Theater News

Pairs of Aces

Angela Lansbury and Frank Langella, Vanessa Redgrave and Charlotte d’Amboise, David Hyde Pierce and Orfeh, et.al. double up at the annual Meet the Tony Award Nominees event.

New York City

The annual “Meet the Tony Award Nominees” event at the Marriott Marquis proved to be more than just a chance for this year’s biggest stars to talk to the press, as old friends, new friends, and co-stars got to catch up. Here’s Frost/Nixon‘s Frank Langella, who won his first Tony in 1975 for Seascape, giving a big hug to Deuce‘s Angela Lansbury, who won her third Tony that same year for Gypsy.

Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson are Tony favorites for Grey Gardens, in which Ebersole plays Big Edith Beale in Act I and Wilson plays the same character in Act II as Ebersole takes on the role of Little Edie.

A Chorus Line star Charlotte d’Amboise and The Year of Magical Thinking‘s Vanessa Redgrave have more in common than just being Tony nominees; both are members of celebrated artistic families.

Audra McDonald and John Cullum, who already have six Tony Awards between them, play father and daughter in the Roundabout’s revival of 110 in the Shade.

John Gallagher, Jr. and Jonathan Groff play best friends in Spring Awakening — and the pair of young heartthrobs are great pals in real life as well.

In LoveMusik, Michael Cerveris and David Pittu have a complex relationship as collaborators Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, but they’re simply good buddies offstage.

Two of the year’s brightest musical theater performances are being given by first-time Tony nominees David Hyde Pierce, as Detective Frank Cioffi in Curtains, and Orfeh as beautician Paulette in Legally Blonde.

Pierce’s former Spamalot castmate Christian Borle, now starring as young lawyer Emmett Foster in Legally Blonde, cuddles up to his lovely co-star, Laura Bell Bundy.

Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio earned a Best Revival nomination, thanks in no small part to the blazing performance of its star, past Tony winner Liev Schreiber.

Will the third time be the charm for Rebecca Luker, nominated for her role of Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins? That show’s leading man, the amazing Gavin Lee, earned a Tony nomination as Bert — and this is his American stage debut!

Bucking the conventional wisdom that closed shows are forgotten at Tony time, playwright Douglas Carter Beane earned a nod for The Little Dog Laughed, as did the show’s extraordinary leading lady, Julie White.

Anthony Chisholm and John Earl Jelks of August Wilson’s Radio Golf nabbed two of the five spots for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

The stunning revival of Journey’s End was acknowledged by the Tony nominators, with three-time Tony winner Boyd Gaines getting a Best Leading Actor in a Play nod and Broadway newcomer Stark Sands earning one for Best Featured Actor, among other nominations.

Only two shows are competing in the Best Theatrical Event category this year: Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway, which starred Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman as the aging lounge lizards…


…and Jay Johnson: The Two and Only, which featured the famed ventriloquist and his many sidekicks. Johnson and old pal Bob held a press conference at Sardi’s early yesterday to announce that Bob, who was created for the landmark 1970s sitcom Soap, will soon have a new home: the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.