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

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

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

 

 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

Matthew Beard, “Skylight”

Todd Freeman, “Airline Highway”

Richard McCabe, “The Audience”

Alessandro Nivola, “The Elephant Man”

Nathaniel Parker, “Wolf Hall Parts One & Two”

Micah Stock, “It’s Only a Play”

 

Here are a few fun facts:

– You may recognize Matthew Beard from his recent work in the Academy nominated film, “The Imitation Game.”

– K. Todd Freeman’s first Tony nomination came in 1993 for his portrayal of the title character in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s transfer of “The Song of Jacob Zulu.”

– Alessandro Nivola worked with Bradley Cooper on the 2013 film “American Hustle,” and apparently spent the whole time on set talking about their future work together in “The Elephant Man.”

– Micah Stock performed in Terrence McNally’s play last fall called “And Away We Go,” which Nathan Lane and Jack O’Brien saw and loved Micah’s performance, helping him gain his role in “It’s Only a Play.”

 

 

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

Christian Borle, “Something Rotten!”

Andy Karl, “On the Twentieth Century”

Brad Oscar, “Something Rotten!”

Brandon Uranowitz, “An American in Paris”

Max von Essen, “An American in Paris”

 

Here are a few more fun facts:

– Christian Borle has been in the last two live musicals featured on NBC: 2013’s “The Sound of Music Live!” and last year’s “Peter Pan Live!”

– Andy Karl’s first Broadway productions included “Wicked” in which he was the Fiyero replacement and “Jersey Boys” where he was the Tommy DeVito replacement.

– Brad Oscar was the original Uncle Fester in the Broadway production of “The Addams Family.”

 

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 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.

 

Tony Awards 2015 – Best Choreography

Posted on: May 11th, 2015 by B.I. C. No Comments

Here are this year’s nominees for Best Choreography:

 

 

Best Choreography

Joshua Bergasse, “On the Town”

Christopher Gattelli, “The King and I”

Scott Graham & Steven Hoggett for Frantic Assembly, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”

Casey Nicholaw, “Something Rotten!”

Christopher Wheeldon, “An American in Paris”

 

Here’s a few fun facts:

– Before gaining acclaim as a choreographer, Joshua Bergasse was a performer himself and actually toured through Chicago with the musical “Movin’ Out” at the Shubert Theater June 25, 2002 – September 1, 2002.

– Christopher Gattelli choreographed the Tony-Award winning musical “Newsies” which just recently played at the Oriental Theatre December 10, 2014 – January 04, 2015.

– Casey Nicholaw choreographed The Book of Mormon which is currently playing at the Bank of America Theatre through May 17, 2015, and also directed and choreographed Elf the Musical which toured through Chicago at the Cadillac Palace November 26, 2013 – December 15, 2013.