New York Post
It’s time to place your bets for Tony nominations
By Michael Riedel
April 28, 2017 | 1:16am
Tony nominations are out Tuesday, so let’s read the tea leaves.
Producers are gnawing their nails over Best Musical. So many shows, only four (maybe five) slots.
“Come From Away” and “Dear Evan Hansen” are in. After that, predict at your peril. I think “Groundhog Day” makes the cut, and probably “War Paint,” although “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” is certainly in the mix. The category expands to five slots if a fifth show is within three votes of the fourth nominee. Those just mentioned will be the five — unless “Anastasia” snatches someone’s crown.
The only play getting any traction this season is “Oslo,” sure to be nominated. “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” which opened Thursday night, the last of the Broadway season, is expected to draw raves, so it’s a contender. “Sweat” won the Pulitzer (but still isn’t selling), so it’s in, too. “Indecent” rounds out the category.
“Hello, Dolly!” will be nominated for — and will win — Best Revival of a Musical. The other nominees — “Sunset Boulevard,” “Miss Saigon,” “Falsettos” — are top tier, but “Dolly” is in the stratosphere.
Bette Midler (“Dolly”) and the brilliant ladies of “War Paint” — Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole — will set off diva alerts Tuesday morning, with the fourth slot going to Christy Altomare of “Anastasia.”
Andy Karl (“Groundhog Day”) and Ben Platt (“Evan Hansen”) will be duking it out for Best Actor in a Musical. That race is going to go back and forth for a month, with nominees David Hyde Pierce, wonderful in “Dolly,” and Corey Cott, “Bandstand,” enjoying ringside seats.
Kevin Kline, making a rare Broadway appearance in Noël Coward’s “Present Laughter,” is sure to be nominated for Best Actor in a Play, along with the excellent John Benjamin Hickey (“Six Degrees of Separation”), Denis Arndt (“Heisenberg”), Jefferson Mays (“Oslo”) and Gideon Glick (“Significant Other”).
Best Revival of a Play nods will go to “The Little Foxes,” “Jitney,” “Present Laughter” and “Six Degrees.”
I think every cast member of “Jitney” should be nominated — they were all superb. But there were a lot of them, and they’re all up for featured actor. Expect John Douglas Thompson and Brandon J. Dirden, as that August Wilson play’s father and son, to make the grade along with the fabulous Danny DeVito from “The Price.”
As for actresses in plays, lead and featured, three cheers for Laura Linney (“Foxes”), Laurie Metcalf (“A Doll’s House, Part 2”), Jennifer Ehle (“Oslo”) and Katrina Lenk (“Indecent”).
Have fun on Tuesday, kids!
