Welcome back to Tony Talk, where Gold Derby contributors Sam Eckmann and David Buchanan offer Tony Awards analysis. This week, we size up the awards prospects of two very different comedic play revivals as well as the third Broadway production of an August Wilson classic.
David Buchanan: Sam, we have said all season long that we are utterly spoiled with strong play revivals this Tony season, from Oedipus to Bug and Death of a Salesman. And we haven’t had a chance to discuss Becky Shaw or Fallen Angels or August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, which opened over the weekend.
I was not overly familiar with Becky Shaw prior to its Broadway debut, which is technically being considered a revival due to its off-Broadway production by Second Stage over a decade ago. But after seeing it, I immediately understood why it was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama back in 2009. I found Gionfriddo’s writing viciously funny, emotionally sharp, and expertly brought to life by this ensemble. Even though this is a competitive year, I think the show has a safe foothold in the Best Play Revival category.
I’m also predicting it for at least one nomination in the acting categories, specifically for Alden Ehrenreich’s ferocious and sensitive portrayal of a very tricky character. I could also see a nomination for beloved theatre vet Linda Emond for her deliciously barbed character, though I fear she could be crowded out of the Featured Actress race and its overabundance of strong contenders. How do you think the show factors into these races? Are you predicting it anywhere else?
Sam Eckmann: In another year, Emond would surely be a lock for a nomination. She’s having a ball as an acerbic, Lucille Bluth-coded matriarch, and totally steals the last sequence of the play. But as we’ve discussed, Featured Actress in a Play is impossibly overcrowded, and there are at least 10 other women who I would love to calls “locks” for one of the five slots. Given that there are other actresses in play with much more stage time, I’m not ready to put Emond in my predictions right now. Of course, I’m also prepared to be quite wrong in this category given how competitive it is.
Ehrenreich definitely feels like the one acting nominee from Becky Shaw that we can predict with certainty. Most actors would kill for the glowing notices he received for his Broadway debut. His character’s often toxic behavior wrings constant laughs from the audience, and an examination into his nastiness is central to the core questions that the play asks.
I also think director Trip Cullman is within striking distance of his first-ever Tony nomination. Joe Mantello and Robert Icke are bound to hear their names called in that category for Death of a Salesman and Oedipus, respectively, and I’m also predicting Whitney White for Liberation. The rest of the director field feels flexible. Nicholas Hytner (Giant), Kenny Leon (The Balusters), and Debbie Allen (Joe Turner’s Come and Gone) are all in play. But Cullman has never been nominated despite helming acclaimed productions like Choir Boy, Lobby Hero, and Significant Other. So the overall warm reception to Becky Shaw makes him a spoiler in the race.
Another director who many pundits could be sleeping on is Scott Ellis for his deliciously over the top staging of Noël Coward’s Fallen Angels. Playing drunk isn’t easy, and it requires a skilled director to craft the intricately timed and choreographed physical comedy that is at the heart of this play. My only hesitancy on predicting him is that I think Fallen Angels, despite warm reviews, may be left out of the revival field because nominators might consider it less “important” that the slew of dramas it’s up against.
Two women getting progressively sloshed as they pine for a mutual former lover feels fairly simple when compared to the emotional depths plumbed in the likes of Death of a Salesman or Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. But Fallen Angels is nevertheless a massively entertaining night out. I expect it will pick up several design nominations, and leading ladies Kelli O’Hara and Rose Byrne should both factor in Lead Actress for their perfectly-executed comedy. The image of Byrne yanking O’Hara over a chair has continually popped up in my mind ever since seeing the show, and I imagine it will for voters as well. Are they part of your Lead Actress lineup?
Buchanan: I’m glad you mentioned Trip Cullman, because I walked away from Becky Shaw marveling at the precision with which he navigated the tone of this play. Yes, it is quite a minimalist production — save one big scene transition for the climax of the play — so it doesn’t have the grand directorial vision of Mantello’s Death of a Salesman. But the mood and language of this piece must be extraordinarily tricky to master, and he and his ensemble demonstrate precise control of the play’s laughs, dramatic beats, and dark undercurrent. I’m not currently predicting him, but it would certainly be a worthy nomination.
I am struggling to finalize my five Best Actress predictions, because I think there are at least six performers who deserve recognition this year. It is hard to imagine nominators choosing only one of Byrne or O’Hara when finalizing their ballots, as they both have memorable, hilarious moments that stand out in my mind, and operate so brilliantly as a pair. I won’t soon forget O’Hara thrashing about in those curtains on David Rockwell’s set after Byrne storms out of their drunken evening, or the mad way she descends the stairs during the thunderous storm the morning after. The same goes for Byrne cacophonously cutting her steak, dancing madly to the telephone ring, and what she does with that phone pad in the final scene.
Barring any shocking omissions in Best Actress, I feel very confident in Lesley Manville from Oedipus, Carrie Coon from Bug, Susannah Flood from Liberation, and one or both of these Fallen Angels; if both, that would mean leaving out Laurie Metcalf for Little Bear Ridge Road. It could happen since nominators will certainly recognize her in Featured Actress for her Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman, but the production and her performance were both so acclaimed and Metcalf is so beloved in the theater industry, that it’s tricky to omit her. She also feels like the type of revered artist who would earn two nominations in a single year.
Since you mentioned the emotional depths of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, how does that production — the final revival to open this season — factor into your predictions in the top category? The play’s past two Broadway productions were both nominated for Play and Play Revival, but it seems like a very tight scrum for the final slot or two in that category.
Eckmann: Joe Turner’s Come and Gone delivers an emotional gut punch at the end of the play, which made me slot it into my predictions for Best Revival. It’s not a slam dunk, but that’s only because there are so many quality shows to choose from in that race. Director Debbie Allen is clearly connected to this material, and I thought she did a fantastic job at conjuring up a distinct world. Cedric The Entertainer and Taraji P. Henson are the movie stars with top billing, and they both make assured Broadway debuts.
But the true star of this piece is Ruben Santiago-Hudson as spiritual rootworker Bynum Walker. Hudson is one of the foremost August Wilson interpreters in the world, and he disappears so seamlessly into this text and character that you forget you’re watching an actor. He imbues every line, movement, and breath with intention and specificity, and his work at the end of act one where he oversees another character’s spiritual vision is gripping stuff. If Hudson remains in the Featured Actor race — we will find out official Tony eligibility determinations for this production in the coming days — then I think he’s guaranteed a nomination.
If the production proves to be popular enough with voters, then I could see them squeezing in a second acting nomination for Joshua Boone. As Herald Loomis, Boone plays a troubled man in search of his wife, and the man who suffers from the aforementioned traumatic vision. He is able to summon up intense emotions in a flash, and the conflict he creates in the final moments of the play are thrilling.
We should also keep an eye on the original score from Steve Bargonetti. In a year that’s scarce on musicals, he could nab a surprise Original Score nomination his for ever-present guitar compositions which help set the tone of the play. Drama League and Outer Critics Circle voters have already bestowed the play with nominations, and I think it’s going to be one of those shows that arrives at the eleventh hour of the season to scoop up several Tony nominations.
