Pages on Stages, Mason Pilevsky
Featured Actor in a Play
Glenn Davis, Purpose
Glenn Davis undoubtedly has the most demanding role in this show. Every moment he is struggling with deep mental health issues while also trying to be a people pleaser for his parents, fix his marriage, and get to the top even if it involves extortion. He has breakdowns, fits of rage, and a suicide attempt. His character was compelling, but I personally wasn’t sold on Glenn Davis being fully believable.
Gabriel Ebert, John Proctor is the Villain
Though not a particularly demanding role, Gabriel Ebert does a great job of keeping his character believably charming such that his true, villainous nature has shock value. His hypocrisy and saccharine kindness are most effective at the end when his students send him a very clear message about not wanting to worship him anymore.
Francis Jue, Yellow Face
People frequently underestimate the power of older characters as something other than an irksome side plot. Francis Jue’s performance as the father is dripping with a complex kind of love that struggles between what can acceptably be shown and the ways in which he secretly wants to understand his son. And, of course, he’s hilarious.
Bob Odenkirk, Glengarry Glen Ross
This character talks a mile a minute and still manages to add nuance and emotion such that I feel sympathy for him. Bob Odenkirk makes Shelley Levine’s desperation come through in ways that keep the story engaging and, with how fast he talks, probably cuts 5 minutes off the run time all by himself. Shelley is one of the only genuinely likable characters in Glengarry Glen Ross, and Odenkirk makes it easy to distinguish him from the pack.
Conrad Ricamora, Oh, Mary!
Making Abraham Lincoln utterly unlikable for comedic effect would probably be cancelled if the role wasn’t in such good hands. Oh, Mary! deals in hypocrisy, and Conrad Ricamora fully commits to painting Lincoln as a misogynist and a tyrant— and he keeps the idea fun, laughable, and gay.
Pages on Stages Prediction: Francis Jue
If It Was Up to Me: Conrad Ricamora
Featured Actor in a Musical
Brooks Ashmanskas, SMASH
Reminiscent of The Producers with a little bit of Cam from Modern Family sprinkled in, Brooks Ashmanskas embodies the overstressed director who is secretly drowning in his lack of love life and starving for attention. I particularly enjoyed the ways in which he displayed hesitance within the range of such a bold character.
Jeb Brown, Dead Outlaw
I love the way the band is part of the story of Dead Outlaw, don’t get me wrong, but this is an acting category and Jeb Brown mostly plays the guitar and sings. Yes, the lyrics narrate the story, but I don’t think there’s much acting involved here, even in the moments in which he steps off of the bandshell.
Danny Burstein, Gypsy
Mama Rose is a beloved character because of how she is placed in context with Herbie, and Herbie actually does a lot of the work of helping the audience understand how to perceive Mama Rose, who she puts first, etc. It takes a lot to stay grounded in a world that is unfair to you, and Burstein makes Herbie a fully fleshed out character so that there’s some genuine feeling for him beyond pity.
Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat
Jak Malone stole the show with, “Dear Bill.” Slipping in and out of characters and genders with ease, Malone’s performance is truly extraordinary because he never denigrates a character, even if others on stage are doing it. He plays a woman with dignity and doesn’t lean into harmful stereotypes about men playing women— he just is her.
Taylor Trensch, Floyd Collins
I’m happy to see Taylor Trensch on Broadway— he’s definitely one I want to keep my eye on. He’s a very versatile actor, and his role in Floyd Collins is bursting with rich contradictions— smart yet stupid, cowardly yet brave, determined yet forced to obey. Trensch makes it all fit.
Pages on Stages Prediction: Jak Malone
If It Was Up to Me: Jak Malone
Leading Actor in a Play
George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck
The context of the play makes George Clooney’s role as Ed Murrow significant and impactful. This was a role where Clooney played a man of honor who stuck to his principles in a calm and dignified way. The role doesn’t place many demands on the actor, and I think it will be buried in this particular season.
Cole Escola, Oh, Mary!
Escola should be getting this award for their code switching alone. Escola masterfully teased and massaged this text into exact moments where one thing could mean another and then the dialect could transport us in and out of time. The farce is simultaneously absolutely hilarious and incredibly dark, suggesting that everybody is trying to keep somebody down. The petulance and pettiness of a strong woman are utterly remarkable and Cole Escola portrayed them with love.
Jon Michael Hill, Purpose
Purpose was a tough show for this narrator because he had to be likable, different from his family, and also hinting at being on the spectrum amidst what I can only describe as, “higher order chaos.” Jon Michael Hill creates a character that we can love and trust, and then asks us to take a step back and think about what we might have seen in him in a different context.
Daniel Dae Kim, Yellow Face
Daniel Dae Kim portrays a struggle felt by a lot of minorities, particularly in industries where one has to be mindful of how one’s behavior might unfairly reflect on everyone in your (socially constructed) category. His character, Henry, struggles with wanting to be an Asian in theater but being rejected from projects with meaning and funneled into projects which feed harmful stereotypes which then in turn feed the perception of what Asians can do in theatre. Kim’s frustration is very real, as is his desire not to be sidelined.
Harry Lennix, Purpose
Harry Lennix genuinely surprised me with the way he turned the tide at the end of Purpose. He showed many sides of this fictional civil rights era preacher— a passive side, an interrogative side, a violently angry side, a hurtful side (never a genuinely hurt side because he’s untouchable), and then, at the end, has this beautiful moment of admitting that he wants to think about new and different ideas. Maybe not accept them, but at least think about them. It is Lennix’s thoughtfully placed quiet moments that frighten the other characters the most.
Louis McCartney, Stranger Things
This performance was, quite literally, haunting. At times, it demanding stillness, at others, rapid, unnatural motion. Sometimes Henry is endearing, other times he’s utterly terrifying, and at other times he’s terrified of himself.
Pages on Stages Prediction: Cole Escola
If It Was Up to Me: Cole Escola
Leading Actor in a Musical
Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending
The story shines in Maybe Happy Ending largely through the quirky, yet endearing robot that it Darren Criss. He does have to remain within the emotional range of a robot, but with a soaring score and a great companion for the ride, the collective experience makes it work and lets Criss’s precision shine.
Andrew Durand, Dead Outlaw
There are demanding elements of this role, as seen in the number where Elmer drunkenly trashes the bandshell. That song alone had me sold on Andrew Durand as a Tony nominee for this role. But then, the show stagnated, as did his role. I’m sure it is difficult to stay still in a coffin for an hour while the world moves around you. I’m just not sure if that’s all acting can be and if it’s the kind of acting for which one deserves the highest award in the industry.
Tom Francis, Sunset Blvd.
This is another role where I think the actor doesn’t have to give much because it’s contextual but this very bold design context, incredibly sweeping cinematic score, and the character is created by his proximity to others more than anything he actually says or does. There are some great moments, for sure.
Jonathan Groff, Just in Time
Groff slips in and out of the role of Bobby Darin seamlessly, and he’s one of few nominees on this list who genuinely makes the audience feel something and is actually commanding the space on his own merit.
James Monroe Iglehart, A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical
There was no character arc for Louis Armstrong in this show. Rather, his former lovers made the case that the fun-loving, slightly crazed musician we were enjoying was not a good person. Iglehart remained stalwart until he couldn’t, and I quite enjoyed his breakdown and the sad reality that he couldn’t pick himself back up. Also, Iglehart really went the extra mile to sound like Louis Armstrong— while it wasn’t perfect, it was admirably different from his last Broadway role.
Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins
The complexity of this role was everything that I wanted Andrew Durand to be in Dead Outlaw. Even though he was stuck under a rock, Jordan was reacting to what was going on in the world above, and he remained in character— wilting, dying, hoping, yodeling— whether the lights were on him or not. He was phenomenal— and harmonizing with looping echoes of himself. This role takes a lot of trust and asks a lot of him. That said, I think he might be overlooked by Tony voters who did not love the genre (by which I mean the yodeling).
Pages on Stages Prediction: Darren Criss
If It Was Up to Me: Jeremy Jordan
Next Week: Creative Team of Plays!
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