As the curtain dropped on the 75th Annual Tony Awards ceremony Sunday night, the seemingly imperiled and improbable 2021-2022 New York Theater season also drew to a close, a feat of survival and resilience. In hindsight the Tonys gave a snapshot of a theater season, as well as a glimpse at the social history of both New York and the US on the whole, as successful theater generally reflects the minds and mood of Americans in a given year. Here’s a bit of a post-mortem on a season that had to fight to exist (largely because of continued Covid-based cancellations), and managed to come shining through.
It’s also important to include the Drama Desk Awards in my overview, as I will do below, because they are not limited to Broadway shows, but include Off-Broadway, widening the field considerably from (normally) around 50 Tony-eligible shows to more than 300 eligible for Drama Desk nods. That’s a lot of territory for nominators (usually a team of around five who see shows just about every night of the year—a superhuman feat, believe me). Consequently, widening the analysis to include the Drama Desk Awards not only broadens the scope, but also gives a glimpse into what might show up on Broadway in the coming years. So, let’s take a look by major category:
Best Play
While Broadway provided some great material (I particularly enjoyed Hangmen and The Minutes), The Lehman Trilogy ran away with the Tony to no one’s surprise. The Drama Desk awarded Prayer for the French Republic, an examination of what it means to be Jewish in France during the recent waves of severe anti-semitism. It’s doubtful the play will move to Broadway, and the other plays nominated barely surfaced on anyone’s radar, regardless of quality. This will be a wide-open field next year.
Best Revival of a Play
Also not a shock, the well produced, beautifully acted Take Me Out took the Tony. The Drama Desk went to How I Learned to Drive, also not a surprise as other nominees paled, except perhaps Lackawanna Blues, which emerged early post-Covid and didn’t have a very long run because audiences were still apprehensive. A shame, because it was an outstanding production.
Best Musical
Here’s where the Tonys got interesting. Best Musical is the category most fans pay closest attention to and which says the most about who we are as a society. Surprise nominations (to me, anyway), were Six and Paradise Square. Both dwell in my personal pet peeve department of shows that distribute disturbingly misleading and incorrect historical perspectives. Six was an American Idol-style sing-a-thon by Henry VIII’s maligned wives. An interesting concept, but the pop music was made for teens and TikTok-ers and did nothing to drive the message home (the costumes, though, for which Gabriella Slade won a Tony . . . wow!). Paradise Square, a mostly critical failure that still garnered a number of nominations, was the ultimate in historical distortion. If you want to get an idea what New York’s gritty Five Points neighborhood was like during the Civil War, Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York will give you a good idea; the gleaming, dance-contest world of Paradise Square will not.
The real drama in Best Musical came when the Tony was, correctly, awarded to A Strange Loop, the story of a troubled, black, queer writer, tormented by his thoughts, who’s in the midst of writing a musical about an insecure, black, queer writer, tormented by his thoughts as he writes a musical . . . hence, the strange loop. While many thought it couldn’t win because of some rather graphic sexual content (Broadway is often considered to be a “family affair”), the power of this beautiful show shined through. It also gave the lie to the claims that last year’s shutout of Slave Play—which had twelve nominations and zero wins in a very abbreviated season (the Tonys really should have been cancelled)—was racially motivated. The problem, as this year’s win by the utterly fantastic A Strange Loop proves, was that Slave Play just wasn’t great theater.
Since A Strange Loop was eligible for last year’s Drama Desk awards, it could not be considered this year, and the door opened for the off-Broadway charmer Kimberly Akimbo (reviewed here previously) to sweep in and take a well-deserved Outstanding Musical. Plans have already been announced for a move to Broadway this fall.
Best Revival of a Musical
The absolutely beloved Stephen Sondheim died this year, so it was no surprise that the revival of Company (reviewed here previously) took both the Drama Desk Award and the Tony. It sort of had to. And, in a year when inclusion and alternate-ness was heavily emphasised, it had the added bonus of having switched the gender (with Sondheim’s blessing, prior to his death) of the main character, Bobby, from a man to a woman (as well as a couple other swaps within). Besides, with both The Music Man and Funny Girl turning out to be critical flops (well, critics may not have hated them, but they were indifferent, so there was very little competition). Despite both featured male and female actors and the director (Marianne Elliott) receiving Tonys, Company’s company was, well, sufficient. Only Katrina Lenk was exceptional and for some reason she was snubbed without even a nomination.
Best Actor/Best Featured Actor – Play and Musical
Best Actor in a Musical was an exciting category this year as many watchers thought the race was a toss-up between Jacquel Spivey (A Strange Loop) and Myles Frost (MJ – reviewed here previously). Both were equally deserving, both were Broadway first-timers.
How exciting! The soft-spoken Frost took the Tony and was embraced by a gracious (and truly happy-for-him) Spivey. It really could’ve gone either way and, as proof, Spivey took the Drama Desk Award (he was eligible because he wasn’t in the off-Broadway production). Both performances were physically and technically demanding and mesmerizing to watch. Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for both the Tony and Drama Desk went to Matt Doyle for his performance in the Sondheim musical, Company. I didn’t find his performance memorable, though Company was, on the whole, terrific, largely due to the acting.
Best Actor in a Play went to Simon Russell Beale for his performance in The Lehman Trilogy, which is quite impressive when one considers that his co-stars were also nominated. I expected them to cancel each other out, as they were all equally excellent and voters might have been inclined to vote for any of the three if they really loved the play. The Drama Desk awarded Ruben Santiago-Hudson for his first-rate solo performance in Lackawanna Blues. I felt the amazing John Douglas Thompson was overlooked for his outstanding performance in The Merchant of Venice at Theater for a New Audience, but I believe not enough voters made the trek to Brooklyn for the production, which was fairly low-key to begin with. Few even knew it was taking place and invitations weren’t sent out.
Best Actress/Best Featured Actress – Play and Musical
The big news here was that there was absolute agreement by both the Tonys and The Drama Desk in handing the accolade to Joaquina Kalukango for her role in Paradise Square. That Paradise Square was not well loved by voters in either organization is a testament to the power of her performance. Boy, can she belt! And she demonstrated that glorious voice in a tear-jerker of a performance (“Let it Burn”) on the Tonys telecast. To be candid, however, the only real competition she had in the category was from Sharon D. Clarke, for her role in Caroline, Or Change, which closed so long ago in the fall that it was all but forgotten by voters.
Best Featured Actress went, of course, to Patti LuPone. Because she’s Patti LuPone. And because this is the year to tip the hat to Sondheim. Both the Drama Desk and the Tonys agreed here again. The only comment I have is that she could have been playing any role in any musical and she probably would have won. And she’s so tough (see her many fiery interactions with audience members over the years) that most voters would be terrified to vote against her, even on secret ballots.
So that’s it. The season that creaked and sputtered and almost didn’t get off the ground has come to a satisfying finish. There were other winners and other categories too deep to explore in this space, but you can see the full list of Tony winners here and Drama Desk winners here.
One can only hope that the cancellations and delayed starts will be kept to a minimum going forward. As goes the health of Broadway, so goes the health of New York City. And vice versa. Hopefully, by next year‘s wrap up, Covid won’t even be worth mentioning. See you in the seats.
