Musicals pose Tony voting crunch

Musicals pose Tony voting crunch
Tuners run gamut from frothy pop to edgy art
By DAVID ROONEYThe 2007 Tony race is going to get ugly.
In one of the most competitive seasons in recent memory, the Broadway crop has yielded a front line of top contenders that's unusually crowded with new plays and musicals. It also promises fierce smackdowns in the acting stakes, particularly among musical-theater divas and their male counterparts on the dramatic stage.

In years past, there was often a struggle in key categories to find enough worthy candidates to fill out the nomination ballot. Not so this year since nine new plays and 10 tuners are eligible. When noms are announced May 15 for the 61st annual Tony Awards, several contenders that might have been front-runners in less fruitful seasons will be out in the cold.

Duking it out for the four slots in the musical race -- and adjacent categories of original score, book and direction of a tuner -- are six shows that range across the spectrum from arty to edgy, from candy-colored pop exuberance to affectionate nostalgia.

The critics' darling of the season among new musicals has been "Spring Awakening," Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's audacious adaptation of the 1891 Frank Wedekind play about youth caught in the vortex of sexual discovery and impending adulthood.

Since transferring in December after its hit Off Broadway run at the Atlantic, Michael Mayer's production has breathed new vitality into the Rialto, playing to well-populated houses even through the lean weeks of January and February.

Another Off Broadway transfer, "Grey Gardens," originated at Playwrights Horizons, which has spawned its share of unconventional art musicals over the past quarter-century, starting with "Sunday in the Park With George."

Continuing that tradition, the show traces the downfall of Kennedy clan fringe figures Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Little Edie from the pinnacle of 1940s East Hampton society to destitute squalor. Directed by Michael Greif and based on the Maysles brothers docu, the musical by Doug Wright, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie turns these outcasts into boldly original iconoclasts.

Competition could come from "LoveMusik," opening May 3. Written by Alfred Uhry around the songs of Kurt Weill, this biotuner about the stormy 25-year marriage and creative collaboration of the German composer and actress Lotte Lenya signals the Broadway return of one-man Tony warehouse Harold Prince (he has 21 of them), staging his first new musical in almost a decade.

Tony voters in past seasons often have shown a split between honoring "serious" musicals with unconventional subject matter and lighter confections that take a more traditional route.

While "Spring Awakening," "Grey Gardens" and "LoveMusik" fit the former bill, the 2006-07 field also has its share of upbeat commercial entries.

Since its well-received San Francisco tryout earlier this year, screen-to-stage adaptation "Legally Blonde" has been eyed as potentially the new "Hairspray."

Opening April 29 in a production that marks the directing bow of choreographer Jerry Mitchell, the tale of sorority sister Elle Woods' rise from Beverly Hills bimbodom to triumph at Harvard Law was penned by Heather Hach with music and lyrics by Neil Benjamin and Laurence O'Keefe.

Affection for legendary composing team John Kander and Fred Ebb is a reason not to count out "Curtains," despite the lukewarm critical reception given the show in Scott Ellis' production.

The comedy whodunit about a cheesy 1950s Wild West musical beleaguered by a string of murders was completed by Kander and Rupert Holmes following the death of Ebb and original book writer Peter Stone.

Also angling for a spot is Richard Eyre's lavish production for Disney and Cameron Mackintosh of "Mary Poppins."

The biggest Broadway spectacle in serious contention, the show was adapted by Julian Fellowes from the classic books and film about a magical English nanny, with new songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe augmenting the Sherman brothers standards.

Scoring a place among the final four new plays this year will be an equally tough contest.

The titanic lead contender is Tom Stoppard's sprawling trilogy about the 19th-century Russian intelligentsia, "The Coast of Utopia," staged by Jack O'Brien with epic scope and cinematic sweep for Lincoln Center Theater. The Tony committee's recent decision to allow the three plays to be considered as a single production makes this massive undertaking the one to beat.

Its competition might be another London import, Peter Morgan's "Frost/Nixon," which chronicles Brit TV mainstay David Frost's landmark 1977 interviews with disgraced former U.S. president Richard Nixon.

Also from Britain, National Theater hit "Coram Boy" could sway votes just on the strength of its scale and ambition. Adapted by Helen Edmundson from Jamila Gavin's young-adult novel and directed by newcomer Melly Still, the Dickensian 18th-century tale about the hardships of two orphaned boys from opposite classes has a cast of close to 50.

American plays face a struggle against the Brit bunch, but the late August Wilson's "Radio Golf," the concluding work in his 10-play cycle about the black experience in America, will likely receive some support.

Douglas Carter Beane's "The Little Dog Laughed" was a commercial disappointment that closed early. But the shortage of viable comedies on Broadway may help the play (also staged by Ellis) nab a mention. And beloved stage vets Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes, starring as retired tennis pros in Terrence McNally's "Deuce," could draw attention to Michael Blakemore's production.

While verdicts are mixed as to whether "The Year of Magical Thinking" is a play or an impeccably staged reading, Joan Didion's adaptation of her searing memoir about the grieving process is the kind of class act that commands voter attention.

That production's director, David Hare, is a longer shot to be in the running for his own undercooked new play about political and interpersonal conflict, "The Vertical Hour."

Most heated thesp races

The male lead in Hare's play, Bill Nighy, stands a stronger chance of obtaining recognition for the now-shuttered production on the strength of his eccentric turn as a prickly liberal. But he faces an extremely competitive field, with both Frank Langella as Richard Nixon and Michael Sheen as David Frost looking like formidable contenders in Morgan's play.

Brian F. O'Byrne is the sole "Utopia" thesp positioned in the lead race for his soulful turn as exiled Socialist radical Alexander Herzen.

A Tony winner two seasons back for "Glengarry Glen Ross," Liev Schreiber may score a nod for his bravura work as a latenight shock jock having an on-air meltdown in "Talk Radio." Also sure to be high on voters' radars are Christopher Plummer and, to a lesser extent, Brian Dennehy, as courtroom opponents in "Inherit the Wind." And Kevin Spacey's flamboyant turn as Eugene O'Neill's doomed alcoholic Jim Tyrone in "A Moon for the Misbegotten" adds to the glut of contenders.

Scoring lead-actor recognition in an ensemble vehicle invariably is more of a challenge, but both Boyd Gaines and Hugh Dancy could see their chances boosted by the glowing reception given to David Grindley's powerful revival of WWI trench drama "Journey's End."

Finally, Harry Lennix might wave the flag for "Radio Golf," while voters could also remember Nathan Lane from earlier in the season as Simon Gray's dyspeptic academic, "Butley."

The other heated Tony contest this season is among the female musical stars.

A big favorite since before the show even reached Broadway has been Christine Ebersole for her virtuoso work in the dual role of spotlight-seeking Edith in the 1940s-set first act of "Grey Gardens" and her nutty daughter in the second, which fast-forwards to the 1970s. The performance had reviewers grasping for superlatives.

A dark horse riding up on Ebersole could be Donna Murphy, who segues from personal triumph in the dazzling Encores! staging of "Follies" earlier this year to what promises to be a powerhouse role as Lenya in "LoveMusik." Also not to be counted out is perennial Tony favorite Audra McDonald, back as a woman torn between two suitors in "110 in the Shade."

Then there are Laura Bell Bundy, stepping into Reese Witherspoon's Prada shoes in "Legally Blonde"; Lea Michelle as a doomed teenager in "Spring Awakening"; Debra Monk as a gutter-mouthed producer in "Curtains"; Ashley Brown as the airborne title character in "Mary Poppins"; and Kristin Chenoweth, whose musical comedy gifts got a triple showcase in "The Apple Tree."

While Stephanie J. Block was the one person to emerge unscathed from the blistering reviews for "The Pirate Queen," it remains to be seen if her turn as the 16th-century swashbuckler can overcome the show's negative impact.

Bette Midler to Play Las Vegas and replace Celine Dion

BETTE MIDLER is currently rehearsing a big extravaganza she'll export to Las Vegas to take over from Celine Dion at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. When I was chatting Bette I couldn't quite understand whether she was saying her show would have "plenty of news" or whether she was saying "plenty of nudes" or whether she was saying "plenty of boobs." Anyway, she will most likely call it something like "The Showgirl Must Go On" and she'll bring back some of our favorite characters like Dolores del Lago the Toast of Chicago, the Mermaids, and "Sophie." She is also going to give the crowds who come to her 20 weeks a year "Night with Bette" a lot of brand new stuff. I asked Bette if she'll have large pianos flying across the stage overhead in the manner that Celine Dion does, but she just laughed: "That Colosseum -- it has lots of fun stuff to fool around with." Bette takes her rehearsals to Vegas in October and opens in February. for tickets go to www.tixx.com

Jersey Boys on Broadway news

Life at the top's a little turbulent for 'Jersey Boys' star, but who's complaining?
Sunday, April 15, 2007

By VIRGINIA ROHAN
STAFF WRITER


When a show called “Jersey Boys” becomes an overnight sensation, what happens to the life of its actual Jersey-boy star?

“It’s taken it over,” says John Lloyd Young, who has won raves and a Tony for his breakout role as Frankie Valli in the Broadway musical about the Four Seasons. “It’s far more than I expected it would be. … It was only by accident that I realized, ‘Oh, I also have to be an ambassador for this entire production and for Broadway.”

It’s a Wednesday evening, two hours before the opening curtain of another “Jersey Boys,” which started previews in October 2005 — the same month Young moved to Jersey City.

“I’ve been a Jersey boy ever since we opened,” he says, in his dressing room at the August Wilson Theatre.



Posing for photos under its marquee a little earlier, he was an impressive ambassador, cordial to fans passing by — even to the startlingly loud guy who shouted, “John Lloyd, you are a handsome man.”

He is. But what’s really striking is his candor about the turmoil that accompanied his triumphs of the past year and a half.

“It was exhilarating, but it was also emotionally painful,” Young says. “Someone told me ‘the wind blows strongest at the top of the flagpole,’ and I was like, yeah, I guess this means I’m doing something that people are noticing.”






JOHN LLOYD YOUNG



Lives: Jersey City

Portrays: Newark’s Frankie Valli in Broadway’s “Jersey Boys”

Age: 31

Born: Sacramento, Calif.

Awards/honors: 2006 Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World awards for “Jersey Boys”; his own caricature at Sardi’s.





“Jersey Boys” is the story of how four teens from Belleville, Bergenfield and Newark became the Four Seasons. It’s told, “Rashomon”-style, from the perspective of each original group member — Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi, Bob Gaudio (the group’s prolific songwriter) and lead singer Frankie Valli (born Castelluccio).

“The four of us talk directly to you. We need you to believe our point of view,” says Young, who says the format helps keep the actors “fully engaged” every night.

To prepare for the role, Young watched Valli perform in Las Vegas, but he also talked with Gaudio, who, as a Bergenfield teen musical prodigy was introduced to the others by their pal Joe Pesci (yes, the future Oscar winner). Gaudio has been Valli’s musical partner for 43 years on handshake (or “Jersey contract,” as they call it), and he produced the Broadway show’s Grammy-winning cast album.

‘Key to the character’

“If you talk to someone’s best friend, you’ll get a better version of them than you’ll get from them themselves, because, especially when you’re famous, you’re concerned with legacy, and image, and all that,” says Young, who was particularly interested in Gaudio’s very first impression of Valli.

“He said that he was a little man with a big heart. I thought, ‘That’s gonna be the key to the character for me.’ ”

By Young’s count, Valli has seen him in the role eight times, and he takes it as a “high compliment” that the singing legend has often said Young’s performance spooks him a bit. “It means I’m getting too close for comfort, and that’s my goal as an actor. … I think it’s more interesting to an audience to look inside somebody and see their vulnerabilities.”

The son of an “East Coast WASP” dad (who was in the military) and an Italian-American mom, the actor describes his background as “a nice meeting of the stiff upper lip and the simmering, uncontrolled emotions of a hot-blooded Sicilian underneath.”

Voice training

Born in Sacramento, Calif., in the mid-1970s — “by the time I knew what music was, the Four Seasons songs were already Muzak” — Young grew up all over the country, but mostly in Plattsburgh, N.Y.

He studied political science, then drama, at Brown University, but always wanted to act. Before “Jersey Boys,” he’d done mostly plays (including a few at Millburn’s Paper Mill Playhouse. Though his professional singing experience consisted of “a few songs in small musicals in New York,” Young always knew he was “a very strong singer.”

After learning that the actor who originated the Valli role in La Jolla, Calif. — a production Young had unsuccessfully tried out for — was not coming with the show to Broadway, Young guessed that this juicy role was “vocally a killer.”

And so, in the four months from when he was cast to when rehearsals started, Young trained every day with voice teacher Katie Agresta, who’d worked with performers like Jon Bon Jovi. At first, he got hoarse after a few of Valli’s trademark falsetto songs, but he could sing the whole score by rehearsals.

Though he looked at photos of the Stephen Crane projects in Newark, where Valli grew up, he already had a “personal context” for playing the role: His maternal grandfather, whom he thanks in his Playbill bio, was a first-generation Italian-American from Brooklyn and then Queens.

Young’s mom died of cystic fibrosis when he was 2, but as a kid he spent every summer with his Italian-American relatives in Whitestone. “Those summers were very important to me,” he says. “My father remarried, and I had a happy childhood, but it was detached from my [Italian-American] roots. This show allows me to connect to what I always yearned for — my own history.”

Six shows a week

After winning the Tony last June, Young went back to that old neighborhood to see the house his Italian immigrant great-grandparents built.

“This is the hokiest thing that I’ll probably ever say in this interview, but they’re still there, because they’re here, inside,” he says, patting his chest. “And that history really infused me with the right kind of heart to play this part.”

Young now does six shows a week — a more manageable schedule, thanks to a renegotiation after his Tony win. On the day of this interview, Young’s first contract extension was about to expire, but his agents were working on another one. At deadline, word was that he’ll remain with the show for quite a while.

Young also has a one-year talent-holding deal with ABC but says, “I am only interested in leaving the role of a lifetime for something that I’ve either always wanted to do or for the elusive other role of a lifetime, which would render the saying ‘role of a lifetime’ null and void.”


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