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 Click here or Scroll to the bottom of the page to view all Fire Island Sun Articles Broadway Remembers: In Memoriam Video Honors Stars Lost This YearCourtesy deadline.com
The 74th annual Tony Awards update Sept 26, 2021 The Tonys are here! the Tonys are here! It’s an event so long in coming and subjected to so much conjecture. For most of us the Tonys will be bittersweet as we think of the shows that we were planning to see and never did, and the shows that we did, never dreaming they would be our last for 18 months. There was silence after the shut down from the Broadway League and then, as other awards began to emerge regardless of the truncated season, (Drama League and Drama Desk) the League broke its silence and announced their nominees October 15, 2020 without an actual event date ("when the Theater season reopens"). Well, that reopening is now. And each Broadway opening this season has been nothing short of ecstatic, audiences greeting every number with cheers, the joy flowing back-and-forth between audience and performers, happiness and gratitude on each side. Although there are no weekly show grosses available based on many factors, including both the staggered roll-out of returning and new productions, and anticipated variations in performance schedules, so far it is reassuring that opening nights were "packed". Of course these Tonys present unique impediments: Tony voters surprised by the sudden closure, had no chance to see shows not yet scheduled in order to fulfill voting requirements of seeing each show nominated in order to vote. The percentage of votes necessary to validate a single nominee in a category. And other technical anomalies. The show will be very nostalgic no question, and a long awaited dream come true for all of us. And although the list of nominees will be abbreviated, compared to the total absence we’ve endured, we shall cherish every moment. An initial list of Tony Awards performers and presenters has been announced. Annaleigh Ashford, Kerry Butler, Kristin Chenoweth, André De Shields, Jake Gyllenhaal, Christopher Jackson, Audra McDonald, Idina Menzel, Ruthie Ann Miles, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bebe Neuwirth, Leslie Odom Jr., Kelli O'Hara, Ben Platt, Jeremy Pope, Chita Rivera, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and BD Wong are in this initial announcement; additional names will be confirmed later this week. The 2020 Tony Award winners will be announced on Sunday, September 26, as part of an ambitious concert airing on CBS, Paramount Plus, and the CBS App. Audra McDonald will host the presentation of the 74th annual Tony Awards, which will air exclusively on the streaming service Paramount Plus at 7pm ET that night. Leslie Odom Jr. will host the Broadway's Back concert at 9pm ET live on CBS, which will feature songs from the nominated shows, as well as the presentation of Best awards. Tears of joy are permissible .............. Jeanne Lieberman, publisher
Broadway and Off-Broadway's current Return DatesJune 22, 2021 Tony Awards Set For Broadway’s Reopening; Voting Begins In March
CBS Click to see more including list of nominees Tony Awards Set For Broadway’s Reopening; Voting Begins In MarchBy Greg Evans Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway Critic
The curtain’s inching up on the Tony Awards: A ceremony will be held on an as-yet-undetermined date in coordination with Broadway’s eventual reopening, but voters will finally be able to make their selections beginning March 1 Nominees for the 74th Annual Tony Awards were announced last October, with the 18 eligible productions reflecting the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season (the count usually numbers in the 30s). The 2020 Tony ceremony and CBS broadcast had originally been set for June 7 at New York’s Radio City Musical Hall, but of course was scuttled due to the Covid shutdown. The voting period will run from March 1 to March 15. Although Broadway remains officially closed until June, most insiders don’t expect any stagings before fall at the earliest, with timing contingent on widespread Covid-19 vaccinations. The March 12 theater closure preceded the official end of the Broadway season and the traditional late-April/early-May announcement of nominees, leaving open the question of whether the 18 productions that opened pre-pandemic would get their own awards ceremony or be melded into the following season’s nominations. In October, the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing announced the standalone roster of 2019-20 nominations (see the complete list below). Nominated for Best Play are Slave Play, Sea Wall/A Life, Grand Horizons, The Inheritance and The Sound Inside, with Moulin Rouge!, Jagged Little Pill and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical up for Best Musical. In the Best Revival of a Play category, Betrayal will compete with Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and A Soldier’s Play. The abbreviated season also resulted in one of the odder nominations in Tony history: Aaron Tveit of Moulin Rouge! The Musical is the sole entry in the Leading Actor in a Musical category. When theaters went dark, three productions – the musicals Six, West Side Story and Girl from the North Country – had already begun performances but were not around long enough to accommodate the required number of Tony voters. Among the scheduled productions that had not officially opened prior to the shutdown, and so are not eligible this year, were Tracy Letts’ The Minutes; the musical adaptation of Mrs. Doubtfire; director Sam Mendes’ The Lehman Trilogy; the Princess Di musical Diana; Company, the gender-switched revival of the classic Sondheim musical starring Katrina Lenk and Patti LuPone; Plaza Suite starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker; How I Learned To Drive, the Paula Vogel play starring Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse; David Mamet’s American Buffalo starring Laurence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell and Darren Criss; the Off Broadway transfer of New York Theatre Workshop’s musical Sing Street; the revival of Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jesse Williams and Patrick J. Adams; the revival of the Jeanine Tesori-Tony Kushner musical Caroline, or Change; Birthday Candles, the Noah Haidle play starring Debra Messing; Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? starring Laurie Metcalf and Rupert Everett. Some of the scuttled shows were subsequently postponed, some canceled and some remain up in the air. Two of the season’s most popular productions, Freestyle Love Supreme and David Byrne’s American Utopia, chose not to invite Tony voters, though both could be eligible for special awards. The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. Nominations for the 2020 American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards: Best Play Grand Horizons The Inheritance Sea Wall/A Life Slave Play The Sound Inside Best Musical Jagged Little Pill Moulin Rouge! The Musical Tina – The Tina Turner Musical Best Revival of a Play Betrayal Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune A Soldier’s Play Best Book of a Musical Jagged Little Pill Moulin Rouge! The Musical Tina – The Tina Turner Musical Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre A Christmas Carol The Inheritance The Rose Tattoo Slave Play The Sound Inside Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play Ian Barford, Linda Vista Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play Joaquina Kalukango, Slave Play Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical Aaron Tveit, Moulin Rouge! The Musical Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical Karen Olivo, Moulin Rouge! The Musical Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play Ato Blankson-Wood, Slave Play Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play Jane Alexander, Grand Horizons Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical Danny Burstein, Moulin Rouge! The Musical Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical Kathryn Gallagher, Jagged Little Pill Best Scenic Design of a Play Bob Crowley, The Inheritance Best Scenic Design of a Musical Riccardo Hernández and Lucy Mackinnon, Jagged Little Pill Best Costume Design of a Play Dede Ayite, Slave Play Best Costume Design of a Musical Emily Rebholz, Jagged Little Pill Best Lighting Design of a Play Jiyoun Chang, Slave Play Best Lighting Design of a Musical Bruno Poet, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical Best Sound Design of a Play Paul Arditti & Christopher Reid, The Inheritance Best Sound Design of a Musical Jonathan Deans, Jagged Little Pill Best Direction of a Play David Cromer, The Sound Inside Best Direction of a Musical Phyllida Lloyd, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical Best Choreography Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Jagged Little Pill Best Orchestrations Tom Kitt, Jagged Little Pill
American Theatre Critics Association’s 2020 Conference: The Next Normal What good is sitting alone in your room — when through the magic of Zoom, you can join fellow arts journalists from around the country for a weekend of education, inspiration and commiseration? ATCA’s first virtual conference will be held Friday-Sunday, Nov. 13-15, 2020! Our theme is “The Next Normal,” and we’ve asked theater leaders from around the country to join us. You’ll meet some of the top names in the industry, including Oskar Eustis (The Public Theater) interviewed by Pulitzer-nominated critic Soraya Nadia McDonald. You'll hear from playwright/author Richard Wesley (“The Mighty Gents”), “A Strange Loop” creator Michael R. Jackson, and the musical theater duo of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (“Ragtime,” "Anastasia"). Maya Phillips, the New York Times' inaugural arts critic fellow, is set to give our 2020 Perspectives in Criticism address. In a series of panels and one-on-one conversations, regional artistic directors will discuss the challenges of 2020 and producers will share how their shows are faring while stages are dark. We’ll hear from award-winning playwrights, talk about mental health care for writers and explore what inclusive theater could look like on the other side of COVID-19. We even have some live performances and cabaret-drag trivia in the mix. Stay tuned to this page and the weekly ATCA UPDATE newsletter for the latest developments
Click here to view full Agenda
AGENDA* FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 13, 2020 1:00 PM WELCOME to ATCA 2020: The Next Normal ATCA chair Martha Wade Steketee and conference committee co-chair Lou Harry SESSION: Conversation with Oskar Eustis and Soraya Nadia McDonald 2:30 PM SESSION: Arts & Activism: Covering Social Justice Theater Kelundra Smith in conversation with: Murielle Borst-Tarrant, Kuna/ Rappahannock Nations; author and activist. Snehal Desai, artistic director, East West Players Rohan Preston, theater critic at the Minneapolis Star Tribune Diany Rodriguez, co-founder of IDEA ATL Kinan Valdez, producing artistic director, El Teatro Campesino 4:00 PM SESSION: Musicals Reinventing Form Michael R. Jackson, playwright, composer, lyricist, "A Strange Loop" with Jiles King 5:00 PM PERSPECTIVES IN CRITICISM: Maya Phillips, arts critic fellow, The New York Times 7:00 PM SCREENING: Horton Foote: The Road to Home 2020 documentary screening followed by director Anne Rapp, daughters Hallie Foote and Daisy Foote, and friend and colleague Michael Wilson in conversation with Michael Barnes. View the trailer here. LATE NIGHT: post-show chat SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 14, 2020 12:00 PM GENERAL MEETING ATCA 2020 ATCA Chair Martha Wade Steketee and ATCA leaders welcome old and new members, and report on 2020 member survey, the new website, professional issues, and ATCA future plans. 1:30 PM SESSION: Meeting the Moment: Regional theaters rethink work amid pandemic and push for equity Elizabeth Kramer in conversation with: Robert Barry Fleming, artistic director, Actors Theatre of Louisville Jacob G. Padrón, artistic director, Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven, Conn. Stephanie Ybarra, artistic director, Baltimore Center Stage 3:00 PM SESSION: The Future of Broadway: Producers on what's next for shuttered shows Frank Rizzo in conversation with: Mara Isaacs, producer, "Hadestown" Brian Moreland, producer, "The Lifespan of a Fact," "Blue" at the Apollo Theater Jeffrey Seller, producer, "RENT," "Hamilton" 4:30 PM SESSION: Prize-winning playwrights Kerry Reid in conversation with: Lee Edward Colston II, “The First Deep Breath” Chandler Hubbard, “Animal Control” E.M. Lewis, “How the Light Gets In” Dan McCabe, “The Purists” Stephanie Alison Walker, “The Madres” 6:00 PM DINNER BREAK: Conference Cocktails with Brian Bartels and Lindsay Christians 7:00 PM Theater Trivia with Beneva Fruitville SUNDAY | NOVEMBER 15, 2020 12:00 PM SESSION: Animals on Stage with Bill Berloni and Frank Rizzo 1:00 PM Q&A: Self-care for Journalists with Laura DeSantis, licensed psychotherapist 2:00 PM SESSION: Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens Jay Handelman talks with composers of “Ragtime” and “Anastasia” about openings overseas, working through the pandemic and the state of theater 3:15 PM SESSION: New Book Hour Misha Berson in conversation with: Michael Reidel, "Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway" Howard Sherman, "Another Day's Begun: Thornton Wilder's Our Town in the 21st Century" Richard Wesley, "It's Always Loud in the Balcony: A Life in Black Theater, From Harlem to Hollywood and Back" 4:30 PM FAREWELL to ATCA 2020: The Next Normal Lou Harry hosts special guest [to be announced] * All sessions conducted via Zoom. Subject to change and availability of invited guests.
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