In a highly competitive season, the Tony Award voters last night welcomed some highly-lauded newcomers (actress Nina Arianda), rewarded comic performances (Christian Borle) over tragic ones, and delivered one major upset (“The Gershwins’ ‘Porgy and Bess’” over Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies”). But the ceremony largely seemed like a love-fest for two relatively modest shows: “Once” and “Peter and the Starcatcher,” both of which relied much less on lavish budgets and special effects than cleverly engaging the imagination of the audience.
“Once,” based on the cult 2007 indie film about the star-crossed romance between a disillusioned Irish busker and a Czech immigrant, swept the night with eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Director (John Tiffany), and Leading Actor in a Musical. One of the night’s most emotional moments was provided by its star Steve Kazee. In one of those astonishing life-imitates-art moments, he won for playing the role of a musician who is mourning the death of his mother and the breakup of a relationship in a year during which his own mother died after a long struggle with cancer and he split with long-time girlfriend Megan Hilty. Bob Crowley won for his simple yet stunning design of a Dublin pub and other subtle touches. His victory indicated yet another snub for “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark,” which featured extraordinarily inventive, elaborate — and very expensive — designs by George Tsypin.
While “Once” took the lion’s share in the musical categories, “Peter and the Starcatcher,” a prequel of sorts to the Peter Pan legend, swept the technical awards and garnered a win for Christian Borle (“Smash”) as Black Stache, the forerunner of Captain Hook. As the wins — five in total — mounted for “Starcatcher,” it seemed as though it might score an upset for Best Play over the favored Bruce Norris racial drama, “Clybourne Park.” But the Pulitzer Prize winner was able to eke out the win — its only one — to the great relief of its producers. The play has been doing moderately well at the box-office, but this should help to goose sales.
Borle’s win for his hilarious, chew-up-the-scenery histrionics turned on its head the meme that tragedy almost always eclipses comedy when it comes to the Tonys. His closest competition was considered to be Andrew Garfield, who gave a searing performance as Biff in “Death of a Salesman.” The smash hit revival of Arthur Miller’s tragedy, which ended its limited run on June 2, did manage to cop Tonys for Best Revival and Best Director (handing Mike Nichols his sixth win). But in the Leading Actor in a Play category, Philip Seymour Hoffman, as the burnt-out Willy Loman, lost to James Corden’s madcap turn in the British import “One Man, Two Guvnors.” And when it came to Leading Actress in a Play, young Nina Arianda took home the medallion for her funny and sexy actress-dominatrix-goddess in David Ives’s darkly satiric “Venus in Fur.”
The biggest surprise of the evening, however, was the victory of “The Gershwins’ ‘Porgy and Bess.'” While its win for star Audra McDonald was considered a lock (a record-tying fifth win for the 41-year-old actress), “Follies” was heavily favored to take the Best Musical Revival. “Porgy and Bess” had a bumpy road to Broadway. The creators, including director Diane Paulus and writer Suzanne Lori-Parks, gave an interview to the New York Times early in its development which suggested that they were making substantial changes in the original libretto (written by Dubose Heyward), and this raised the ire of legendary composer Stephen Sondheim, whose nearly god-like status in the community carries tremendous influence. It nearly derailed the production as the producers had to scramble to replace nervous investors. The show opened to mixed-to-positive reviews, nearly all of which mentioned the controversy, and has been doing middling business.
On the other hand, “Follies” has always had a prominent place in Broadway lore. The lavish show — about a reunion of former showgirls who are now coping with disappointments and failed marriages — opened in 1971 and lost the Tony that year, in a head-scratcher, to “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (though it did win seven others). It also lost its entire investment. A 2001 revival, by the not-for-profit Roundabout Theatre, was widely considered a misfire. Then the Kennedy Center decided to revive the show for its summer 2011 season. The critical reception was positive, if a bit reserved, and after some retooling it transferred in the fall to Broadway where the reviews were, for the most part, very good. While the producers lost their shirts on Broadway — the production which was recently at Los Angeles’s Ahmanson Theatre did not exactly set the box-office on fire, either — they at least were counting on a Tony as a consolation prize. At the time Sondheim wrote his letter, some insiders were even cynically suggesting that his missive was, in part, a ploy to undercut “Porgy and Bess” so that “Follies” might finally win that elusive Tony.
Nonsense. In “Finishing the Hat,” Sondheim’s 2010 volume of his critical analysis of lyric writing, the composer praises Dubose Heyward as the unsung hero of “Porgy and Bess” and speaks with deference to Heyward’s immense talent. His letter to the Times was simply in defense of an artist who was not around to defend himself. He also took exception to the Gershwin Estate’s insistence that it be called “The Gershwins’ ‘Porgy and Bess,'” thereby seeming to diminish Heyward’s contribution. Last night, in a gracious acceptance speech, Jeffrey Richards, the lead producer of “Porgy and Bess,” paid dutiful homage to Sondheim’s hero.
The CBS telecast itself, hosted by a winning Neil Patrick Harris, was not a winner in the overnight ratings. With a noticeable lack of star power, it was down 9 percent from its usual draw, averaging 1.0/3, or 6.5 million viewers.
Image: Steve Kazee of “Once” at the 2012 Tony Awards / Getty Images
