Antoinette Perry usually knows what she's doing.

Carol Channing never let a parade pass HER by!

Jerry Herman's Hello Dolly! was the big winner of 1964.

(That HAT!)

And the winner is...

Tootsie

has garnered 11 Tony nominations!

Best Musical, Score, Book, Direction, Costumes,

Leading Actor, Featured Actress (times 2),

Featured Actor,

Choreography and Orchestrations.

Santino Fontana stars as Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels

(center in red, and below).

Sarah Stiles plays Sandy Lester (above left)

and Andy Grotelueschen is Jeff.

The review in Variety said "The new Broadway adaptation of Tootsie 

is old-fashioned and proud of it." 

Yet there is "the mixed blessing of David Yazbek’s score: 

the lyrics are so smart, the music can’t always catch up with them."

Hadestown

has 14 nominations, too many to list!

(Well, all of the above basically, plus things like

lighting and sound).

Suffice it to say Amber Gray (above) is up for one,

and so Andre De Shields (below).

 

Composer/lyricst Anais Mitchell (above)

and below Patrick Page, who's nominated for his role as Hades.

The New York Times has labeled the show

"inventive", "gorgeously sung," and praising its simplicity and intimacy.

 And BTW, the song "Why We Build The Wall",

which we'll hear on Sunday,

though suggestive of Donald Trump's immigration "policy",

pre-dates this!

Five nominations for The Prom...

one for Brooks Ashmanskas (at left)

Beth Leavel and Caitlinn Kinnunen both received noms for 

Leading Actress,

Christopher Sieber and Angie Schworer.

The music is by Chad Beguelin and Mathew Sklar,

and the book is by Bob Martin, who collaborated on The Drowsy Chaperone!

Isabelle McCalla and Caitlinn play the couple 

who are the cause of the prom being cancelled.

"Narcisstic gas-bag" actors come to the rescue!

Yup, it's been called cheesey, but Broadway is pretty lactose-tolerant!

Ain't Too Proud: The Life And Times Of The Temptations

is a juke box musical featuring

all that great music of the Temps,

slick suits (Paul Tazewell),

and slicker choreography (by Sergio Trujillo).

 Direction is by Des McAnuff, who led Jersey Boys to a Best Musical win

back in 2005.

Derrick Baskin (below with Rashidra Scott) stars as Otis Williams

and he is up for a Leading Actor in a Musical Tony.

Ben Brantley liked it! Wow!

"Mercifully, the show mostly avoids the usual jukebox pitfall 

of jimmying in songs to reflect the plot in literal ways. 

Instead, the musical numbers generally register as a rippling, liquid mirror of societal and personal flux."

The Supremes are represented by 

Taylor Symone Jackson, Candice Marie Woods,

and Nasia Thomas. 

 And then those Temps:

They are, in addition to Mr. Baskin, James Harkness (as Paul Williams), 

Jawan M. Jackson (as Melvin Franklin), Jeremy Pope (as Eddie Kendricks), 

and Ephraim Sykes (as David Ruffin).     

Mr. Pope and Mr. Sykes are both up for a

Featured Actor in a Musical Tony. 

(Mr. Pope is also nominated for his role in Choir Boy!)

The "Temps" perform alfresco!

Playlist for Sunday, June 9, 2019: When It's Tony Time... and I haven't a thing to wear!

I think my invitation to the 73rd Antoinette Perry Awards got lost in the mail. I mean, what other excuse could there be? However, with my new retirement "budget" (note quotes) in effect, I wouldn't be able to splurge on a drippy dress or sleek stilettos. Although I did find a great pair of killer heels for $15 at my local second hand store:

The Red Shoes...

not to be confused with

Fred's Shoes

Those red jobs could easily work at a high-falutin' gig like the one at Radio City this Sunday, right? They certainly aren't the "no place like home" kind.  Ah well, it's their loss. 

Meanwhile, we sit in upstate NY and salute winners of the past AND the nominees of the present. And who will the next winner be? My money's on Hadestown...tho my perspective is skewed, not having actually seen the show, and not having the actual Broadway cast recording! I'm working with the London production's CD, folks, with no idea of the Broadway actors, arrangements, set, or book, for lord's sake! Ditto the other musicals. The only full Broadway cast recordings that have been released are Ain't Too Proud and The Prom. With the exception of Ain't Misbehavin', I've never considered a juke box musical to be an "original", so I'm discounting this second "Ain't" from the running. The Prom looks like cheesy fun, and what I've heard of Tootsie (esp. Sarah Stiles) I like, but Hades seems fresher and gutsier. Like Charles McNulty of the L.A. Times said: "In its supple convergence of story and song, “Hadestown” represents a step forward for the art form." Ooh lah lah. But I'll go with that opinion, raise you $5, and call. I nailed it last year with The Band's Visit, didn't I? Well, there you go. 

Tune in for Tony. I'll wear my red shoes. :)

Overture (Instrumental, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum)
Bianca (Michael Berresse, Ensemble, Kiss Me, Kate)
Sit Down, You're Rocking The Boat (Walter Bobbie, Guys And Dolls)
Marian, The Librarian (Robert Preston, The Music Man)
Before The Parade Passes By (Carol Channing, Hello Dolly!)
Changing Lives (Beth Leavel, Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom)
It's Not About Me (Beth Leavel, The Prom)
Barry Is Going To Prom (Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom)
The Company Way (Sammy Smith, Robert Morse, How To Succeed In
      Business Without Really Trying)
To Each His Dulcinea (Mark Jacoby, Man Of La Mancha)
Wouldn't It Be Loverly (Julie Andrews, My Fair Lady)
Steam Heat (Ensemble, The Pajama Game)
What's Gonna Happen (Sarah Stiles, Tootsie)
I Won't Let You Down (Santino Fontana, Tootsie)
Papa Was A Rollin' Stone (Derrick Baskins, Ensemble, Ain't Too Proud:
      The Life And Times Of The Temptations)
War (Derrick Baskins, Ensemble, Ain't Too Proud: The Life And Times Of
      The Temptations)
Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today) (Derrick Baskins,
      Ain't Too Proud: The Life And Times Of The Temptations)
Shuffle Off To Buffalo (Carole Cook, Joseph Bova, 42nd Street)
I Hope I Get It (Ensemble, A Chorus Line)
The Perfect Year (Patti LuPone, Sunset Boulevard)
My Friends (Len Cariou, Angela Lansbury, Sweeney Todd)
Company (Ensemble, Company)
The Telephone Hour (Ensemble, Bye, Bye, Birdie)
Hello! (Andrew Rannells, Josh Gad, The Book Of Mormon)
Wait For It (Leslie Odom, Jr., Ensemble, Hamilton)
Waiting (Etai Benson, Andrew Polk, Adam Kantor, John Cariani, Ensemble,
      The Band's Visit)
Waving Through A Window (Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen)
Way Down Hadestown (Hadestown)
Livin' It Up On Top (Amber Gray, Hadestown)
Why We Build The Wall (Patrick Page, Hadestown)
Wait For Me II (Chris Sullivan, Amber Gray, Hadestown)

It's Super...It's Steady...It's Sleepy Subways!

Back in 1962, 

Michele Lee at the cast recording session 

of Bravo Giovanni.

Whoever Cesar Siepi was,

he seems to have had a lock on the credits!

Okay, so he WAS an Italian opera singer,

a very fine bass, evidently.

The principal bass at the Met from 1950 to 1974,

but that didn't seem to help "Bravo"...76 performances.

Above, at that same recording session,

Cesare with David Opatoshu.

Cesare is evidently "helping" David become a Broadway star!

He even got his name on sheet music

for a song Michele sang...

It's A Bird...It's A Plane...It's Superman

fared a bit better, 129 performances, back in 1966.

Jack Cassidy got the billing this time,

though of course he would have made an overly-snide man of steel.

Bob Holiday was more Super timber-ed and timbre-ed!

Linda Lavin (on the right above, and on the left below)

played Sydney Carlton (?)

and Patricia Marchand was Lois Lane.

The song writing team of Strouse and Lee

produced one song that escaped the show...

"You've Got Possibilities":

It was recorded by Peggy Lee in 1966,

and used in a commercial for Pillsbury Biscuits in 2005.

Go figure.

 

Another show from the 1960s:

Subways starred Carol Lawrence (below)

and Syd Chaplin

(oh and SUPER Orson Bean and Phyllis Newman...in tiny type!). 

Negative reviews and lousy publicity

(NY didn't want people to actually SLEEP on the subway!)

led to a legendary PR step by the King of Broadway,

David Merrick.

Love the pants, Carol!

Zoom in on this!

David (and his slaves)

found people with the same names as the theatre critics of the day,

had them see the show,

and "write reviews" which David had posted and published everywhere

(Walter Kerr..."What a show!").

Yes, it was quickly found out to be a fraud,

but even Bad Publicity is...worth a few more performances.

Anybody seen my Cheeto bag???

 Brooklyn The Musical

opened on Broadway in 2004,

a play within a play,

sort of American Idol meets Rent under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Music by Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson.

Our old NYTimes pal, Ben Brantley said THIS about THAT:

 "Try to imagine "Hair" without the dirty parts 

and with more goopy songs like "Good Morning Starshine," 

or a secular "Godspell,"

 with a bittersweet sprinkling of Jacques Brel-esque romance.

 Now throw in a helping of funky disco à la LaBelle 

and a soupçon of Motown as it was reinterpreted in the 1981 musical "Dreamgirls"...and there, you've got Brooklyn.

 The original production starred Eden Espinosa,

Karen Olivo, Kevin Anderson,

Ramona Keller,

and Cleavant Derricks. 

 The recycled-trash costuming was supposedly a high point of the show...

Cheeto bag headdresses, duct tape tailoring,

and stoles made out of bubble wrap.

 It ran for 8 months!

 The first show Howard Ashman

and Alan Menken ever worked on together:

Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You Mr. Rosewater. 

The songwriting team would of course go on to 

create Little Shop of Horrors, Aladdin, 

Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, et.al,

but in 1979 it was Rosewater! 

The show starred Jonathan Hadary, Frederick Coffin and 

Janie Sell.

It lasted 49 performances.

 Of course, nothing waves a red flag at Encores!

like a historical (wet puppy) flop.

In 2016, they produced a shiny new Rosewater with

Santino Fontana (above),

Brynne O'Malley (below, surronded by "Cheese Nips")...

and below THAT, James Earl Jones.

Two pics from the original 1979 production.

Actor/Vocalist Max Von Essen

had his Broadway debut in a revival of Jesus Christ, Superstar (2000),

and has been performing on stage, on national tours,

television and films

ever since!

Les Mis, Evita, Dance Of The Vampires...

both musicals AND plays on Broadway.

 2 On The Aisle listeners have heard him as Henri

in An American In Paris and

Anastasia (above).

 He hails from Long Island, and if you can imagine your first job

post-college was going on tour with Liza Minnelli,

well, then you'll know...Max!

 

Max has recently released an album of Broadway standards,

"Call Me Old Fashioned",

and we'll hear 2 selections from that recording on Sunday.

Backstage at (I think!?) Anastasia?

Plus he's gorgeous...just LOOK at that jawline! :)