Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 4, 1995 TAG: 9506020060
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL KUCHWARA ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
That's where the real competition for Broadway's highest honor is this year, not in the underpopulated musical categories where Andrew Lloyd Webber's ``Sunset Boulevard'' is a heavy favorite in a slim field. The show, based on Billy Wilder's famous film, already has won two prizes - for best book and best score - because there were no other nominees.
And ``Sunset'' can't lose in several other major categories - best musical and best actress in a musical, for example - where opposition is minimal.
The Tony Awards show will be broadcast tonight (at 9 on WDBJ-Channel 7 with Glenn Close, Gregory Hines and Nathan Lane acting as co-hosts for the proceedings.
Ready for your Tony Award, Miss Close? The actress is expected to take home the prize - her third Tony - for her portrayal of faded silent screen star Norma Desmond in ``Sunset Boulevard.''
The likely winner in the actor song-and-dance category? Matthew Broderick, as the superambitious young executive in ``How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.''
The 1994-95 Broadway season was a meager one with only 24 productions eligible for nominations, according to Variety.
Things were gloomiest for musicals. Besides ``Sunset,'' the year saw only one other new musical - ``Smokey Joe's Cafe'' - plus three revivals - ``Show Boat,'' ``How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'' and the fast-disappearing ``Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.''
With ``Sunset'' vs. ``Smokey,'' there's little doubt that the Lloyd Webber extravaganza will prevail over a revue of old rock 'n' roll songs for the honor of best musical.
The battle for best play will be crucial for the longevity of the four dramas competing for best play. Each one needs the prize if it's to have an extended run. The four contenders:
``Arcadia,'' Tom Stoppard's elegant, time-traveling comedy about love, sex, death and chaos.
``Having Our Say,'' Emily Mann's stage adaptation of the lives and times of Sadie and Bessie Delaney, two remarkable sisters who have witnessed more than 100 years of black history in America.
n``Indiscretions,'' Jean Cocteau's dark, yet witty dissection of the ultimate dysfunctional family, written in 1938 but never seen on Broadway.
n``Love! Valour! Compassion!'', Terrence McNally's funny and poignant story of eight gay men who share a house during three summer holiday weekends.
The bounty of good new plays and revivals of old ones produced more than enough worthy nominees in the acting categories, both male and female.
How to pick among Cherry Jones as a tremulous spinster in the revival of ``The Heiress,'' Eileen Atkins as a cynical, love-starved sister-in-law in ``Indiscretions,'' Mary Alice as the feisty and funny centenarian Bessie Delaney or Helen Mirren as a giddy woman in love in ``A Month in the Country''? It isn't easy.
Three high-powered British actors - Ralph Fiennes in ``Hamlet,'' Roger Rees in ``Indiscretions'' and Brian Bedford in ``The Moliere Comedies'' - compete against an American, Joe Sears, who played a multitude of Texas bumpkins in ``A Tuna Christmas,'' for the top acting prize.
Sears' nomination was a surprise. ``A Tuna Christmas'' was around for only a few weeks during the holiday season. It undoubtedly knocked from the actors' list one of the most highly praised performances of the seasons - Nathan Lane's portrayal of an acerbically funny gay man in ``Love! Valour! Compassion!''
Yet Lane is in good company. Also snubbed by the Tony nominators were Kathleen Turner, the biggest name in ``Indiscretions,'' but the only performer in its five-person cast not to get nominated; Gloria Foster, the other half of ``Having Our Say''; Philip Bosco of ``The Heiress,'' and Elaine Stritch, the veteran musical-comedy performer in ``Show Boat.''
Only two productions received best revival-musical nominations, ``Show Boat'' and ``How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.'' ``Show Boat'' is the likely winner. Harold Prince, who rethought the vintage 1927 musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, could take the prize for best director of a musical. If Prince does win, his latest Tony medallion will have a lot of company. He has 19 other Tonys.
Even the best revival-play competition is spirited. Either ``Hamlet'' or ``The Heiress'' seems the logical winner, and their competitors - ``The Moliere Comedies,'' done by the Roundabout Theater Company, and ``The Rose Tattoo,'' a production of the reborn Circle in the Square - are more than respectable.
The Tony telecast will be held on the stage of the Minskoff Theater, home of ``Sunset Boulevard.'' That will allow the production to show off its real star - John Napier's set, particularly Norma Desmond's gaudy, gilded movie-palace of a living room. Napier's Tony seems assured. His creation is the best advertisement any show could ever hope for.
by CNB