Lortels land Tony winner White as host
Tony winner Julie White will host the 23rd annual Lucille Lortel Awards honoring the best of off-Broadway on May 5. The awards-fest takes place at Union Square Theater. That downtown landmark is housed in the notorious Tammany Hall, where politicos once dispensed patronage in olde New York.
Last year, "Spring Awakening," which went on to win the Tony for best musical, led with six nods. This year, "The Adding Machine" is also up for half a dozen Lortels, including best musical, actor and director. This tuner, which just announced an extension to Aug. 31, is an adaptation of Elmer Rice's 1923 breakthrough play (considered to be the first American Expressionist stage drama) about an accountant who murders his boss when he's replaced on the job by a newfangled machine. It scored twice the number of bids as the popular Broadway transfer "Passing Strange," a fanciful retelling of indie musician Stew's early years, which competes in three categories: best director, musical and lighting design.
Manhattan Theater Club, which produces plays both on and off Broadway, is in the running for its acclaimed production of David Harrower's "Blackbird," with four noms, including best play. Star Jeff Daniels, who played the predatory, student-chasing professor, got a nod. He is one of the few well-known names competing this year, with past Oscar nominees Lynn Redgrave ("Grace") and Mare Winningham ("10 Million Miles") being the others.
White's current run in the off-Broadway hit "From Up Here" opened too late at MTC for consideration for this award. However, she did just make the cut with the Drama League, winning a place on the roster of 69 actors who are competing for the Distinguished Performance award. And don't count her out of winning that award.
Last year, she pulled off an upset when she won best actress in a play at the Tonys. White was in the running for her comic role in "The Little Dog Laughed" as the cutthroat agent who would do anything to keep her gay actor client in the closet. She bested four veteran actresses appearing in much more serious fare including, ironically enough, Eve Best, the British import up for "Moon for the Misbegotten." The other three ladies were all Tony winners: Angela Lansbury, hoping for her fifth Tony (and first for a play) for "Deuce"; two-time featured winner Swoozie Kurtz, looking for her first lead Tony for "Heartbreak House;" and Vanessa Redgrave, who would have liked a matching bookend to the Tony she won for "Long Day's Journey Into Night."
Here's the full list of Lucille Lortel Awards nominees.
