Well, it's here — the announcement you've all been anticipating. The Outer Critics Circle Award nominations have been announced! What? You you've never heard of the Outer Critics Circle Awards? Well, that puts you in stead with everyone else in the world that doesn't follow New York theater closely. These awards could really use a good PR campaign.

Laurie Metcalf in November

To clarify the confusion, these are the Golden Globes of the New York theater. Just as the Golden Globes are predictive of and broader (movies and television) than the Oscars, these are predictive of and broader (Broadway and Off-Broadway) than the Tony Awards. But they really need a catchier name. If the Golden Globes were called the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Awards, I don't think so many stars would show up and get publicly drunk at the ceremony. 

Given that I do follow New York theater somewhat closely, I care about the Outer Critics Circle Awards. And one good thing about this year's awards is how well women are represented in non-acting categories. Half of the nominees for Outstanding Director of a Play and Outstanding Choreographer are women. Half. Compare that to, say, the Academy Awards where there appears to be an unwritten rule against nominating women for Outstanding Achievement in Direction.

And there are some amazing women nominated for the acting awards, though there are not, to the best of my knowledge, any lesbians nominated. (Cherry Jones, Cynthia Nixon and Sarah Paulson didn't do theater this year, and director Leigh Silverman was working too far off Broadway.) However, there is one nomination for a lesbian character! (I know, it's sad to get to excited about that, but I need to grasp on to something.)

Let's take a quick look at some of the highlights, shall we? (And by highlights, I mean categories in which I know enough to have an opinion.)  … continue reading

Patti LuPone is the toast of Broadway right now, and with good reason.

Her turn as “Mama Rose” in the current revival of Gypsy is drawing comparison's to Ethel Merman's original characterization of the stage mother of all stage mothers. I've always been envious that my mother saw the original run of Gypsy, but not anymore. (Well, at least not as much as before.) I think Ben Brantley of The New York Times summed up Lupone's performance beautifully.

“When Ms. LuPone delivers “Rose's Turn,” she's building a bridge for an audience to walk right into one woman's nervous breakdown. There is no separation at all between song and character, which is what happens in those uncommon moments when musicals reach upward to achieve their ideal reasons to be.”

And that's what I love so much about musical theater – those moments when the actor, the character and the song all merge together into one utterly captivating entity. It's a combination of the strength of the performance and of the material. (For the record, I did not experience any moment like that when I saw David Hasselhoff in Jeckyl and Hyde.) These moments are why I rail against stunt-casting. I don't want to see performers who are a curiousity; I want to see performers who make me get lost in the show.

I had been wanting to see Patti LuPone in a Broadway show for ages. I saw 12 zillion Evita commercials when I was a kid, and she was always this Broadway great that I had never seen.

So, I'm thrilled to have finally seen her in all her greatness. Of course, over the years I've seen my fair share of great performances. And I'm going to indulge myself by reminiscing about a few of them. … continue reading

Oh, Happy Day! Or Oh, Happy Night as I'm writing this. I just watched Charlotte St. Martin, the spokesperson for the League of American Theatres and Producers, announce that a tentative deal has been reached to end the Broadway stagehands' union strike. Shows are reopening immediately, and happiness reigns in my home and in midtown Manhattan. (You can read a good timeline of the strike here.)

And the end of the strike is not the only good Broadway news these days. I just read that Patti LuPone will be reprising her role as Mama Rose in Gypsy next March.

This summer, the Encores! Summer Stars production of Gypsy at New York City Center was the hot ticket. (I certainly couldn't get my hands on one.) Everyone I know who saw it loved it, despite the tepid New York Times review. … continue reading