Mason Pilevsky, 17 June 2024
Here are some quick thoughts about awards categories that didn’t go as Pages on Stages expected. My longer analysis for each nominee in each category can still be viewed here, as can my reviews for all of this year’s Tony Awards nominees.
Categories that Pages on Stages Predicted Correctly
- Lead Actor in a Musical: Jonathan Groff
- Lead Actress in a Musical: Maleah Joi Moon
- Featured Actress in a Musical: Kecia Lewis
- Featured Actress in a Play: Kara Young
- Director of a Musical: Danya Taymor
- Choreography: Justin Peck
- Original Score: Shaina Taub
- Scenic Design of a Play: David Zinn*
- Costume Design of a Musical: Linda Cho
- Sound Design of a Play: Ryan Rumery
- Sound Design of a Musical: Cody Spencer**
- Revival of a Play: Appropriate
- Revival of a Musical: Merrily We Roll Along
- Best Play: Stereophonic
*In this case, the person we expected to take home the award did so, but for a different show.
**In this case, the person we listed as most deserving of the award won over the person we expected to in our predictions.
Categories that Pages on Stages Predicted Incorrectly
- Featured Actor in a Musical: Daniel Radcliffe
I did not see Daniel Radcliffe in Merrily We Roll Along, but the consensus seems to be that this award was well deserved.
- Lead Actor in a Play: Jeremy Strong
I did suspect that Jeremy Strong might win this one. Michael Stuhlbarg was a brilliant character actor, and his performance took a lot of energy. I personally found Jeremy Strong’s performance to be lacking a real character arc, but I see the argument that he was suppressing things and his state at the end was the explosion and deflation of a character that demanded consistency.
- Lead Actress in a Play: Sarah Paulson
Another case where I feel like the actress who put forth the most significant, rapidly changing, dynamic character (Jessica Lange) was tossed aside for an actress (Sarah Paulson) whose performance relied on keeping her head down and having her explosion be genuinely surprising as opposed to anticipatable as part of the journey.
- Featured Actor in a Play: Will Brill
I’m happy for Will Brill. This time, the character actor won. Will Brill had to be incredibly lucid while pretending not to be in order to always hit his marks, and I think he gave a deserving, stand out performance.
- Director of a Play: Daniel Aukin
For me this felt out of left field. Daniel Aukin certainly coordinated a herculean collaboration here, but Stereophonic missed some opportunities to pull on people’s heartstrings and had parts that dragged, particularly in the first act. I really think most of the other nominees did better.
- Scenic Design of a Musical: Tom Scutt
I hated the building redesign for Cabaret. I didn’t think it was fun– it was difficult to find restrooms and others in the audience, and during the preshow it was an absolute nightmare. The actual set that was used as the stage for the show was some ridiculously simple concentric circles that rotate and go up and down. So I find Tom Scutt’s win a little bit of an insult to other nominees whose designs were not only functional, but also absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.
- Costume Design of a Play: Dede Ayite
I thoroughly enjoyed Dede Ayite’s designs for Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Though I was impressed by Enver Chakartash’s seemingly never ending series of incredibly character specific ensembles, Dede Ayite’s work required thorough research and created a beautiful tapestry of different African cultures onstage. I think this award is well deserved.
- Lighting Design of a Play: Jane Cox
I expected Natasha Katz to win for Grey House because it was the flashiest design in the mix, and the genre made it seem like the obvious winner. I’m glad the industry is moving past “flashy” being the only way to be talented, and applaud Jane Cox’s subtle, yet effective approach to Appropriate.
- Lighting Design of a Musical: Brian McDevitt and Hana S. Kim
Brian McDevitt and Hana S. Kim created thoroughly magical looks for The Outsiders. In my opinion, Lighting Design of a Musical was the closest race this year, in that all of the nominees really deserved to win.
- Orchestrations: Jonathan Tunick
This one surprised me. Merrily We Roll Along’s orchestrations are pretty close to the original, whereas orchestrations for Hell’s Kitchen involved reimagining the work of Alicia Keys, Illinoise created such an incredibly unique texture and balance that pulsated through the room, Stereophonic had to parse through the essentials when actors were learning to play instruments as they went, and The Outsiders was a thoroughly new piece that was being orchestrated for the very first time. Every other nominated show presented a bigger challenge for an orchestrator, so Jonathan Tunick’s win wasn’t even on my radar as a possibility.
- Book of a Musical: Shaina Taub
This was a pretty pathetic year for books of musicals. My main criticism here is that some of the books nominated for this award were incredibly minimal because the stories were mostly told through lyrics, and the ones that had lengthier books killed the momentum of their respective musicals. Though I predicted a win for The Outsiders (minimal book) but was hoping for The Notebook (lengthier book), I have no complaints with Shaina Taub taking home this one for Suffs. Suffs had a good blend of music and plot driven book. I didn’t expect the win because they were, in fact, so well integrated that I had difficulty remembering what might be considered book versus lyrics– which is the hallmark of good storytelling (and she won for score as well).
- Best Musical: The Outsiders
I’m glad that The Outsiders won this award over Hell’s Kitchen even though I did not predict it, because The Outsiders has more genuinely dynamic commitment to storytelling, not just getting us from incredible vocal number to incredible vocal number.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE 77th ANNUAL TONY AWARDS WINNERS!
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