Next month, when the 2024 Tony Awards for excellence in Broadway theater are handed out, hair and wig designer Nikiya Mathis will be honored with a Special Tony for her work on the acclaimed play Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Jocelyn Bioh’s seriocomic celebration of West African immigrant hair braiders in Harlem who create masterpieces atop the heads of the neighborhood woman.
Anyone who saw Mathis’ marvelous wig creations will understand immediately why she is one of three recipients this year of Special Tony Awards, non-competitive honors bestowed by Tony organizers for productions, artists and organizations who do not fall into any of the competitive categories.
But what many in the theater community don’t understand is why Mathis or any of her design colleagues in wig, hair and makeup can’t simply compete in a category devoted to their artistry and work. And some of those designers, along with...
Anyone who saw Mathis’ marvelous wig creations will understand immediately why she is one of three recipients this year of Special Tony Awards, non-competitive honors bestowed by Tony organizers for productions, artists and organizations who do not fall into any of the competitive categories.
But what many in the theater community don’t understand is why Mathis or any of her design colleagues in wig, hair and makeup can’t simply compete in a category devoted to their artistry and work. And some of those designers, along with...
- 5/20/2024
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
When Jefferson Mays wanted to perform a solo version of “A Christmas Carol,” scenic designer Dane Laffrey knew right away that it wasn’t going to be a simplistic approach with an actor and a stool. When he and director Michael Arden pitched their approach, Laffrey told the actor: “We’re pretty interested in turning this into a real ghost story, a real phantasmagoria. Where there’s a really substantial physical production around you.” Mays was instantly on board. Laffrey then created a set which focused on the power and mystery of the unseen, and earned a Tony nomination for his efforts. Watch the exclusive video interview above.
Laffrey’s puzzle box of a set contains around 30 automated effects, which aide in the many surprise scenic transitions in the piece. This includes walls which slide in and out of place, turntables, deck tracks, flown set pieces. “It’s a shapeshifter,...
Laffrey’s puzzle box of a set contains around 30 automated effects, which aide in the many surprise scenic transitions in the piece. This includes walls which slide in and out of place, turntables, deck tracks, flown set pieces. “It’s a shapeshifter,...
- 5/19/2023
- by Sam Eckmann
- Gold Derby
Lea Michele and Myles Frost hosted ‘The 76th Annual Tony Award Nominations (Photo by Jenny Anderson / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
Funny Girl‘s Lea Michele and Tony Award winner Myles Frost had the honor of announcing The 76th Annual Tony Awards. Some Like It Hot earned the most nominations with 13, including Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, and two in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical category.
Shucked, & Juliet, and New York, New York picked up nine nominations each. Kimberly Akimbo and Sweeney Todd earned eight, followed by Ain’t No Mo’, A Doll’s House, Into the Woods, Parade, and Leopoldstadt with six.
Oscar winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) returns to host the live Tony Awards show airing on June 11, 2023 at 5pm Pt / 8pm Et. This year’s ceremony will be broadcast on CBS and will stream live on Paramount+.
Funny Girl‘s Lea Michele and Tony Award winner Myles Frost had the honor of announcing The 76th Annual Tony Awards. Some Like It Hot earned the most nominations with 13, including Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, and two in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical category.
Shucked, & Juliet, and New York, New York picked up nine nominations each. Kimberly Akimbo and Sweeney Todd earned eight, followed by Ain’t No Mo’, A Doll’s House, Into the Woods, Parade, and Leopoldstadt with six.
Oscar winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) returns to host the live Tony Awards show airing on June 11, 2023 at 5pm Pt / 8pm Et. This year’s ceremony will be broadcast on CBS and will stream live on Paramount+.
- 5/2/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
The Tony Awards Administration Committee met on April 11, for the second time during the 2022-2023 Broadway season, to discuss the eligibility of seven productions for the 76th Annual Tony Awards. This year’s ceremony will be held at the United Palace in Washington Heights, and will broadcast live on Sunday, June 11, 2023, on the CBS Television Network, and stream live and on demand on Paramount+. The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.
The productions discussed were: “Between Riverside and Crazy,” “Pictures From Home,” “A Doll’s House,” “Parade,” “Bob Fosse’s Dancin’,” “Bad Cinderella,” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”
See 2023 Tony Awards eligibility rulings (round 1): ‘Kimberly Akimbo,’ ‘Into the Woods,’ ‘1776’ and a change in voting procedure
The following determinations were made:
Stephen McKinley Henderson will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Play...
The productions discussed were: “Between Riverside and Crazy,” “Pictures From Home,” “A Doll’s House,” “Parade,” “Bob Fosse’s Dancin’,” “Bad Cinderella,” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”
See 2023 Tony Awards eligibility rulings (round 1): ‘Kimberly Akimbo,’ ‘Into the Woods,’ ‘1776’ and a change in voting procedure
The following determinations were made:
Stephen McKinley Henderson will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Play...
- 4/11/2023
- by Sam Eckmann
- Gold Derby
The Tony Awards Administration Committee met for the first time during the 2022-2023 Broadway season on January 31 to discuss eligibility of 20 productions for the 76th Annual Tony Awards in 2023. The productions discussed were: “The Kite Runner,” “Into the Woods,” “Leopoldstadt,” “Cost of Living,” “1776,” “Death of a Salesman,” “The Piano Lesson,” “Topdog/Underdog,” “Walking With Ghosts,” “Almost Famous,” “Kimberly Akimbo,” “Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and The Pool,” “& Juliet,” “A Christmas Carol,” “Kpop,” “Ain’t No Mo’,” “A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical,” “Ohio State Murders,” “Some Like it Hot,” and “The Collaboration.”
See 2023 Tony Awards: Get your MetroCard ready, new venue is 6 miles from Broadway
The following determinations were made:
Gavin Creel, Joshua Henry and Phillipa Soo will be considered eligible in the Featured Actor/Actress in a Musical categories for their respective performances in “Into the Woods.”
Amir Arison will be considered eligible in the Lead Actor...
See 2023 Tony Awards: Get your MetroCard ready, new venue is 6 miles from Broadway
The following determinations were made:
Gavin Creel, Joshua Henry and Phillipa Soo will be considered eligible in the Featured Actor/Actress in a Musical categories for their respective performances in “Into the Woods.”
Amir Arison will be considered eligible in the Lead Actor...
- 2/1/2023
- by Sam Eckmann
- Gold Derby
The Tony Awards Administration Committee has announced its first round of eligibility rulings for this Broadway season, determining some of the trickier potential nominees and their respective categories.
Both co-stars of The Collaboration – Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope – will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, rather than split up into leading and featured slots. Ohio State Murders, written by Adrienne Kennedy in 1991 and performed regionally but never on Broadway until this season, will be considered a revival in keeping with similar rulings in recent years about Broadway debuts of older shows such as The Boys in The Band.
Perhaps among the more surprising rulings is for Sharon D Clarke, who played Linda Loman opposite Wendell Pierce’s Willy Loman in Miranda Cromwell’s Death of a Salesman revival. Clarke will be eligible as a Featured Actress rather than Leading.
Both co-stars of The Collaboration – Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope – will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, rather than split up into leading and featured slots. Ohio State Murders, written by Adrienne Kennedy in 1991 and performed regionally but never on Broadway until this season, will be considered a revival in keeping with similar rulings in recent years about Broadway debuts of older shows such as The Boys in The Band.
Perhaps among the more surprising rulings is for Sharon D Clarke, who played Linda Loman opposite Wendell Pierce’s Willy Loman in Miranda Cromwell’s Death of a Salesman revival. Clarke will be eligible as a Featured Actress rather than Leading.
- 2/1/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
The Christmas season brings scores of ticket buyers to Broadway as tourists flood Times Square and locals bring visiting family to the theater. Many of those audiences should catch the bold new version of “A Christmas Carol” at the Nederlander Theater, where Tony-winner Jefferson Mays vaults through every single character in Charles Dickens’ classic ghost story. The production is an artistic triumph, but will it thaw the hearts of Tony nominators?
Holiday themed shows have historically demonstrated a shaky track record at the Tony Awards. The 2016 production of “Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn” earned a sole nomination for Denis Jones’ choreography. Before that, 2009’s “White Christmas” (another Berlin musical) nabbed nominations for Choreography and Orchestrations. In 2013 “A Christmas Story” became the first, and so far only, Christmas themed Best Musical nominee. It was also up for Score (Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) and Book of a Musical (Joseph Robinette). None of...
Holiday themed shows have historically demonstrated a shaky track record at the Tony Awards. The 2016 production of “Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn” earned a sole nomination for Denis Jones’ choreography. Before that, 2009’s “White Christmas” (another Berlin musical) nabbed nominations for Choreography and Orchestrations. In 2013 “A Christmas Story” became the first, and so far only, Christmas themed Best Musical nominee. It was also up for Score (Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) and Book of a Musical (Joseph Robinette). None of...
- 12/22/2022
- by Sam Eckmann
- Gold Derby
There are more than the usual number of miracles to be observed with the latest version of A Christmas Carol to hit Broadway. The usual suspects are here, all the ghosts and spirits and flights over ye olde town and all the witnessing of things past, present and future. And there’s the miracle of one man – the great Jefferson Mays – breathing life into more than 50 characters and having us believe every single shift. And there’s the perhaps more – if only slightly more – quotidian miracle of a creative team – directors of lighting and sound and costumes and projections – at the tops of their games coming together to create gobsmacking theater magic, a blessing director Michael Arden’s Carol has in great bounty.
But the true miracle of this production – full title: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol – opening tonight at the Nederlander Theatre is that it, or rather, he (as...
But the true miracle of this production – full title: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol – opening tonight at the Nederlander Theatre is that it, or rather, he (as...
- 11/22/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Jefferson Mays’ one-man A Christmas Carol is coming to Broadway this holiday season, with a 66-performance engagement previewing at the Nederlander Theatre on Tuesday, November 8 with an official opening night set for Monday, November 21. The production runs through Sunday, January 1, 2023.
“After everything we’ve been through in the past few years it seems fitting to tell the story of one man’s reflection and redemption on the Broadway stage” said Hunter Arnold, who produces with Kayla Greenspan. “In a time where the world needs each of us to look within and find our own best selves we are ecstatic to bring this iconic tale of metamorphosis and catharsis to audiences this holiday season.”
Mays (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) currently portrays Mayor Shinn in Broadway’s The Music Man starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. The actor will depart that role on Oct. 23.
In this version of...
“After everything we’ve been through in the past few years it seems fitting to tell the story of one man’s reflection and redemption on the Broadway stage” said Hunter Arnold, who produces with Kayla Greenspan. “In a time where the world needs each of us to look within and find our own best selves we are ecstatic to bring this iconic tale of metamorphosis and catharsis to audiences this holiday season.”
Mays (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) currently portrays Mayor Shinn in Broadway’s The Music Man starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. The actor will depart that role on Oct. 23.
In this version of...
- 9/7/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
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