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The Tony Nominations Are Out!

Are they good for the Jews?

by
Gabriela Geselowitz
April 28, 2015
Lisa Kron, playwright(Joan Marcus )
Lisa Kron, playwright(Joan Marcus )

This morning, Bruce Willis and Mary Louise Parker announced the nominees for the 69th annual Tony Awards, which celebrates the best of Broadway.

The question on everybody’s minds is: “Who will win?” The other question: “Will it be good for the Jews?” Well, yes—it’s the awards for theatre on Broadway. Let’s go over just a few of the most Semitic nominees:

An American in Paris is a top contender this year, with a whopping twelve nominations, including Best New Musical. It’s weird pitting the George and Ira Gershwin classic against a brand-spanking-new work, but because the musical film was given new life in a theatre production by emphasizing life in postwar Paris, it was not barred from Tony eligibility.

Also with twelve nominations is Fun Home, the musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir. Though her family members are the other kind of Bechdels (i.e., not Jewish), librettist Lisa Kron received two nominations for this show, namely Best Book of a Musical, and sharing Best Score with composer Jeanine Tesori (also Jewish, plus, she composed the heavily Jewish Tony Kushner musical Caroline or Change). Kron’s previous work includes 2.5 Minute Ride, a family memoir that includes a visit to Auschwitz with her Holocaust survivor father.

Fun Home‘s nominated director, Sam Gold, also a Member of the Tribe, is a self-described “neurotic New York Jew.” Well, no one does family dysfunction better than the Jews, so it makes sense that they hold the highest ranks of Fun Home‘s creative team. This show is one of the best new musicals I’ve seen on the Broadway stage in years, if not ever.

There are many, many producers nominated, and of course some of them are Jewish. But one person of interest is Edgar J. Bronfman, Jr., one of many producers of The Visit, a show a friend of mine recommended for those who find Follies not depressing enough. Maybe if they win (unlikely), he’ll live out his family legacy and take the cast on a free trip to Israel.

Speaking of The Visit, lyricist Fred Ebb, though dead for over a decade, has not stopped bringing new musicals to Broadway. He left enough material behind that this is his third posthumous Tony nomination. Composer and creative partner John Kander shares in the nomination, too; may he live to 120.

Speaking of dead Jewish musical theatre creators, the revival of The King and I has nine nominations, though it is too late for Rodgers or Hammerstein to grab any more awards. Ditto for Comden and Green, who from that great theater balcony in the sky can watch not one, but two productions of their shows, On the Twentieth Century and On the Town. Both fared well in nominations.

In terms of living people (spits to ward off evil eye), songwriter Stephen Schwartz—you know his work from Pippin, Wicked, Godspell, and a whole slew of animated movies, including Prince of Egypt—will receive a special award, otherwise known as the “Sorry You Never Won a Tony Award” Award. If Disney would step up and bring The Hunchback of Notre Dame to Broadway, Schwartz could get another shot at the competition, except the media conglomerate is too busy pushing for Frozen 3 or something, so this award will have to suffice in the meantime.

On the side of straight plays, there is a bit less to report, although Kenneth Lonergan’s Jewishly-themed This Is Our Youth (co-starring Tavi Gevinson) is nominated for Best Revival. Elizabeth Moss, who plays the titular character in Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles, is nominated for Best Actress in a Play.

Notable Semitic snubs? Oh yes, gads, including Jason Robert Brown for writing the songs for Honeymoon in Vegas. Don’t feel bad, JRB. No one from your show was nominated. Not even Tony Danza. Also nada for It Shoulda Been You: the Jewish mother stereotype must have felt just a bit tired to the Tony committee.

And how about Larry David’s play, A Fish in the Dark? Also nothing. And zilch for Dr. Zhivago, including its composer Lucy Simon (the sister of Carly).

Well, you can’t win them all. Sometimes you can’t even get on the ballot. But it’s going to be an exciting show, come June 7.

I, for one, will hyperventilate for the entire week beforehand; design the perfect snacks, interactive games, and wardrobe changes for my Tony party; and gently reach out and stroke the TV when I see someone I love during the telecast.

GO TEAM KRON!

Gabriela Geselowitz is a writer and the former editor of Jewcy.com.