Tonys 2015 Noms (nom nom nom nom nom)

8:58 am: Playbill.com refuses to load for me.
8:59 am: Gave up on Playbill.com and switched over to Broadwayworld.com

Okay. So disclaimer, I didn't see a whole lot this season because 1) I don't live in NYC right now and 2) Broadway is expensive and I'm but a lowly college grad with no income (yet...) But I'm going to do my best and predict winners anyway, because although I haven't physically sat in the audience for all of them, I like to think I keep pretty well informed. If there's a category I really can't predict, it'll be notated.


Click here for list of nominations.

Best Play
I only saw one of the plays in this category, and it was honestly one of the best shows I've ever seen on Broadway. But I think it closed too soon to be remembered, and thus the race is really between Hand to God and Curious Incident. I've heard amazing things about both, and since I've seen neither I can't make a final prediction.

Best Musical
Again, I only saw one of these musicals, which is just depressing. Based on reviews alone, the race is between An American in Paris and Fun Home. My prediction is An American in Paris just because it's the one I saw and I absolutely adored every second.

Best Revival of a Play
Wow. I sucked at seeing shows this year. I only saw This is Our Youth, and as much as I love that show, it's not going to win. I can't make a prediction here.

Best Revival of a Musical
Oh how I wish I could be absolutely positively certain that On the Town is taking this category by storm. I'm going to predict On the Town just because I am in love with the production, the cast, and its journey from Pittsfield, MA.

Best Book of a Musical
Haven't seen it yet, but Fun Home will win here.

Best Original Score 
Can I be completely honest? I want The Last Ship to win here, but it won't. My guess is Fun Home.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
What a crazy category this year -- and I'm saying that having seen none of these performances. Based on what I know, I think it'll be between Steven Boyer and Alex Sharp. But obviously the rest of the world is rooting for Bradley Cooper. Also, Cooper winning a Tony would be good press . . .

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
I mean, Helen Mirren should probably win.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
All five of these men deserve this award. My heart says Tony Yazbeck, but my head says Robert Fairchild. And the world says one of the other three. It's a toss up in my opinion.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Again, how could one possibly choose?! I think Kelli O'Hara will win, because she was totally snubbed last year, and gosh that woman is just amazing. But Fun Home . . .

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Absolutely no opinion/prediction here.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
I'm guessing Sarah Stiles for Hand to God.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

Max von Essen deserves this Tony. Christian Borle will win this Tony.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

Judy Kuhn for Fun Home. If it's not her, it will be one of the other two women/girls from Fun Home.

Best Scenic Design of a Play

My bet is on Curious Incident.

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

No clue, although An American in Paris had some pretty neat set stuff going on.

Best Costume Design of a Play

The costuming for Wolf Hall looked unbelievable. My money is on Wolf Hall.

Best Costume Design of a Musical

How is one to choose?! They're all so different, but all so good. 

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Curious Incident.

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Fun Home.

Best Direction of a Play

Hand to God.

Best Direction of a Musical

Oh this is a tough one. Big names here. My money is on John Rando, but really it could be any of the five.

Best Choreography

Josh Bergasse deserves it, Christopher Wheeldon will win. Or in a total upset, Scott Graham & Steven Hoggett for Frantic Assembly (Curious Incident) will come out on top.

Best Orchestrations

Wow. This is some tough competition. I'm just going to say Fun Home.

So there's my predictions, or at least some of them. I probably won't be very accurate, but it's still fun to predict. Do a little looking around this blog if you haven't read reviews on the shows I did see this season. They're all here. And tune in June 7th!

An American in Paris

I've been waiting to read the reviews until I wrote this blog post, because I don't want my thoughts to be influenced by what's written in the New York Times.

While I haven't read any reviews yet, I have checked http://www.didhelikeit.com/ just to see which way the thumb was pointing (check out the site and you'll understand what I mean if you don't already).

Here's a hint . . . the thumb is pointing up.

Deservedly so, in my opinion, because "An American in Paris" is stunningly gorgeous in every way. From the set to the costumes to the lighting to the projections to the acting to the dancing . . . it's all beautiful.

You might be thinking, "But Emily doesn't like old-timey musicals! How could she have such great things to say about this one?!" Over the last few seasons, I've learned that it takes two things to get me really into a classic musical -- an unbelievable cast and unbelievable dancing. "On the Town" for example, has both. "An American in Paris" has both.

Usually it's the music that gets me, but that wasn't the case here. Yeah, the songs are nice and pretty and classic, but it's the dancing that pulled me in here. The dancing left me awestruck. I swear to you my mouth was hanging open in shock half the time. Everything else that happened during the two and a half hours on the stage of the Palace Theater was secondary to the dancing, and only served to enhance the beauty of movement.

I don't even feel the need to single anyone out to discuss their performance, because the entire ensemble as a whole was just that good. Obviously there were moments when my eye was drawn to certain actors over others -- Charlie Sutton was just too perfect not to watch at times -- but everyone was on the same level.

The three men -- Robert Fairchild, Max von Essen, and Brandon Uranowitz -- all steal your heart at different moments throughout. They each brought something different to the show as a whole. Fairchild, obviously, is the dancer, von Essen is the singer, and Uranowitz is the actor. But Fairchild and Uranowitz could sing and act when called upon, von Essen and Uranowitz could act and dance, and Fairchild and von Essen could act. It just worked.

Shocker: Leanne Cope was fantastic. You couldn't help but root for her and hope she got the happy ending alluded to throughout. The costumes added to the float-y feel of the whole show. Also, all set pieces (except for what was flown) was brought in by the ensemble, or rather danced in. I thought that was a lovely touch.

Don't you wish your family was as fantastically amazing as the Fairchild family? (Figure out who Robert's sister is you didn't understand that reference.)

"An American in Paris" comes highly recommended from me and Charles Isherwood. So you really must go see this show.