The Creative Arts Emmy Awards were held this past weekend in Los Angeles to honor TV’s behind-the-scenes achievements. In addition, the wins could pave the way for five productions in particular to clean up at Monday’s 70th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, hosted by Michael Che and Colin Jost on NBC.
NBC’s “Jesus Christ Superstar Live,” staged at the Marcy Avenue Armory in Brooklyn, was among the night’s major winners. The musical picked up five Creative Arts trophies, including one for Outstanding Variety Special (Live), along with honors for production design, sound mixing, technical direction and lighting design.
Co-executive producer John Legend became the newest member of the EGOT club, adding a winged Emmy statuette to his Grammys, Oscar and Tony. Next week he’ll go up against Darren Criss (“The Assassination of Gianni Versace”) and Jeff Daniels (“The Looming Tower”) in the Primetime Emmys’ Lead Actor category for a limited series/TV movie for his title-role performance.
Ryan Murphy’s Versace series nabbed four wins over the weekend, including the important casting award for a limited series, often considered a harbinger of the acting prize.
Meanwhile, Murphy’s frequent collaborator Lou Eyrich picked up an Emmy for Outstanding Contemporary Costumes.
The comedy series casting award went to Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” one of the year’s most talked-about new shows. With “Veep” star and perennial Emmy victor Julia Louis-Dreyfus out of the running this year for best comedy actress (she took a break from acting while undergoing breast cancer treatment), star Rachel Brosnahan is expected to prevail in that category next week.
HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” with its final season set to premiere in 2019, was the night’s biggest winner with seven golden trophies, mainly in technical categories. At Monday’s ceremony it will compete for Best Drama Series against last year’s winner, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which earned early awards for editing and production design along with a win for Samira Wiley as Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series.