77th Annual Tony Awards Predictions, Mason Pilevsky
CATEGORY: BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
A show about assumptions we make and how little we know our own families, Appropriate reveals ugly truths that are hiding in plain sight and demands that we confront them. Told through three very different siblings, Appropriate shatters the notion that you can ever really know a person.
Henrik Ibsen’s testament to the existence of a moral character that supersedes the need to be individually favored, An Enemy of the People tells the story of a scientific discovery that protagonist Dr. Thomas Stockmann feels must be shared to keep people alive, at great personal cost to himself and everyone he holds dear.
Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp through the Cotton Patch
Tight and sarcastic, this show juxtaposes a liberated preacher with his self-denigrating brother evoking questions about the best way to true freedom. Is it working obsequiously within the system or aggressively forcing your way outside of it? And how many people are you willing to put in harm’s way on each of those paths?
WHO I THINK WILL WIN: Appropriate
IF IT WERE UP TO ME: Appropriate
CATEGORY: BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
A radical reimagining of Cabaret as a transition from extreme absurdity to absolute normalcy, this production of Cabaret features new interpretations of the Emcee and Sally Bowles, alongside the very familiarly played figures of Herr Schultz and Freulein Schneider.
Gutenberg! The Musical!
I did not see this one, but I imagine that Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells palled around, told jokes, improvised a little, and sent everyone home with a smile.
Stephen Sondheim is a one trick pony, but it’s a trick we all come back to for comfort because the familiarity makes us feel good. This time, told in reverse, Merrily We Roll Along showcases an aloof man, an extreme worrier, and an aggressively drunk woman, wondering what friendship is all about.
A rock musical about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy who can play pinball. Intense projection design takes the mind through historical details and futuristic ones accompanied by pulsating orchestrations that have the audience moving in their seats. Serious content alongside absurdity creates a truly amazing journey.
WHO I THINK WILL WIN: Merrily We Roll Along
IF IT WERE UP TO ME: The Who’s Tommy
CATEGORY: BEST PLAY
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding seamlessly transitions from a light, jocular sitcom to a very serious space about a teenager’s mother being taken to an unknown ICE detention center. The plot tells stories of individual African immigrants who both do and do not want to be associated with each other, yet present a united front when someone they care about is in danger.
Mary Jane is the story of a mother who gives up everything to care for her child. Born premature, Alex is unable to speak or really interact with the world, yet Mary Jane puts everything she has into keeping him alive. She seems not to notice that the only people around her are healthcare professionals and other parents of similar children, and it’s not until the very end that we realize how much she is suffering behind her smile.
This moving journey through the confines of gender, sexuality, poverty, acceptance, love, eviction notices, aging, dancing, and cockroaches contained the full spectrum of the rollercoaster of human life fluctuating between clinging to what you have and wanting something different. It made me laugh. It made me cry.
Prayer for the French Republic
Prayer for the French Republic came at an interesting time politically. It showcases how fear and antisemitism can drive a family to leave the only home they know. Addressing issues like how different generations talk about their beliefs about Israel, what safety means, and where a person’s home truly is, this show asked a lot of very poignant questions that many of us were grappling with ourselves at the time that this was on Broadway.
Stereophonic’s strongest quality was its sound design, but really almost every element of this production lived up to the hype. Although I did feel the duration was slightly too long and there could have been some more meticulous edits, it captured a slice of a world that impacts our daily lives– we listen to recorded music constantly– that few among us think much about the origin stories and creative processes that go into making it. Not only are those processes artistic and technical, but they’re deply human and interpersonal.
WHO I THINK WILL WIN: Stereophonic
IF IT WERE UP TO ME: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
CATEGORY: BEST MUSICAL
Hell’s Kitchen
This coming-of-age story told through the lens of Alicia Keys’s music feels like a smash up of many of my favorite musicals—take a little from In the Heights, a little from Jagged Little Pill, a little from & Juliet, and you’ve got the formula for Hell’s Kitchen. Outstanding vocals reimagine familiar songs into a moving new musical.
Told entirely through dance, this was the most cohesive performance I’ve seen on Broadway. Every element was part of a texture that was symbiotic and living, collaboratively telling a story through elements that were hard to isolate out. Is this the music or the lyrics? The dancers or the stage picture? The lighting or the costumes? Illinoise was truly unique in its collaborative coherence.
Society is hard on young adult boys trying to figure out how to become men surrounded by overt violence and heavily masked kindness. In the end, the tenderness of a poem and finding ourselves back at the beginning with our narrator Ponyboy create a wonderfully nuanced story about becoming a better person despite the loss and the pain of the world.
This is a show that demands attention, and walks the line between a vagueness that lets it apply to a lot of causes, and a specificity previously untold in the stories of the suffragist movement. It emphasizes the struggles within the movement between factions who wanted to accomplish similar goals in different ways, and those who wanted to be included in the cause but accurately predicted that, at the end, they’d still be standing alone without rights.
Featuring a cohesive ensemble of kinkers and some standout lead performances, this show’s score bordered a lot of genres (including folk, musical theatre, and more dreamy textures) and showcased how hard people fight to defend their place in a group of misfits because it is, in fact, the only group they fit into.
WHO I THINK WILL WIN: Hell’s Kitchen
IF IT WERE UP TO ME: Hell’s Kitchen
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE NOMINEES!
About the Author: Mason Pilevsky
Check back on the big day (June 16!) for a recap of Pages on Stages Tony Awards Predictions!
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