Best Play Race 2014

I imagine the Best Musicals Race thread is easier to discuss because at least there all the eligible shows have started performances. Here, you have THE REALISTIC JONESES, CASA VALENTINA, ACT ONE and THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN that haven't even begun previews yet. That could be the entire field and none of us have seen these productions!

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No, he didn't. He was listing plays that have yet to start performances.

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Shows yet to begin sight unseen, I do think OUTSIDE MULLINGAR should merit a spot in the field. A TIME TO KILL, BRONX BOMBERS and THE SNOW GEESE are dead on arrival in my estimation, and ALL THE WAY or MOTHERS AND SONS could get edged out to better writing. But this is enough, I believe, for the category to have five nominees so I'd say the four yet to open, MULLINGAR, MOTHERS AND SONS and ALL THE WAY will be seven shows competing for five slots.

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Updated On: 3/13/14 at 11:30 AM

Outside Mulligar was terrible... ugh.

That will be counted as a revival- and be up against Machinal, Twelfth Night/Richard III, Glass Menagerie, Raisin in the Sun, Cripple of Inishmaan, and No Man's Land/Waiting for Godot. Macbeth will most likely be ignored totally.

A pretty strong year for play revivals.

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Surely nothing stands much of a chance for best revival against Glass.

I agree that TWELFTH NIGHT and WAITING FOR GODOT are each the more likely of their pairings to be nominated. Add OF MICE AND MEN to Kad's list and there should be five nominees here with the new rules, no?

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If they place Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill in the revival of a play category, it could be a game-changer. I think the final 5 nominees are going to be The Cripple Of Inishmaan, The Glass Menagerie, Of Mice and Men, Twelfth Night and Waiting For Godot.

Impossible to predict the Best Play nominees since so many of the contenders haven't even begun previews yet. Act One is the real wild card for me.

I think that Twelfth Night is more likely to win than Glass Menagerie. They were both stellar, but Twelfth Night became an "event" in a way that Glass Menagerie didn't. I think that Twelfth Night also has the English/Shakespeare snob appeal factor, and I wouldn't minimize the fact that Twelfth Night was just really fun, in a way I've never felt at a Shakespeare production before.

With a lot of worthy candidates, I don't think the nominators are going to nominate both Twelfth Night and Richard III. The award goes to the producers, so they would be nominating the same people twice. I think Inishmaan will make it in, which leaves two slots for the remaining likely candidates: Of Mice and Men, Godot, Raisin in the Sun, Lady Day, Machinal. I agree with Kad that Winslow Boy came out too early in the season to get a nomination (even though I personally would nominate it over Godot, which I found disappointing outside of McKellen and Hensley's performances).

I have a feeling that Raisin, Mice and Men, and Lady Day are all going to underwhelm, which I think would mean Godot and Machinal will be the last two.

ETA: I forgot about Betrayal, which wouldn't make my personal list but was generally well received. I don't think it will make it in, but it wouldn't be a shock if it did.

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Updated On: 3/15/14 at 11:43 AM