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ToB: Friday, May 2, 2025 | Tony Nomination Reactions!
00:22:22
Grace and Matt break down and react to the 2025 Tony nominations Since 2016, “Today on Broadway” has been the first and only daily podcast recapping the top theatre headlines every Monday through Friday. Any and all feedback is appreciated:Grace Aki: g...
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- [00:00]
Unknown Male Speaker
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- [00:47]
Matt Tammaneni
Welcome to Today on Broadway for Friday, May 2, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tammaneni and I'm.
- [00:52]
Grace
Tell me on the Sunday podcast, Grace.
- [00:54]
Matt Tammaneni
Aki Grace, we have made it through Tony nominations. That means one leg of this incredible marathon sprint that the Broadway community is going through is over. They have now turned the corner and are in the home stretch, but it's still like 13 miles because they have a whole month, basically five weeks even until we get to the actual Tony Awards. Things will continue to be busy, things will continue to be hectic. But yesterday was a milestone and I'm sure that you were incredibly busy with all of the shows that you work with that were Tony nominated. For those of us who are just fans and love theater, what was it like for you as somebody who works in IT on Tony nomination day yesterday?
- [01:35]
Grace
Yeah, it's like so much work is being done on shows across the board throughout the year and like, even when your work might be done for a show in theory that has already closed, if those shows are nominated, the work is now not done. You know, it kind of reignites itself sometimes. You know, those shows have, you know, these companies on retainer to like return to that work in the event that there is a nomination. Some of them don't like, you never know. So it's, it's kind of an exciting like, oh, okay, great.
- [02:09]
Matt Tammaneni
Yes.
- [02:10]
Grace
Roundabout is going to get to like talk again and again again about Yellowface and English. Like, there are so many great shows that are no longer running just due to like the season of it all. Not for like bad reasons or anything like that. And I think it's an amazing moment for a lot of shows, particularly like those two that I Just named.
- [02:31]
Matt Tammaneni
Yeah, you mentioned those two. Those are two of the four nominated shows. And Best revival of a Play, every show in that category has closed. You throw in Romeo and Juliet in Our Town and all four of those shows have closed. Which is crazy. If you have not heard all of the nominations yet or haven't seen them in the podcast feeds yesterday, I went through all of the categories, gave you some real quick stats, but I was doing it basically immediately after the nominations came out. I also kind of compared them to what my predictions had been, which I did an episode with Oliver Roth in Patreon on Wednesday. So lots of Tony's content that has already happened. We will have more on today's episode. Grace, we're just going to kind of go through and talk about the nominations. No real structure. We're just going to kind of talk in whatever comes up. Let's start with the production ones because those are obviously the big categories here. In Best Musical, I think this is very interesting because we have a cross section of things going on here. We have two shows that opened in the fall with Death Becomes her and maybe Happy Ending. We have two shows that had played New York Off Broadway already and are now transferring to Broadway. And we have one import from London with Buena Vista Social Club Dead Outlaw, Death Becomes or maybe Happy Ending in Operation Mincemeat. You know, I had kind of hoped that Real Women have Curves would get in there, but otherwise, like, for me, like, this feels like a really, really solid list. And it gives us a variety of shows for people to point to and say, like, this is a really eclectic group. You've got a big brassy Broadway musical like Death Becomes Her. You've got a really kind of sweet, simple show, like maybe Happy Ending. You got a big fun, dance heavy show like Buena Visa, Social Club. You've got a little bit of everything. So, like, I really love this list. Not only in terms of, like the shows from this season, but also as a representation as to everything that a Broadway musical can possibly be.
- [04:31]
Grace
Yeah, I mean, I, I don't have any. You know, I've got no criticism for that. Like, I'm just happy. So, yeah, it's, it's, it's good. It's good news.
- [04:41]
Matt Tammaneni
Moving over into the best play category, this one's interesting because we do again have a number of shows that are already closed, which doesn't always happen, especially with plays, but we have English in the Hills of California which are already closed. Then we've got John Proctor is the Villain, O Mary and Purpose that are currently still available to be seen on Broadway. But Grace, I know on your Instagram you posted something that I think people often forget about. The playwrights that have won this award and then the playwrights who could potentially win this award this year.
- [05:14]
Grace
Yeah. So it's very exciting in terms of, you know, I, I posted this graphic today that basically just said, like, in 77 years of the Tony Awards, this will be the 78th. Antoinette Perry, et cetera, et cetera. We have only had three Tony award winning female playwrights in history. Twice. Yasmina Reza won for once for God of carnage in 2009 and then one for art in 1998. So several years apart, but the same playwrigh. And then Wendy Wasserstein won in 1989. Again, 10 years apart from there, the Heidi Chronicles. And then a whopping 40 years since Frances Goodrich shares this Tony win for the Diary of anne Frank in 1955 with Albert Hackett. So it's an incredibly tiny list. Insane that Paula Vogel's not on this list. Whatever. The point is, is that you've got several incredible female playwrights this year. You've got Sanaz 2C for English, you've got Kimberly Bellflower for John Proctor is the villain. And you have Cola Scola, who is a non binary playwright starring and having written O Mary. Regardless of your feelings on like, women should win and people should like, regardless of any of that. This is exciting, this is good. These are good things. All of these plays are excellent pieces of work and all three of them offer something completely different to the canon. You've got, you know, an incredible but also very familiar old school slapstick comedy written by Cole. And then you've got two incredibly progressive pieces of playwriting between English and John Proctor. So I am ecstatic for those stats. But it's also quite shocking to have looked at the history of this because honestly, this was not something that like anybody was talking about. I just sat there and I looked at the noms and I said, wait, how many women have ever won? And then I went through the entire history today and went through every single year. So if I got this wrong, the books are wrong. So I'm very sorry, but I tried to do my due diligence as much as possible, but it's just kind of staggering. And it's been 16 years since a female playwright has won the Tony for best play. So voters, vote. Vote your heart, obviously, but the chances are good for a woman or a non binary playwright this year. I feel very good about that. But all the Nominees, I think are excellent playwrights, like, across the board.
- [07:47]
Matt Tammaneni
Yeah. So let's move into the performance categories. And this is something that I've seen people talking about online, and I think we need to address it and clear it up. The best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical category had six nominees. Darren Criss, Andrew Duran, Tom Francis, Jonathan Groff, James Monroe Iglehart, and Jeremy Jordan. The best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical category only had five. Megan Hilty, Audra McDonald, Jasmine, Amy Rogers, Nicole Scherzinger and Jennifer Simard. We'll get back to Audra here in a second. I saw a lot of people online complaining about the fact that the actor in a leading role in a musical category had six people, presumably maybe to get an extra person in, like Tony winner James Monroe Iglehart. While the women's version of that award only has five, leaving out somebody who I was hoping would get nominated. Helen J. Shen. This is not something that is a conscious decision by anybody in the Tony rooms. How this works is the Tony nominee turn in their ballots and the top five, by virtue of the fact that there were more than nine eligible candidates in each of this category are Tony nominees, then if there is. If There is a sixth place person within 10% of votes to the number five spot, they are also included. That's what they consider a tie. It doesn't have to be an actual numerical tie, but they have to be within a certain percentage. That's how we get a sixth. So this was not someone saying, we want more men to be nominated. It is just a numbers game. Now, if you want to be upset that we didn't get a sixth woman in there and Helen didn't get in that for that nomination, totally valid. But this was not something, Grace, where people were looking at the numbers and saying, well, we've got to bump this up because we want the star power of X person to be in this category to make it a little bit more exciting. So I think that's important to recognize. But I will say, Grace, in terms of all of the nominations, I think really the only one that I'm disappointed by is Helen not getting nominated. Like everything else. Like, I think these are actually really, really good nominations across the board. Not exactly what I would have picked, but I think mostly I'm pretty happy with them. The one thing that I am, you know, kind of disappointed in is that Helen didn't get nominated where I think she absolutely should have.
- [09:57]
Grace
Yeah, they were definitely on my hopeful list for sure. Helen is an incredible actor. They're very good in the show. And I think that, like, you know, I had my, like, little list of, like, ooh, wouldn't this be nice, though, for this to happen? Like, I thought the same for Marcus Choi. I love Marcus in maybe Happy Ending. Like, I think that he's so versatile in the show. He's so nuanced in the show. Him having to play, I mean, spoiler, like, both his son and himself is crazy. And, like, Desdron in the show, too. But, like, you know, if we can't get Huabun a special Tony Award, I'm okay with Darren having, you know, taken the. The lead on this and. And gotten that nomination, but. Yeah, but the other thing that I do want to shout out is, like, the special Tony Awards, particularly on my end, because there are two that I'm very happy to be a part of are the incredible band that is behind Buena Vista Social Club. Like, this is the thing that I talked about it, like, on, you know, on several apps and on here as well. But, like, they are phenomenal. They are outstanding and they have live music every single night. They are doing this. So I'm thrilled for that.
- [11:08]
Unknown Female Speaker
Also.
- [11:09]
Grace
The incredible design team behind Stranger Things. The visuals, the effects, and most of it, like, is practical. It's incredible work. Like, we talk about, like, theater magic all the time. Like, there's all this, like, you know, visual puppetry out the wazoo. Like, it's just. It's nuts. I don't even know how to. I can't really describe it because it's not just one type of thing where you're like, oh, it's projections. The one that I. I'm sure all of you are going to roll your eyes and that's okay. But, like, I know Jamie Lloyd was nominated for a director, which was a surprise, but because I was thrilled by that, I just didn't know, you know, what any of the directors were going to shake out to. Because it's such a stacked season. I was really hoping for a special Tony Award for the amount of cinematography that happens. That is a literal foundational point of this production. Like, it is unbelievable. I feel the same about Dorian Gray technicality, you know what I mean? But I think that that was the one that I was like, oh, I feel like this would be a cool opportunity to showcase this and this innovation on Broadway. But you know what? I'll stick with what we've got here. It's a good list.
- [12:18]
Matt Tammaneni
How about the security team that has to escort Tom Francis and the ensemble from Sunset across Shubert Alley.
- [12:26]
Grace
Yeah, I'm gonna give her.
- [12:27]
Unknown Female Speaker
It's Veronica.
- [12:28]
Grace
If you see any of these videos, most all of them, you're gonna see, you know of Tom Francis walking on the sidewalk singing Sunset Boulevard. The team, the crew behind that, half of them, actors that then learned how to do this blocking and choreography, essentially, with these units. You'll notice a woman that's standing on. Behind Shayla, I believe, who's the videographer actor who's following Tom. You'll watch her guide Shayla throughout, like the Shayna. Sorry.
- [12:59]
Unknown Female Speaker
Throughout the.
- [13:01]
Grace
The streets. That I believe is Veronica, who also helped us execute this amazing thing backstage. But like Weston Hicks, like all of these amazing stage company managers, all the people that are behind that, it's astounding. So I just. I'm personally giving you my. My Tony win for one of the greatest teams I've ever seen, so. And the way they work together is phenomenal. It's so seamless. It's like a ballet. So, yeah, shout out to them.
- [13:28]
Matt Tammaneni
I mentioned the fact that Autumn McDonald is nominated for. For Gypsy. This is her 11th nomination. That means that she is now the most nominated performer in Tony Awards history. She had previously been tied with Julie Harris and chita Rivera with 10 nominations. She now leads all with 11. She already led the category with the Most wins with six. Grace, how many of Audra's 11 nominations can you name?
- [14:00]
Grace
Oh, God. Okay, hold on. I mean, Rag Time. One lady day at Emerson's Bar and Grill to Shuffle Along.
- [14:11]
Matt Tammaneni
Nope, Was not nominated for Shuffle.
- [14:12]
Grace
Oh, okay. Well, Egregious. I almost called it Only Murders in the Building. Ohio State Murders.
- [14:20]
Matt Tammaneni
That's three. Obviously. Gypsy. I'll give you for four.
- [14:23]
Grace
Yes, Gypsy, Frankie and Johnny was not.
- [14:28]
Matt Tammaneni
Oh, no. Yes, she was nominated for Frankie and Johnny. Yep, you're right. Five.
- [14:31]
Grace
Yeah. Um, that's where I'm. I'm peeking. I'm plateauing.
- [14:37]
Matt Tammaneni
The other ones are Carousel, Masterclass, A Raisin in the Sun, Porgy and Bess Marie, Christine, and 110 in the shade. So she has been all over the place, obviously winning a bunch, being nominated some. And as you mentioned, with Shuffle along should have been nominated even more times. So we'll be interesting to see. This category is. Is stacked. A lot of the performance categories, I feel like, have really tough races where I don't think that there's a lot of these that are foregone conclusions. I think in a lot of years in the past, we have said this category. Obviously this person is going to win this category, obviously this person is going to win. I think there are favorites in some of them, but I think across the board, Best actor in a musical, I think is up for grabs. Best actress in a musical, I think there's maybe two, three people that are in contention. Best actor in a play, I think is wide open. Best actress in a play, I feel like there's a leader, but I'm not 100% sure there. All the featured ones, I think, are fairly wide open, except for featured actress in a musical, where I think that there is a definitive leader there. But we've still got five weeks, Grace, to figure out what is going to happen and things will definitely change. I mentioned on the episode where I ran through all of the Tony nominations that there were 13 shows that did not get a single nomination. Those shows, for various reasons did. And I think, you know, something like all in, which for going alphabetically is the first one. I don't think that was ever even really interested in getting Tony nominations. It probably would have been nice, but it wasn't one where like that was actually playing for those things. But to run through them really quickly, all in Cult of Love, which was my favorite play of the year that I've seen so far. I love that show. And while I understand why it didn't get a Best Play nomination, I am a little bummed that it didn't get any nominations at all. Although I understand because I think this is an excellent year in terms of plays. Then we had Elf, Home Job, which you and I both loved, Grace, both on Broadway and off left on 10th, McNeil, Stephen Sondheim's old friends, once Upon a Mattress, Othello Redwood, Tammy Faye and the last five years. Real quick, Grace, you worked on some of these shows, I believe, and you've loved some of these shows as a fan as well. Any thoughts on these 13 shows that didn't get any Nomin, but still deserve all of the celebrations that we can give them today and for the rest.
- [17:09]
Grace
Of the season, I got nothing but the fact that in my life I have someone very near and dear to me that has been in many Broadway shows and all of those Broadway shows that they have originated have never been nominated for a Tony Award. And it has given me so much perspective on how while we love this and we know that a lot of it is in celebration, it's also arbitrary.
- [17:35]
Unknown Female Speaker
It's also not actually indicative of necessarily, like, what is or is not the best thing or one of the best perform. Like, look, Job was one of the best plays I'VE seen in years. The writing that Max did on that, Sidney Lemon's portrayal, all of it was.
- [17:51]
Grace
Top tier, great theater.
- [17:53]
Unknown Female Speaker
I don't know a single person that did not walk out of that and say, holy cow, that was unbelievable. But timing does something to shows. Like, I just want to remind everybody that it doesn't change the amazing work that is seen here. You never know if any of those 13 shows are one of those might become the most done regional production, you know, or, you know, regional community theater, high school done show in the next, like, 10 years. And then those writers and those creatives will make tons and tons of, you know, dividends and cents and doll hairs, you know, based on that, licensing, things like that, or go on tour and then make a buttload of money, who knows? But, like, just a reminder that it does not change the incredible work that is being done currently that was done in the past couple of months. I just hope that people are reminded that, like, yes, there were people that voted on these things. But ultimately, it's not like, if you loved something, keep loving it. Like, don't change just because you're like, oh, I didn't get any Tony Noms. I must have bad taste. Actually, there are shows on that list that you're talking about that received critics picks that people are flocking to. You know, it just. We got it. We gotta let some things go. And it's just art and you can't actually judge it. You can't. It is just not something that you can equivocally match. I remember when I was doing this in, like, my, you know, junior senior year of high school doing competitive one act competition, and I was like, how can you judge Pippin next to Diary of Anne Frank?
- [19:27]
Grace
How can you do that?
- [19:28]
Unknown Female Speaker
Like, it's impossible. So I just think that, like, we.
- [19:32]
Grace
Gotta, like, shake it off a little.
- [19:33]
Unknown Female Speaker
Bit and just, like, keep supporting the shows that we like and the creatives and the artists that are continuing to put good work out there.
- [19:42]
Matt Tammaneni
Wrap up with a little nugget here that I noticed. Stars from the original TV version of Smash have as many nominations as the Broadway production of Smash does. Jeremy Jordan, Megan Hilty, both nominated for their respective roles in Floyd Collins and Death, becomes her. Smash the Musical has two nominations itself with Brooks Ashmanskas and Joshua Briges for choreography. So I thought that was interesting. A nice little kind of actually Smashy type thing to have happen. So congratulations to everybody who was nominated. And like you said, Grace. Peter Felicia over on this Week on Broadway says something all the Time that when he's talking about shows that he did not personally like, he would always prefer that people enjoy what they see rather than agree with him. So I'm with you. I think just because Tony nominations didn't love X, Y and Z shows in terms of how many nominations they got, doesn't mean that you can't either go out and see them and love them or remember them fondly. So before we wrap up, Grace, any other thoughts about anything Tony nomination related, Tony campaign season related, anything like that?
- [20:57]
Grace
No, I'm just really tired, you guys.
- [21:00]
Unknown Female Speaker
You know, there's like Aunt Pam, which is the union between, like stage company managers and, and press agents. One of the only, like, units that works in this industry that does not have that are the marketing agencies. And I am watching colleagues go so hard and work so furiously, it is unbelievable to the work they do take stock in. Like when you see these nominations pop up, how quickly those graphics go up, how quickly those sign flip outside of the theater, all of those things are so many artists putting so much time and effort into those. And so I just want to say congrats to everybody that also is in their, like, Super Bowl. Like last night, I celebrated with several people from several other competing agencies where we all just get together and say, this is our Christmas Eve. Here we go. You know, we've all had a great run. We're very proud of the work that we've done. And it's. And it's all going to, you know, the shit's going to hit the fan and it's going to be exciting and devastating and, you know, just checking in with each other. So all that to say, pour one out for all of us out here.
- [22:10]
Grace
You know, working the long hours and.
- [22:12]
Unknown Female Speaker
Enjoying every second of it.
- [22:14]
Matt Tammaneni
As we said, there will be tons of Tony coverage both here in the regular feed and over on Patreon. So if you want to make sure that you are staying up to date with everything that we are discussing, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio broadwayradio.com patreon and sign up at the Mezzanine Tier and above. I'm heading to New York tomorrow on Saturday. I will be there for. For eight days, I think. Yeah, Saturday to Saturday. I leave early on Sunday, May 11, so I can get home for Mother's Day. But I'll be seeing the rest of the shows on my list for the season. So I will have another travelogue or two and then I'm checking out some old standby favorites with a friend who hasn't seen them over the weekend so some good stuff coming. Thanks for following along and we will be back to talk to you tomorrow.
- [23:07]
Unknown Male Speaker
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