‘PARADE,” a $4.5-million flop musical about the Leo Frank case that closed months ago, snagged nine Tony Award nominations yesterday, the most for any production this season.
Snubbed big-time was playwright David Hare, who had three shows on Broadway this year – ‘Amy’s View,” ‘The Blue Room” and ‘Via Dolorosa” – all of which were shut out of the Best Play category. One nominator described Hare’s year as ‘much ado about nothing.”
Yesterday’s nominations also set the stage for what will surely be the most hotly contested race of the Tony season: Brian Dennehy vs. Kevin Spacey. Both were nominated for Best Actor in a Play, Dennehy for ‘Death of a Salesman” and Spacey for ‘The Iceman Cometh.”
‘Parade” scored one more nod than its chief rival in the category of Best Musical, ‘Fosse,” the hit revue of dances by legendary choreographer Bob Fosse. ‘Fosse” got eight nominations.
Both ‘Parade” and ‘Fosse” were produced by Livent, the bankrupt theater company. Their strong showing yesterday was a bittersweet victory for Garth Drabinsky, the flamboyant producer who founded and then allegedly looted Livent. Drabinsky is now holed up in Canada fighting extradition to the United States on charges of securities fraud.
‘Garth is gratified that his body of work over the past year has been recognized by his peers,” a spokesman for the producer said yesterday. ‘It is a testament to his dedication and excellence. Garth would have wanted to be at the ceremonies to share in the excitement with each of the artists with whom he has collaborated.”
If Drabinsky had been at the nominating ceremonies yesterday at Sardi’s, though, he would have been in handcuffs.
Rounding out the Best Musical category were ‘The Civil War” and ‘It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues.”
The loser here was ‘Footloose,” which, deprived of a Best Musical nomination, will not be able to strut what little stuff it has on this year’s Tony telecast.
Nominated for Best Play were ‘Closer,” ‘Side Man” ‘The Lonesome West” and ‘Not About Nightingales,” written by Tennessee Williams, who has been dead for 16 years. He wrote the play in 1938, but it was only recently uncovered by actress Vanessa Redgrave.
‘The Weir,” the Irish barroom drama by Conor McPherson, was also shut out, raising doubts about how long it can survive on Broadway.
‘We were surprised and disappointed that we didn’t get a nomination,” Richard Frankel, one of the producers of ‘The Weir” said yesterday. ‘But how long we run will be determined by word of mouth, not Tony nominations.”
Yesterday, several nominators said they wished they could have expanded the category of Best Featured Actor to five slots from four, simply because there were so many worthy performances this year.
As it was, Kevin Anderson, from ‘Salesman,” and Tim Pigott-Smith, from ‘Iceman,” tied in the first round of voting. In the second round, Anderson won by a single vote.
Which means the worthy Pigott-Smith was left off the list, as was the entire supporting cast of ‘Iceman.”
In addition to Anderson, the other nominees are Finbar Lynch (‘Not About Nightingales”), Howard Witt (‘Salesman”) and Frank Wood (‘Side Man”).
‘Swan Lake,” Matthew Bourne’s radical reinterpretation of the great Tchaikovsky ballet, was also big winner yesterday, with five nominations, including direction, choreography and one for its star dancer, Adam Cooper.
Earlier this year Tony officials said the ballet was not eligible for Best Musical. Had it been ‘we would definitely have nominated,” one nominator said yesterday.
The Tonys will be broadcast Sunday June 6 at 8 p.m. on PBS, and then from 9 to 11 p.m., on CBS.
AND THE 1999 TONY NOMINEES ARE…