The senior theatre critic explains the world series (which is theater, too)

I know, it's odd that I break my long silence (excuses below) to comment on the world series, but it is one of our great national dramas.

And like any good drama, it involves the audience, which creates a crisis for us in Pittsburgh: How can we bring ourselves to root for a team from Philadelphia? On the other hand -- and especially for a New England-bred Red Sox fan such as myself -- how could we bring ourselves to root for the Goldman Sachs of baseball, the Yankees? (I shudder typing it.)

As a Pittsburgher and Red Sox fan, I wouldn't root for the Yankees if they were playing the Cleveland Indians . . . or France . . . or Al Quaeda . . . well, maybe if they were playing France. And it's just too simple to hope that every game will be rained out or that both cities will be washed into the sea.

So my solution, elegant in its simplicity, is to root against the home team in each game, thereby maximizing the anguish. So far, I'm 1 for 1, and I'm rooting for the Philles (yech) in game 2.

As to my long silence, blame it on summer, producing "Off the Record IX," a theater critics conference in NYC, etc., etc. Meanwhile, I've been seeing a lot of theater which, for the most part, I have not been writing about in the PG, so I should have been writing about it here. I plan to get right back in the saddle.

Chris Rawson's OnStage: Taste, Sondheim, Chris Laitta and "Off the Record"

They say there's no arguing about taste, but of course that's wrong -- taste is probably what we argue about most. (It's facts about which there ought to be no arguing, but there is, because some people -- always on the other side of the argument, of course -- don't care any more about facts than reason.)

So this is my disclaimer, taking a long way around to a letter in a Weekend Feedback complaining about Stephen Sondheim's score for "Into the Woods," several weeks back when I was playing hooky on a golf course in New England.

Now I would have thought that Sondheim's score was beyond argument. I can see objections to his re-writing beloved fairy tales with grownup insight (but they're hardly any more cynical or grim than the Grimm originals), or to his inventing a tale (The Baker and His Wife) in order to weave the others together, or to his connecting Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty as generic maiden-and-prince fantasies, or to his following the sweetly satiric Act 1 with the apocalyptic Act 1, and so on.

Not that I feel those objections at all, since the show has such wit and insight -- just that I can see them coming up. But the score? The one that contains wit, feeling and just plain gorgeous passion? Not so, according to Mike Aleprete of Plum, who said in his letter, after praising the production and performances:

My only complaint was the score by Stephen Sondheim. I just don't get what all the accolades and praise this guy gets for his music. I thought it was monotonous, nerve-wracking and boring. As a matter of fact, I think all of his later works like this and "Sweeney Todd" are terrible. I loved his early music like "West Side Story," and "Anyone Can Whistle." What happened?

Leaving aside the failures of information (the "West Side Story" music is by Leonard Bernstein) and omissions (my own Sondheim favorite is "A Little Night Music"), plus specifics of taste ("Anyone Can Whistle"?!), I'd like to lay this response to a general failure of taste. But taste can't really fail, can it? Just differ.

So instead I'd like to lay this opinion to unfamiliarity, which leads me to this simple offer: If reader Aleprete will send me a snail mail address, I will mail him my own "Into the Woods" CD. If he listens to it twice and doesn't find that it has risen dramatically in his estimation, I will confess myself (and Sondheim) defeated, and in recompense, he can keep (or trash) the CD as a trophy of his victory.

But if he discovers that a little familiarity reveals some of Sondheim's fund of melody, not alone his wit (NO ONE could miss the wit), then he has to mail me back my CD.

Of course, if he remains impervious to Sondheim, he probably wouldn't want to keep my CD, so he might mail it back to me anyway.

 NEWS BITS

(1) I first learned from my Facebook wall (yes, even the senior theater critic is on Facebook, though not so often as to make much of a ripple) that Chris Laitta is performing her "TV Tunes" at the CLO Cabaret this week, Sept. 10 and 12. So I've done a podcast interview with her, which you can hear by clicking here.

That I think Chris is a fine performer is obvious, since I keep casting her in our annual Pittsburgh spoof, "Off the Record." This year she's playing Lynn Cullen in "Off the Record IX: High School Confidential!" It's at the Byham Theater, Thursday, Oct. 1. Tickets are already on sale at 412-456-6666, and as usual, proceeds benefit the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

(2) Many-award winning director (a fistful of Tonys, to start) Trevor Nunn directs an ensemble cast led by Kevin Spacey and David Troughton in "Inherit the Wind," Lawrence and Lee's highly relevant drama inspired by the famous 1925 Scopes ‘Monkey Trial,' when school teacher John Scopes stood accused of violating a Tennessee statute by teaching Darwin's theory of evolution. It opens on Broadway Sept. 18 and runs into December.

Chris Rawson's OnStage: ATCA protests critics' loss of Tony vote

Following is a message I sent today on behalf of the American Theatre Critics Association to the Broadway League and American Theatre Wing, who jointly administer the Tony Awards.

To: Nina Lannan, Chair, and Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director, The Broadway League; and Theodore Chapin, Chairman, and Howard Sherman, Executive Director, American Theatre Wing

Now that the initial uproar has eased, the Executive Committee of the American Theatre Critics Association urges the Tony Management Committee to reconsider its recent decision to disenfranchise theater critics who vote for the Tony Awards.

Among the artists, craftspeople and producers who comprise most of that electorate, critics are the least biased voters with the broadest, best informed view of the theatrical scene. Their participation enhances the legitimacy of the Tonys, which otherwise would look parochial and self-congratulatory.

Critics are also natural participants. All around the country there are similar theatrical awards programs in which critics play a leading role; ATCA itself administers several. Disenfranchising critics from the Tonys fits no sensible rationale. Analogies to the Oscars and Emmys miss the point that theater is always alive and local -- whereas movie and TV critics are many and widely dispersed, New York theater critics are limited and well placed to help celebrate Broadway.

If the unspoken aim is to reduce the number of free tickets producers must provide, it would be better to take the vote away from the editors and columnists on the 100-person first night list, leaving the genuine critics. Or just start anew with the New York Drama Critics Circle and add other critics as seems best. Of course, the greatest saving would be to refuse all voters' requests for extra tickets or second viewings.

But these are housekeeping details, well within the competence of the Tony Committee. Whatever the perceived problem may be, tossing out the critics isn't the answer. This is a time when the Fabulous Invalid and the beleaguered critical community should be making common cause for their art. Haven't the American Theatre Wing and Broadway League always supported that ideal?

(signed) Christopher Rawson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Chairman, ATCA Executive Committee

BACKGROUND: ATCA is the only national organization representing American theater critics. Founded in 1974 by (among others) Henry Hewes, Elliot Norton, Richard Coe, Edith Oliver and Dan Sullivan, it sponsors yearly conferences and symposia and sends members to the seminars and congresses of the International Association of Theatre Critics. It makes a recommendation for the regional theater Tony and votes on the Theater Hall of Fame, and through its Foundation, it annually awards the $40,000 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA and M. Elizabeth Osborn new play awards and $10,000 Francesca Primus Prize.

Chris Rawson's OnStage: The Tony Awards unwisely disenfranchise the critics, and great is the wailing thereat

If you've recently heard wailings and gnashing of teeth in the small community of New York theater critics, noisy enough to register in the larger world, it's because the Tony Awards have announced they're cutting critics out of the electorate.

There are about 800 electors, mainly made up of producers (including presenters of Broadway productions on tour, such as the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust) and representatives of the main theater unions (actors, choreographers, designers, press agents, etc.). But roughly 100 of the 800 are members of the "first night press list," which is made up of the most influential critics (more about that later) plus arts editors and others (more about that, too), and all these have just been exiled from the kingdom.

On the face of it, it's foolish, especially given the half-hearted reason obliquely cited, which is that voting creates a conflict of interest for the critics. In this, as in so much else, the Tony people have been bedazzled by the New York Times, which prohibits (dissuades? doesn't like?) its critics' voting on awards they also report on. But the Times is pretty much alone on this, and anyway, this position is insulting to critics. Should no political reporter be allowed to vote for mayor or president? Should no sports writer be allowed to vote for the baseball Hall of Fame?

Obviously conflict of interest can't be the real reason, because conflict (i.e. partisanship) is much greater for those theatrical craftsmen whose paychecks are affected by the awards, which have real commercial value. For a critic, the only conflict I can imagine is in voting for a show in order to validate the critic's published opinion -- but how is that a conflict, rather than simply expressing judgment, which any voter ought to do?

This is why most critics in their predictions columns give their own preference but also predict a more likely winner -- they can see the difference, even if the Tony people can't. Having an opinion about what's good isn't a conflict of interest, it's the basis of an informed vote. Or maybe it is a conflict for industry insiders, who want to vote for their own shows, excellence be damned, so they assume others have similar conflicts.

Cutting out the critics is mainly foolish because they're generally the best informed part of the electorate. That's why in many cities that have their own versions of the Tonys, the critics are the major or even only voters -- who else but the critics have had the time to see most of the shows, even before the nominations come out? No one is supposed to vote for the Tonys who hasn't seen all the nominees, but surely critics meet this requirement more often than others.

Once the Tony nominations do come out, all 800 voters are supposed to see all the nominated plays still running, and they get free tickets, two per person. So this is probably the real reason to cut out the first night list -- so producers can save on the free tickets that these 100 voters scarf up.

Of course, the critics have already seen most of the shows, so you might wonder, where's the saving? Two places. First, there are those 100 names on the favored first night list. Not so many of them are critics as you might think. The New York Drama Critics Circle, which polices its rolls carefully, has about 20 members. There may be some other major suburban or out-of-town critics on the first night list, but the bulk of it isn't critics at all, but influential editors and publishers and columnists. In fact, the New York Times is said to have a half-dozen or more names on the list. They dissuade their critics from voting, but apparently other staffers are free to accept the producers' largesse.

So the Tony committee could disenfranchise all these non-critics and keep the critics onboard. But the word is that they fear making those distinctions, since they'd be offending some powerful journalists. It's easier just to throw the baby out with the bathwater -- the critics with the freeloaders.

The second saving is this. The recent furor has revealed that when the nominations come out, Tony voters can ask for free tickets even if (as with the critics) they've already seen a show. You can see why no producer wants to turn down a ticket request when a single vote might be the difference in winning a Tony. The cost in free tickets is huge. So why not simply declare, Broadway-wide, that no one of the 800 Tony voters gets a second pair of free tickets, not just the 100 first nighters? That would save plenty of money and be even-handed, as well.

The main area in which I do feel for the producers is in the increasing difficulty of determining who, in a welter of print columnists and web columnists and bloggers and twitterers, is really a critic. Throw in the historic tension between producers and critics, and I'm sure it's tempting just to diss them all. Maybe that's what happened. But that's dereliction of duty. Producers (actually, press agents, whom they hire to do this work) already have to sort out the more important critics when they hand out reviewers' tickets, so why is it so impossible to make those distinctions when creating a Tony voter list?

Bottom Line: The worst part of all this, to my mind, is that it further marginalizes critics, just at a time when this important part of the theater ecosystem is under financial siege, with newspapers at risk. Critics help define and celebrate the theatrical community. Don't deprive them of this traditional involvement. The theater will be the loser for it.

Chris Rawson is current chair of the American Theatre Critics Association. Although ATCA is making its own protest against this new Tony policy, this column represents Rawson's own opinions, not ATCA's.

Chris Rawson's OnStage: The Jimmys are launched

NEW YORK, 2 a.m. Saturday night/Sunday morning --

What a great start to the Jimmys! Some of the pros on the judges panel clearly thought they were doing community service by judging a group of high school students, but watching the 32 young contestants do their audition solos and ensemble pieces, they were surprised to discover a freshet of real (if unformed) talent. As one said, in only partial exaggeration, a few of the 32 could move to New York right now and get work.

Afterward, Van Kaplan and I adjourned with the five judges to a backstage room at NYU's handsome Skirball Center, and the debate was smart and long. Pictures of the consensus best boys and girls, about a half-dozen of each, were put up on the wall and their performances praised and faulted in surprising detail.

They weren't necessarily the best from Van's or my point of view, but we bit our tongues, being there just to facilitate. In my own case, about half were, and half weren't, but I'm not a pro - well, not that kind of pro. In Van's case, he's had the experience of working with the kids for several days, so he knows a lot more, good and bad. But here the focus was properly on their performances.

The real fun was later, as the Pittsburgh crew of 15 or so that's running the Jimmys piled into a bar across the street from the NYU dorm where most of them are staying. After several days of working with heterogeneous high school students, about half of whom have some idea of musical theater (and even professional credits), while the others are good singers who don't otherwise know what's going on, and after more than a few well-earned drinks, there was some definite letting-off of steam, much of it very funny. You know, backstage stories. My lips are sealed.

Last night's judging was just to create a hierarchy. In tonight's show, with Kathy Lee Gifford as host and Tommy Tune among the presenters, the judges will watch the ensemble pieces again (where they reprise bits of the performances that won their local awards), then adjourn to pick four finalists -- two girls, two boys -- who will do their solo numbers. Then a quick vote for the two winners.

Last night's judges were Bernie Telsey, leading casting director (and much more); Nick Scandalios, Nederlander organization exec v-p; Kent Gash, actor, director, CMU grad and head of a musical theater program at the Tisch School at NYU; Montego Glover, actress on "Color Purple," etc.; and Susan Lee, native Pittsburgher, marketing whiz and idea woman with the Nederlanders.

Montego and Susan were actually sitting in for Alecia Parker of National Artists Management and Scott Ellis of Broadway's Roundabout Theater, both of whom were stuck elsewhere. But they'll be here tonight, with Montego and Susan participating also, for continuity.

BTW, my title turns out to be Judicial Administrator, so don't cross me. I have Powers -- and I don't mean just the Irish whiskey of that name.

A few tickets to the 2009 Jimmy Awards are still available at www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu, at 212-352-3101 or at the Skirball Center, 566 LaGuardia Place (at Washington Square South). The show's at 7:30 p.m.

Pictures: (Top) Van Kaplan talks to some exhausted contestants (director/choreographer Kiesha Lalama-White at left); (2) Elizabeth Bailey of CAPA; (3) Kian McCollum of Chartiers Valley.

Student Blog: Click here for a student's eye blog, by last year's Kelly Critic Award winner, Casey McDermott.

*  *  *

The 32 nominees for the 2009 National High School Musical Theater Award are: Elizabeth Bailey (Pittsburgh CAPA - Pittsburgh, PA); Erin Borain (Alpharetta High School - Atlanta, Georgia); Alec Brashear (Lower Dauphin High School - Hershey, PA); Rebecca Brinkley (Cedar Ridge High School - Raleigh, NC); David Broyles (Newton South High School - Beverly, MA); Anthony Bruno (Bergen County Academies - Millburn, NJ); Stephanie Cooksey (Stratford High School - Houston, TX); Alejandro Fallick (Stratford High School - Houston, TX); Sarah Franklin (Lutheran High School of OC - Yorba Linda, CA); Grace Hardin (Ridgefield High School - Norwich, CT); Emily Higgins (Danvers High School - Beverly, MA); Seth Johnson (Cary Academy - Raleigh, NC); Julia Knitel (Fair Lawn High School - Millburn, NJ); Krystal Lawton (The School of the Arts - Rochester, NY); Sam Leake (Sterling High School - Wichita, KS); Stephen Mark (Ridgefield High School - Norwich, CT); Chauncey Matthews (San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts - San Diego, CA); Kian McCollum (Chartiers Valley High School - Pittsburgh, PA); Ryan Morton (Orange County School of the Arts - Yorba Linda, CA); Mallory Moser (Trinity Valley School - Fort Worth, TX); Adrien Pellerin (Atlanta International School - Atlanta, GA); Joe Pudetti (Penfield High School - Rochester, NY); Keegan Rice (Shawnee Mission West - Kansas City, MO); Michelle Rubich (Briarcliff High School - NY, NY); Aaron Sauer (Don Bosco Prep High School - NY, NY); Taryn Sprenkle (East Pennsboro High School - Hershey, PA); Samantha Steinmetz (Blue Valley High School - Kansas City, MO); Emma Stratton (Canyon Crest Academy - San Diego, CA); Alex Syiek (Huntington Beach High School - Fullerton, CA); Patrick Thomas (Colleyville Heritage High School - Forth Worth, TX); Gina Velez (La Habra High School - Fullerton, CA) and Jenny Wine (Wichita East High School - Wichita, KS).

A Pittsburgh brand hits the Big Apple: Kelly Awards, meet the Jimmys

Sunday noon -- A picture and short story in Saturday's PG promised I was blogging from The Jimmys in New York, but that starts tonight, with the first round, and I'm just on my way to NYC now.

Named after legendary theater producer Jimmy Nederlander, the Jimmys are the national extension of Pittsburgh CLO's Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School. Pittsburgh CLO has partnered with Nederlander Presentations Inc. (second largest Broadway theater owners); Van Kaplan's staff is heavily involved; and most of the production staff is from Pittsburgh, from music director Michael Moricz and choreographer Keisha Lalama-White to lighting and sound gurus Andy Ostrowski and Chris Evans.

The talent representing Pittsburgh is Elizabeth Bailey, a student at Pittsburgh CAPA who won this year's Kelly for best actress in the title role in "Anna Karenina," and Kian McCollum, from Chartiers Valley, who won for playing Robbie Hart in "The Wedding Singer." In NYC, they're going up against 30 more local winners from similar high school musical competitions in 15 other cities around the country -- all of them based, directly or indirectly, on the example of the Kellys, which next year celebrates its 20^th year. (Click here for Elizabeth's and Kian's pictures.)

The 32 contestants have been in NYC since Thursday, working with theater pros. Tonight is the first round of the judging and the finals are Monday. I won't be blogging live, partly because it isn't a TV show (yet -- but they've sent a video crew and are making a documentary), but mainly because I'm involved. My role has been variously described as coordinator of judging or judge wrangler. The judges are five New York agents, casting directors, etc. (actual names when I get them later), with me to keep them on task. I'll know more about that later, too.

But someone is blogging already -- Casey McDermott, a senior at Chartiers Valley and last year's winner of the Kelly Critic prize. She's been here since Thursday with the 32 finalists. The picture is of her and me backstage at the 2008 Kelly Awards. For Casey's blog, which describes the first several days of this Big Apple adventure, click here.

Couch potato Chris Rawson views the Tonys -- and gloats over his predictions

7:30 pm

Many a year at this time, I'd have already been jostling for an hour alongside the red carpet, getting in a word or two with the Tony nominees I knew or was rooting for. The best scheme was always to squirm in beside someone with a TV camera who would attract the press agents peddling the bigger names. It was sort of like the relationship between those small fish and big sharks, where the small fry eat the remnants left behind but also perform some service for their hosts. In my case, I usually knew more than the TV interviewers about the actual shows, so I could slip them a question or two.

But not now. I'm giving myself a year off (as I did last year, too), which means I get to take the couch potato route and see the show that most people see, the one on TV. I recognize the irony -- that the art form which glories in actual shared presence displays its wares, on this night, via the electronic enemy. Still, I'm expecting to have a real good time, no matter who wins.

8:20 pm

Three Billy Elliots! West Side Story! Stockard Channing! (Who was that in duet with her?) "Rock of Ages"! Dolly Parton! Liza! "Hair"! They sure packed them all into that opening medley, didn't they?

Weird but wonderful to watch all the other shows join in on "Let the Sunshine In." Slightly ominous, though, to be reminded by the V-O that we were going to see more than the usual musical numbers this year, the sub-text being that they're eager to sell touring shows, with the inevitable result that fewer awards will actually be awarded on camera. And why is Neil Patrick Harris the host? "I'm on TV," as he said with due modesty.

Lots of star power, though: quick shots of Geoffrey Rush, Edie Falco, Angela Lansbury, then Jane Fonda as the first presenter. Did you notice that she neatly split the pronunciation difference between Ga-DOH and GOD-o?Featured actor in a play: Roger Robinson! I couldn't be happier.

8:50 pm

"Shrek" led off with its strongest suit, word-play comedy, designed to appeal to the grownups while the story plays to the kids. And it featured Christopher Sieber, their best shot at an individual Tony -- with the three leads sitting back down in the audience to watch the finale.

Featured actress in a play: Angela Lansbury, her inevitable 5th Tony. The audience response seemed like the real thing, heartfelt. "Thank you for having me back."A number from "Mamma Mia"!? So yesterday.

First play excerpt: "33 Variations." No, sorry -- just a little film clip. Will Ferrell, "as a Broadway veteran," "trodding the boards." Good joke: "best score," the naked cast of "Hair.

"Book: "Billy Elliot." Score: "Next to Normal"! My first loss. (I expect many more -- like Best Orchestrations, which also went to "Next to Normal," as the V-O just told us.) Their thank-yous got the first abrupt cut-off.

"West Side Story" showed one of its best dance numbers, the Dance at the Gym, in which Tony and Maria have their Romeo & Juliet encounter. Sweet. 9:25Susan Sarandon! "She looks pretty good," I said, in that unemphatic, tentative, noncommittal way you use when your wife is listening to you praise another woman. " She's FABULOUS," said wife growled back.

Director, play: Matthew Warchus, a great choice, but he should have won for "The Norman Conquests," which is a greater accomplishment. Although now that I think of it, it's the British cast. The "God of Carnage" cast is American and had to be rehearsed here, so maybe it was the right result, after all.

"A surprisingly big small play," Warchus called it, by "a writer of great precision and audacity." Note that he could have been talking about either Yasmina Reza and "Carnage" (as he was) or  of Alan Ayckbourn and "Norman." Then he thanked his wife for keeping "calm back home," allowing him to "manufacture marital mayhem" on Broadway -- a remark that would also have applied equally to "Norman."

Director, musical: Stephen Daldry, "Billy Elliot." I love that he thanked the crew.

Special event: I predicted "Liza at the Palace," but in retrospect, I wish the Tony had gone to the wonderful "Slava's Snow Storm," which I saw a number of times off-Broadway. I wish everyone could have a chance to see it some time. Certainly everyone has already seen Liza one time or a half-dozen.

9:40 pm

What was that? Granted, my attention is somewhat frayed, pecking away at this laptop as I try to watch (sort of like being backstage, after all), but that quick cut-away to previously awarded Tonys was hard to follow. Did they say that best orchestrations was a tie between "Next to Normal" and "Billy Elliot"? That explains Matthew Warchus' crack about "rather hoping for another tie" (i.e., with himself), the tie being something he would have known about before we were told. So I get a half-point here, after all.

Best book, "Billy"; best choreography, ditto. Did I get those right?

And the regional theater Tony to the Signature Theater of Arlington, Va. -- on the recommendation of the American Theatre Critics Association. I make that point because I'm an ATCA member. So I understand what drives the Theater Wing to have its annual spot extolling itself, but it's always one of the dullest parts of the telecast. (I heard later that my friend Jeffrey Jenkins, who moderates some of the Theater Wings "working in the theater" seminars, showed up in the video clips. So I guess I wasn't watching very carefully, or I just assumed the spot would be boring and worked at making a post.)

Supporting actor, musical: Gregory Jbara! What a  sweetheart he is and showed himself to be, talking to his kids in his thank you, and bringing out his wife, who took care of them while he was on Broadway taking care of all those Billy Elliots.

Supporting actress, musical: Karen Olivo, speaking up for the dream in us all. I regret not having yet seen "Next to Normal," but I'm intrigued by what I've heard and seen so far.

10:20

Jessica Lange appears. "Also beautiful," says Mary, unprompted. "I like these beautiful mature women." (Well, yeah, to tell the truth, so do I.)

Actor, play: Geoffrey Rush. Classiest speech so far, with its clever leap from "French existential absurdist tragedy" to a witty insistence on the Frenchness of all the other nominees, including the one in the play by David Mam-ay.

And then the necrology -- what a huge, sad list. Natasha Richardson. Harold Pinter. Edie Adams (who starred in the first Broadway musical I ever saw). James Whitmore. Horton Foote. Clive Barnes. Tom O'Horgan. Bea Arthur. Robert Anderson. Robert Prosky. Pat Hingle. Anna Manahan. Eartha Kitt. Hugh Leonard. William Gibson. Paul Sills. And Paul Newman. How can we lose so many? And almost every year it's like this. How profligate life -- and talent -- can be.

Another section of earlier awards announced, and what with glancing down at the laptop, I just didn't get them all. But I did see that "Joe Turner" won for lighting and "Billy Elliot" won a bunch more, as I expected. And did "Shrek" really win for costumes, as I predicted (without any real confidence)?

I loved Frank Langella's riff on failing to be nominated for "Man for All Seasons." Great deadpan, impish humor. Actress, play: Marcia Gay Harden (a good choice). "What a glorious season to be on Broadway." Another classy speech, with deft praise of her fellow nominees.

Then Sir Elton John. (Sir? What's happened to the peerage? Well, whatever, it happened long ago, when England really did become a democracy.)"

Legally Blonde" does a number: call it an ad.

Harvey Fierstein, with that extraordinary growl of a voice, awards best revival of a play to "Norman Conquests," which deserved to win, and best play to "God of Carnage," which I feel less enthusiastic about -- it's a fine, crisp play, but I was rooting for Horton Foote's "Dividing the Estate."

11:15

Sorry, a long wait for this installment. I couldn't tear myself away from the prodction numbers; the one from "Jersey Boys" was better than the show.

I enjoyed the producer's praising the "God of Carnage" cast as "the acting equivalent of Rodger Federer." And it was a treat to see the elusive, diminutive Yasmina Reza in person. (Well, TV gives that illusion.) I didn't think she ever left Paris.

Angela Lansbury introducing Jerry Herman! They don't make ‘em like them any more. Well, of course they do -- show biz is amazing that way -- but you have to wait decades to discover just who they are.

Kristen Chenoweth is always welcome, right? Accepting the musical revival award she handed out, Oskar Eustis wore one of those white ribbons (so did Anne Hathaway) urging repeal of the California ban on gay marriage.

David Hyde Pierce entered with a great joke, then awarded best actor in a musical to Alice Ripley, clearly a popular winner in the hall. You could see how intensely she believed her JFK quote about the power of art over politics. "Musical theater is a fine art," she insisted. Yes, indeed.

Liza, wearing all her troubled, astonishing life in full view, brought a lot of tradition to the best musical award to (of course) "Billy Elliot." Among the thanks-yous, the one I thought stood out was to John Barlow, "Broadway's greatest publicist." There are several others who would contend for the title, but it was extraordinary to hear a publicist so praised -- and this on the same night that much admired and liked publicist Shirley Herz received a Tony Honor (not quite a Tony, but who's counting?). 

And the telecast saved the best for last, a tightly written version of "Tonight," commenting on the evening. Some writer was working quickly and under pressure backstage, but kudos to Neil Patrick Harris, who more than justified his emceeship with faultless delivery. Here's the only lyric I had time to get down: "this show could not be any gayer, if Liza were named Mayor, and Elton John took flight!" I'm off to find the full lyrics, doubtless already available somewhere on the web.

BUT FIRST: how did I do on my predictions? Frankly, I think I was ridiculously lucky, especially with the design awards, where I did some guessing, but a quick count shows me with 20.5 right and 6.5 wrong. That's what? 76 percent? I'll take it. But I better go check before I crow.

LATER: Yes, 20.5 out of 27 is right. I checked Gwen Orel's picks, and she had 13 out of 25, which is really unfair, because she saw more of the nominated shows than I did.

But nothing's fair in the predictions biz, Gwen.

LATER, STILL: I've just read all of Gwen's posts from backstage, and it's extraordinary how much material she recorded and how well she captures the dynamic of the print media room. But what I really enjoy is the personality she gives it (hers, of course). To read her posts, go to pgTHEATERnow at the top of the Theater page (www.post-gazette.com/theater. Or use this direct link. In either case, you'll have to work back through 11 posts, but it's well worth it.

The couch potato views the Tonys -- and then gloats over his predictions

7:30 pm

Many a year at this time, I'd have already been jostling for an hour alongside the red carpet, getting in a word or two with the Tony nominees I knew or was rooting for. The best scheme was always to squirm in beside someone with a TV camera who would attract the press agents peddling the bigger names. It was sort of like the relationship between those small fish and big sharks, where the small fry eat the remnants left behind but also perform some service for their hosts. In my case, I usually knew more than the TV interviewers about the actual shows, so I could slip them a question or two.

But not now. I'm giving myself a year off (as I did last year, too), which means I get to take the couch potato route and see the show that most people see, the one on TV. I recognize the irony -- that the art form which glories in actual shared presence displays its wares, on this night, via the electronic enemy. Still, I'm expecting to have a real good time, no matter who wins.

8:20 pm

Three Billy Elliots! West Side Story! Stockard Channing! (Who was that in duet with her?) "Rock of Ages"! Dolly Parton! Liza! "Hair"! They sure packed them all into that opening medley, didn't they? Weird but wonderful to watch all the other shows join in on "Let the Sunshine In." Slightly ominous, though, to be reminded by the V-O that we were going to see more than the usual musical numbers this year, the sub-text being that they're eager to sell touring shows, with the inevitable result that fewer awards will actually be awarded on camera. And why is Neil Patrick Harris the host? "I'm on TV," as he said with due modesty.

Lots of star power, though: quick shots of Geoffrey Rush, Edie Falco, Angela Lansbury, then Jane Fonda as the first presenter. Did you notice that she neatly split the pronunciation difference between Ga-DOH and GOD-o?

Featured actor in a play: Roger Robinson! I couldn't be happier.

8:50 pm

"Shrek" led off with its strongest suit, word-play comedy, designed to appeal to the grownups while the story plays to the kids. And it featured Christopher Sieber, their best shot at an individual Tony -- with the three leads sitting back down in the audience to watch the finale.

Featured actress in a play: Angela Lansbury, her inevitable 5^th Tony. The audience response seemed like the real thing, heartfelt. "Thank you for having me back."

A number from "Mamma Mia"!? So yesterday.

First play excerpt: "33 Variations." No, sorry -- just a little film clip. Will Ferrell, "as a Broadway veteran," "trodding the boards." Good joke: "best score," the naked cast of "Hair."

Book: "Billy Elliot." Score: "Next to Normal"! My first loss. (I expect many more -- like Best Orchestrations, which also went to "Next to Normal," as the V-O just told us.) Their thank-yous got the first abrupt cut-off.

"West Side Story" showed one of its best dance numbers, the Dance at the Gym, in which Tony and Maria have their Romeo & Juliet encounter. Sweet.

 9:25

Susan Sarandon! "She looks pretty good," I said, in that unemphatic, tentative, noncommittal way you use when your wife is listening to you praise another woman. "She's FABULOUS," said wife growled back.

Director, play: Matthew Warchus, a great choice, but he should have won for "The Norman Conquests," which is a greater accomplishment. Although now that I think of it, it's the British cast. The "God of Carnage" cast is American and had to be rehearsed here, so maybe it was the right result, after all.

"A surprisingly big small play," Warchus called it, by "a writer of great precision and audacity." Note that he could have been talking about either Yasmina Reza and "Carnage" (as he was) or  of Alan Ayckbourn and "Norman." Then he thanked his wife for keeping "calm back home," allowing him to "manufacture marital mayhem" on Broadway -- a remark that would have also applied equally to "Norman."

Director, musical: Stephen Daldry, "Billy Elliot." I love that he thanked the crew.

Special event: I predicted "Liza at the Palace," but in retrospect, I wish the Tony had gone to the wonderful "Slava's Snow Storm," which I saw a number of times off-Broadway. I wish everyone could have a chance to see it some time. Certainly everyone has already seen Liza one time or a half-dozen.

Broadway Diary: 9 plays in 6 days, the PG group, some friends and the Sardi's bar

Tuesday, May 5

Flew up early to beat the rush -- i.e., the PG ShowPlane group, arriving tomorrow with uber-competent Paul and Jackie Busang of Gulliver's Travels -- and also to see a couple of more shows. For once, Broadway is awash in plays, not just musicals, and I had a devil of a time deciding which eight shows to cram in the standard six-day Broadway week, although this time I could actually do nine, because "The Norman Conquest" has a Saturday morning show.

For the first night I chose the Bill Irwin-Nathan Lane-John Goodman-John Glover "Waiting for Godot" (that's GOD-o). I give the actors pride of place because Beckett's play is such an established classic. I first encountered it in a drama survey at Harvard in fall, 1959. The play had just made its English language debut in London 1955, and it seemed very strange and new and we congratulated ourselves for being on the cutting edge. Now, as I'm coming up on my 50^th anniversary with it on the page and stage, it feels as though it's always been there, the essential play of the 20^th century.

With me were dear friend Janes Hewes and my daughter Celia and her husband, Jeb, and it's because of him that we went backstage afterwards -- Irwin, a master of physical theater who for many years rarely even spoke on stage, has long been a student of Jeb's mother, Brenda Bufalino, a master tap dancer.

Wednesday, May 6

Today started with the big morning melee for the press and Tony Award nominees (announced Tuesday), which I've written about at length (see the May 8 post, below).

Then for something very different in the afternoon: Lynn Nottage's "Ruined," off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club's City Center Stage 1, a must-see because it just won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for drama. With me was Gwen Orel, who has contributed to PG theater coverage for almost a decade. "Ruined" is an epic play on a horrendous subject, the rape of women in contemporary African civil wars, but nonetheless it manages to achieve some uplift. It's very much a contemporary version of "Mother Courage," the equivalent character of Mama Nadi being the best part of the play.

BTW, I expect to write reviews of all these shows in the weeks ahead. (NOTE: Now, I already have, most of them. Go to www.post-gazette.com/theater for one group review of three musicals and another of four (five) plays.) 

(These are our New York granddaughters, not street mimes. On the left, Alice, playing in the park; just below, Ella, with the clown mask she got for her birthday.)

For dinner, I met the PG group at Barbetta's, a handsome, classy place on Restaurant Row. This year's group wasn't big, just 30-some, but they were lively. And Barbetta's started us off on a very high note.

I can't say quite so much for the group's first show, "West Side Story," which is richly lyrical and makes novel use of Spanish for added authenticity, but lacks the gut-wrenching feel of danger I expected. Maybe it's just too familiar -- this is another show I first encountered in college, when the first national tour came through Boston. But even the most familiar tragedy should still be able to stir you deeply.

Our group was treated to a post-show chat with several cast members, arranged for us by new CMU grad ('08) Tro Shaw, a wiry, plaintive Anybodys in the show. With her was George Akram, a very handsome, laid back Bernardo, who talked about the different Hispanic cultures represented in the cast. Tro remembers getting bitten by the show biz bug at age 4, in a production of "Romeo and Juliet." She was also a gymnast at A.C.T. in San Francisco -- as you can see in her lean, nimble movement.

With them was Matt Hydzik, the standby for Tony, a Hopewell native who won a 1999 Kelly Award in Quaker Valley's "Fiddler on the Roof" (and shared a Shakespeare Monologue and Scene award that year with Gillian Jacob), then went to Penn State. Matt recalled studying with Mario Melodia at the Edgeworth Club and the arts program at Sewickley Academy, and studying also with Ingrid Sonnichsen and Jill Wadsworth. Others in the show with Pittsburgh connections whom we didn't get to meet include Mike Cannon who plays Snowboy and Eric Hatch (Point Park) as Big Deal.

There's also a small Pittsburgh connection for Argentinian Josefina Scaglione, who spent a couple of months in her mid-teens in a summer dance program at Point Park. ..... Thanks to Pittsburgh playwright Jim McManus, a friend of Tro's, who first put me in touch with her.

Did I end up that night at the Sardi's bar for a post-post-show drink? Maybe, maybe not, but I did that more nights than not. Part of the attraction is watching a real pro mixologist (that;'s him in the picture) perform his efficient wonders.

Thursday, May 7

I spent a good part of the day filing my story about Wednesday's Tony nominees press mele -- an OnStage Journal entry far more timely than this one. Then my wife Mary arrived -- that's her, noting Eugene O'Neill's plaque on a Times Square shop.

The PG group went to "Billy Elliot," but since I've seen in several times in both London and New York, I went with Mary to "Living Together," technically the second play of "The Normal Conquests" trilogy, though we saw it first. All three plays intertwine so tightly that it's hard to know where to begin or end, and as soon as you've seen one play you'd like to go back and re-see another to get an extra degree of interlocking detail you missed the first time around. I even think you can tell who's seen which other part when they laugh for seemingly no reason -- it's because they just remembered what scene in another play a character has just entered from or is exiting to.

Friday, May 8

This day I had a treat I look forward to in NYC -- picking up Ella and Alice, our grandchildren, at their West Village school and wandering home with them through Greenwich Village. We usually manage to hit an ice cream or pastry shop, and this time we started out by playing hide and seek in a gorgeous little garden parklet near their school. Then we all went out to supper, celebrating Ella's 11^th birthday -- amazing that she's so old.

I missed the PG group's morning walking tour, which is always of a different, interesting corner of NY, and, to increase my regret, always with a really good lunch to follow.

At night, I went with the PG group to "Guys and Dolls," for which my expectations weren't especially high. As so often happens, the result was that I had an unexpectedly good time. Of course, "Gs and Ds" is one of the greatest musical comedies of all time. It's also the only one containing references to my two homes, Pittsburgh and Rhode Island.

Mary went instead to August Wilson's "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," which I'd already seen twice, once with some students in my August Wilson course at Pitt and then for the opening. I'm still hoping to get back to see it a third time before it closes its limited run -- though if it does well at the Tonys, I suppose it might extend. (By the way, if you go, cough up a buck for the Lincoln Center Theatre Review in the lobby -- it includes several interesting essays relating to Wilson, plus one by me.)

Saturday, May 9

This was the ShowPlane day that traditionally starts early, in a hotel meeting room, with coffee and discussion of what we've seen so far. There was a nice turnout, which always surprises me, since I'd probably sleep in if I were in their place. As always, the group had plenty to say about what they'd seen -- it always stretches me to try to stay a few steps ahead and have something to tell them, because they always have plenty to tell me.

Everyone headed in different directions for late morning shopping and then individually-chosen matinees. Some probably preferred even more shopping to a matinee. But Mary and I did more theater in spades, heading first to the 11:30 performance of "Table Manners," supposedly the first part of the "Norman Conquests" trilogy.

There we ran into Mark Rylance and his wife, musician Claire van Kampen, who were settling in to see the one-day marathon of all three parts of the trilogy. In case you've forgotten, we know Mark in Pittsburgh from his pajama-clad Hamlet at the Public Theater back in 1991, then from his visits in 2003 and 2005 with the Shakespeare's Globe company from London in the all-male, original practices versions of "Twelfth Night" and "Measure for Measure."

Mark was at "Norman" partly to see the work of director Matthew Warchus, who has directed him several times, most notably (to me) in "Life X 3" (London) and "Boeing Boeing" (Broadway). Warchus also directed "God of Carnage," which means he's competing with himself for a Tony. Mark told us he's been offered a Broadway production of "La Bete," that modern Moliere-like comedy with the longest opening comic monologue in the history of the universe (Pittsburgh saw it done at Playhouse Rep by the brilliant Heath Lamberts).

The moment "Tables Manners" ended, even before the curtain call (and I love curtain calls), Mary and I were out the door sprinting five or six blocks to Yasmina Reza's "God of Carnage," a really slick, satisfying comedy -- almost embarrassingly so, because we find ourselves laughing so hard at the self-satisfied upper-middle-class. I'm already casting the Pittsburgh production in my anticipatory imagination.

"Carnage" is short, so we had time for a quick trip to the Drama Book Shop on 40thSt., an essential part of every New York visit, and then a visit and drink with Jeffrey Eric Jenkins and wife Vivian. Jeffrey's been a friend ever since we took graduate theater classes together at CMU in the early ‘80s (he got a degree, I became a theater critic); we've shared leadership roles in the American Theatre Critics Association; and now I get to torment him by being late with my essays for the "Best Plays Theater Yearbook" he edits.

Then Mary was off to feast on the two fine actresses in "Mary Stuart," while I joined the PG group for "9 to 5," an entertaining musical version of the 1979 movie comedy. Afterward, the group met with CMU '04 grad Megan Hilty, who plays Doralee, the Dolly Parton role, and Mark Myars, dance captain and swing. That's Megan and me in the picture, up above -- note the ghost light on the empty stage behind me. (Other Pittsburghers in the cast are Gaelen Gilliland, Fox Chapel High School '92, and Neil Haskell, Point Park.) The cast was high on just having recorded Parton's score.

That night Mary and I definitely did repair to Sardi's, along with Gwen Orel, former PG critic Phil Stephenson and his fiancee Miriam Walden (that's them just above, with me -- why do I look so tired?) and the PG's Sharon Eberson and Maria Sciullo. And who should we run into but Simon Jones, who we'd see the next day in "Blithe Spirit." Together, we all kept that mixologist busy.

Sunday, May 10

The PG group left this morning. Or so I assume -- I was still asleep.

Mary and I finally got started in time for an all-too-short visit to MOMA and its shops, before "Blithe Spirit," a perfectly light and light-hearted end to a week of theater.

We visited Simon backstage afterward, then watched him sign some autographs and took him across the street to his local, which is of course Sardi's, where he has the added pleasure of visiting his hair, memorialized in his caricature, which dates from 1986.

So we were pleasantly sloshed when we finally grabbed a cab to head for LaGuardia and return to the real world.

Captions, from the top:

1. Posters in Shubert Alley.

2. Alice (not her real nose).

3. Ella (not her real face).

4. Sardi's mixologist, at the upstairs bar with the view of Shubert Alley.

5. Mary and the Eugene O'Neill plaque in Times Square.

6. Christine Ebersole (who plays the ghostly Elvira) and SImon Jones (the pragmatic Dr. Bradman), backstage at "Blithe Spirit."

7. Ella's birthday dinner.

8. Phil Stephenson, Miriam Walden and a tired CR, back at Sardi's!

9. Simon Jones (right) visits his hair (left) amid the caricatures of fame at Sardi's.

Tony Nominees scrum with the media: Dolly, Jane, three Billy Elliots and smiles amid the maelstrom

NEW YORK -- The PG's annual spring ShowPlane to Broadway brought me here just in time for Wednesday morning's press event, a giant media reception for the Tony nominees who had been announced the day before. Call it a fan's fantasy, organized chaos or a scrum, it was a jam-packed 3½ hours.

I arrived early enough to get checked in, pass down the breakfast buffet and walk all around the site - the entire eighth floor of the Millennium Broadway Hotel, just off Times Square.

[Captions of all pix are gathered at the end of the story.]

Stepping off the elevator you met a big Tony Awards backdrop for the obligatory photographs with Tony dignitaries. Then turning left you passed nine TV cubicles, each with chairs, cameras, lights, monitors, interviewer and crew; continuing in a clockwise zig-zag, you walked down a packed photographers' gauntlet with another Tony backdrop; then 13 more TV cubicles; another gauntlet of radio, internet and Big Paper stations (Variety, N.Y. Times, Village Voice, USA Today); and then, finally, the smaller papers, among them the PG, tucked in between the Seattle Times (who apparently never showed up) and El Dario/La Prensa -- pretty fancy international company.

 The great thing about being at the end of the line was that it put you right back at the beginning, watching the nominees as they stepped off the elevators directly into interview maelstrom. So I can't say I spent much time at my table, instead ranging freely, talking with the celebs as they stacked up waiting for one TV interview or another.

The printed PG sign at my table lacked the final h in Pittsburgh, but just after I'd written it in, Theater Wing chief Howard Sherman showed up to do the same -- a measure either of his attention to detail or his having nothing left to do but let the morning's machine run itself. There was plenty of help with that, not just from all the nominees' flacks and agents but also a large P.R. staff. It was needed, because very suddenly the whole site was pulsing with nominees and their posses.

One of the first to arrive was fresh young Josefina Scaglione, the pretty Argentinian playing Maria in "West Side Story." I'd heard she'd once been at Point Park, and she confirmed it -- at age 14 she spent two summer months there in a musical theater program.

Equally fresh is tall, pencil-thin Sutton Foster, another part-time former Pittsburgher -- she spent one year at CMU. She says she's signed to play Princess Fiona in "Shrek" until November. We snapped a picture of her with the three Billy Elliotts, David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik and Keril Kulish. In the Tony committee's best move, they're nominated together as a trio, and they moved through the scrum as a diminutive three-headed unit, wider than tall, unfailingly cheery and responsive.

It happened that I talked most with the Billys' father, Gregory Jbara, mainly because I've enjoyed him in plenty of shows and he has such positive memories of Pittsburgh, having come through with several tours ("Born Yesterday," "Chess") and to work on a few movies. He especially recalled Grandview Avenue ("the name of the street I grew up on") and working once in "Forever Plaid" with Canonsburg's Paul Binotto. I'd seen Jbara's sweet, round face on Broadway in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," "Victor/Victoria" and "Damn Yankees," the latter two of which had him working with Rob and Kathleen Marshall, to whom he sends heart-felt best wishes.

He says the "Billy Elliott" company is so big -- 53 actors -- that there's hardly room for them in the dressing rooms. There are actually four Billys, counting the understudy, who performs twice a week just like the other three, although his billing precluded his sharing the nomination. I don't know which Billy the PG group will see, but they're all distinctive, giving Jbara and the rest the nightly challenge of variety, which helps keep the show fresh. "The entire evening hangs on each Billy," Jbara said.

Since I'd seen "Billy Elliott" in London, he pointed out how much his role was reconceived for Broadway, "allowing me to be goofier and more vulnerable." His role as the working class father confused by his son's dance talent touches many a nerve: "Dads stop me on the street" to talk about it. As we parted he said, "have a cocktail for me at the Gandy Dancer." And when I ran into him later in the melee, he'd obviously been thinking about Pittsburgh, because he'd remembered the fries at the O -- something that stays with you a long time, take that how you will.

I was particularly eager to talk with Roger Robinson, whose marvelous performance as Bynum in August Wilson's "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" should make him a lock for Best Supporting Actor. (Bynum is really the lead, but "Joe Turner" is rightly considered an ensemble play, so everyone's classified as supporting.)

Roger told his accompanying publicist, Barbara Carroll, he was eager to get his picture taken with Dolly Parton (nominated for her score for "9 to 5"). I couldn't believe how small Dolly is, albeit interestingly structured and glowing all over like neon. I was eager to get a picture of the picture-taking. "Beauty and the Beast," I told him we'd caption it; "but which is which?" He liked that. But Dolly had her own mini-scrum moving her from one interview to another, and in the turmoil, I'm not sure if Roger got his wish.

I had a good talk with the "Joe Turner" sound designer Leon Rothenberg (co-nominated with Scott Lehrer). Sound contributes a lot to the magical realism of the show. Rothenberg pointed out it works on three levels: the natural environment (factory sounds, wind, rain), musical (a Taj Mahal score that reaches back from the blues to West Africa and combines guitar and African kora) and "the emotional or subliminal environment." Most of the latter is pretty subtle: "you get it when it goes away," he said.

This is only Rothenberg's second Broadway show, the first being "Impressionism," the modest Jeremy Irons-Joan Allen vehicle just now concluding a quiet run. So he could actually say of his Tony nomination that he's really "just happy to be here." Still, he wouldn't mind winning. Do you put it on your business card, I asked? "If you win," he said. "Or maybe print it on your forehead!"

Spotting Geoffrey Rush ("Exit the King") getting ready to leave, I made the obvious crack, asking if it was time for the king to exit. He smiled and said just about every photographer had had the same idea of posing him by an exit sign. He's also been given an ornate, antique electric exit sign for his dressing room, but the stage crew is still figuring out how to get it wired up.

Joining me for much of the time was Gwen Orel, a Pitt Ph.D. and former PG stringer who will be covering the Tony Awards for us -- blogging, twittering, who knows what all.

In the surging maelstrom I had brief encounters (or not) with a number of other stars -- Jane Fonda, Angela Lansbury, Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay Harden, Karen Olivo (a dynamite Anita in "West Side Story"), Liza Minelli (she's pretty tiny, too), etc., etc.

Gradually camera crews started to pack up and the long morning wound down. Having been to a starry "Waiting for Godot" the previous night (Nathan Lane, Bill Irwin, John Goodman, John Glover), I was heading to the matinee of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Ruined" before meeting the PG group for "West Side Story" at night.

I'll start telling you about the shows tomorrow. By the end of the weekend, I should have a better line on how the Tony races are shaping up.

CAPTIONS, from the top:

(1) The "West Side Story" crew, with the Theatre Wing's Howard Sherman at left and Josefina Scaglione (Maria) and Karen Olivo (Antia) in the middle.

(2) Jeff Daniels ("God of Carnage"), right, intervewed amid the throng.

(3) Three Billy Elliotts and one Sutton Foster.

(4) Gregory Jbara, Billy Elliott's dad.

(5) Diminutive Dolly.

(6) Jane Fonda signs a Tony nominees display. 

(7) Marcia Gay Harden ("God of Carnage").

(8) Back out on Times Square, show biz goes on.