Tony awards 2015 nominations: Fun Home and An American in Paris share spotlight
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Version 0 of 1. Christopher Wheeldon’s An American in Paris and the coming out musical Fun Home led the charge at the 69th Tony awards nominations, picking up 12 each. In the non-musical categories it was British imports which dominated with the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Wolf Hall plays picking up eight, a revival of David Hare’s Skylight, starring Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy, taking seven; and the National Theatre’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time taking six. Related: Tony awards nominations 2015 – in full The adaptation of the 1951 MGM film by Wheeldon, a star of the classical ballet world, has enchanted audiences since it transferred to Broadway from the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. The Guardian’s Alexis Soloski praised its “sublime songs and dexterous dancing” while the New York Times critic Charles Isherwood wrote it “weds music and movement, song and story with such exhilarating brio that you may find your own feet fidgeting under your seat before it’s over”. It won 12 nominations in total, including best musical, best director for Wheeldon and, for its leading stars Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope, mentions in the best actor and actress in a musical categories. The musical it competes with in numerical terms could not be more different. Fun Home is based on the bestselling graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel, with a killer early line which sums the plot up perfectly: “My Dad and I both grew up in the same small Pennsylvania town. And he was gay. And I was gay And he killed himself and I... became a lesbian cartoonist.” Among its nominations was one for Beth Malone in the lead role; and then three for the best featured performance by an actress in a musical. Wolf Hall Parts One & Two, an adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s first two Thomas Cromwell novels, received eight nominations including best play, best actor for Ben Miles (Cromwell); supporting actor for Nathaniel Parker (Henry VIII) and supporting actress for Lydia Leonard (Anne Boleyn); and best director for Jeremy Herrin. It also was nominated for scenic design, costume and lighting. It was closely followed by Skylight which received seven, in stark contrast to last month’s Oliviers in London where it got just one, for best revival. Mulligan is nominated in the best actress in a play category alongside Helen Mirren for her reprisal of the Queen in The Audience; Ruth Wilson for Constellations; Elisabeth Moss for The Heidi Chronicles; and Geneva Carr for Hand to God. Nighy is up for best actor and the play’s director Stephen Daldry is nominated for best director. Skylight will compete against The Elephant Man, This is Our Youth and You Can’t Take it With You for best revival. The success of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, with six nominations, is no surprise. The National Theatre show dominated last year’s Olivier awards with seven wins and has been one of the best reviewed shows on its New York transfer. “This is one of the most fully immersive works ever to wallop Broadway,” wrote the New York Times critic Ben Brantley. The New York version stars Alex Sharp as the maths genius Christopher Boone. Sharp, a young Englishman who left a life of call centres and renovating houses in the UK to get a place at New York’s Julliard school, is making his Broadway debut. He goes up against Nighy, Miles, Steven Boyer (Hand to God) and Bradley Cooper for The Elephant Man in the best actor category. The nominations were announced at the Paramount Hotel (in the “Diamond Horseshoe”) in New York by Bruce Willis, who will make his Broadway debut later this year in Misery, and Mary-Louise Parker. Other well nominated shows were the musicals Something Rotten! with 10 and the revival of The King and I with nine. There was nothing for Harvey Weinstein’s Peter Pan musical Finding Neverland. It was also announced on Tuesday that this year’s hosts of the 7 June ceremony will be Alan Cumming and Kristin Chenoweth. |