Best Play Race 2014

[theatergoer3]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 9:49pm

Since there was a thread for musicals, I thought there should be one for plays. What plays do you think have the best chance at getting nominated and what ones do you want to be nominated ?

[jnb9872]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 10:45pm

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!

[gleek4114]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 10:53pm

You forgot Outside Mullingar.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:00pm

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

[gleek4114]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:40pm

Sorry my bad. I tend to skim.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 11:30am

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.

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

[CoreyRyan3]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 12:10pm

I'm gonna go ahead and make an early prediction: Act One, Outside Mullingar, All the Way, Mothers and Sons, Casa Valentina (as a spoiler or as the 5th spot).

[tmbyru]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 4:49pm

Outside Mulligar was terrible... ugh.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 7:45pm

Hopefully they don't forget about THE WINSLOW BOY which was outstanding.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 8:16pm

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.

[MKunkel]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 8:33pm

It will be interesting in the Play Revival field since Richard III, Twelfth Night, Waiting for Godot, and No Man's Land are all being considered as individual productions.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 9:10pm

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

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 9:22pm

I don't know about that, Twelfth Night got extremely good reviews as well. I think those are probably the top two contenders at this point though.

And I would imagine that of the repertory plays, Waiting for Godot and Twelfth Night are much more likely to be nominated than Richard III and No Man's Land, especially since Twelfth Night played far more performances than Richard III did. I would love to see Richard III nominated also but it doesn't really seem likely since the field is so strong this year.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 9:30pm

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?

[Kad]

Posted: 3/14/14 at 12:49am

I knew I had to be forgetting one.

I think the nominees may very well be:

Glass Menagerie
Twelfth Night
Richard III
Machinal

If five: Godot or Inishmaan for the last slot.

I think Winslow Boy will be lost in the shuffle due to it having been one of the earliest productions in the season- and Machinal being a more interesting and relevant choice to represent Roundabout.

I also think the nominating committee won't pass up the chance to lavish nominations on the Shakespeare rep, possibly at the expense of something like Godot- which was well-received, but not really loved.

[Freeman5]

Posted: 3/14/14 at 7:06pm

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.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 8:06am

Oh right, and I forgot about that one. I don't think it'd be a game changer... I think it's most likely going to be a Play Revival; if it goes somewhere else I think that'd be a game changer, personally. Of course, how much it changes the game depends on how its received...

It's a promising spring, though, that's for sure!

[mikem]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 11:43am

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.

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

[jnb9872]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 6:01pm

Yeah, and I doubt the producers of BETRAYAL will make a push for it, having made their money and barely having broken a sweat doing it, despite its reception. Safe to say they're out of the crowded field.

The reviews of INISHMAAN from London really have me anxious to see it, and really this category could just be West End transfers and I'd be happy with that (though a snub of MENAGERIE would have me sad, so nevermind... also that's not likely to happen.)