy Chaperone, which was artistically very well received and was a popular show, if not like the runaway smash the Color Purple and Jersey Boys were. But Jersey Boys was just simply too much of a juggernaut to ignore, which is what got it that contact won in 2000 and that wasn't even that again, wasn't a jukebox so much as a dance piece with canned music. Contact also very popular show, very well received, and of the best musical nominees, one was another musical swing with no original score. And then James Joyce is the Dead, which either was about to close or had just closed. And then Michael johnlacius's the Wild Party, which while I love and a lot of the community loved that was never going to win. So that is. Those are those three of this century alone. And then, you know, after that, we've got things like Crazy for your and Ain't Misbehavin and Jerome Robbins Broadway. Do we really count those as jukebox musicals? I don't. In terms of like True Blue, how we think of jukebox musicals now, like a Mamma Mia. Jersey Boys. We've only had two Moulin Rouge and Jersey Boys. So my friend said he doesn't think it's going to be Hell's Kitchen. He thinks it's going to be SEFS or the Outsiders. It's not going to be Illinois. It's. It's too abstract. It's a very limited run. So unless they win and hint that they will extend to the end of the year or something, I don't think it's going to be them. But I mean, Illinois is beautiful and probably be my vote right now with Outsiders as a second and then Suss as a third after that. Unless, you know, Hell's Kitchen really just campaigns like a motherfucker, which they might. I mean, they all. They were already campaigning really hard for nominations, so it might work for them for awards as well. But, you know, you get 13 nominations. That's a lot of Tonys that you can lose. They already can't win any more than 12 because they've got Shoshana and Keisha in one category, but they're not winning featured actor. That's going to either Daniel Radcliffe or Steven Skybell, in my opinion. Keisha has a really good shot. It's, I think, down to her BB and Lindsay. But so we're already looking at 11 there. I think book is out, so that's 10. They're not getting direction. That's going to go to Maria Friedman, so that's nine. I don't think they're getting choreography. That's going to go to Justin Peck, so that's eight. I don't think they're getting orchestrations. I don't think they're getting set or costumes. So, you know, we're looking at like 13 nominations. And if they win musical, five awards, maybe six, but I think five, four or five. And that's not really like a juggernaut number to go off of. You know, look at MJ versus Strange Loop. MJ gets four wins, but not musical. Strange Loop gets two, including musical. Sometimes, you know, you don't need to win a million awards, just need to win the most important ones. But something like Hell's Kitchen, I think they do need to win more than that. All right, that is this first batch. Let us take a quick break. Billy, I beg to differ with you. How do you mean? You're the top. Yeah. You're an arrow collar. You're the top. You're a Coolidge dollar. You're the nimble tread of the feet of Freddy. And we're back. All right, we've got some more takes here. We've got a whole bunch of takes. Here we go. Next up, we have Joy woods got snubbed. Notebook got snubbed for musical score and orchestrations. I like Joy. I thought she was so charming in. I can get it for you wholesale. And I liked her in Notebook. I'll be honest. Of the two younger allies, the one I liked more was Jordan Tyson Grant. I think that the Alley Noah storyline is a little more compelling when they're younger because they're just a little messier. I wanted a bit more bite from Joy's performance. She sings like a, you know, gladiator, but I think I just wanted her to be a little more combative with Ryan on stage. So I don't think she got snubbed. Especially when there's really no one in that category that I'm angry about so much that there are people that I'm like, I don't think they need to be here. I don't think that's. That's necessarily important. We've mentioned musical, We've mentioned score. I will say the orchestrations are truly lovely, but also, you know, about most of these orchestrations are also really good. I think if I had to kick one out for Notebook, it will probably be Hell's Kitchen. Although I will say, despite how much I dislike that show, I do think that the arrangements are very solid. Next up again, we have someone mentioning the seven nominees for scenic design for a musical, but only five for nearly all other categories. If all categories have the same number of submissions, one per show, how did this category get so many? I do not know the process of nominations. Thanks. Another. Another person. So I said it before. I'll say it again, and I want everyone to listen. If we get another question about this, I will move on, because at this point, y' all just know how it works. You as a nominator, put in your ballot for Five, everyone. Or four, depending on, you know, the number of candidates. So I think every nominator had to submit four for best actress in a play, and everyone has to submit five for scenic design of a musical, as well as all the other design categories. And it so happens that probably Back to the Future Lempicka and Hell's Kitchen all were within three or four votes of each other. So they all got in. So that's how that happened. No one is, like, sitting here determining this stuff. It's. It's truly comes down to just the votes were so close. Which again tells you that there is. Despite Hell's Kitchen having the number of nominations it has. It is not, you know, this, like, juggernaut that everyone's getting behind. I really don't think so. I think there's a lot of love spread with other shows as well. Next up, thoughts. Thought of you. With you. With those three stereophonic featured actors. Thank you for thinking of me. Thank you so much. I hope they think of me too. I put it into the universe for them. Ally Bonino should have been nominated. You know, I knew she wouldn't be. I knew she wouldn't be. She is perhaps my favorite performance in Suffs and she's a candidate for one of my Tony categories that don't exist that I will post at the end of May, first week of June at. Somewhere at that point, because she is doing wonderful work in that show. But it is a relatively, not quiet, but subtle performance. I guess I want to say it's not as. As showy a role and she doesn't have her. Like her big song is at the very end. And it's not, you know, the Standing My Ground, Pissing on the Floor kind of song that, you know, Nikki M. James has when she was like, I will not wait my turn. It's something like that. If her number was maybe a bit more like that, perhaps it would have happened. But it's. It's rare when actors in musicals give a soft performance and nominators respect that and recognize it. It's why I was so thrilled that all three ladies from Fun Home were nominated for featured actress and that Beth Malone got in because those were soft performances. But that's a soft show and you cannot Give a Patti LuPone an Evita performance in Fun Home. You will be laughed out of the theater. Next up, how does the math math to get seven featured actress and musical nominations? I've said it. We're moving on. Lol. Roger. Bart. That's another one. Someone else writes Suffs is still a contender. Wait, Suffs still a contender? Nominated in the big four for new musicals, even with fewer total nominations than Hell's Kitchen and the Outsiders. I agree. I talked about this before. You don't have to have the most nominations to be the big dog in the end, you know, Avenue Q ends up winning musical score and book. And it did not have nearly as many nominations as Wicked Drowsy Chaperone had more nominations than Jersey Boys, and that ended up winning the big prize. You don't have to be nominated for everything. You just have to be nominated for the right ones. And I will say for musical, the two categories that are most important to get nominated for are book and director. You think like, oh, well, it's a musical. Shouldn't score be important? And yes, score is important. What I mean is that there has not been a single best musical winner in the history of the Tony Awards that wasn't nominated for best Book if it was eligible for it. So something like Fosse and Amos Behaven did not win Best Book because they were not eligible for Best book. But Contact was, and Contact got a nomination. Jersey Boys was. It got a nomination. You can win Best Musical and not be nominated for Best Director. It's a little. It's a lot harder, but it can happen. It has happened. Not often, but it has happened. Book has never happened. And it's what made me realize that 6 was never going to win when they lost a Best Book nomination. And also it's what makes me think that Illinois won't win. In addition to it being a limited run and also being sort of an avant garde dance piece, it not getting in for director or book, I think shows that the voting pool will not have confidence in voting for it for musical. They'll give it choreography, or at least they fucking better. I would like for them to give it orchestrations. Those arrangements are stunning. And if not that, then stereophonic. But no, I think Suffs has a good shot. They got nominated for book, score, musical director. Those are four you absolutely have to get. And then they got an acting nomination. That's a big one. And then one design nomination. And it was a good one. They were never going to get in for set. The lighting is also not the most impressive. And I don't think they were ever going to get choreography, but I think. I think they're a big dog. And I think Outsiders is still a big dog. Someone writes, I am shocked by the Eden nomination. I'm not shocked. I don't agree with it, but I'm not shocked. I'm also not going to begrudge Eden her nomination. You know, she's a talented woman, lovely and very well liked and has worked for a very long time. I just. I find that just basically everything in Lempicka is disjointed. So I don't necessarily agree with their nominations, but I'm happy that they got some love and maybe that'll quiet down some of the discourse. I'm not sure who I would put in instead of Eden, either Shayna for Suffs or Ariel Jacobs for Here Lies Love. Maybe. Maybe even Izzy Miquela for Water for Elephants, who I thought did a very good job with a very underwritten role. Someone else writes. So Hell's Kitchen seems like the runaway nomination getter, but what's the president for a jukebox? Running away with all of those wins? Likely unlikely. I'm just so impressed by jukebox musicals usually. And I tend to not enjoy them much. I'm just so unimpressed by jukebox musicals usually. That's what they said. And I tend to not enjoy them much. Might as well just listen to the OG albums and be done with it. Depends on the musical. I think that Mamma Mia. Uses its songs very cleverly in terms of plot. If maybe the arrangements aren't like the most inventive heart of rock and roll, I actually think does very clever interpretations of the songs. And I gotta tell you, I am so ready for the Illinois album to come out because I. I have on good authority that it is happening. I think it's gonna be a live recording maybe. But I mean, I already said it, right? We talked about this. You don't have to be the nomination leader to win. And in fact, it's just. It's. It's more opportunities for you to lose categories. The only other time I can think of where a jukebox musical was this far ahead with nominations was the Moulin Rouge gas leak here when it was, you know, Moulin Rouge and Jack of the Pill. Just like coming out with a million nominations, Ain't Too Proud had a lot its year. I think Hadestown might have had one more than Ain't Too Proud, but Ain't Too Proud did much better than the Prom and Beetlejuice nominations. But then that ended up only getting one award for choreography. And what are some other big ones? I mean, Jersey Boys did very well and then ended up winning Mamma Mia. I mean, Mamma Mia got a good chunk. It was nominated for musical book, actress, supporting actress, and I think orchestration. So those are five big ones and then one. None of them. But, yeah, Hell's Kitchen might be the most any jukebox musical has been nominated for in a year where there were other scripted shows. But, yeah, no, it's. I. There's. There's not really a precedent for jukebox musicals like a Hell's Kitchen or a Mamma Mia. Winning all that often. It happens rarely. By the time you reach this comment, I'm sure that you will have already discussed it and thrown a shoe, but here it is. Paul Nolan. Give him a Tony already. Well, everyone, I am currently barefoot, so both of my shoes have been thrown. And it is indeed for Paul. We throw our shoes for Paul. Next up, Uncle Vanya and Doubt were my two most anticipated shows of the season. Seems that was a miscalculation on my part. You know, me, fucking two. I don't see Vanya till Saturday. But that cast Heidi Schreck, Lila as the director. I thought it was going to be the event of the year. And apparently all of those wonderful elements did not congeal to a beautiful product. I will see it for myself shortly enough. But, yeah, that's the buzz I've been hearing. And then Doubt, I would be very interested to see how it would have been with Tine. And she was really my reason for being so excited about it. This revival of Doubt was fine. I do not think it was, you know, a highlight of the season. What it did was that it proved to myself and others that Doubt is a good play because this was a perfectly average production, imo, and it still ran. It sold very well, it got solid reviews, and they did get three nominations. So I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that John Patrick Shanley just wrote a very good play. He wrote a very, very good play. Next up. So few shows from summer fall 2023 were even acknowledged. And makes you wonder how that will change the theater landscape going forward. I mean, it's not that those shows opened so soon. It's that so many of those shows, in my opinion, weren't terribly good. I mean, as much as it's fun for me to say Justin Guarini and the choreography for Once Upon a One More Time, I thought that show was bad. I think Back to the Future is bad. You know, I did not care for Harmony. I did not care for how to Dance in Ohio. I did not care for Spamalot. You know, if I were a nominator, I'm not going to give them nominations just because they were early and then closed. I would have maybe given her Lies Love two or three more nominations than it got. But, I mean, other than that, I don't think that there was all that much that was overlooked, in my opinion. Pearly Victorious got a lot of love. Revival, set, actor, featured actress, director, which I don't think was a total given, but it happened. And that's, you know, good for them. Ja Ja's African Hair Braiding got nominated. Great for them. And, you know, I mean, appropriate doesn't really count because that opened in early December, but is still currently running. Prayer for the French Republic opened I think in December and then closed in February, as did Doubt open in February. What am I saying? But Pearly opened in October, ran till February, Gutenberg around the same time, and that got a revival nomination. I think a lot of the shows that opened in the fall, the ones that got recognized were for a reason. Greyhouse got two, and now I think was like the first show of the season to close, if not once Upon a one more time. So, yeah, I'm not. I don't think it changes anything, really. Shows open when they can. And, you know, those that are precious about exactly when they open might end up losing their theater and their chance to come in that season at all. Because it's not always up to you. Sometimes you just have to go when it. When the time is there, someone else writes. Cannot believe the Wiz was snubbed in favor of Gutenberg. Lempicka should have received. Lempicka should not have received any nominations. Eddie Redmayne is a menace to the arts. He deserves a razzie. Here Lies Love and Greyhouse deserved better. Surprise. Gatsby and Notebook didn't receive more nominations. Jaja's is half of a play. Okay, so this person has a lot of opinions. I will first say no. Ja Jaw's African Hair Braiding is a full play and it's a delightful play. That is your opinion, but I fully disagree with you. I don't think Gatsby deserved that many more nominations. I thought they should have gotten in for set and lighting. I think the design of that show is very strong. The lighting is my personal favorite. And it's not just because Corey was our guest. I even said that to him. But Notebook, it's disappointing. But musical and score and maybe orchestrations are the three that I would really fight for. And I wouldn't even fight that hard. More just up against something like Hell's Kitchen, which I did not like. Eddie Redmayne is a Very talented actor. He's also a very kind person. I don't think that Eddie, from what I have heard, heard from those who have worked with him, first of all, again, supposedly a sweetheart, but supposedly he is his own worst enemy as a performer because he is a very beholden to any director. He has. He trusts them without any kind of, you know, what's. We're looking for, any kind of trepidation. And also, you know, he's done this show for a while now and is always. And when you're an actor, you're always trying to look for new things. And you see over the course, sometimes of a long run with somebody, either, you know, they just deepen in the role or they get more confident in the role and it's so exciting. Or they get bored, or they just start throwing out newer, weirder choices, making their performance totally different from what it started as. I don't. I don't know if Eddie's performance as it is right now is how it was when it opened in London. I have a feeling it probably is close to it. But also, Eddie's not gonna stand there and tell his director, I don't know what we're going for here. Why am I doing this? Or, you know, can you give me some kind of shaping? I'm not getting anything right now. So that is, I think, what has happened with Eddie's performance. I wouldn't call him a menace. I don't think his performance is good. I. In fact, I quite hated him in Cabaret. Lempicka didn't deserve any nominations. Yay. Yeah. I did not like Lempicka. As I said. Set design. No, thank you, Eden. I'm not gonna yell about it, but that wouldn't have been my choice. And Amber, you know, Amber is so talented, and I loved her and Shuffle along and she is such a talented performer, but she, along with everyone else in her show, they're all in separate shows. So there you go. The Wiz snubbed in favor of Gutenberg. You know, again, I see the Wiz tonight and I'll let y' all know. I have not heard a single person say that the Wiz is good. The only thing I've heard from anyone is that the vocals are great. And if that's all you want from the Wiz, fantastic. But the Wizzes should be more than just vocals, especially this production, which has been going on a rampage in the press about how much they're trying to refocus, like black excellence and black history with this production. And apparently, no one's getting any of that. They're just getting vocals. You know, Gutenberg is a shallow musical. It should be 90 minutes, no intermission, instead of two hours with an intermission. But I will not lie. I had a decent time. And I think, and I said this before, nominating Gutenberg for revival is, in its own way, nominating Andrew and Josh without actually nominating them. Yeah, I'm not mad about the revival category. Someone writes, didn't expect big things from Gatsby, and clearly it didn't pan out. I'm just wondering how ticket sales was sustained with basically no traction with nominations. Seems like a pretty expensive production. It's kind of giving me Finding Neverland vibes. Huge show met, pop score, pretty voices. Yeah, this is definitely Finding Neverland vibes. And Finding Neverland ran for a little under a year and a half. Like, I want to say, 14, 15 months, which is a respectable run for most shows. They definitely wanted it to run, like, four times longer than that. Like, Harvey Weinstein, he thought he had, like, the runaway success of the year. And they started strong, they had good grosses, and, you know, still performed on the Tonys even though they got no nominations. Gatsby, I think, will do fine through the summer, and then I think we're going to see a major drop. You know, if I were to be really harsh, I would say they are going to close by Labor Day. If I'm being generous, I'm going to say by New Year's Eve. But they're doing okay right now, if not necessarily as well as they maybe would like to. But that's true of most shows. The only shows right now that are just, like, really growing and surprising are the outsiders in Hell's Kitchen in terms of their sales. And then, you know, Cabaret, I could not have guessed that it would be grossing what it's grossing. I know that the tickets are so insane, but I thought that that was going to turn people off. Apparently, that's just making people feel like it's an. And I'm thrilled for Merrily that they've, you know, continued so steadily as they have. I never thought that that would happen. And, yeah, and then the Wiz doing amazingly well. But, yeah, I wonder what's gonna happen with. With Gatsby. Someone writes yay for a little bit of love for Here Lies Love, but not for scenic. It did get a scenic design nomination. You know, some. Louis Fertel who has a podcast called Keep It. He just did a whole episode about the Tonys with his co host and he very wrongfully said. I mean, he might have corrected himself. I only listened to the first 20 minutes, and then I had to stop because he just kept getting so much wrong about the Tonys. But he was like, oh, here lies love. Got nothing. I went, no, they got four. They got score, set, sound and choreography. So no, they got in for set. Next up. Oof. On the Notebook, I wasn't a fan, but going into this season, the word of mouth had that as a front runner. Oh, how things change. That's sort of the thing, right? Because Outsiders went out of town where the reviews were mixed and everyone kind of reported that it needed a lot of work. And then when it transferred, we were all like, oh, really? You're not going to take more time to work on it. Maybe they have worked on it. I'm not entirely sure exactly how much has changed between California and here, but, you know, Outsiders opened to not necessarily fanfare, but the reviews were solid, if not like raves. They were very solid reviews, respectful reviews. And the word of mouth for the Outsiders has been really incredible, I think because the expectations were so low. Notebook came in on this wave from Chicago where everyone expected the Notebook to be this treacly eyeroly disaster, this big y musical, and it exceeded their expectations in Chicago. So we were like, okay, here we go. This is the big. The big one. Especially when the fall kept disappointing. Which connects us to that previous question of, like, oh, so a few shows from the fall and summer were recognized. And I said, no, not many of them deserved to be. I just remember with each new musical coming out, we all would be like, the Notebook is coming, it's coming, it's coming. And you know, everything will be fine. That's our front runner. And pretty early on in previews, people were slightly disappointed and I can understand why. There's a lot of beauty to the Notebook. It's not perfect. I would probably say it's a gentleman 7.7.5. And I would like to go back to adjust that score, but I can only go with what my immediate reaction was. And yeah, it's. Yeah, it's funny how things change. Right? Next up. This season seems to be indicative of a new era where big names don't necessarily bring in support. Chip and Sierra Bagges in Harmony and of course, Jeremy and Ava and Gatsby. Basically no traction for either show, despite having that star power, still need good content for a good show. I don't think anyone would call Chip Zion a star. He is a pillar of the community, but he has Never been the lead of a show. The closest that that's happened has been into the woods. And that was, you know, I would say he was like a co lead of what was a very much ensemble show. Sierra also, you know, talented gal that she is, is not a star. I mean, I would even argue she probably brings in better sales in London than she does here. There was a time when she was working there for like a good chunk of years. You know, she's. Her biggest hit here is the Little Mermaid, which wasn't even really a hit. It lasted less than two years and I'm pretty sure lost Disney some money. It launched her career, but she alone does not bring in the sales. Jeremy and Ava, I never thought were going to bring in sales for Gatsby, but apparently they're doing a solid job. You know, the, the. That show has been grossing pretty okay, if not, you know, insanely well. They are not suffering yet. But also. Yeah, no, it's. It's why I kind of got annoyed when someone was like, oh, Shoshana should be nominated just because of her career. I don't agree with that ever. And, you know, I thought Ava might get in because she's done so well with the Tonys, but again, I don't think anyone in Gatsby's giving a good performance. Ciara was never going to get nominated for harmony. Chip might have, but, I mean, I also don't think Chip was great in harmony. I. You know, that's a longer conversation to be had and I'll talk about it more in the rankings next week. I got somewhere to go through. I'm so sorry. Okay. Hello, Hell's Kitchen. I guess. Lol. Not sure about all that. Yeah, no, we're not sure. Moving on. No. Paul, Alexander, Nolan, frowny face. I know. Next up. What the fuck? All the love for Hell's Kitchen. Did it improve that much from its run to the public? No, it didn't. It's five minutes shorter and it's on a bigger stage. That's all that has happened. Happened. I'm sorry, critics, but you are all full of shit when you say that it has improved immensely. Play nominees are greater than the musical nominees, right? That is the question. The short answer. Hell yeah. I mean, even so, we've got Illinois is my number. Number one in the musical category. That is not on par for me with Stereophonic. I wouldn't even say it's on par with me with Mary Jane. For me, it's probably on par with Jaja. So, like, my top three in the best play categories are Seriophonic with a Bullet, Mary Jane, and then Ja Ja's African Hair Braiding. And that is where I would place Illinois at that level. And then after Illinois would be the Outsiders, which is above Prayer for the French Republic, which is number four for me in plays. And then I would say Suffs is about equal to Prayer for the French Republic for me. And then we have Water for Elephants and Hell's Kitchen and Mother Play. And without giving too much away, I would probably say that Hell's Kitchen and Water for Elephants are above Mother Play for me. So we've got three plays that are above and equal to the number one musical nominee for me, and then one play that is equal to equal or about equal to two of the musical nominees. And then. Yeah. So overall best play better than musical. Next one. Musicals underwhelming season with an overwhelming amount of shows. More curious to see what stands the test of time. I will be surprised if any of these shows really have a major impact. I think Illinois will introduce a lot of theater kids to Sufjan. I. I was familiar with Sufjan because of Call Me by youy Name because even though I am a basic gay, I am a gay, and I've now fallen in love with that album, and I hope more people do. I don't think that a lot of these shows will have a major impact. I think Outsiders will probably have a legacy because of the boys. I think Sut's will have a legacy. We'll see what happens with Hell's Kitchen. It's starting off strong. And then we'll see what happens because again, you know, Pretty Woman started off strong. Finding Neverland started off strong. The Donna Summer musical started off strong. And you know, who's really thinking about those anymore. I mourned for your shoeless feet when I saw that Paul Alexander Nolan was again overlooked. I'm also annoyed about Eden over Shana. And again, I am truly shoeless right now. I am Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Moe. Yeah, I again, I am a fan of Shayna. We went to camp together, though, again, I pretty sure she wouldn't remember me. But I will say, you know, of all of Shayna's accomplishments in Suffs, her actual performance on stage is probably the smaller of them. Her writing is far more impressive. She's not bad in Suffs and she's not like a weak link. That is to the detriment of the show. But there are other performances on that stage that are maybe a bit more fiery than hers, but she does you know, she does weave well into that ensemble, so I would have given her a nomination for that alone. But, I mean, honestly, with her, Arielle Jacobs, and Izzy Michaela, it's sort of all three of them had things that I recommended themselves to me for a nomination, and then things that detracted for me. I would say the overall strongest performance of the three was Arielle Jacobs in Here Lies Love. But I also thought that in the last third of that show, not so much that she dropped the ball so much as that she didn't have the heft for that part of Imelda Marcos's story. She just didn't have that maturity and command like you need Patti LuPone in Act 2 of Evita in that part, and she just didn't have that for me. So, you know, what are you gonna do next up? Seven featured actresses and four out of six revivals completely lessen the impact of the nominations. Well, yeah, but I mean, we had four out of six for revival last year, so I think that was always gonna happen. And, yeah, I mean, there's nothing you can really do. I know it wasn't intentional, guys. Next up, Scenic Design of a play has two double nominees. That's usually not a great sign for the industry at large. I mean, I guess we've got. So what they're saying is that we've got Dots, who's nominated for Both Appropriate and An Enemy of the People. And then David Zinn, who's nominated for both Ja Jaws, African Hair Braiding and Stereophonic. And, I mean, I don't know what to tell you, because both of those are wonderful designers. They worked on two separate shows and didn't get. And got nominated for both. On the other end of the spectrum, you know, you have. Sorry, let me look this up. I want to get their actual names correct. You have Corey for Great Gatsby and Spamalot, and he was not nominated for either. And then the scenic designer, Paul Tate DePoo III. I'm sure that I don't think that's how you say his name, but whatever. He did the set design for Great Gatsby as well as Spamalot and the Cottage. So he had three shows this season, and he wasn't nominated for any of them. But, you know, I don't. I don't know. I don't think it has anything to say about the industry so much as that. You know, those were great designers who did great works on two separate shows, and they got recognized. Next up, Gatsby deserved more, infinitely more entertaining than Hell's Kitchen. I mean, I guess that depends on what you find entertaining. I was more in disbelief during Gatsby. So I guess in that respect, I wasn't looking at my watch during Great Gatsby as I was during Hell's Kitchen, just because there were many times in Great Gatsby where I couldn't believe what was happening. But I don't think Gatsby is good. I mean, I think Hell's Kitchen is not good either, but I think it's better than Gatsby. That's. That's not a compliment, really, but, no, I don't. I don't think. Yeah, I've said it before. If I were to give Gatsby any more nominations, it would be for their design. I wouldn't give any nominations for writing or for acting. Somebody writes. Okay. Welcome back to 2023. Still mad that Ally Mozzie didn't get in for Kimberly Akimbo Kimmy, as they wrote. Yeah, I know the show just closed and it's from last season, but that's still the most egregious absence from last year. I agree. She really should have gotten in there, and I thought she would have. But, you know, what are you gonna do? One day, Ally Mauzzi will get her flowers. She was fantastic in that show, though. Some people. Some writes. Someone writes. Genuinely curious on your take as to how hell's kitchen got 13 nominations. What are people responding to? Is it purely the energy of the songs? A show can be fun and enjoyable while still being structurally bad. No need to shower them with BS praise. I don't know what people are responding to. You know, I think it was Dan who said that a lot of people he had. He had talked to about Hell's Kitchen, if they liked it, they all were like, yeah, I mean, the script isn't terribly good, but I had a blast. And, you know, people talking about Gatsby and its entertainment and Back to the Future, and it's just so, you know, it takes your troubles away. And I get that. You know, the world at large is troubling, and the more we learn about it, the more troubling it becomes. But Also, this isn't 1924. This isn't. No, no, Nanette. We have progressed so much in the craft of musical theater, and it'd be one thing if we had a Back to the Future and a Great Gatsby and then, like, a bunch of other shows that filled in slots of, you know, mentally stimulating, emotionally stimulating, but we don't have a lot of those for this season, it's a lot of shows that are going for, like, we just want to make you esc. The most meaty musical, just in terms of what it's trying to tackle, subject matter wise, is suffs and even suffs. I think one of its biggest issues is just kind of how pandering it is. It tries to be fair to all of the different points of view of the Sefiris movement and acknowledge all the problems that it had and how a lot of it hasn't aged well, but not in a way that's actually thought provoking, in a way that's sort of, you know, listen, audience, we're aware, and so we're telling you, and we're gonna cover that up with, you know, a lot of grand statements that you can cheer along to. That never does it for me. I. That makes me feel like a pig at a trough. But, yeah, with Hell's Kitchen, I think it is partially the energy and the vibes of the show, but there is no I. And it could also just be that, like, they got very lucky that the majority of nominators this season were on board with it. Maybe if it was, you know, a new batch of nominators for next year, they would have been less lucky because I haven't spoken to anyone who's loved it. I've spoken to a few people who have enjoyed it and. But also, again, acknowledged the faults of it. I don't know. I don't always tell you. The truth is I just don't know. And I. I can get on board with someone being like, I enjoyed myself, but I cannot get on board with anyone telling me it's good. I also, with the nominations for it as well, I'm just. I would love to sit down with some of those people and ask them, you do this for a living. You. And same with the critics. Like, you review this shit for a living. You're supposed to acknowledge what is well done, what is well written, what is well thought through, what is it that you think is well structured or well thought through about Hell's Kitchen? That book is just bad. It's so bad. I don't get it. And it makes me angry because what's the point of even writing a book to a musical anymore if it's just like, well, it's about the vibes someone writes. Yay for the performer Noms of Hell's Kitchen. Yeah, listen, Malaya does a lovely job with a role that I think is a total brat, and I'm so super thrilled for Keisha. I think Keisha is fantastic. Someone writes, I'd have liked for how to Dance in Ohio to get something. Also, why wasn't Notebook nominated for more awards? Yeah, the notebook of it all. I don't know what I would have nominated how to Dance in Ohio for. I thought that show wasn't very good. I thought that the book was kind of a mess and the score was sort of a jumble of many other things that I've heard in the past. The performers, the young people in the show, I feel so old now. The young people of how to Dance in Ohio, I found them all very charming. A few of them, you know, had some really lovely voices. Liam Pierce has a lovely voice. No one in the acting category said that I would vote for. And a few performers, some adults and one other performer that I found to be kind of, for lack of a better word, embarrassing. And yeah, I don't know what I would have actually nominated that show for, but I understand that some people really gravitated towards it. The Cottage should have been nominated for set design and costume design at the very least. At the very least. I think set design and costume design at the very most. Laura Bell Bundy, I would have nominated over Amy Ryan or honestly Jessica Lange for Mother Play. And that's more a testament to how much I did not like Mother Play. You know, Cottage, I think, was. Is not a terribly good play and I think Jason Alexander directed it terribly. But Laura Bell Bundy carried that fucker on her bare shoulders, I should say on her covered shoulders because she was wearing a silk robe. I would have given them a costume design nomination. Those costumes were very beautiful. Alright, let's do three. We'll do three. Three more and then we're gonna take another break. Actually, let's do four more. Why not? I'm feeling generous. Next up, do you equate a musical's greatness to its number of Tony nominations? I sure don't. I sure don't. And you shouldn't either. You know, it's what it is. Sometimes a musical with Tony you love ends up having a really long lasting legacy. It's part of the reason why we do this podcast, right? When we do our analysis and deconstructions of all these shows and their history. And then some shows, you know, win a bunch or get nominated for a bunch and they don't have any footprint. No one talks about Two Gentlemen of Verona and that beat Follies for best musical. We have had two revivals of Follies plus an encores revival of Follies it's been done in London twice now. I think three times at this point. Many rumored movie versions, none of them have come to fruition. But, hey, there's never been a rumored movie version of Two Gentlemen of Verona. Next up, Patriots didn't wow on Broadway as it did in the West End. Mother play did better solely, I believe, due to the prestige of its cast and I think the prestige of Paula Vogel. Yeah, you know, we often get British imports that do not translate here. Cabaret, despite its nine nominations, did not wow critics the way that it wowed critics over there. And while it is doing extraordinarily good business, again, I haven't spoken to a lot of people who really liked it. I've spoken to a few people who actually flat out hated it, but. And have hated Eddie in particular, someone who won an Olivier for this performance and has now come over. Patriots kind of reminds me a bit of Enron in that respect of a play that just sort of really made an impact in London and then came here and we were all sort of like. And I don't dislike Patriots. I thought Patriots was a very intelligent play that was well designed, very craftily directed, if maybe big in its direction. And then Michael Stuhlberg and Will Keane are really fantastic in it. I'm glad that Michael got in. And I think if Patriots had gotten a little more nomination love, he would be a bigger threat to Jeremy Strong. And it doesn't mean anything in the end. Right? These things are important, but they are meaningless at the same time. It's just, you know, if you think that Oscar voters get wrapped up in buzz and momentum, wait till you see it with Tony nom. Tony voters. It doesn't necessarily mean, like, the number of nominations you have, but so much as, like, what is the compelling narrative and what is, like, the heated title? And yeah, I think if Patriots were maybe a more heated title at the Tonys, voters would be a little more interested in voting for Michael. Someone writes, missing you so much, I don't think you are, because I'm not sure if we know each other or maybe you're just trolling me. No one's ever missed me a day in their life. Yay for Illinois. Surprised Justin Peck didn't get a director nomination. Yeah, I would have liked that. I would have liked that a lot. His work on that show is very beautiful. And you all know I don't say that lightly because he also did the Carousel. I hated. And I hated his choreography for that. And I was very mid on his choreography for the west side Story movie. I think Illinois, though, is his sweet spot because he is in control of the style and the tone. And it being majority dance basically makes this like a performance piece at New York City Ballet where he's comfy. If I were to put him in over anyone, it would be Michael Greif for Hell's Kitchen, even, honestly, Jessica Stone for Water for Elephants, who makes some very lovely stage pictures. But overall, I think that the tone and the book structure of Water for Elephants is lacking, which keeps me from wanting to give her a nomination for that. But I'm also not going to take it away from her. I'm glad she got nominated two years in a row. Next up, yay, Eden and Amber, with an exclamation point. Well, I'm glad you're happy. You know, Lempicka definitely has its fans. Last one, and then we're going to take a break. Nay for no Hear Lies Love musical nomination, y'. All. We had to know that that was a if. That was a big if. And I was hopeful. I thought there was a possibility, but I don't know. I'm always sort of surprised how theater fans. And I'm not. I'm not saying this to discredit you. This. This is not about you, dear. This is about. This is just launching me on a thought at whole about the community at whole, that a lot of theater fans tend to live in their own bubble of what they like. Lord knows I'm fucking guilty of it. I really, because of my dislike for Hell's Kitchen, I really didn't want them to do as well as they did, and I didn't think that they would do as well as they did. But I had to. I had to be a little more aware of the community and the, I guess, the buzz at large, I suppose. But, yeah, I mean, it's disappointing. It's better than, you know, Hell's Kitchen. It's better than Water for Elephants. But it's difficult when your show is closed, especially when there are so many currently running shows to pick from it. It tends to happen more with the plays than the musicals. All right, that is that one. We've got a whole bunch more and then. But we will close all that out once we do this last break. Billy, I beg to differ with you. How do you mean? You're the top. Yeah, you're an arrow caller. You're the top. You're a Coolidge dollar. You're the nimble tread of the feet of red. And we are back. One second. I just need to get my phone real quick. Okay, sorry. I did a literal break this time. I went and grabbed myself some water, and I forgot where I put my phone. Next up. We're still waiting on that. Oh, my God. Okay. We're still waiting on you posting that singing video of Life of the party. Well, I had said that if we reached 200 ratings on Apple podcasts, I would do it. And we are at 198, but that deadline has passed. That was for, you know, I think, the month of April, and we didn't get there. So it's, I think, similar to the Hell's Kitchen nominations. I don't think this is the community at large that wants this. I think this is, like, six of you who troll me about it, and all of you have already done your ratings of the podcast. And I did that. I said I wanted 200 just because, like, the podcast is what's most important to me now. It's what I do the most. It's how I spend most of my time and ratings and reviews. You know, it helps the algorithm. It helps more people find the podcast. Y' all have been really good about word of mouth, spreading it to other people, but the listenership has definitely, you know, it keeps increasing every year. And this year has just been a real big boon, and I love that. Thank you all so much. So I always try to just find new ways to get people to rate it and subscribe and to write reviews. And you don't have to write a review. You just have to give a five star. So if that's something that people actually do want, and I bring it up rarely because, you know, I'm not. I'm not a Jeremy Jordan, but I will say I do. I sing quite well. But if that is something that people actually do want to view, then let's get ourselves to It's. This is May 1st, and this comes out May 2nd. By last week of May, I would like. We're at 198 right now in terms of ratings and reviews. I would like to get to 215 by the end of May. Maybe 210 is 215 to too optimistic. We'll say. We'll say. We'll Say 2:15. And if we get within, like, if we get close to the last week and we're not quite there for, like, just under 210, then I'll make it to 10 and then I'll post it. But until then, this is what we're doing. Next up, Yay. Here lies Love Score nomination. Yeah, no, I'M very happy about that. It's. I think it's a really fun score. The fact that so many book nominations went to IP that already existed is maddening to me. Why? I don't understand why people get such a hard on for quote unquote original shows. Sweeney Todd is based off of a play. A Little Night Music is based off of a movie. Carousel and Oklahoma are based off of plays. No, hello Dolly, a play. I just don't get why we fetishize. Well, it's original. Yeah, but it's a good, good, you know, even some. You know. I know a lot of you enjoy how to Dance in Ohio. Technically speaking, that is inspired by a documentary. Even if the new story is. Is original, I. And adaptations are hard. You're. You don't always have to be beholden to the original. You have to figure out how to make it work for nostage. You know, I think that the Outsiders is a much better book than Lempicka. I just do so. I mean, I don't know why you would say maddening. You can maybe say it's disheartening. Disheartening that people who are writing original musicals aren't doing a good enough job with them. Maybe, maybe Kimberly Akimbo last year based off of a play. I just don't know. I don't. I would really like us to stop this theme of fetishizing shows because they're not based off of anything. Just. Let's just not do that. Let's just. Let's just look at the works themselves and decide if they're good or not. Heart of Rock and Roll got great reviews and deserved love somewhere. It's a real shame that other shows based on unoriginal stories and mixed reviews got more recognition. Again, guys, let's stop with the unoriginal thing. You are being disrespectful to people who worked hard on something and did a good job. Heart of Rock and Roll might be an original story, quote unquote, but they are using the songs of Huey Lewis as their guide. So I don't know what that's about. Hell's Kitchen uses the songs of Alicia Keys and uses her life as a jumping off point. Lempicka is inspired by the real life story of Tamara de Lempicka. They take a shit ton of liberties, but it's not like they create. They wrote a whole new story about her. Once Upon a One More Time quote unquote original story, but based off of Britney Spears's catalogue. Like nothing is totally original. Under the Sun. Heart of Rock and Roll also didn't get great reviews. Heart of Rock and Roll got very strong reviews. Considering that everyone thought it was dead in the water when it came to Broadway. I would have liked the reviews to be a little more positive. But I agree. I thought that they should have gotten some love. I think they should have gotten a book nomination. Not because it's an original story. Not be or anything like that. Just because I think it's a better script than Hell's Kitchen. I think it's a better script than Water for Elephants. It has its problems. It is a little jam packed with power ballads in Act 2. They're. It's a little air airy. That's. I would like to be tighter. Maybe they tightened it a bit and I had my other notes in my video review and in my, you know, episode a while back about it of things I thought they could have done to just sort of tweak it. But it's a fun show and I. Fun is hard sometimes to really for the Tonys to get behind with musicals and especially plays. Moving on. I'm glad the Tonys did to Gatsby what critics couldn't seem to. Jesus Christ, y' all are savage when you're anonymous. It's so funny. People, the people who hated Gatsby really thought that the reviews were far too kind. And then people who have enjoyed Gatsby have found that the reviews were too negative. So I guess it's how you. How you feel about the show. What do you think those reviews were like? I thought the reviews were overall negative on Gatsby, but they were a respectful negative. I thought that could have been a little less respectful. But maybe they were a little tired of the backlash they got about Lempicka, which again I actually thought were mostly respectful pans. Except for Johnny in the Post, who went to town on it. But then wasn't one of the people that got backlash about it. No. They went in on Helen Shaw at Vulture, which was just fucking dumb. Someone writes would have loved to see Days of One and Roses for best musical over Hell's Kitchen or Suffs. I guess I would put it in over Hell's Kitchen. They both have their problems, but I think Days of Wine and Roses is at least more of a compelling artistic piece. Suffs maybe isn't as adventurous with its source material, but I think Suffs is a more successful show. Again, I think Days of Wine and Roses has a lot lacking about it, despite how much promise it has. Someone writes kind of Shocked at the amount of doubt love. But for Amy and Liev it's well deserved Quincy. I mean before I had seen the show I thought that Quincy was a contender just because that role won Adrienne Lennox the Tony and it got Viola Davis an Oscar nomination and in fact launched Viola Davis movie star career. You know, she had 10 minutes of screen time and it was enough for Meryl Streep to go all around town at award shows being like Viola Davis. People give her a movie and then they did and now Viola Davis is an Oscar winning movie star. But you know, it's that, it's that just that kind of role and Quincy is fine in it or was fine in it the night I saw it. She got applause when she walked off stage. But again, I think that scene is just very incredibly well written. I don't agree that Amy and Liev were well deserved in doubt again. I just thought that whole production was very safe and mayonnaise Y but hey, whatcha gon do? Yet another person writes 7 in capital letters. 7 Best Featured Actress and musical nominees. Did you ever think it would be this big? First of all, that's what she said and also that's what he said. Second of all, no, I didn't because seven is insane. It's stupid and it should never have happened. But ties be tie in Namin, someone writes Hell's Kitchen seems rigged. Don't think it's rigged. I just think that there are a whole bunch of people on that nominating committee with very questionable taste. Look up everyone who's on the nominating committee. Whose name do you see that makes you go, yes, I totally trust and value their opinion. And who do you see where you're like, I don't know if I necessarily want to hear what they have to say is the best book of the year. Next up, the Wiz snubs were really sus meaning suspect feels racist and I don't care what what you say to defend it. Okay, then you don't. Then we will, then we'll move on if you don't care what I have to say. But also like why write that for the podcast if you don't care what I have to say? I do not think that highly of myself other than I think I'm reasonably intelligent and I know I have very good taste. I haven't seen the Wiz yet, so I'm not going to tell you. But also I also I will, I will say this, I will say this. When you go towards racism, misogyny, homophobia, Anti Semitism, you know, Islamophobia. Like if you go towards a phobia as your reasoning for something you liked or something you wanted, getting quote unquote snubbed, you're not defending the art itself. You're going to a political standpoint so that way everyone will shut up and that doesn't lead to conversation. And again, you're not defending the art itself. In fact, you're making it even more obvious to the people who didn't like it that you have no actual defense of it. So I'm not going to defend the people who didn't vote for the Wiz. I see it tonight. I can tell you what I thought when I do my rankings. One second. I gotta close the door. Sorry. The phone was ringing and, and I don't. You don't need to hear my mom. You don't need to hear my mom yelling into the phone asking my grandma what she had to eat today. That's not, that's not what we come here for. We come to this place for magic, as Nicole Kidman says. But yeah, I, I'm not defending its snub, but I like to, you know, understand these things. The only thing I can say is no one I've spoken to has liked the Wiz. I love that score. I think that score is incredible. I also, as I'm sure many of you will not be surprised by. I actually assisted directed a production of the Wiz in college my sophomore year and our director had to leave halfway through because her grandmother had tragically passed and basically what was supposed to be like three days, she ended up taking like 10 days off. And I did some work on the show and that was my first real work as a director and my short lived directing career. Next up, William Jackson Harper over Steve. Thoughts? Well, I see Vanya on Saturday, so I'll tell you what I think. But William Jackson Harper got a lot of praise during previews and in the reviews. Everyone said that his performance was very charming and he was one of the memorable performances of that show. So it doesn't surprise me. I thought that maybe the star fuckery of Steve would happen. But I mean, good for, good for William. I like him a lot. Somebody writes, Eddie, Eddie Redmayne nomination is a hate crime. I wouldn't, I don't know if I would say that. I, I would not nominate him. I would have put in either Ali for the who's Tommy, Josh Gadd and Andrew Reynolds for Gutenberg. There was somebody else that I was kind of into. I can't Remember who now? Oh, well, it'll come back to me, but, I mean, I'm thrilled for Dorian Harewood. I love that nomination. You know, he and Marianne are not giving performances that are incredibly showy. They're not big singing roles, but they are the heartbeat of that show, and they. You cannot take your eyes off of them when you watch it. Somebody writes gender neutral categories divided by new work. Revival is the way to go. That kind of sounds like Dan Rubens to me. Or someone who listened to the Dan Rubens episode and liked what he had to say. Someone else writes, you say people were snubbed or robbed on your podcast all the time. So to preach to us to not do so is pretty bitchy and hypocritical. Just saying it's all a matter of opinion. So it's not fair to tell people how to opinionate when you do the same. Listen, I will never say that I'm judgmental of other people. Am I bitchy? No. What I say is if I say robbed, I'm most. I'm most likely saying it in a joking manner. Do I say snubbed? I can't remember if I say that. I definitely have performances that I prefer, and there are shows that I just fully hate. So if I say things that I then tell you all not to say, that feels more like a parent being like, do as I say, not as I do, or whatever that is. I don't know. I'm not a parent, probably never will be a parent because I'm hypocritical and bitchy, as this person just told us my wording when I posted that on Instagram about, like, let's not use the word robbed. In fact, I don't even think I said snubbed. I just said, don't say robbed when you go on online. And it was also just like, it was the first 24 hours. People who had gotten their nominations were all very excited. We don't need the backlash just yet. Like, give them 24 hours to enjoy it, and then you can kind of come in and be like, hey, but what about xyz? Do I yell about that when I do the podcast? I don't think I do. Although, you know, no one ever likes to think that they're the drama. It's them, but apparently you think I am, so apologies if you thought so, but I'm not being hypocritical. At least I don't. I don't try to be. I try to hold myself accountable. And I appreciate you telling me when you think that I am being hypocritical because it makes me more aware of how I act and what I say. So thank you for that. Moving on. So who the heck is winning? Musical actress feels like the biggest question mark amongst the performance categories. Yeah, it really is. I think ultimately it is down to three. It's down to Kelly, Malaya, and Marianne. I would vote for Marianne myself. I think there is a big case to be made for Kelly. It would be the first time in a long time someone won in a closed musical. I think there's a case we made for Malaya. Again. As much as I don't like Hell's Kitchen, I will say Malaya is wonderful in the show. First of all, she sounds incredible, and she's a very charming actress and really keeps that role from seeming too much like a brat. You know, Ally is a tough character because she spends a lot of that show just being wrong. And there are times when the show is aware she's wrong, and then other times I'm like, I don't know if you are aware of that. Yeah, I don't know. I also, I want to say back at that, thinking about that last question earlier, that wasn't even a question. That was just somebody yelling at me. I talk about. First of all, snubs is one thing, right? Snubs is, you know, you are acknowledging someone's work being ignored. And I don't have an issue with snub so much as I think it's just overused. Sometimes someone just doesn't like a thing. Right? And that's. There's no crime against that. But I use snub. If I. If I do use snub, I know I use it for Paul Alexander Nolan, and it's because I just generally think that man keeps doing great work, and I don't know what he has to do to get recognized. And I don't think that it is at the fault of a fellow nominee. So when I said Rob, what I said in that Instagram thing wasn't like, oh, the person this nomination robbed, that other person. I said, that's my issue with people using the word robbed. It's not the nominee who did the. Who did the deed. They just did their work and they got recognized. Just. But you can absolutely call into question the people who felt that that was the better performance, which is what I am saying. When I'm like Roger Bart over Paul Alexander Nolan, I don't understand that. And I would love for someone who voted that way to explain to me. I would love for you to explain that to me. Next up, someone writes a big yay for the days of wine and roses. Noms. Saw it at the Atlantic and I'm a truther. Am a truther. Not sure what that means. It isn't perfect, but oddly, it works for the content, in my opinion. Would have loved for Michael Greif to get honored for that instead, but given it's a closed show, I'm pleased the three locks of acting and score were honored. Yeah, no, listen, they. I'm sure they're pleased. Nothing is a guarantee in this world, even if you're running. As we've learned, they got more nominations than Gatsby and that is running. They got more nominations, the Back to the Future and that's running. So. Yeah, no, I think. I think that's something to Absolutely. To celebrate. Someone writes, dying to know your thoughts on the doc. Brown in the room. Well, I've mentioned it already. The. The thing is, I wanted to sort of reiterate is how much I think Roger Bart is so good at what he does. Usually again on stage, Cartman Ghia and producers and then in Young Frankenstein and then even like film and tv. I know he was in that really bad Stepford Wives remake, but he was fun in that. And then he's had guest parts on 30 Rock. He's had a guest part on something else that I can't remember. Oh, he was on Desperate Housewives and he was very upsetting in Desperate Housewives. He's very good. I just. I just don't like Back to the Future and that is my right. Next up, somebody writes. Literally checked the nominations very late in the day because I was pre gaming with the prediction episodes you did. The differences are interesting. I have to say I lean much more towards your taste than the nominating committee. Well, thanks. I'm glad that we are in agreement on a lot more stuff. There are definitely things that I didn't agree with that they did and then things that surprised me in a wonderful way. That's the thing is like, people only get angry about nominations when it doesn't go their way. When things go their way, they get happy. So there are many things that made me happy. Water for Elephants got too many nods. It was boring and clunky. I will say if there's one thing that hasn't really been inconsistent in these questions, it's that those of you that have mentioned Water for Elephants have not been praising it. So they got musical book, direction, choreography. I think choreography absolutely was deserved. I think the choreography in that show is wonderful, and I'm happy they got their design nominations. I just really would have liked Paul to get in. I didn't find it boring. I definitely found it a little ragged. You know, it's definitely. It stops and it starts. But I saw it a little bit before they. They froze it. And I understand that they were making changes down to the wire, so it's entirely possible that they made enough changes between when I saw it and, like, the four days later that it made all the difference in the world. Or it didn't. I couldn't. Today, someone writes Notebook's lack of best Musical nomination is a snub. I take out Water for Elephants objectively strong. Notebook is a stronger show. Yeah. I don't totally disagree with that. I liked it more. I'll say that I enjoyed my time at the Notebook more than I enjoyed my time at Water for Elephants, But I also know people who way preferred Water for Elephants. It's a weird year, y'. All. Very weird year. Someone then person writes, same person. Water for Elephants is a good production of a mediocre show. Notebook is a fine, not perfect production of a stronger musical. Yeah. I think that what Jessica Stone and the choreographers and design team did for Water for Elephants helps that show a lot more. Notebook. Yeah, I agree. Fine, not perfect. Sorry. Fine, not perfect production of a stronger musical. Yeah, I think the Notebook is a stronger musical. There are other elements that I would like to take a second look at, but they're not asking me. So continuing. Sometimes we learn more from what shows are not recognized and from what shows close subsequent to the Tonys. What messages have these nominations demonstrated? Oh, I don't know. Part of me is saying, don't, you know, maybe take another pass of your show before bringing it to Broadway? But then there are shows that I thought should have taken another pass and got recognized. So it's the one thing we can take away is like, it's the damn wild west out here, y'. All. Why? Why? Why make sense of any of it? Why make sense of any of it? I think what we can take away is if there's a show you liked that didn't get recognized and a show you didn't like that did to explore why those things were. How much of it is perhaps your. How that show impacted you and what. And how. And why that is. You know, why did I find Illinois so moving and why was I left so cold by Hell's Kitchen? And. But both weren't recognized. Why, you know, did I find Notebook to be more Compelling than Water for Elephants. Yeah. Water for Elephants got the critics pick. And then New York Times, a book nomination and best musical. Something to think about. Something absolutely to think about. Why is it when I bring up Back to the Future or Great Gatsby, I get people mad at me and writing in my DMs. Yeah. I don't know. It's. It's all. It's all. Again, it's all very messy and wild and fun. It matters not at all. And yet all at the same time. Next up, surprised about Eden's nomination? Yeah, a lot of people were. I was a bit surprised myself, but I'm hoping that she's happy about that. Someone writes. Is Hell's Kitchen the New York New York this year? I think so. I mean, I don't think it's going to do as badly at the Tonys as New York, New York did. And it's. I think it's selling better than New York, New York was. I can't remember. It definitely got better reviewed than New York, New York, but it does remind me a lot of it, you know, a lot of plot lines that, in my opinion, don't go anywhere. And then an ending that just feels tacked on where they do this anthem to get audiences out of their seats. I just. I don't know. I don't know why we are so on board with. Frustrates me because I've thought about it. I've thought about what the show did to me and why I felt that way. And I've tried to really, you know, break down what that show is about and what it's trying to do. And if I think it's successful. And I can understand some people being on board with it, but I also don't understand how others are. I don't know. I should. Oh, great. We only got four left. I'm wrapping this up now because in an hour, I see the Wiz next up in big, giant letters. No nomination for Paul with a heartbreak emoji and two crying emojis. Just know that my heart wept for you when his lack of a nomination was announced. And then the emoji with. With hands making the heart shape. Thank you so much for that. I appreciate those of you who thought of me. I got a lot of messages and Paul didn't get the nomination. Probably more messages than he did. He's, I'm sure, like, why is this guy, you know, all over my nomination or lack of one? And I'm. I'm just in here being like, Paul. I just think you're great, and I want you to keep working, and I want people to understand, and I want people to give you the roses you so justly deserve. Kind of surprised that the Notebook didn't get a musical nomination yet. We already covered that. I'm so here for the stereophonic love. You and me both, baby. Someone else writes Hot. Take Mother Play. Doubt and Limpico win nothing, and the Outsiders will have the most wins. Yeah, well, first of all, I don't think Doubt has no chance of winning any of its three acting categories. I think that featured actress is between Sarah Pitchin and Carrie Young. Honestly, either of them can win. Whichever one happens, I'll be happy. So I'm just sitting pretty in that category. Doubt's also not winning actor. That's going to Jeremy Strong. And they're not winning actress. That's going to Sarah Paulson, which is fine. Same thing with Mother Play. They're not winning featured actress or actress. They're not winning Play. That's going to Stereophonic. And featured actor, I think, will go to either Will Brill or Eli Gelb. My concern about featured actor is because of those three stereophonic men, will they divide and someone like Jim Parsons can come in and sneak in? It's possible. I would prefer it not to. But, you know, again, that wouldn't be Jim Parsons robbing them. That would be voters voting for Jim Parsons, and then he gets his award. So it's all in the vocabulary, baby. Lempicka. Yeah, Lempicka's not winning actress, featured actress, or set Outsiders. I think Outsiders has a really good shot at musical. They've got an out. They've got a good shot at book and. But, I mean, I think that's kind of it. Maybe like, sound design and lighting design as well, because featured actor, I mean, Joshua Boone, I suppose, is the more likely of the two, but I think that's really Daniel's to lose for Merily with Steven Skybell maybe getting in there. Brody Grant, I think his nomination is the winner that. It's pretty clear to me that that's going to be Grofsas and then score. You know, I think that'll be Sephs. I really do. Stereofana could get in there. And then direction, I think Maria Friedman's got that locked up. Although Donya Taymor, I thought her work on that show was pretty incredible. So if Danya were to win, I would not be mad. Last three, y'. All. We're in the home stretch. Someone just writes seven in giant letters and exclamation. Points. Yeah, well, yeah. It was seven. It was indeed seven. Someone writes disheartening to see her lies love overlooked in the major categories. An original, inventive show about an underrepresented. Underrepresented. Underrepresented. Why can I not speak words today? An original inventive show about an underrepresented minority group on stage. Never seen anything like it on Broadway. Deserved more for the doors it opened. You sound like Gia Gunn. Wow. The doors I've opened again. I don't like it when we stop looking at what a show succeeded or failed at artistically and then look at the larger scheme to justify more Roses. I think we can absolutely acknowledge the political, racial, historical, you know, benchmarks that it. That it achieved. I think that's incredible. And also can't ever be taken away from it. You know, that's. That puts it in the history books forever. And that's wonderful. I think on an artistic level, Heroize Love could have gotten more and deserved more. I think Alex Timbers direction was really stunning and should have been in there. I would have liked to seen them get in for costumes as well and maybe even lighting. Conrad Rick Amora. I would have loved to have him there in featured actor. I thought he did a beautiful job. Although, you know, he's coming back in the summer in Omari, which he is so much fun in. That guy is just charm on a stick. And. Yeah, no, I mean, I. It was such a unique experience and even if I didn't think it was a 10 out of 10, it was the only show like it this season and achieved more of its goals than the goals it didn't achieve, which I feel like I could have said that better, but we're wrapping up soon and my brain is fried. But I would absolutely give it its roses for that alone. And I would like more people to recognize that. But, you know, I don't think we should discredit the four that it did get. That's four more than some shows and two or three more than other shows. It's. I would have liked at least two or three more, but I'm also not going to be upset about the four. I think that's a respectable number and they should be very, very proud. Last one. Well, someone just writes, please be my friend. I really like you. That's very sweet. I'm glad that somebody likes me. See, why does the app say that I have more in my inbox when I know that I don't? Where is there any more that I'm missing? It's got a dot that says that I have one more, but I don't see it. No. Can I delete any of these? I don't think I can. Yeah. Some of you are lucky that I don't do the buying option where I can see who sent what so I can go back and harass you all a because I am cheap and also because I respect your privacy. You made it a point to write these to me. And some of you, I can. There are a couple of you that I can guess who wrote some of these. And I appreciate you and I see you and I respect you and I love some of you. That's very nice. But thank you so much, guys, for writing. This has been a fun time. It's pudding season. We're very excited about it. And, yeah, we'll see how things start shaking up. Next week will be my rankings of this season of 2023-2024. And that'll be a fun time. And we've got some other guests coming. We've got a bonus interview coming soon. I record that on Friday, and I'm excited about that. And some guests to do some predictions, to do some retrospectives. And then, of course, we've got the big night coming up itself. It's fun. Exhau time. So on that note, I'm trying to think who to close this out with. Maybe. You know what? Even though I was perhaps maybe a slightly larger fan of Jordan, I want to. I would like to give. And a lot of you were really sad about the Notebook not getting a musical and a score nomination. So let's have us close out with Joy woods singing from the Notebook today. I think that is a nice way to respect that show, don't you? Great. So, yeah, make sure to give us a rating or review if you can, and we'll see you guys next week. Thank you for making it this far and thank you for all of your questions and some of your statements. It was. It was an interesting time, and I hope you guys had an interesting time. All right, take it away, Joy. Bye. Have to say I'm gonna live a life where I am proud to say that I followed my joy. I followed my heart. I lived this one wild life. I ripped it apart. I pushed through the corners with I know I found my. I.