Brief Thoughts Before the Tony Awards

I'm looking forward to the Tony Awards tonight as it has been one of the most enjoyable awards shows to watch in the past few years (only rivaled by the Fey-Poehler-hosted Golden Globe shows) mostly thanks to the ace hosting job of Neil Patrick Harris and fun performances throughout the night. This year Hugh Jackman will host for a fourth time with Harris nominated for Best Actor in a Musical for Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Unfortunately, I haven't seen Hedwig, but I'm very much rooting for Harris to pick up the trophy. His show actually got the second most nominations with eight and his biggest competitor comes from the show with the most nomination...

A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and is the best tally of any show this year. It's the front-runner to win Best Musical and has more than a fighting chance in the rest of the categories it's nominated for. I *did* see this after the Tony nominations were announced and I completely understand why it garnered so much love. The songs are hilarious, the leads are indefatigable, and the whole thing is just fun. The only other musical I saw this season was...

The Bridges of Madison County only managed four nominations including one for Best Actress Kelli O'Hara who really poured her everything in the role of Francesca. I saw the musical at the recommendation of some friends and I'm so happy I got to see her sing these songs live. Since I haven't seen any of the other nominees in her category, I'm pretty much rooting for her by default, but golly that'd be great.

When it comes to the plays, I have even less to say because the only two plays I saw this season garnered a whopping zero nominations. And while I didn't expect Romeo & Juliet starring Orlando Bloom to light it up on nomination morning, I was quite shocked that the Patrick Stewart-Ian McKellen starrer Waiting for Godot laid a goose egg. Well, at least we'll always have their Instagram snapshots. In terms of a frontrunner, Act One starring Bryan Cranston (an almost lock to win tonight) seems to be in the lead for Best Play while The Glass Menagerie and Twelfth Night are duking it out in Best Revival of a Play. My roommate actually saw Twelfth Night this season (and loved it) on the same day I saw last year's Musical Revival winner Pippin. 'Twas a great day.

Like Cranston, it seems like a safe bet to predict Audra McDonald to pick up her sixth (!) win for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill. If she does win, she would have won a Tony Award for Lead and Featured Actress in both plays and musicals. In the end, I wished I had gotten to see more shows, both plays and musicals. Hopefully a few of them will stick around this summer so I can try. Now on with the show!