“A Strange Loop” Sashays To The Top Of The 2022 Tony Award Nominations

The 2021 Tony Awards were as novel as the COVID-19 coronavirus which resulted in a truncated season that left Moulin Rouge star Aaron Tveit as the only actor nominated in his category. *Spoiler alert* He won. But this year, Broadway told that bitch Rona, “we’ll do it live, fuck it!” and came back swinging for the 2022 season. Today, the Tony Award nominations were announced, and sadly, Neil Patrick Harris was snubbed for his role in Inside Inside Edition: The Bill O’Reilly Story: The Musical. But that’s probably because A Strange Loop, the Pulitzer-Prize winning musical by Michael R. Jackson, that has an entire number devoted to reading Tyler Perry for filth, gobbled up 11 nominations including Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical, Best Performance in a leading role for newcomer Jaquel Spivey and Best Performance in a Featured role for John-Andrew Morrison. So really, Madea should be on her hands and knees thanking Michael R. for getting her as close to a Tony Award, and a Pulitzer, as she’ll ever get.

Speaking of Michaels Jackson, MJ The Musical, the Michael Jason jukebox musical, came away with 10 noms including Best Performance in a Leading Role for Myles Frost. Myes and Michael R. better watch their backs, because if they win, The Jackson Estate might try to come for their Tonys and send them on a hologram victory tour. Paradise Square, a musical that Playbill says “repurposes popular 19th-century music to tell the story of a time when Black and Irish Americans lived side by side for a brief period of racial harmony before the looming Civil War,” also got 10 nominations. Personally, I’ll probably just wait for Blazing Saddles! The Musical because that’s the only rendition of Camptown Races I ever need to hear again.

As we know, the Funny Girl revival was a flop with critics, and that was reflected in its single nomination for Best Actor in a Featured role going to hoofer extraordinaire Jared Grimes. That’s unfortunate for Beanie Feldstein, but really, if she wanted it badly enough, she would have started a global pandemic like Aaron did. Something I’m sure Lea Michele would have done without a single, solitary regret. Other musical theater nominees we’ve heard of include Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster for the beleaguered Scott Rudin produced revival of The Music Man, Billy Crystal for Mr. Saturday Night, an adaptation of the 1992 movie, and Patti LuPone for throwing a drink in the front row’s face 8-times a week in the revival of Stephen Sondheim‘s Company. I hear she calls the front row “Andrew Lloyd Webber” and hisses “Cinderella, mother fucker!” under her breath when she does it too.

Here are the musical nominations. via Playbill:

Best Musical
Girl From The North Country
MJ
Mr. Saturday Night
Paradise Square
SIX: The Musical
A Strange Loop

Best Revival of a Musical
Caroline, or Change
Company
The Music Man

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Billy Crystal, Mr. Saturday Night
Myles Frost, MJ
Hugh Jackman, The Music Man
Rob McClure, Mrs. Doubtfire
Jaquel Spivey, A Strange Loop

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Sharon D Clarke, Caroline, or Change
Carmen Cusack, Flying Over Sunset
Sutton Foster, The Music Man
Joaquina Kalukango, Paradise Square
Mare Winningham, Girl From The North Country

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Matt Doyle, Company
Sidney DuPont, Paradise Square
Jared Grimes, Funny Girl
John-Andrew Morrison, A Strange Loop
A.J. Shively, Paradise Square

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Jeannette Bayardelle, Girl From The North Country
Shoshana Bean, Mr. Saturday Night
Jayne Houdyshell, The Music Man
L Morgan Lee, A Strange Loop
Patti LuPone, Company
Jennifer Simard, Company

Best Book of a Musical
Girl From The North Country, Conor McPherson
MJ, Lynn Nottage
Mr. Saturday Night, Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel
Paradise Square, Christina Anderson, Craig Lucas & Larry Kirwan
A Strange Loop, Michael R. Jackson

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Flying Over Sunset; Music by Tom Kitt, Lyrics by Michael Korie
Mr. Saturday Night; Music by Jason Robert Brown, Lyrics by Amanda Green
Paradise Square; Music by Jason Howland, Lyrics by Nathan Tysen and Masi Asare
SIX: The Musical, Music and Lyrics by Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss
A Strange Loop, Music and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Beowulf Boritt and 59 Productions, Flying Over Sunset
Bunny Christie, Company
Arnulfo Maldonado, A Strange Loop
Derek McLane and Peter Nigrini, MJ
Allen Moyer, Paradise Square

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Fly Davis, Caroline, or Change
Toni-Leslie James, Paradise Square
William Ivey Long, Diana, The Musical
Santo Loquasto, The Music Man
Gabriella Slade, SIX: The Musical
Paul Tazewell, MJ

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Neil Austin, Company
Tim Deiling, SIX: The Musical
Donald Holder, Paradise Square
Natasha Katz, MJ
Bradley King, Flying Over Sunset
Jen Schriever, A Strange Loop

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Simon Baker, Girl From The North Country
Paul Gatehouse, SIX: The Musical
Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Company
Drew Levy, A Strange Loop
Gareth Owen, MJ

Best Direction of a Musical
Stephen Brackett, A Strange Loop
Marianne Elliott, Company
Conor McPherson, Girl From The North Country
Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage, SIX: The Musical
Christopher Wheeldon, MJ

Best Choreography
Camille A. Brown, for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf
Warren Carlyle, The Music Man
Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, SIX: The Musical
Bill T. Jones, Paradise Square
Christopher Wheeldon, MJ

Best Orchestrations
David Cullen, Company
Tom Curran, SIX: The Musical
Simon Hale, Girl From The North Country
Jason Michael Webb and David Holcenberg, MJ
Charlie Rosen, A Strange Loop

Broadway always skews heavily towards money-making musicals, but there was also plenty of prestige to be found on the Great White Way. Here are the nominations for plays, which are kind of like musicals but they’re easier to fall asleep to. Sometimes a lot of doors get slammed in plays, but at least there’s none of that infernal tapping. I’d say most notable among these nominations is the one for Jesse Williams, whose poor children are going to have to wear hand-me-downs and maybe even share a bedroom now that their dad has given up his lucrative job on Grey’s Anatomy to live out his life, post-divorce, as a starving artist. Too bad you can’t eat a Tony. Those kids are going to have to be satisfied gnawing the bones of all his old, discarded People’s Choice Awards.

Best Play
Clyde’s, by Lynn Nottage
Hangmen, by Martin McDonagh
The Lehman Trilogy, by Stefano Massini and Ben Power
The Minutes, by Tracy Letts
Skeleton Crew, by Dominique Morisseau

Best Revival of a Play
American Buffalo
for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf
How I Learned to Drive, by Paula Vogel
Take Me Out
Trouble in Mind, by Alice Childress

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Simon Russell Beale, The Lehman Trilogy
Adam Godley, The Lehman Trilogy
Adrian Lester, The Lehman Trilogy
David Morse, How I Learned to Drive
Sam Rockwell, American Buffalo
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Lackawanna Blues
David Threlfall, Hangmen

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Gabby Beans, The Skin of Our Teeth
LaChanze, Trouble in Mind
Ruth Negga, Macbeth
Deirdre O’Connell, Dana H.
Mary-Louise Parker, How I Learned to Drive

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Alfie Allen, Hangmen
Chuck Cooper, Trouble in Mind
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Take Me Out
Ron Cephas Jones, Clyde’s
Michael Oberholtzer, Take Me Out
Jesse Williams, Take Me Out

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Uzo Aduba, Clyde’s
Rachel Dratch, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Kenita R. Miller, for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf
Phylicia Rashad, Skeleton Crew
Julie White, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Kara Young, Clyde’s

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Beowulf Boritt, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Michael Carnahan and Nicholas Hussong, Skeleton Crew
Es Devlin, The Lehman Trilogy
Anna Fleischle, Hangmen
Scott Pask, American Buffalo
Adam Rigg, The Skin of Our Teeth

Best Costume Design of a Play
Montana Levi Blanco, The Skin of Our Teeth
Sarafina Bush, for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf
Emilio Sosa, Trouble in Mind
Jane Greenwood, Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite
Jennifer Moeller, Clyde’s

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Joshua Carr, Hangmen
Jiyoun Chang, for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf
Jon Clark, The Lehman Trilogy
Jane Cox, Macbeth
Yi Zhao, The Skin of Our Teeth

Best Sound Design of a Play
Justin Ellington, for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf
Mikhail Fiksel, Dana H.
Palmer Hefferan, The Skin of Our Teeth
Nick Powell and Dominic Bilkey, The Lehman Trilogy
Mikaal Sulaiman, Macbeth

Best Direction of a Play
Lileana Blain-Cruz, The Skin of Our Teeth
Camille A. Brown, for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf
Sam Mendes, The Lehman Trilogy
Neil Pepe, American Buffalo
Les Waters, Dana H.

Pic: YouTube