In 1994, the Broadway stage musical version of “Beauty and the Beast” walked away from the annual Tony Awards ceremony with only one win in the relatively minor category of Best Costume Design of a Musical. The next day, ticket sales soared. Quipped one Broadway insider, “Well, that just shows what winning Best Costumes can do for a musical.”Sarcasm aside, what fueled the box-office bump was the all-stops-out production number of “Be Our Guest,” which was featured in the CBS telecast of the ceremony. Since the show was among the nominees for Best Musical — along with Stephen Sondheim’s “Passion,” the eventual winner — it was guaranteed a spot in the ceremony in which to show off its wares.The same holds this year for the seven shows which will be competing in either the Best Musical or Best Musical Revival categories. And that means that after the Tony telecast on Sunday, June 7, the dwindling supply of tickets to the new smash hits may become even scarcer. So here’s a warning: If you are inclined to take in “Something Rotten!”, “An American in Paris,” “The King and I,” “Fun Home,” “On the Twentieth Century,” or “Finding Neverland,” it is best to book your tickets prior to Sunday.“Finding Neverland,” isn’t even among the nominees. The $20 million musical about J. M. Barrie and the creation of “Peter Pan” was pointedly shut out by the Tony nominating committee, presumably as a slap to the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who is making his Broadway debut as lead producer. Despite dismal reviews, “Finding Neverland” has found an audience, grossing over $1 million per week since performances began at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. And Harvey being Harvey, the heavy-handed producer has been able to wangle a spot on the telecast — as he did last year — for his beloved undertaking. Not that it would be too difficult to convince the show’s producers — Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner of White Cherry Entertainment — to include “Finding Neverland.” There is notably little marquee value among the nominees — only Bradley Cooper and Helen Mirren could be said to have that kind of clout — so why not say yes to Kelsey Grammer and Matthew Morrison (“Glee”) in a number featuring the Peter Pan brand?Such is the bullish market on Broadway that, in addition to “Neverland,” the five musicals mentioned above are doing capacity business. With the exception of “Fun Home,” which is in one of Broadway’s smallest theaters, and “On the Twentieth Century,” which is at the non-profit Roundabout, they too are respectively grossing over $1 million per week in ticket sales. As for which of these shows are likely to get the biggest bump? “An American in Paris” stands to do very well on Sunday, including copping the top award, and its breezy Gershwin score makes a good fit on television. “Something Rotten!” which is a whimsical look at the invention of the musical form in Elizabethan times, will be presenting their show-stopper, “A Musical,” on the air and it’s bound to palpitate the hearts of theater nerds everywhere. (Since previews began, this number has been getting a mid-first act standing ovation on occasion.) And “The King and I”? How could “Shall We Dance?” go wrong? And it’s likely that “On the Twentieth Century” will wow the crowd with its tap-happy ensemble in one of choreographer Warren Carlyle’s snappy numbers. Indeed, the competition was so fierce this year that his sterling work was not recognized by a Tony nomination.The challenge for the “Fun Home” creative team will be how to demonstrate in four minutes the appeal of this most daring, original, and brilliant musical. The brief description of the show — a coming-of-age tale of a lesbian caricaturist whose sexual awakening coincides with her closeted father’s suicide — does not capture the humor, humanity, and bursts of joy amid the darkness. Thus it’s something of a miracle that the show, by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori and directed by Sam Gold, is doing as well as it is at the box-office. It may well come away with a number of Tony Awards on Sunday night including a win as Best Musical. If that’s the case, then its commercial future will be assured. Shows with multiple nominations that will also have a presence on the telecast are “The Visit” and “On the Town, both of which have been struggling at the box-office. An effective number could throw them a lifeline.As for dramas, the respective limited engagements of “Skylight,” with Bill Nighey and Carey Mulligan (through June 21) and “The Audience,” starring Helen Mirren (through June 28) are virtually sold out. So book your seats for “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” the riveting drama about a young man on the autism spectrum who attempts to solve the killing of a neighbor’s dog. It is likely to have a very good night at the Tonys, winning for Best Play as well as taking home a fistful of other awards.
↧