Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman are coming to Broadway this fall in Keith Huff's award-winning play "A Steady Rain." While the limited run of this acting showcase is sure to sell out, will this two-hander win over the notoriously feisty Gotham critics? For its original 2007 run in Chicago, the production won Joseph Jefferson Awards (the second city's equivalent of the Tony Awards) for best play at a midsize theater, best new work and best lead actor.
It is easy to understand why "A Steady Rain" would appeal to Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. The two characters in the play are one-time best friends who served together on the Chicago police force. Over the course of 90 minutes, they relive the police call that tore them apart — a domestic dispute that culminated in the death of a young boy. For the Aussie and the Brit, it will be a chance to prove they can play Americans.
The only other time Hugh Jackman headlined on Broadway, he won a Tony for his efforts. In the 2004 tuner "The Boy From Oz," he played camp Aussie singer-songwriter Peter Allen. Onstage for almost the entire show, Jackman was a force of nature. Offstage he charmed the theater community and hosted the Tony Awards for three years running, even winning a 2005 Emmy Awardfor his 2004 appearance. He was nominated again in 2006 for emceeing the 2005 Tonycast, but lost the prize for best individual performance in a variety, musical or comedy program to Barry Manilow.
Since finishing up that year-long run on the rialto, Jackman has enjoyed only mixed success in movies. While his work as comic book character come to life Wolverine still wows audiences, his more mainstream leading-man roles have missed the mark. Last year, he starred in the barely released "Deception" and the disappointing epic "Australia." Success on stage this fall could get him seen in a new light by movie producers.
Among the list of 28 celebrities announced today as presenters at the June 7 Tony Awards are the usual assortment of talented thespians, including six Oscar winners. However, the names that stand out are a pair of Emmy champs — Edie Falco and James Gandolfini. Each won three of TV's top honor over the seven-year run of "The Sopranos." Two years ago, the much-hyped series finale of that mob crime drama whacked the competition in the ratings. Among the shows it trounced — that year's Tonycast.
Both Edie Falco and James Gandolfini were relatively unknown actors before "The Sopranos" made them household names after it debuted on HBO in 1999. Each had worked extensively in the theater when they were cast in these life-changing roles. Falco had made her Broadway debut earlier that year in the Tony-winning play "Side Man." And Gandolfini had been on Broadway twice — in the hit 1992 revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire" and the flop 1995 adaptation of the Oscar-winning "On the Waterfront."
While Falco has returned to the rialto twice since becoming a star, neither of her efforts met with much success. She headlined poorly received revivals of "Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune" in 2002 and "'night Mother" in 2004. On the other hand, Gandolfini is a frontrunner this year in the lead actor race for his performance in best play contender "God of Carnage." And as his three co-stars from that dark comedy — Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden — are also presenting, we may not see Tony and Carmela together onstage at Radio City Music Hall.
One of Harden's chief rivals in the lead actress race is also presenting — two-time Oscar winner Jane Fonda, who returned to Broadway after a 46-year absence to rave reviews for "33 Variations." Less welcomed was Oscar champ Susan Sarandon, who was snubbed for "Exit the King." But good sport that she is, Sarandon will be on hand to present and no doubt cheer on her current co-star Geoffrey Rush, who is another strong contender in the lead actor category.
Jessica Lange, another two-time Oscar winner, was also snubbed for her two appearances on Broadway but returns to present as does Nicole Kidman, who was slighted a decade ago for her Broadway debut in "The Blue Room." Kevin Spacey, a two-time Oscar winner and a Tony champ as well, leaves his post as head of the renowned Old Vic theater in London to appear here.
A pair of four-time Tony winners will also be on hand to present. Angela Lansbury — who earned two of her 18 Emmy nods for hosting the Tonycast in the 1980s — could tie with Julie Harris if she wins a fifth Tony this year for her featured work in the revival of the Noel Coward play "Blithe Spirit." Private Practice" star and presenter Audra McDonald has won four featured Tonys, two for musicals and two for plays. Three-time Tony champ Frank Langella will appear as will single winners Kristen Chenoweth and David Hyde Pierce.
The 54th annual Obie Awards, which honor off- and off-off-Broadway, named "Ruined" by Lynn Nottage as the best new play, following the lead set by the Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle Award. And three of the cast members — Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Quincy Tyler Bernstine and Russell Gebert Jones — picked up performance awards at these kudos sponsored by the Village Voice.
Unlike the Drama Desk Awards, which has abandoned its original mission to salute theater in New York beyond Broadway, the Obies have stayed true to their origins. As with the first awards bestowed in 1956, there are still no fixed categories.
Among the other winners announced Monday night at Webster Hall were Stephen Sondheim for his music and lyrics for "Road Show" which ran at the Public Theatre this season, as well as one-time Tony nominee Jonathan Groff ("Spring Awakening") for his work in off-Broadway productions of "Prayer for My Enemy" and "The Singing Forest."
Since the Tonys reward showmanship, drama and design on Broadway, they're expected to excel at all that too, but there's much griping in the rialto right now over the lack of those elements in the award show's new poster. Last year, everybody adored the Tonys poster, so the current grumbling isn't predictable pooh-poohing from the usual malcontents in the peanut gallery. Do you agree that the American Theatre Wing blew it this year?
"Enter the King" marks the Broadway debut of one Oscar winner — Geoffrey Rush ("Shine") — and the return to the rialto after a 37-year absence for another — Susan Sarandon ("Dead Man Walking"). The two first met in 1997 when Sarandon presented Rush with his Oscar and they costarred in the 2002 comedy "The Banger Sisters." Now, with their rave reviews for this absurdist play by Eugene Ionesco, both have a real chance of contending at the upcoming Tony Awards.
Geoffrey Rush not only stars in this acclaimed production but translated the text with director Neil Armfield. He could face off against a quartet of actors, all of whom have won at least two Tonys — the already-seen Frank Langella ("A Man for All Seasons") and John Lithgow ("All My Sons") and the upcoming Matthew Broderick ("The Philosopher") and Brian Dennehy ("Desire Under the Elms").
Susan Sarandon's competition could include a pair of double Oscar winners — Jane Fonda ("33 Variations") and Dianne Wiest ("All My Sons") — and two Tony winners — Angela Lansbury ("Blithe Spirit") and Janet McTeer ("Mary Stuart").
Says Elysa Gardner of USA Today, "Rush has a grand time surveying the depths of comedy and pathos offered by Berenger. It's a flamboyant, hilariously physical performance that becomes profoundly moving as the king struggles to come to terms with his fate, and reveals the childlike fear and uncertainty underlying his narcissism. As Berenger's coldly pragmatic first wife, Sarandon is his foil and his antagonist, chiding him in a flat, acidic voice; later, her earthy delivery becomes more soothing, suggesting a possibility for redemption. Lauren Ambrose makes a wonderfully warped ingénue as the hyper-emotional Marie, who represents Berenger's need for sensual gratification, while Andrea Martin brings her own sure-footed wackiness to the nurse/servant Juliette."
To Ben Brantley of the New York Times, "Ms. Ambrose’s overripe emotionalism as the young queen who still loves her husband is the perfect counterpoint to the acerbic pragmatism in Ms. Sarandon’s sustained coolness (an approach that pays off in Marguerite’s overlong concluding monologue). Mr. Rush’s ecstatically mannered performance, which uses every old trouper trick in the trunk, at first makes you think of the venerable actor-managers of yore, like Donald Wolfit. But as he struts and frets his two hours on the stage, which include a hilariously spastic promenade, he seems to shed his skin along with the king’s accouterments."
Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press says, "The actor is a total chameleon, part vaudeville comic, part circus clown, part overwrought tragedian, in his larger-than-life portrayal of a monarch who's dying while his kingdom collapses around him, dying, but refusing to go quietly. Ionesco's play, written in the early 1960s, is a meditation on death, from the cynical to the sentimental and all points in between. The cynical is represented by Marguerite, whose sardonic wit is nicely captured by Sarandon. She's the voice of unadulterated realism, as she literally ticks off the hours and minutes until the king's death."
Three-time Emmy Award winner Jeremy Piven ("Entourage") is being brought before an arbitrator who will decide whether the actor owes damages to the Broadway producers of "Speed-the-Plow" for his abrupt departure from the hit show in December. Piven said he left because of fatigue brought on by high levels of mercury in his bloodstream. And the reason given for these elevated levels? His sushi addiction. As the play's author, David Mamet, acidly remarked at the time, "My understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer."
At the first hearing on this matter in mid-February, Jeremy Piven won over the five actors in attendance with his tale of woe while the five producing representatives remained unconvinced. Now the producers of the show just need to win over one man, arbitrator George Nicolau. The producers did minimize their losses as Piven's replacements — first Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz ("Dirty Rotten Scoundrels") and then Emmy winner William H. Macy — proved to be good draws. The show closed as scheduled in late February having turned a profit.
While Piven may ultimately avoid any financial payout to the producers, his actions have probably cost him a Tony Award nod. Piven was a frontrunner for lead actor in a play. For his Broadway debut as Bobby, one of a pair of Hollywood hustlers, in "Speed-the-Plow," he earned rave reviews when the play opened Oct. 22. Jeremy Piven costarred opposite perennial Tony nominee Raul Esparza, as Charlie, and another Broadway newcomer, Elisabeth Moss ("Mad Men"), who played their secretary, Karen. Ironically, the arbitration begins the day after the June 7 kudocast.
Raul Esparza, who has struck out in three different Tony Award categories — featured actor in a play ("The Homecoming," 2008), lead actor in a musical ("Company," 2007) and featured actor in a musical ("Taboo," 2004) — could be rewarded by the theater community for adapting his performance to those two successive replacements for Piven. Ron Silver, who originated Esparza's role in 1988, won a Tony for lead actor in a play. While his costar Joe Mantegna (in Piven's part) did not get a Tony nod, they did compete for the Drama Desk kudos, where Silver prevailed. Alas, Madonna, the poorly reviewed third side of that original lopsided triangle, had to make do with being grateful that there was no theater equivalent to moviedom's Razzie Awards.
Twenty years ago, "Speed-the-Plow" lost the Tony Award race for best play to David Henry Hwang's gender-bending "M. Butterfly." This season, three Tony best play winners have been revived with mixed results: "All My Sons" (1947), "A Man for All Seasons" (1962) and "Equus" (1975). The Noel Coward comedy classic "Blithe Spirit" recently opened to respectable notices while "Waiting for Godot" is doing just that in the wings. Therefore, there should be room in the best revival race for this well-received production. Mamet's 1984 Pulitzer Prize-winning "Glengarry Glen Ross" won that Tony Award in 2005.
For Ben Brantley of the New York Times: "Mr. Piven has the pivotal role, and he executes it with uncanny grace and intelligence." And Elysa Gardner of USA Today thought, "Jeremy Piven's Bobby is softer-textured but also more disturbing than the showbiz animal he plays on 'Entourage'; we see the anxiety and flickers of good intentions underlying his cool arrogance." Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press found that "Piven's Bobby is the play's moral center, or at least, the one person on stage who has qualms about what is happening and doesn't quite know what to do about it. The actor has perfected the persona of bad-little-boy-lost and wears the snarling bewilderment here with considerable expertise." And Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News also lauded him: "Piven is an excellent foil. While downplaying the loudmouthed, sharklike behavior we've seen from him on 'Entourage,' he shows Gould's power-mad side as well as the vulnerability that gradually becomes more apparent."
Tony winners Jeremy Irons ("The Real Thing") and Joan Allen ("Burn This") certainly hitched their stars to the wrong wagon when returning to Broadway after absences of more than two decades. Their new play, "Impressionism," was roundly slammed by the critics. And now neither of these two honored performers — Oscar winner Jeremy Irons ("Reversal of Fortune") and three-time Oscar nominee Joan Allen — is likely to figure in the crowded lead acting races at this year's Tony Awards.
However, the real fault lies not in the stars but with playwright Michael Jacobs, who has had just one other of his works even run on Broadway. That was the comedy "Cheaters" which lasted a mere four weeks back in 1978. Since then Jacobs has worked primarily in TV ("Charles in Charge," "Boy Meets World"). After a bumpy series of preview performances, the opening night for "Impressionism" was postponed from March 12. The author went to work restructuring the play and even cut the intermission, but, as per the critics, his efforts were of little use.
As Ben Brantley of the New York Times writes, "I’ve concluded that even if I were to back up all the way to the Hudson River, with half-open eyes fixed on the stage where Mr. Irons and Ms. Allen labor so valiantly, 'Impressionism' still wouldn’t look credible. I mean this both in terms of its plot and as a proposition that would entice some very talented people and a vast army of producers." Ouch!
For Elysa Gardner of USA Today, "Both lead actors seem stumped by their awkwardly, sentimentally drawn roles, as does their estimable director, Jack O'Brien. Irons manages to bring redeeming grace to the performance, speaking his lines with a knowing gentleness and exuding an easy, rumpled charm. Allen's readings, in contrast, seem breathless and strained, as though she is struggling to force more genuine life and nuance into Katharine."
And says Michael Kuchwara of the AP, "'Impressionism' is an elaborate if awkward romance, positively brimming with self-importance, and showcased in a setting that includes a parade of gorgeous photographic reproductions of famous paintings. As a play, it never reaches the lofty level of its ambition despite a starry cast that includes Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen as a pair of wounded artistic types who are attracted to each other. Eventually."
James Gandolfini won three Emmy Awards for playing Tony on "The Sopranos." And now, with the rave reviews for his return to Broadway, Gandolfini could very well win a Tony. He stars opposite Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden as well-meaning parents in the acclaimed new comedy "God of Carnage."
This latest work from French playwright Yasmina Reza pits those two award-winning actors against Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis as the parents of a school bully. The civilized discussion between them quickly degenerates as the laughs increase. The play won best new comedy at the Olivier Awards two years ago and could be a strong contender at the upcoming Tony Awards.
In 1998, Reza won the Tony for best play for her Broadway debut "Art." About this latest effort, Ben Brantley of the New York Times says: "Never underestimate the pleasure of watching really good actors behaving terribly. Of course you can experience such a spectacle every year around Oscar time. But there is a more sophisticated version of this spectator sport, in which highly skilled stage performers take on roles that allow them to rip the stuffing out of one another, tear up the scenery, stomp on their own vanity and have the time of their lives."
For Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles Times, this work "may have the feel of a play in which characters have no choice but to fall in line with their playwright’s nihilistic manipulations, but with actors this ferociously robust, human nature seems to have its own incorrigible agenda."
And Michael Kuchwara of the AP says that Gandolfini "holds his own against the other performers, playing a character not dissimilar from Tony Soprano, even down to the fact that he is intimidated by an ailing mother." And he wrote, "The real revelation of the evening, though, is Harden, usually seen in much more somber roles such as her Oscar-winning performance as Lee Krasner in the film 'Pollack.' In 'Carnage,' she undergoes the play's most startling transformation — from quiet, considerate woman concerned about such tragedies as Darfur to a bellowing harridan who's not above throwing a punch or two."
The Broadway revival of "West Side Story" was greeted with mixed reviews today. This groundbreaking show is the third of four musicals to come back to Broadway this season. As the previous two — "Pal Joey" and "Guys and Dolls" — were also critical disappointments, that means that 1969 also-ran "Hair" could establish itself as the front-runner for best musical revival at the Tony Awards when it opens next week. "West Side Story" has had little luck with the Tonys in its three previous Broadway incarnations.
Back in 1957, this musical updating of "Romeo and Juliet" electrified audiences with its daring blend of song and dance. However, it failed to prevail at the Tony Awards, losing four of its six bids. The two Tonys it did win went to director Jerome Robbins, who picked up the second of an eventual three awards for choreography, and Oliver Smith, who earned the second of his eventual seven awards for scenic design.
"The Music Man" with book, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson was the big winner that night taking five Tonys including best musical. And in the battle of the ingenues, Barbara Cook, as Marian the librarian in "The Music Man," bested Carol Lawrence, the tragic young lover Maria in "West Side Story." While "The Music Man" ran for over three years, "West Side Story" closed three months shy of two years, then toured for almost a year before returning to the rialto for another eight months.
The reputation of the show was only solidified with the 1961 film version. "West Side Story" won 10 of its 11 Oscar nominations, including best picture and the supporting actress award for eventual grand slam winner Rita Moreno. (The 1962 film of "The Music Man" won just one of its six Oscar nods — musical score.)
Though the 1964 City Center revival of "West Side Story" ran for just a month, it contended at the Tonys in the now defunct producing category — David Merrick won one of the then-record 10 Tonys awarded to "Hello, Dolly!" And the 1980 remounting contended for best revival losing to "Morning's at Seven." The production's Maria (Josie de Guzman) and Anita (Debbie Allen) both lost the featured actress race to Priscilla Lopez for "A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine." That edition ran for 10 months.
This revival was directed by the show's book writer Arthur Laurents and the 91-year-old came in for the lion's share of criticism. As Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles Times writes, "The extraordinary variety and operatic fullness of Leonard Bernstein’s score goes a long way toward covering up the directorial fumbling of crucial emotional events (including the rushed, clumsily staged final scene). And the bright wattage of Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics alert us to depths overlooked by the actors." And Ben Brantley of the New York Times thought, "The show seems haloed in a softening mist of compassion, turning its sidewalk Romeo and Juliet — and most of its young characters — into imperiled babes in the woods."
Natasha Richardson leaves behind a legacy of performances from film and television dating back a quarter of a century. However, it was on the stage that this star truly shone. And Broadway will pay the ultimate tribute to Richardson tonight when the lights of all the theaters along the rialto are dimmed for one minute at curtain time.
For her 1986 stage debut opposite her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, in Chekov 's "The Seagull," Natasha Richardson won the London Drama Critics' Circle award as most promising newcomer at age 23. And for her 1993 Broadway debut in the third rialto revival of Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie," she won the equivalent award from Theatre World.
Natasha Richardson was the first actress to be nominated for a Drama Desk award for playing that title role. She lost that race to Jane Alexander for "The Sisters Rosensweig." And like Liv Ullmann, star of the second revival of "Anna Christie" in 1977, Richardson was also nominated for a Tony Award as lead actress in a play. That category pitted niece against aunt, as Lynn Redgrave was nominated for her tribute to Richardson's grandfather, Sir Michael Redgrave, in "Shakespeare for My Father." They and Alexander lost to the latter's costar Madeline Kahn.
Richardson's soon-to-be husband Liam Neeson made his Broadway debut opposite her in "Anna Christie." He too was nominated for a Tony Award, losing the lead actor in a play race to Ron Liebman for "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches." However, the play did win the Tony for best revival.
Five years later, Natasha Richardson would win a Tony for doing the seemingly impossible and making audiences forget Liza Minnelli's 1972 Oscar-winning performance in "Cabaret." As the defiant Sally Bowles, the actress was front and center in this reimagining of the 1967 best musical Tony champ. Working with helmer Sam Mendes and co-director and choreographer Rob Marshall, Natasha Richardson proved she was much more than just a classically-trained thespian. New York Times critic Ben Brantley raved that Richardson was "extraordinary" and said she was "a dazzling example of how star power can be harnessed to create a devastating portrait of someone who is definitely not a star."
For her efforts, Richardson first won the Drama Desk award for lead actress in a musical. And then at the Tonys, she prevailed over a quartet of musical theater vets — Betty Buckley ("Triumph of Love"), Marin Mazzie ("Ragtime") and co-nominees Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner ("Side Show"). The show won three other Tonys that night — musical revival, lead actor (Alan Cumming), and featured actor (Ron Rifkin).
Richardson appeared twice more in a Broadway production. In 1999, she was in the four-hander "Closer" by Patrick Marber. As the adulterous Anna (played in the 2004 film version by Julia Roberts), Richardson received a Drama Desk nod for featured actress in a play but lost to her co-star Anna Friel. In what was to be her final role, Richardson starred as Blanche DuBois opposite John C. Reilly as Stanley Kowalski in a 2005 production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" that received only mixed reviews.
In January of this year, Natasha Richardson and her mother starred in a one-night only concert version of Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music" as a fundraiser for the Roundabout. Following the rapturous reviews for this staging of the 1973 Tony-winning best musical, there was talk of a full-scale production to come.
Below is a clip of Natasha Richardson's powerful performance of "Maybe This Time" from her Tony-winning turn in "Cabaret."
