Arts & EntertainmentFeaturesStage

Above and Beyond

And the nominees are: Jim Parsons (left, who came out last month) and Kristin Chenoweth (former OutSmart covergirl) announce the nominees for this year’s Tony Awards. Photo: Heather Wines/CBS.

Expect this season’s Tony Awards to be even gayer than usual. If that’s possible.
by Donalevan Maines

See also related stories:
The ‘Tommys’
‘Follies’ for Fans

Predicting the winners of the 66th annual Tony Awards on June 10 can win you tickets to next year’s ceremony in a new online contest. It also offers prizes for correctly forecasting interesting nuggets like “How many winners will thank their mothers in their acceptance speeches?” in the Tony telecast, live from New York’s Beacon Theatre, 7–10 p.m., Sunday, June 10, on CBS.

And the winner is: openly gay Neil Patrick Harris hosts for the second year in a row. Photo: Ron P. Jaffe/CBS.

My big question is, ”How gay will it be?!” Will anything top last year, which outdid so many gayfests that came before?

A few clues: the nominations were announced by Kristin Chenoweth and Jim Parsons, Neil Patrick Harris will host, and among the nominees are the actors who play Judy Garland and her accompanist in the play End of the Rainbow. It’s already been announced that Bernadette Peters and Hugh Jackman will be honored with special Tony Awards.

This is going to be gay.

Ricky Martin is the big draw for Evita, nominated for Best Revival of a Musical. Cynthia Nixon in Wit hopes to repeat as Best Actress in a Play. Gay rights activist Judith Light, who played Ryan White’s mother in the TV movie, seems poised to win Best Featured Actress in a Play for Other Desert Cities.

The Tonys are among the easiest awards to predict—every pundit at GoldDerby.com, which developed the new contest at http://apps.facebook.com/tonypredictions, predicts wins for Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Death of a Salesman, and most say it’s a sure bet that Clybourne Park, Newsies, and Follies will triumph. They’re certain that Newsies will win for score and choreography, and two out of three forecast another Tony for Harvey Fierstein, who wrote the book.

In only three out of 26 categories do more than two or three nominees stand a chance, say the pundits, who’ve narrowed the contest to one or two hopefuls in 16 categories.

To make things interesting, I imagine that some OutSmart readers won’t be able to resist playing the “I know her” game.

I’ll start: The Best Man, nominated for best play revival, was directed by Michael Wilson, who lived two houses down from me in Montrose. Who doesn’t remember violinist Elizabeth A. Davis, nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Once, when she made the Top 10 at Miss Texas? Condola Rashad, up for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Stick Fly, is the niece of Debbie Allen. You know her!

For a treasure trove of information about the Tonys, visit tonyawards.com.

Donalevan Maines also writes about The Best Little Whorehouse’s Michael Tapley in this issue of OutSmart magazine.

 

Comments

Don Maines

Donalevan Maines is a regular contributor to OutSmart Magazine.

Leave a Review or Comment

Back to top button