Profile for JoeW4

Just for the record: while Sharon D. Clarke wasn't nominated for this role, we know from the eligibility rulings that she was competing in the Featured category. As for this production: given we have quite a few data points from the last decade showing that Metcalf and Lane are not big box office draws, putting this in the Winter Garden is pretty comical.

Someone in the comments on Insta post speculated that it was a specific show from the Royal Court. I did a Google search of "Royal Court" with the "three sides" tagline, and led me to Simon McBurney's "The Kid Stars in the Picture,' which played in 2017, and did have aims to transfer to NYC that never materializedhttps://deadline.com/2019/11/robert-evans-broadway-kid-stays-in-the-picture-play-1202777117/Then again, it's not such a leap for another show to use the phrase "three sides to every ...

^And I would say Operation Mincemeat is quite a bit more UK-specific than Benjamin Button. I'd say Benjamin Button's themes have pretty universal appeal, and the style only feels British in the sense that the music seems to be drawn from nautical English folk (? maybe? I don't know if that's the correct description -- but that's also kind of my point: it doesn't feel specific to the point of being alienating)

It seems like every season there’s at least 1 show that keeps running for weeks/months despite hemorrhaging money. And we never seem to learn the lesson:We can’t try to apply regular fiscal logic to passion projects like this; RWHC for example has already demonstrated that minimizing financial loss isn’t their main MO. So we have no idea when they’ll close, because we have no idea how large their reserve and/or angel investment is.

Both "Liberation" and "We Had a World" are ineligible because they premiered in 2025, whereas Monday's announcement will only consider shows that submitted for the calendar year of 2024. "Liberation" and "We Had a World" will both be eligible next year.

I was *about* to say I'm surprised that Jon Michael Hill wasn't put in lead, but I didn't realize he's above the title with Jackson and Harry Lennix. Glad to see it!I did wonder if Marjan Neshat might go lead for English, but not terribly surprising that she didn't.

I posted a video on TikTok looking at a range of possible contenders, in case anyone is curious:But yes as BroadwayGirl said, Liberation will be eligible next year.Purpose's out of town run doesn't NECESSARILY mean it's eligible this year, as it's up to them whether they want to submit following their first run, or wait until a future (often NYC) run. However, in recent year' we've seen that Steppenwolf tends to submit for their runs, so I would guess that Purpose is eligible because it premi...

Sorry if I'm missing something in the article, but will this be open to the public? Or just an invite-only FYC event?

Can anyone think of a Word-of-Mouth gross swing as dramatic as MHE's in recent memory? (I realize they may or may not be able to sustain it, but I'm speaking in terms of the upswing itself, even if it doesn't last)Come From Away was making $600k in previews -- double what MHE was pulling in the equivalent timeframe.Gentleman's Guide seems roughly equivalent, but it took them longer than MHE to see an increase; their turnaround seemed to correlate more with the Tonys than with pure word of mou...

GottaGetAGimmick420 said: "Lee Sunday Evans directed that clunker of a musical about time travel recently in Brooklyn, so I'll pass.” Not going to fight you on Safety Not Guaranteed, but did you see Oratorio For Living Things? Dance Nation? In the Green? I thought she did some great work on those shows!

Aside from some of the names you mentioned, the first person to come to mind was Eric Tucker, from Bedlam theatre. His lack of Broadway credits is maybe self-explanatory, given the kind of work the company is known for -- but he's definitely been a fixture of the Off-Broadway scene for over a decade.In that same vein, you could throw the Fiasco Theatre folks in there too (Ben Steinfeld*, Noah Brody, et al).I also thought of Oskar Eustis* -- he's not necessarily all that acclaimed as a directo...

^In a space like the Newhouse, I have no doubt that either of those actors would create lot of demand for tickets. Would love to see McDormand return to the stage in this or anything!

Devastatingly sad news — both the loss itself, and to know they were struggling so much. I’m not familiar with Snowfall, but BLKS showed their promising talent, and Teenage Bounty Hunter was a criminally dismissed Netflix gem (I know they were one of many writers, but the show was so strongly written all around)

Those sorts of decisions are made by the director and choreographer. The film and the Broadway show were directed/choreographed by different people.And even if they were directed/choreographed by the same people, the two versions were made 20 years apart, and in different mediums. There's a huge range of artistic and/or logistical factors that might have led them to the decide that moment didn't fit what they were going for, but the most likely is that John M. Chu was simply staging the scene...

raddersons said: "Soho Rep also has a contract with Signature Center, at least for at least their upcoming season (possibly more, Idon’t remember). Plus The New Group does shows there, and Signature Theater themselves. Wild for four non-profit theaters to be operating out of the same building. Good time to be them." ^Soho Rep is renting from Playwrights Horizons, not Signature

Bobster159 said: "Wouldn't Yazbek rather wait a season so he's not competing with himself? I don't imagine Buena Vista Social Club will be a major contender, but you'd have to imagine he and those involved do. The vagaries of when theaters are offered probably mean they'll take what they can get,but you'd have to think that was a factor." Yazbek is not Tony-eligible for Buena Vista Social Club, as he didn't write the music. Nor do I get the impression that he's one of the major creative force...

For my money: the best musical of the 2020s so far is "Oratorio For Living Things," by a wide margin. As for plays, that's a lot harder, but I'd like to throw "English" into the conversation!

bigbelterbaby said: "Uncle Vanya is soo over produced, it was just on Broadway last season and didn’t do well." It averaged over $900k per week. For a non-profit run in a small house, that's quite good. We know that's largely because of Carrell, not because of the play, but still not really accurate to say it didn't sell. Unless you meant it didn't do well in terms of word of mouth / awards?

I agree it's noteworthy that they don't have any theatrical programming announced, or much programming in general -- but I'd guess it's just growing pains. It can't be easy for a new institution to build up a consistent pipeline of programming from scratch. I wonder if they put a lot of their eggs in their "premiere season" basket, and now have to begin the slog of trying to build up more consistent outside relationships and internal development. And on a more abstract level, they're probably...

ColorTheHours048 said: "Who sold their soul to make the Lortel the hot spot for wildly popular off-Broadway runs?"Part of it is that there are producers in common between some of the big shows that have played there (not necessarily with Vanya though, as far as I can determine with a quick search -- but maybe I'm missing key names).But maybe more importantly, I believe I heard somewhere that the Lortel recently changed their rules -- they used to only rent the theatre to non-profit companies,...