Last night saw the Tony Awards ceremony, and I was hoping to see some success for the Broadway production of Sunday In the Park with George, originally produced at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Unfortunately, it didn’t pick up any of the 9 awards that it was nominated for – instead, it was left to South Pacific, In The Heights and Gypsy to share the spoils..
In the Heights picked up 2 of the biggies – Best Musical and Best Original Score, as well as Best Choreography and Best Orchestrations.
The revival of Gypsy won three of the big acting awards – Leading Actress (Patti LuPone), Featured Actor (Boyd Gaines) and Featured Actress (Laura Benanti). It doesn’t feel like that long since I was in New York when the show was last revived on Broadway, with Bernadette Peters, but this production seems to have been more successful.
It faced strong competition in the musical revival stakes, and ended up missing out on the Best Revival award to South Pacific. South Pacific ended up as the biggest winner on the night, winning 7 of the eleven awards that it was nominated for.
Judging by last night, it must be a beautiful show, after winning all 4 design awards – Scenic, Costume, Lighting and Sound Design! It also saw its leading man, Paulo Szot, pick up the Best Actor gong and its Director, Bartlett Sher, take home Best Director.
Congratulations to all of last night’s winners, and back luck to the cast and team for Sunday in the Park with George.
For more reaction to the Tony Awards, check out broadway.com or variety.com… I’m sure there will be plenty more views to follow.
Does anyone know how long Paulo Szot will be in the show? His original commitment was until June 22nd and he has opera commitments later this year. South Pacific was the first show my parents took me to see when I was a kid. I’d love to see the latest reincarnation but with Paulo Szot as LeBeque. His voice is magnificent (I have the cast album) and my daughter says he’s a hottie!