One Man & Rainbow lead Brit nominees at Tony Awards
The National Theatre’s transfer of One Man, Two Guvnors leads the way for British imports in the year’s Tony Award shortlists, announced today (1 May 2012) in New York, scooping a total of seven nominations, though notably not one for Best New Play.
Last month, Richard Bean’s updating of Goldoni farce A Servant of Two Masters controversially missed out on any Olivier Awards in London, though it triumphed at the Evening Standard, Critics’ Circle and Whatsonstage.com Awards, taking home Best New Play gongs at the first two and Best New Comedy at the third.
Though the Tony judges overlooked Bean’s script, it did single out two of the original company who transferred to New York with the production – Whatsonstage.com Award winner James Corden for Best Performance by an Actor in Leading Role and falling-down expert Tom Edden for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role.
Meanwhile, Mark Thompson earned two nods for his work One Man, Two Guvnors – for both Best Scenic Design and Best Costume Design – while the show’s other three nominations were for: NT artistic director Nicholas Hytner (Best Director), Grant Olding (Best Original Score) and Paul Arditti (Best Sound Design).
Other British-born productions that impressed the Tony judges, with three nominations apiece, were: End of the Rainbow (Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for Tracie Bennett, Best Sound Design for Gareth Owen and Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for US-cast Michael Cumpsty), Michael Grandage’s Evita (Best Revival of a Musical, Best Choreography for Rob Ashford and Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for US-cast Michael Cerveris), and Ghost the Musical (Best Scenic Design for Rob Howell and Jon Driscoll, Best Lighting Design for Hugh Vanstone and Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for US-cast Da’Vine Joy Randolph).
The US production of Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park, premiered at London’s Royal Court in 2009 and previously seen in the West End, also received four nominations, including Best Play. And the Broadway reprise of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar earned two nods, including Best Revival of a Musical.
Other Brits in the Tony Awards running include Andrew Garfield (Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for Death of a Salesman opposite Best Leading Actor nominee Philip Seymour Hoffman), lyricist Don Black (Best Original Score, along with composer Frank Wildhorn, for Bonnie and Clyde) and most of the creative team for the Dublin-set screen-to-stage adaptation of cult 2006 Irish film Once, which tops the shortlists with 11 nominations, including Best Book (Irish playwright Enda Walsh), Best Direction of a Musical (John Tiffany), Best Choreography (Steven Hoggett), Best Scenic Design Bob Crowley) and Best Orchestration (Martin Lowe) as well as Best Musical and three performance nods.
The 2012 Tony Awards are announced on Sunday 10 June. For the full list of nominations, visit www.tonyawards.com.
