Transcript
Matt Koeplik (0:00)
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Cynthia Erivo (0:12)
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Matt Koeplik (0:28)
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Cynthia Erivo (0:30)
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Matt Koeplik (0:57)
Think of the prestige. Think of the respect. No, no, no.
Cynthia Erivo (1:01)
Think of the Tony.
Matt Koeplik (1:07)
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 Koeplik, the least famous and most opinionated of all the Broadway podcast hosts and we are looking at some of your Tony prediction takes today. These are predictions listed by listeners in the Discord Channel, which I will put the link for in the description box. Although to be perfectly honest I may just stop doing that because the links just keep expiring and people keep having trouble with them and just reach out to me directly on Instagram and get a new link anyway. So I don't know. I really don't know what to do. I wrote to Discord. They've been absolutely no help. So. So if anyone out there is super familiar with Discord and knows how to make this problem go away, please let me know. Otherwise, if you want to join the Discord Channel and are having trouble, please reach out to me directly on Instagram. Matcoppock usual spelling. At some point I will create a gmail account for the podcast. So if you don't have Instagram and don't want to download Instagram just to ask me for the link, then you can email the Broadway Breakdown email account when I create that soon enough. So we are recording this pretty soon after the Drama League nominations came out and first I want to say congratulations to everyone, everything that was nominated because ultimately everything and everyone was nominated. That's sort of how the drama leagues work. I you know, we are a week away from Tony nominations and there will be Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations to reacts to as well. And I feel like it bears repeating every year that ultimately these award bodies are not actual precursors for the Tonys. There is no overlap in the voting pool. They have different criteria for eligibility and nominations. Some things get nominated in different categories at the drama desks and outer critics circles than they do at the Tonys. So. And these groups also take into account off Broadway and whatnot. So it's just they're not really precursors. What they can sometimes do is give you an idea of maybe what shows have some more buzz around them. Those nominations also can help build buzz for shows. So, you know, Tony nominators may be excited to nominate something that was getting a lot of love a week ago. The thing though is that I don't know when the cutoff is for nominators, when they have to put in their ballots to nominate shows. I know that the deadline is, I think the 28th, April 28th, I think is the deadline or the 27th. But that doesn't necessarily mean that nominators all submit their nominations at that point. They might submit it earlier because once a show is frozen, that means there are press seats available for those shows. And that is usually about a week up to opening night. So for all we know, the Tony nominators have seen everything because everything is now doing press performances. So I don't think that drama League nominations influence Tony nominators. I don't think that outer critics circle or drama desk necessarily influence. It just sometimes helps with momentum is all that said, congratulations to everyone with the Drama League. What the Drama League Awards can tell us, I guess, is maybe once shows are maybe a little more dead than people assumed, but even that, I just don't totally buy the drama leagues. I don't want to say this in a way that is super disparaging because it's ultimately an awards body that likes theater and cares about theater and then likes to celebrate theater. And I got to go to their award ceremony two years ago and I actually had a pretty nice time. Very good food spread. I must say they put out some good munchies. But if you look at the shows nominated, we're talking like dozens and dozens of productions this season off Broadway and on Broadway nominated and over 50 performances nominated. That is more then those. We have more nominees for the Drama League in performance than we did last year for every category for performance at the Tonys. And keep in mind, last year at the Tonys, we had, I think, seven. A record of seven best featured actress and musical nominees. And I think we had six featured actor and a musical nominee. So we had some expanded categories, and that still did not total up to the number of nominees we had for Drama League. So just keep that in mind. The thing about the drama Leagues is it is ultimately a luncheon, right? I think it's like on a Thursday or Friday. And productions have to buy tables in order to celebrate their award or their nomination. And the only people who don't pay to be there are the performance nominees. They get to sit sort of on the dais and have a free meal and schmooze and give a little speech for their nomination, and then one person wins. But overall, the productions themselves have the producers pay to go. And the more productions that are nominated, the more likely it is that producers will pay to sit at their tables. You also pay to be a member of the Drama League committee, so it's a pay to play situation. Also, the more celebrities that are nominated for a Drama League Award, the more press the Drama League gets, which is why you see people like Robert Downey Jr. George Clooney, Sandra oh, Kit Connor, all getting nominated for the Drama League over sometimes, maybe some Broadway performers that should have been recognized. People like Francis Zhu for Yellowface. In fairness, the drama leagues do tend to award Broadway performers more than they award celebrities. Sometimes you'll get someone sort of who's halfway in between one foot in both doors, like a Neil Patrick Harris in Hedwig or. Or is Sarah Paulson inappropriate. But usually it's a strictly theater performer. And the drama leagues do not indicate what's going to win. Last year, Hell's Kitchen won Best Musical. The year before that was Something Like It Hot and Into the woods won Revival, and Maria Friedman won Director last year. So it does not tell you that this is who's going to win. Annaleigh Ashford won for Sweeney Todd and Sutton Foster won for Music Man. They did not win. So I think there are maybe three years in the last two decades that the Drama League winners for, you know, play, musical revival, revival, director and performer have all coincided with the winners with winners at the Tony Awards. But like, we're talking three out of the last 25 years. That's not a great track record. So ultimately, we're very happy for the nominees. But what does it tell us about the Tony nominations? Ultimately, nothing. But congratulations to everyone. Anyway, so I asked everyone on the Discord Channel to give me sort of their takes on nominations, where they think things are going. Both. And these are listeners who live in New York have been seeing a lot of shows listeners who do not live in New York and have been more sort of following the buzz of shows online. So it's nice to sort of get different perspectives right and then. And listeners who are leading with their hearts of the shows this year that they've really loved. And I asked everyone to sort of put in their ideas and this is what we got. So this is more just sort of getting a feel of what the fandom is interested in, if not necessarily the host of this podcast. Because we were told to be a little more structured in our Tony Awards stuff, I figured I would adhere to that review and just say, okay, we're going to start with the tech categories and move our way up. In sound design of a play, the overlaps we've gotten have been O Mary, John Proctor is the villain and Stranger Things. I think we should not be sleeping on Dorian Gray and Good Night and Good Luck. I think that with play sound design of a play, Dorian Gray is probably going to be a lock, as is Stranger Things. Good Night and Good Luck has a very good shot. Again. It's a very technically savvy show. I would also not rule out McNeil or Job. John Proctor is the villain. I'm not entirely sure why that would be in for sound. There's not really a great deal of sound effects in that show. Same with Omari. But Omari could just sort of be one of those overwhelming sweeps of nominations due to its juggernaut effect on this season. But it seems so far that the three that everyone kind of agrees on are Stranger Things and John Proctor is the villain and Omari. And I disagree with John Proctor is the villain and slightly with Omari. But yeah, Stranger Things. I think we can also consider that a lock sound design of a musical. Our listeners on the Discord. Let's see, our overlaps were Buena Vista Social Club, which I actually kind of agree with, maybe Happy Ending. Also agree with Sunset Boulevard. Also agree with. And those are the only overlaps where everywhere listeners all agreed on those. There was Dead Outlaw, which I think should absolutely be considered just in time. Death Becomes her and Operation Mincemeat. Mincemeat. I'm not sure. Listen, the other thing that people wanted to mention was like, you know, every year there's there are nominations that make you kind of scratch your head. And so someone said, what is going to be the Sweeney Todd getting nominated for sound and winning sound of this year? Like the ultimate head scratcher. And so for something like Mincemeat, I actually think Mincemeat's sound design is quite poor. I think that the lyrics do not come off as crisp as they should. And I think the music sounds too tinny and far away, which you could argue adds to its supposed charm. But the balance just feels off for me with mincemeat in that theater. And I would also say the same thing of death becomes her, death becomes her's. Lyrics do not carry over across the stage often. It might just be something the lans on tan, but I don't think that death becomes her. Sound design is all that great. I think maybe happy ending. I agree. I think that's a lock. I think Sunset Boulevard is also a lock. Buena Vista Social Club I think has a very good shot just in time. I'll be seeing that in a few short days, but that also could come through. And Dead Outlaw, having seen Dead Outlaw downtown, I'll be seeing it in a week on Broadway. That is a show where sound design is very important. It's interesting that no one has said anything about Gypsy or Swept Away for this. Two shows that had been sort of on the bubble, one might say, when it comes to tech categories, when Swept Away was running and when Gypsy opened. But I do think that Gypsy will not be getting in for sound design. I think that that orchestra sounds too muffled. But again, so did Sweeney Todd, so what the fuck do I know? Next up, costume design of a play. Our overlaps here are Omar and Dorian Gray and Stranger Things. That seems to be the only overlaps. Yeah, I do think Omari will get in. It's not a lot of costumes, but it is period and very colorful and kooky, so that'll help. Stranger Things, also a big spectacle show and the 1950s is period, so that helps. And Dorian Gray, yes, Dorian Gray, I think won the Olivier for costumes in London. So that's always something to consider. Not necessarily that just because something won it, it will get nominated, but if something got noticed from a no. And I know I'm contradicting myself because I just talked about this with Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk, but if something got recognized by a large voting body earlier in the year, it it doesn't mean that it's a lock, but it is something to have your antenna up. I said this actually in our very first, very early Tony Predictions episode with David J. Lynch, and I think it was Justina Machado from Real Women have Curves. She got nominated for, I think, an Elliot Norton Award in Boston when the show was at art and I said, you know, I don't know much about the show. I haven't heard much buzz about it. This was only a few months ago, but I was like, I don't know if she got nominated for this. Out of all the possible contenders, there might be something to this performance. So just keep an eye out and we'll get to that category in just a second. But that is something that people have been talking about. Dorian Gray won costumes at the Olivier Awards, and so that's something to consider. Yeah, Our overlaps are Dorian Gray, oh Mary and Stranger Things, and I think that's all good stuff. I don't know if I think Stranger Things is necessarily a lock. I think oh, Mary and Dorian Gray are closer to Lockes. We also have people talking about English and Hills of California. I think that's also very wise to think about Hills of California. Also a period piece, specifically two specific decades, the 40s and the 70s. English, I think, is something also interesting to consider. It's more of a contemporary piece, but a contemporary in a foreign country. And contemporary plays have been getting a bit more respect when it comes to costume design. Sadly, not musicals, but there you go. Same thing with John Proctor as the villain, which is being mentioned here. I think that could possibly happen. And good night and good luck. Also possible period piece. I think it's always important to think about that, especially in the 50s. And that's something to talk about as we go into costume design of a musical. Our overlaps here. For costume design of a musical, Death Becomes her, which one listener thinks absolutely is a lock to win. I would actually agree with that. I do like the costumes in Death Becomes Her. Part of me wants to know what Greg Barnes could have done with that show, but I do think that Paul Tazewell has done a really lovely job. And they're just like, super gaudy and fun and shiny and people really like that. It's sort of share a show, but better, in my humble opinion. But we have Death Becomes her is one that everyone agrees on. Boop. Is another that everybody agrees on. Yeah, I think that's. I think that's it. Boop. And Death Becomes her are the only three or the. Sorry, the only two that have complete overlap after that, the closest to a consensus are Buena Vista Social Club, which I actually agree with, and maybe Happy Ending, which I don't totally agree with, but, I mean, it could happen, I think. So I think Death Becomes her and Boop. Everyone's sort of. Yeah, those are the top two. And then everyone else is kind of iffy on the rest. I think we shouldn't Count out Pirates. I don't think we should count out Mincemeat or Just in time. A lot of you seem to think that Sunset could get in for costumes, which is, I think, actually rather wild. The costumes in Sunset absolutely serve the purpose and the vision of the show. So in that respect, sure, it's very much a Bob Crowley for set design of once, which did one. Let's never forget that. But sometimes the Tonys do really think about most, if not necessarily best. So Death becomes her and Boop are right up there. I think Pirates is a very strong contender. Buena Vista Social Club, very strong contender. And that's four, and then five could be just in time. Similar to the Good Night and Good Luck of it all or the Hills of California of it All. It is a 1950s, I think, through the early 1960s musical. So dress wise, suit wise. It very much gives a tasteful but period costume design. There's some interest in Gypsy, some interest in Mincemeat, and some interest in Real Women have Curves. Again, I'm not seeing real women have curves. I don't know how the design is of that show. It could be sort of like an in the Heights type of contemporary, but with style costume design, which could end up working for them. You know, we had Hell's Kitchen get nominated last year, so these things do happen. But I think if we're going off of these, the ones that everyone should just put safe money on are Boop. And Death becomes her. And then if you want to be a little more gambly, you can say Pirates and Buena Vista Social Club. And then for fifth, if you guys tell me between Real Women have Curves and Gypsy and just in time. Where do you. Where do you think it goes? All right, next up, lightning design of a plea. Our overlaps are Dorian Gray. Totally agree. Stranger Things. Totally agree. And then our only other one is John Proctor is the villain. Y'all seem to really think that John Proctor is the villain is gonn. Well, with these. With these design categories, the design of John Proctor of the Is the villain is very good, but we also have quite a few designy shows. Don't forget McNeil. Don't forget Job. Don't forget Hills of California. That was some design. Wise Hills of California slapped. I think that. Yeah, I think Dorian Gray and Stranger Things are totally locked in. Good Night and Good Luck also had very shadowy, moody lighting. There's back and forth between English Romeo and Juliet. I think Romeo and Juliet is the. Is the stronger option from English. There's a world where Romeo and Juliet get completely blanks on Tony nomination morning. Or it could get, you know, a surprise revival as well as lighting and lead actor Tony nomination. I'm really hoping Kit gets in there. And I will say this, the two things I liked most about Romeo and Juliet were Kit Connor and the lighting, which is very Liz Lemon. The lighting was really neat, but the lighting was really neat in Romeo and Juliet. It was very Euphoria, Shakespeare. But I don't know, it was an aesthetic that worked for me and I actually thought brought a lot of theatricality to what was ultimately a mundane production for me. So, yes, again, if you have money, Dorian Gray and Stranger Things seem to be safe options. People seem to be really on board with the John Proctor is the villain of it all. After that, it's all kind of a gamble. Lighting design of a musical. Our overlaps are maybe happy ending, Death becomes her Sunset Boulevard. So maybe happy ending, Death becomes her Sunset Boulevard. Operation Mincemeat. And those are the only four. After that, it kind of wobbles. There's interest in Swept Away. I would not be mad about that. Some interest in Dead Outlaw and Floyd Collins. I think that Sunset and maybe Happy Ending are absolute locks here. I think Mincemeat is a very strong contender, especially for the Act 1 finale. They really, the way the lighting works in that finale is done very, very well. Death becomes her. Of all the design elements, I can't say that the lighting is the one that is a lock here, but it is a very techy show. And especially how the lighting is done with the special effects could be to their advantage. Again, haven't seen Floyd Collins yet, but I understand that, you know, shadows and silhouettes are very important to this production and that the lighting really helps with the rather sparse set design. So that could happen. Dead Outlaw, from what I recall, Off Broadway had really gorgeous and very shadowy lighting. Shadowy lighting does very well with the Tony Nominators. So, yeah, I would say if we're looking at the fifth Floyd Collins and Dead Outlaw absolutely are gunning for that. And I mean, Swept Away could be a surprise here for sure. Then we have scenic design, scenic design of a play. Our overlaps are Eureka Day, John Proctor is the villain, and Stranger Things. Stranger Things, absolutely. It's just. It's so much set. So you really can't ignore that. John Proctor's the villain in Eureka Day will be interesting to me because they're both classrooms. Very different classrooms, but classrooms and very detail oriented and work very well. Eureka Day, the details of it are such that and they've done a really, they did a really good job when the show was running of highlighting the set design and showing people all the details of it that that could work for them. Especially since that is a major contender for revival. John Proctor is the villain. I see it. I'm not disregarding it. I think it could absolutely happen. Only one person is certain about Hills of California. The other person thinks that it's on the Bubble. I think. I mean that set I thought was just gorgeous and very elaborate and creative and, you know, moved about in a number of really gorgeous and surprising ways. So I would not count it out after that. It bumps up around. We have an English. We have a O Mary Cult of Love. Yeah. So I think, I guess what we're seeing here is Eureka Day. John Proctor is the villain and Stranger Things easy to put your money down on. There's also a Purpose and a Glenn Good night and good Luck. That's being considered. We have Cult of Love and Glengarry Glen Ross on the bubble. Also English on the bubble with somebody else. I. Yeah. So I, I think it's again with scenic design and I don't think that McNeil should be slept on either. It was very tech heavy show and the set was very elaborate in that respect. It's a matter of are we going for best, are we going for most? Are we going for the detailed orient or nuance of these sets in purpose? Purpose is a very gorgeous home with very specific touches to it. It did actually remind me a great deal of the appropriate set, but in a less ghoulish way. So, yeah, I guess if you, if you want to put money down. People are very confident in Eureka Day and John Proctor is the villain and Stranger Things for scenic design of a musical. Let's see, our overlaps are Death Becomes her seems to be the front runner after that. Maybe Happy Ending, Buena Vista Social Club and Boop. I actually think maybe happy ending is a stronger candidate for scenic design then Death becomes her. But I mean, I think they're. I think they're both getting in, but I think that one is maybe Happy ending is more of the leading design. So we also have oh and Pirates. Pirates is tracking nicely. We've got one person who's very insistent that Redwood's happening and thinks that Boop is winning. Scenic design. I don't think Boop is winning. I think that's. I think that's down to maybe happy ending and Death becomes her. There's also some people who think possibly swept away or Smash or Sunset or Dead Outlaw. Mincemeat. Sorry, two people who think Mincemeat could happen. Yeah, Mincemeat could happen. I don't think it will, but yeah. And then only one. One vote for Just in Time. I feel like Just In Time is also probably a lock, right, because of the sort of overhaul they've done to Circle in the Square. That's always catnip for Tony nominators when they're like, oh, you made the whole. You overdid the whole environment. Good for you. So I guess we. I think we could have maybe Happy ending. Death becomes her and just in time as pretty much Lockes. I think Boop is a strong candidate, if not an amazing candidate. Buena Vista Social Club is a strong but not amazing candidate. And then, same thing with Pirates. And I mean redwood, in a sense, but the problem with redwood is the computer graphics of it all. Will people be on board with that or not? Final one, and then we'll take a quick break. Is orchestrations are overlaps here, surprisingly, have actually been last five years, because listeners think that that's a way for the Tonys to honor Jason Robert Brown without actually nominating the revival itself, which is totally fair. I think the same could be said of fl. Floyd Collins, but nobody seems to have included that. Yeah, our overlaps are last five years, Dead Outlaw, maybe Happy Ending. And, yeah, those are the only overlaps. We have someone put in Sunset Boulevard. I don't think Sunset is eligible. It's the same orchestrators, Andrew Lloyd Webber and his collaborator. And I don't believe that they've overhauled the orchestrations. I think they've just reduced them. This is, I believe, 19 pieces in the. In the pit. And the show has normally been done with 24 to 40. So, I mean, in some respects, that could technically count. But I don't think that this is an eligible orchestration. I can't recall. Maybe someone can tell me if the Tonys deemed it eligible or not. But, yeah, maybe Happy ending, which I think is absolutely worth noting, with orchestrations, you want to kind of look at three categories. What is the most likely to be nominated for score? What is a jukebox situation that requires new arrangements? And then what is a revival with new arrangements? So having Pirates, I think, is an ideal candidate. Same thing with the last five years and Floyd Collins revivals where they expanded the orchestrations so it's a whole new set of charts. So those all are viable candidates. And then for score, I think maybe Happy Ending, Mincemeat and Dead Outlaw are the Three locks for best score. So that's something to consider. We'll get back to score in a second. But also real women have curves and death becomes her are also on the bubble there, as is Boop. And then for the jukebox situation, just in time. And Buena Vista Social Club and Swept Away are all under that umbrella. And I think swept, this is a category where Swept Away could get in if it's going to get in at all. And then I think just in time also could get in here. Buena Vista Social Club as well. Buena Vista Social Club. I wonder if it's going to be sort of like a sunset rule of it might be considered not different enough in terms of arrangements from the actual album to matter, but I have to believe that it'll be eligible. So yeah. Yeah. So again, our overlaps are maybe happy ending, which makes sense. It's the front runner for musical and score right now. And then last five years and Dead Outlaw. Those are our three overlaps right now with everything else sort of vying for attention. Okay, so we will get back with book and score and director and all the rest of that good stuff right after this break.