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healingmirthThe Tony nominations came out today, and there's a fair bit of fangirl rage that American Idiot didn't get more of them. This is way tl;dr, but typing it out will prevent me from wading into arguments on the internet. (note that I haven't seen any other musicals this season, so I have absolutely no opinion to offer on Idiot's relative merits to other nominees.)
The nominations that they did get were givens for me. I would be very surprised by a Best Musical win, but the nomination makes sense: it's well-produced, and new musicals are a bit thin on the ground. I expect good odds for Scenic Design, which was kinetic, interactive and generally awesome, and Lighting Design which was uh... shiny, if maybe a bit too busy at times.
Those revivals, though, that's where the Idiots run into trouble in the rest of the categories, because no matter how well they did with what they were given, they're all competing against Great Actors in Great Roles.
I'm not sure where the line between Lead and Featured actor is intended to be in Idiot, in terms of the seven named characters. I imagine that within the group of actors, there's a fair bit of egalitarian blah blah blah, but you have to draw a line somewhere for the Tonys. There was a ruling that John Gallagher Jr. was eligible for Lead Actor in a musical, so I'm assuming he was the only one. This leads me to believe that everyone else would be considered eligible as a featured actor. (Only actors whose names appear above the title are eligible by default, and the press releases don't report eligibility that's consistent with the opening night program credits.)
I've only seen bits and pieces of Spring Awakening and I'm not at all sure which character is which. I've heard some griping that Johnny in Idiot is basically a modern Moritz from Spring Awakening, so that might have hurt his chances of getting nomination, but from the wiki description of Moritz's character, eh. I think it's not so much that the characters are similar, as that Johnny has a much narrower range than Moritz did, and they're not going to give him an award just for pretty singing.
I would have liked to see a nod for Tony Vincent (St. Jimmy) or Rebecca (Whatsername) there, but its a very dense field. As much as I love Michael and Stark's performances, there just wasn't enough meat in the book for them to lure a nomination.
I (along with pretty much everyone else on the internet) was surprised to see Tom Kitt not up for Best Orchestration, even (or especially?) with the show not eligible for Best Score. I was less surprised that the choreography didn't get a nomination, but I'd still hoped. Oh, well. It's a tiny, crowded stage, and only a handful of the songs are choreographed in any traditional Broadway sense. I don't know what goes into the Tony for Sound Design, but I would have thought that would be another shot for Idiot. It's a newish category, so maybe the committee doesn't really know, either.
And then, there are my belated (but suddenly timely again!) impressions from seeing the show a second time, this time from the cheap seats. Of which there were a lot empty at 2pm Sunday. I didn't walk down to the railing to see how full the house below was.
I made a point of choosing a seat in a different section this time, because I'm still trying to sell the show to my friends, and I wanted to be able to give them a sense of the different seats.
The balcony? Is really high. And really steep, stadium-seating style. If there had been someone sitting in front of me who wanted to slouch back in their seats, they would have gotten a knee to the back of the head at least once. So, not recommended for people who are either tall, or phobic about falling down stairs and landing on the mezzanine. Also, the set rises all the way up the back wall of the stage. While most of the action takes place on the ground, anything on the top of the stairs stage left was out of view. There was warnings about the seats at the back of the mezzanine and the orchestra sections about parts of the stage being blocked, and I'd apply those to the balcony rear as well, except its not the ceiling blocking, its the lighting rig.
I'm never sure how my vision, in contacts or glasses, compares to the average person, but for me, the nosebleed seats (rear balcony) were just far enough from the stage that I feel like I was missing nuance in the actors expressions that I'd been able to see clearly from the mezzanine. While on the one hand, this was boo! because it meant I spent less time staring raptly at Stark and Michael, it also meant that I was more likely to pay attention to what else was going on on stage. If my theme for the last time I saw it was who had the crazy eyes, this time I did more looking around the stage to see what else was going on, and watching the choreography, particularly the ensemble. I still think that the arm-thing at the end of City of the Damned (to the "I don't care if you don't care) and the men during Dearly Beloved are my favorite bits, over all.
If they ever started releasing proshot footage of Broadway shows, I'm not sure how big a consumer I would be, but I would pay good money to be able to watch bits of this show over and over, so I could see what's going on.
The prizes this time for absolutely (literally) throwing yourself into your role go to Rebecca Naomi Jones as Whatsername, and Brian Charles Johnson, Ben Thompson (Although, honestly, that could have been Andrew Call. Seriously, was very far from the stage), and Libby Winters in the Ensemble.
I was not so much wowed by Rebecca's performance in the preview. I mean, she's good. She's very, very good, and her voice is absolutely top-notch, but I really feel like the second half of the show lost me last time. For whatever reason, maybe familiarity, it held on to me this time, and I'm willing to give her all the credit.
Also! So, among the things that get repeated a few times, like the "rage and love" from Jesus of Suburbia, is a variation on the statement that "the good guys don't wear red, white or blue". I realized, at the end of Holiday, that Tunny's wearing blue pants and a red shirt. I almost wish he was wearing white sneakers, or a white shirt instead of the gray under his polo, but regardless of whether its intentional, that would have been too much. If I remember correctly, Matt Caplan's Tunny was wearing a blue polo with a white shirt underneath and khaki pants. He's got a red cap in one clip, I think, so I doubt it's a total coincidence.
(Stark says he doesn't read reviews, or user comments and blogs about his performances which... I think I'm eternally grateful for that. Please continue to not google yourself.)
And speaking of stadium seating:
On the way home, a bunch of people in Yankees paraphernalia got on at 125th St., so I'm assuming there was a home game Sunday. A couple weeks ago, I'm not sure if I could have cared less about the Yankees, and baseball in New York in general. And then I found out, courtesy of the coverage of that epic Mets game, that Jeff Francouer (who I totally fell in love with during his rookie season with the Braves) is playing for the Mets, which makes me a Mets fan. Does that mean I have to hate the Yankees, instead of being totally indifferent?
The nominations that they did get were givens for me. I would be very surprised by a Best Musical win, but the nomination makes sense: it's well-produced, and new musicals are a bit thin on the ground. I expect good odds for Scenic Design, which was kinetic, interactive and generally awesome, and Lighting Design which was uh... shiny, if maybe a bit too busy at times.
Those revivals, though, that's where the Idiots run into trouble in the rest of the categories, because no matter how well they did with what they were given, they're all competing against Great Actors in Great Roles.
I'm not sure where the line between Lead and Featured actor is intended to be in Idiot, in terms of the seven named characters. I imagine that within the group of actors, there's a fair bit of egalitarian blah blah blah, but you have to draw a line somewhere for the Tonys. There was a ruling that John Gallagher Jr. was eligible for Lead Actor in a musical, so I'm assuming he was the only one. This leads me to believe that everyone else would be considered eligible as a featured actor. (Only actors whose names appear above the title are eligible by default, and the press releases don't report eligibility that's consistent with the opening night program credits.)
I've only seen bits and pieces of Spring Awakening and I'm not at all sure which character is which. I've heard some griping that Johnny in Idiot is basically a modern Moritz from Spring Awakening, so that might have hurt his chances of getting nomination, but from the wiki description of Moritz's character, eh. I think it's not so much that the characters are similar, as that Johnny has a much narrower range than Moritz did, and they're not going to give him an award just for pretty singing.
I would have liked to see a nod for Tony Vincent (St. Jimmy) or Rebecca (Whatsername) there, but its a very dense field. As much as I love Michael and Stark's performances, there just wasn't enough meat in the book for them to lure a nomination.
I (along with pretty much everyone else on the internet) was surprised to see Tom Kitt not up for Best Orchestration, even (or especially?) with the show not eligible for Best Score. I was less surprised that the choreography didn't get a nomination, but I'd still hoped. Oh, well. It's a tiny, crowded stage, and only a handful of the songs are choreographed in any traditional Broadway sense. I don't know what goes into the Tony for Sound Design, but I would have thought that would be another shot for Idiot. It's a newish category, so maybe the committee doesn't really know, either.
And then, there are my belated (but suddenly timely again!) impressions from seeing the show a second time, this time from the cheap seats. Of which there were a lot empty at 2pm Sunday. I didn't walk down to the railing to see how full the house below was.
I made a point of choosing a seat in a different section this time, because I'm still trying to sell the show to my friends, and I wanted to be able to give them a sense of the different seats.
The balcony? Is really high. And really steep, stadium-seating style. If there had been someone sitting in front of me who wanted to slouch back in their seats, they would have gotten a knee to the back of the head at least once. So, not recommended for people who are either tall, or phobic about falling down stairs and landing on the mezzanine. Also, the set rises all the way up the back wall of the stage. While most of the action takes place on the ground, anything on the top of the stairs stage left was out of view. There was warnings about the seats at the back of the mezzanine and the orchestra sections about parts of the stage being blocked, and I'd apply those to the balcony rear as well, except its not the ceiling blocking, its the lighting rig.
I'm never sure how my vision, in contacts or glasses, compares to the average person, but for me, the nosebleed seats (rear balcony) were just far enough from the stage that I feel like I was missing nuance in the actors expressions that I'd been able to see clearly from the mezzanine. While on the one hand, this was boo! because it meant I spent less time staring raptly at Stark and Michael, it also meant that I was more likely to pay attention to what else was going on on stage. If my theme for the last time I saw it was who had the crazy eyes, this time I did more looking around the stage to see what else was going on, and watching the choreography, particularly the ensemble. I still think that the arm-thing at the end of City of the Damned (to the "I don't care if you don't care) and the men during Dearly Beloved are my favorite bits, over all.
If they ever started releasing proshot footage of Broadway shows, I'm not sure how big a consumer I would be, but I would pay good money to be able to watch bits of this show over and over, so I could see what's going on.
The prizes this time for absolutely (literally) throwing yourself into your role go to Rebecca Naomi Jones as Whatsername, and Brian Charles Johnson, Ben Thompson (Although, honestly, that could have been Andrew Call. Seriously, was very far from the stage), and Libby Winters in the Ensemble.
I was not so much wowed by Rebecca's performance in the preview. I mean, she's good. She's very, very good, and her voice is absolutely top-notch, but I really feel like the second half of the show lost me last time. For whatever reason, maybe familiarity, it held on to me this time, and I'm willing to give her all the credit.
Also! So, among the things that get repeated a few times, like the "rage and love" from Jesus of Suburbia, is a variation on the statement that "the good guys don't wear red, white or blue". I realized, at the end of Holiday, that Tunny's wearing blue pants and a red shirt. I almost wish he was wearing white sneakers, or a white shirt instead of the gray under his polo, but regardless of whether its intentional, that would have been too much. If I remember correctly, Matt Caplan's Tunny was wearing a blue polo with a white shirt underneath and khaki pants. He's got a red cap in one clip, I think, so I doubt it's a total coincidence.
(Stark says he doesn't read reviews, or user comments and blogs about his performances which... I think I'm eternally grateful for that. Please continue to not google yourself.)
And speaking of stadium seating:
On the way home, a bunch of people in Yankees paraphernalia got on at 125th St., so I'm assuming there was a home game Sunday. A couple weeks ago, I'm not sure if I could have cared less about the Yankees, and baseball in New York in general. And then I found out, courtesy of the coverage of that epic Mets game, that Jeff Francouer (who I totally fell in love with during his rookie season with the Braves) is playing for the Mets, which makes me a Mets fan. Does that mean I have to hate the Yankees, instead of being totally indifferent?
