Seattleites will be watching to see if Tonys follow 'The Light'

NEW YORK -- There is a bandwagon rolling through the streets of the Broadway theater district on its way to the Tony Awards tomorrow evening (which will be televised at 8 p.m. on KIRO/7).

This particular party started its journey at Seattle's Intiman Theatre when "The Light in the Piazza" premiered there in 2003. The Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas musical then moved on to Chicago's Goodman Theatre in January 2004, where the creators continued to hone the work.

When the show finally opened at Broadway's Lincoln Center Theater this spring, expectations (and accompanying buzz) had risen considerably. Here, after all, was the first Broadway musical by the grandson (Guettel) of the great Richard Rodgers. Guettel's mother, Mary Rodgers, is herself the well-regarded composer of "Once Upon a Mattress," among other works.

"Piazza" was reputed to be ambitious and risk-taking, but the New York critics were not impressed. Describing it as "improbable," "musically underwhelming" and even "irritating," the New Yorkers still managed to strike just the right chords of respect for the composer's gene pool.

With those notices, the battle for best musical and best score at the Tony Awards shifted to a struggle between upstart "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" and the box-office juggernaut that is "Monty Python's Spamalot."

It looked like another David and Goliath smackdown. In recent years, small musicals, such as "Urinetown" (2002) and "Avenue Q" (2004), have administered beatings to respective behemoths "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "Wicked" in key creative categories. (And nevermind that David Yazbek's score for "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," the fourth nominated musical this season, is very witty and has -- heaven forbid -- songs you might want to sing.)

Then an interesting thing happened last week, The New York Times -- not The Times' theater critics -- gave the "Piazza" bandwagon a jump-start with a glowing review of the CD of the musical. Around the same time, Tony voters received a copy of the CD with a large-type version of the gushing liner notes -- signed by former Times theater critic Frank Rich. (Although Rich left the critic's chair more than a decade ago, he remains the ultimate arbiter in matters theatrical.)

Now, Guettel is the composer to beat for best score, despite the cloying 1950s movie music that keeps his work from delivering its promise. Although "Piazza" is unlikely to win the big prize -- best musical -- it surely will win the musical categories for best actress (Victoria Clark), set design (Michael Yeargan), lighting (Christopher Akerlind) and orchestrations (Guettel, Ted Sperling and Bruce Coughlin).

In the best directing category for musicals, Intiman artistic director Bartlett Sher will not overcome the eagerness of the Broadway community to celebrate the return of Mike Nichols to the stage -- Nichols is a six-time Tony-winner. The musical directed by Nichols, "Spamalot," is also a good bet to win the best musical award because it's an enormously fun production (and cash cow). And it probably didn't hurt the musical's chances when producers sent Tony voters canvas bags filled with souvenir goodies from the show.

Underpinning all of the machinations has been the difficulty voters faced when marking their ballots this year. The hardest choices were in the performance categories for actors and actresses, but even the play revivals were all strong contenders. Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" will win for best revival due to the brilliance of the play, the challenge it poses and four near-perfect performances by Kathleen Turner, Bill Irwin, David Harbour and Mireille Enos.

Each of the "Virginia Woolf" performers is nominated, and in almost any other year, all four would win. But Turner's main competition is Cherry Jones, a stage veteran (and New York favorite) who delivers a performance of quiet power and dignity in John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt."

Irwin's nuanced performance as Albee's George took the community by surprise and his performance has grown deeper with passing weeks. There are four other nominated actors, Philip Bosco, Billy Crudup, James Earl Jones and Brian F. O'Byrne, who also give performances deserving of honors. O'Byrne has become a Broadway favorite -- he won a Tony for featured actor last year -- but look for Irwin to win in an upset.

It's the same story in the featured performer categories. Harbour vies with fine performances by Alan Alda and Liev Schreiber in David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross." Although you might expect Alda, Schreiber and Gordon Clapp (also nominated) to cancel one another among Mamet aficionados, Schreiber is a frequent player on the stage -- and the theater usually takes care of its own. (And it doesn't hurt that his performance is a true standout.)

Enos' performance of Honey in the Albee play may be the best ever seen in that role, but Adriane Lenox has racked up prestigious awards for her chilling performance of a 1960s African American mother who worries less about a priest's involvement with her son than about her son's education in Shanley's "Doubt." Lenox gets the nod.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Shanley is a safe bet to win for best play, but the other three plays in the category echo slightly the difficult choices among performers. Martin McDonagh's "The Pillowman" has nipped at the heels of "Doubt" for weeks, but Shanley's play is simply on another level. August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean," which will someday be viewed as a classic, had its life cut tragically short when the play's producer, Carole Shorenstein Hays, decided to make way for another work she was producing: "Doubt." Michael Frayn's "Democracy," about the postwar struggles in West German democracy, never crackled the way its London production reportedly had and it closed weeks before the Tony nominations were announced.

Another safe bet for this year's Tony Awards includes leading musical actor Norbert Leo Butz, who devours the scenery eight times a week in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels." Billy Crystal's hugely successful "700 Sundays" will get the nod for "special theatrical event." Crystal's sentimental recounting of life and death in his family will smother runner-up Mario Cantone, whose edgy "Laugh Whore" was the best of the solo shows on Broadway this season.

Seattle will celebrate its contributions to Broadway in several ways tomorrow night, with at least one "hometown boy" sure to pick up his first Tony Award. Doug Hughes, former associate artistic director at Seattle Rep, was the masterly directorial hand behind Shanley's "Doubt."

When the party is over, Tony is definitely going home with him.

TONY AWARD PREDICTIONS

Best Play: "Doubt" by John Patrick Shanley

Best Musical: "Monty Python's Spamalot" by Eric Idle and John Du Prez

Best Book of a Musical: Rachel Sheinkin, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee"

Best Original Score (music and/or lyrics): Adam Guettel, "The Light in the Piazza"

Best Revival of a Play: "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Best Revival of a Musical: "La Cage aux Folles"

Best Special Theatrical Event: "Billy Crystal 700 Sundays"

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play: Bill Irwin, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play: Cherry Jones, "Doubt"

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical: Norbert Leo Butz, "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical: Victoria Clark, "The Light in the Piazza"

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play: Liev Schrieber, "Glengarry Glen Ross"

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play: Adriane Lenox, "Doubt"

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical: Dan Fogler, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee"

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical: Sara Ramirez, "Monty Python's Spamalot"

Best Scenic Design of a Play: Scott Pask, "The Pillowman"

Best Scenic Design of a Musical: Michael Yeargan, "The Light in the Piazza"

Best Costume Design of a Play: Jess Goldstein, "The Rivals"

Best Costume Design of a Musical: William Ivey Long, "La Cage aux Folles"

Best Lighting Design of a Play: Donald Holder, "Gem of the Ocean"

Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Christopher Akerlind, "The Light in the Piazza"

Best Direction of a Play: Doug Hughes, "Doubt"

Best Direction of a Musical: Mike Nichols, "Monty Python's Spamalot"

Best Choreography: Jerry Mitchell, "La Cage aux Folles"

Best Orchestrations: Ted Sperling, Adam Guettel and Bruce Coughlin, "The Light in the Piazza"

Jeffrey Eric Jenkins is a New York-based theater writer for the P-I. He can be reached at 718-789-5553 or editor@bestplaysonline.com.

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