‘Utopia’ and ‘Awakening’ Dominate Tonys
By MICHAEL KUCHWARA
NEW YORK – “Spring Awakening,” a pounding post-rock musical of teenage sexual anxiety, and Tom Stoppard’s “The Coast of Utopia,” a sprawling tale of 19th century Russian intellectuals, dominated the 2007 Tony Awards Sunday.
The musical picked up the best score award for Duncan Sheik and lyricist Steven Sater, who also received the prize for book of a musical. “Musical theater rocks,” said Sheik, who also won for orchestrations.
“Steven and I definitely set out to make a new kind of musical,” Sheik said. “We were trying to forge our own path. I think we got lucky timing-wise – what’s happening politically. People were ready to deal with something that had teeth.”
John Gallagher Jr., who portrays a manic student in the show, received the featured-actor musical prize. “Heaven must feel like this,” enthused the 22-year-old Gallagher. Later backstage, he said, “I can’t feel anything right now, not even my arms. It’s an honor and a thrill that never in a million years would I dream for myself.”
Bill T. Jones danced down the aisle as he accepted his award for choreography for the musical. “I am a happy man,” said Jones.
Stoppard’s epic was equally successful in picking up awards. Jack O’Brien, its director, won as did two of the featured players in its large cast – Billy Crudup and Jennifer Ehle. “I know what Everest feels like,” O’Brien said.
“Utopia” also swept the play technical awards, winning prizes for sets, costumes and lighting. The musical technical nods were split three ways: sets, “Mary Poppins”; costumes, “Grey Gardens” and lighting, “Spring Awakening.”
Mary Louise Wilson, who copped the featured actress-musical prize for her role as the delightfully eccentric Big Edie in “Grey Gardens,” came on stage and said, “Everyone has been so articulate.” Then she let out howl of delight as the audience cheered.
Competing against “Spring Awakening” for the top musical prize are “Grey Gardens,” the story of a combative mother and daughter; “Curtains,” a jaunty musical whodunit; and “Mary Poppins,” a lavish look at a certain English nanny made famous in the Disney movie.
For best play, “Utopia” will face “Frost/Nixon,” Peter Morgan’s docudrama based on interviews between David Frost and Richard M. Nixon; “Radio Golf,” August Wilson’s final chapter in his epic look at the black experience in 20th-century America; and “The Little Dog Laughed,” Douglas Carter Beane’s satiric examination of Hollywood hypocrisy.
Business was robust on Broadway during the 2006-2007 season as both grosses ($939 million) and attendance rose, with the number of theatergoers topping the 12-million mark for the second year in a row. Thirty-five productions opened during the year, including 12 new musicals and 11 new plays, according to the League of American Theatres and Producers.
“We are fortunate that this season was marked by sensational new musicals and plays, offering audiences a diversity of shows to enjoy,” said Charlotte St. Martin, the league’s executive director. “We believe that this diversity is one of the strongest reasons why Broadway has had such a record year with attendance.”
Even so, the 2006-07 season did not include any box-office bonanzas such as “Wicked” or “Jersey Boys,” megahits from previous seasons that even today remain hot tickets. Yet “Spring Awakening” has done steady, if not sellout business, while “The Coast of Utopia” (now closed) was a sturdy seller during its limited engagement at the nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater. And such different productions as “Mary Poppins,”"A Chorus Line,”"Frost/Nixon,”"Inherit the Wind” and “The Year of Magical Thinking” have managed to pull in respectable numbers of theatergoers.
The 2007 Tonys, broadcast by CBS, include 25 competitive categories and were voted on by 785 members of the theatrical community. The awards were founded in 1947 by the American Theatre Wing which now produces the show with the League of American Theatres and Producers.
—
On the Net:
http://www.tonyawards.com