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Posts Tagged ‘2015 Tony Award Nominations’

Tony Awards 2015 – Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play / Musical

Posted on: May 27th, 2015 by B.I. C. No Comments

Here are the women nominated for “Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical”:

 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

Annaleigh Ashford, “You Can’t Take It With You”

Patricia Clarkson, “The Elephant Man”

Lydia Leonard, “Wolf Hall Parts One & Two”

Sarah Stiles, “Hand to God”

Julie White, “Airline Highway”

 

Here are a few fun facts:

– Nathan Peck, currently in the Broadway production of “Kinky Boots,” helped Annaleigh Ashford create all of her choreography in “You Can’t Take It With You.”

– The last time Patricia Clarkson was on Broadway was in 1986 when she debuted in “The House of Blue Leaves.”

– The last time you saw Julie White was as the Masha replacement in “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” from July 30, 2013 – August 25, 2013.

 

 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

Victoria Clark, “Gigi”

Judy Kuhn, “Fun Home”

Sydney Lucas, “Fun Home”

Ruthie Ann Miles, “The King and I”

Emily Skeggs, “Fun Home”

 

Here are a few more fun facts:

– Victoria Clark joined “Gigi” after director Eric Schaeffer asked her and because she had always admired Heidi Thomas’ writing from “Call the Midwife” and “Upstairs, Downstairs.”

– Judy Kuhn was seen last season as the ill-fated Fosca in the critically acclaimed, much-extended Classic Stage Company production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s “Passion.”

– Ruthie Ann Miles recently played Imelda Marcos in “Here Lies Love,”  which she was won the 2014 Lucille Lortel Award and the 2013 Theatre World Award.

 

Tony Awards 2015 – Best Orchestrations

Posted on: May 20th, 2015 by B.I. C. No Comments

Here are the musicians and composers nominated for this year’s Best Orchestrations Tony Award:

Best Orchestrations

Christopher Austin, Don Sebesky, Bill Elliott, “An American in Paris”

John Clancy, “Fun Home”

Larry Hochman, “Something Rotten!”

Rob Mathes, “The Last Ship”

 

Here are a few fun facts:

– Don Sebesky won the 2000 Tony award for Best Orchestrations for the revival of “Kiss Me, Kate,” has been nominated for 31 Grammy Awards (winning 3 of them), and has arranged for hundreds of artists including Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Michael Buble, Liza Minnelli, Seal, and Prince.

– Bill Elliott worked additional orchestrations for “Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” which just recently toured through Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theatre December 16, 2014 – January 4, 2015.

– Before working on orchestrations, John Clancy played the drums/percussion for Broadway’s revival of the musical “Grease” from August 19, 2007 – January 4, 2009.

– Larry Hochman co-orchestrated “The Book of Mormon” with Stephen Oremus which was just here playing at the Bank of American Theatre February 25, 2015 – May 17,  2015.

 

Tony Awards 2015 – Best Original Score

Posted on: May 18th, 2015 by B.I. C. No Comments

Here are the individuals nominated for Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre:

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre:

“Fun Home” – Music: Jeanine Tesori, Lyrics: Lisa Kron

“The Last Ship” – Music & Lyrics: Sting

“Something Rotten!” – Music & Lyrics: Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick

“The Visit” – Music: John Kander, Lyrics: Fred Ebb

Here are a few fun facts:

-We’re extremely happy for Sting being nominated for “The Last Ship” since it premiered here in Chicago at the Bank of America Theatre June 10, 2014 – July 13, 2014 before moving to Broadway.

– Jeanine Tesori wrote the music for “Shrek the Musical,” which opened on Broadway in 2008 and earned her both Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations.  “Shrek the Musical” toured through Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theatre July 25, 2010 – September 5, 2010.

-John Kander and Fred Ebb are one of the most successful songwriting teams in history.  If you know shows such as “Cabaret,” “Chicago,” “Kiss of the Spiderwoman,” “Curtains,” “The Scottsboro Boys,” etc., then you definitely know Kander and Ebb.  Another fun fact is that Liza Minnelli became strongly associated with Kander and Ebb, with Ebb producing Minnelli’s Emmy-winning television special “Liza with a Z.”

 

Tony Awards 2015 – Best Book of a Musical

Posted on: May 18th, 2015 by B.I. C. No Comments

Here are the 5 Playwrights nominated for Best Book of a Musical:

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Best Book of a Musical

“An American in Paris” – Craig Lucas

“Fun Home” – Lisa Kron

“Something Rotten!” – Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell

“The Visit” – Terrence McNally

 

Here’s a few fun facts:

– Craig Lucas was originally a Broadway actor who performed in “Shenandoah” (1975), “Rex” (1976), “On the Twentieth Century” (1978) and “Sweeney Todd” (1979).

– Ben Brantley of the New York Times wrote about Lisa Kron’s “Fun Home” saying it is “a beautiful heartbreaker of a musical,” and that “Ms. Kron has already established herself as a vibrant family memoirist with her plays ”2.5 Minute Ride” and “Well,” and her book and resonantly precise lyrics give this show its essential spine.”

– “Something Rotten!” first began as an idea when Wayne Kirkpatrick and his brother, screenwriter-director Karey Kirkpatrick, approached producer Kevin McCollum back at the tech rehearsal of 1996 musical “Rent.”  Almost 20 years ago!

– Among all of Terrence McNally’s credits one of our favorite standouts is his writing of the musical “Ragtime” which toured through Chicago at the Oriental Theatre November 1, 1998 – June 27, 1999.

 

 

Tony Awards 2015 – Best Direction of a Play / Best Direction of a Musical

Posted on: May 13th, 2015 by B.I. C. No Comments

Here are the 10 phenomenal directors nominated for Best Direction of a Play and Best Direction of a Musical:

Best Direction of a Play

Stephen Daldry, “Skylight”

Marianne Elliott, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”

Scott Ellis, “You Can’t Take It With You”

Jeremy Herrin, “Wolf Hall Parts One & Two”

Moritz von Stuelpnagel, “Hand to God”

 

Here’s a few fun facts:

– Stephen Daldry made his feature film directorial debut in 2000 with “Billy Elliot” and then went on to win Best Direction of a Musical for the stage version in 2009.  “Billy Elliot” also played here in Chicago at the Oriental Theatre from March 18, 2010 – November 28, 2010.

– In 2011, Marianne Elliott won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for the Broadway production of “War Horse,” along with co-director Tom Morris.  The production toured through Chicago December 18, 2012 – January 5, 2013 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre.

– Scott Ellis attended the Chicago Goodman School of Drama.

 

Best Direction of a Musical

Sam Gold, “Fun Home”

Casey Nicholaw, “Something Rotten!”

John Rando, “On the Town”

Bartlett Sher, “The King and I”

Christopher Wheeldon, “An American in Paris”

 

Here’s a few more fun facts:

– Sam Gold started out as an actor, appearing as a replacement understudy in “The Diary of Anne Frank” on Broadway in 1997-1998.

– John Rando won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for “Urinetown the Musical” in 2002.  He also directed “The Wedding Singer” on Broadway in 2006.

– In 2014, Bartlett Sher directed the beautiful musical, “The Bridges of Madison County” which unfortunately only ran for 100 performances from February 2014 to May 2014.