The 2011 Tony Award nominations for excellence in Broadway theater were announced May 3.
With 14 nominations, the leader of the pack is the irreverent (and expletive-filled) new musical The Book of Mormon, by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez. It's one of the few shows to have opened on Broadway to near-unanimous critical raves.
Following close behind with 12 nominations is the closed show The Scottsboro Boys, the final musical co-written by theater greats John Kander and Fred Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago). The Scottsboro Boys controversially used the theatrical form of a minstrel show to comment on the true-life story of nine Black teenagers who were wrongly accused of rape in 1931.
However, for Chicago theater boosters, there were a few notable local inclusions (and exclusions) in the mix.
The big news is that Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Company was named the recipient of the 2011 Regional Theatre Tony Award, and it's no surprise why. Many of Lookingglass Theatre's acclaimed productions—like Argonautika, The Arabian Nights and Lookingglass Alice—have since gone on to thrive in major regional theaters around the country, no doubt charming the many voters from the American Theatre Critics Association who help to decide on the award each year.
Lookingglass is famed for its ensemble consisting of circus-trained actors and writers who are adept at adapting literary works to the stage. Although Friends TV star David Schwimmer is the company's most famous ensemble member, it's probably director/playwright Mary Zimmerman who has helped bring the most acclaim to Lookingglass Theatre. Zimmerman's 1998 adaptation of Ovid' Metamorphoses later played on Broadway in 2002 and has been produced by other major regional theaters.
Lookingglass brings the number of Tony Award-winning Windy City regional companies to five (the others being Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater and Chicago Shakespeare Theater). It's a feat unmatched by any other U.S. city, so wear this Chicago win with pride.
In the play direction category, Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro is a nominee for Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Motherfucker with the Hat, which notably features the Hollywood star power of Chris Rock and Bobby Cannavale in the cast.
On the flip side, Chicago favorite David Cromer did not get a nomination for his direction of another star-studded revival, John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves, starring Ben Stiller, Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Closer to the Windy City Media Group family is the news that Windy City Queercast guest host Colman Domingo is Tony-nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his multiple roles in The Scottsboro Boys. Domingo's past credits include Passing Strange (now in a regional staging by Bailiwick Chicago) and the LOGO/MTV Network series The Big Gay Sketch Show.
Visit www.tonyawards.com for a full list of nominees and more information about the Tony Awards broadcast on CBS-TV at 7 p.m. Sunday, June 12. Neil Patrick Harris is slated to host.
Arthur Laurents dead at 93
Legendary gay playwright, director and screenwriter Arthur Laurents passed away May 5 at the age of 93.
In theater circles, Laurents is most famous for providing the books to the monumental 1950s musicals West Side Story and Gypsy, plus his Tony Award-winning direction on the original 1983 production of La Cage aux Folles.
It was at the urging of Tom Hatcher, Laurents' long-term partner who died in 2006, that Laurents achieved some late-life success in directing Broadway revivals of Gypsy in 2008 starring Patti LuPone (mending a long-time feud between the irascible playwright and the famed Broadway diva) and West Side Story in 2009 (where the Sharks sang new lyrics in Spanish before this device was eventually dropped).
Laurents is also famed for helping to discover Barbra Streisand in her first Broadway show I Can Get it For You Wholesale in 1962, later working with the star with his screenplay for the 1973 film The Way We Were. Laurents also worked with legendary director Alfred Hitchcock on the 1948 film Rope.
However, for anyone who wants an insight to Laurents' life as an openly gay man working in the entertainment industry, be sure to read his gossip-filled books Original Story By and Mainly On Directing. Laurents goes out of his way to settle scores, and he is unabashed with his pride as a openly gay man.
Victory Gardens' new artistic director
Victory Gardens Theater recently announced that playwright and director Chay Yew is to be the company's new artistic director. Yew succeeds retiring Victory Gardens artistic director Dennis Zacek, who held the post for the past 34 years.
No doubt the news will be a disappointment for those who wanted longtime Victory Gardens associate artistic director Sandy Shinner to get the position. But with Yew's appointment it's clear that Victory Gardens' board wants to inject some new blood into the esteemed institution famed for its roster of resident playwrights.
As a director, Yew has directed world premieres of works by Jose Rivera, Naomi Iizuka, Julia Cho, Alec Mapa and more. Among Yew's many award-winning honors are the GLAAD Media Award and the Asian Pacific Gays and Friends' Community Visibility Award.
White Noise closing early
If you've been dragging your feet to see White Noise, the world premiere musical about white supremacist songwriters finding mainstream success, hurry now to see it. The production is closing two weeks early, May 15, at the Royal George Theatre.
Please send theater news and other related tidbits to scottishplayscott@yahoo.com and Andrew@windycitymediagroup.com .
