Given that 42 Broadway shows were eligible to receive Tony Award nominations, it is not shocking that no less than 13 shows received no nominations, including starry sold-out hits, flop musicals, and well-received productions that nevertheless got overlooked during a crowded year.
Othello: Don’t feel too bad for Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. Their revival of Shakespeare’s tragedy, which received tepid reviews, broke the weekly record for the top-grossing play in Broadway history during previews, and has now become the highest-grossing play revival in world history. Immediately following the snub, a press release was sent out confirming that the show had recouped its investment costs in nine weeks.
Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends: Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga lead the talented ensemble of this two-and-a-half-hour collection of Sondheim songs. As with all Sondheim revues and tributes, the songs lose most of their impact when performed out of context. However, the snub is particularly notable given the ongoing reverence for Sondheim (who died in 2021 at age 91).
Redwood: Idina Menzel returned to the Nederlander Theater, where she made her Broadway debut in “Rent” in 1996, to star in this soft-rock musical about a high-strung, grief-stricken New Yorker who flees to the redwoods and becomes an unlikely tree-climber. A massive tree dominates the stage, allowing for impressive aerial work. Shortly after the snub, the show’s producers announced that it would close on May 18.
The Last Five Years: After more than two decades of Off-Broadway, regional, college and concert productions and an indie film adaptation, the first Broadway production of Jason Robert Brown’s two-character song cycle depicting the dissolution of a marriage from opposite points of view and timelines, which stars Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren, has turned out to be a overproduced, miscast misfire.
Once Upon a Mattress: Sutton Foster was sublimely silly in this enjoyable revival of the 1959 fairy tale musical comedy, which originated last year at City Center Encores! and transferred to Broadway. If it were still running today, it probably would have received multiple nominations.
McNeal: Robert Downey Jr. made his Broadway debut in Ayad Akhtar’s clunky, pontificating drama about an egotistical writer who becomes unhealthily obsessed with artificial intelligence. The A-list actor deserves credit for coming to Broadway in a difficult new play (rather than a revival of a classic).
Tammy Faye: No one expected Elton John’s bio musical about televangelist Tammy Faye Messner, which closed shortly after receiving negative reviews, to be nominated. I attended a matinee performance where the theater was, at best, a quarter full.
All In: Comedy About Love: An ensemble reading of comic short stories by Simon Rich with a rotating cast of celeb performers (including John Mulaney, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and even Jimmy Fallon), “All In” made for a pleasant 90 minutes, even if it would have been more cost-effective at a coffeehouse or as an audiobook. It will be followed next season by “All Out: Comedy About Life.”
Left on Tenth: Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher led a sentimental romantic comedy by novelist and screenwriter Delia Ephron (“You’ve Got Mail”) based on her memoir of the same name.
Cult of Love: Leslye Headland’s overstuffed dark comedy was a different kind of holiday show, presenting a highly dysfunctional and troubled family gathering at home on Christmas Eve. A film adaptation is in the works.
Elf: The holiday-time engagement of the musical adaptation of the 2003 Will Ferrell film comedy was a feel-good delight presented with genuine showmanship. Grey Henson gave a standout performance as Buddy the Elf alongside Sean Astin (“The Lord of the Rings”), who made a cameo as Santa Claus.
JOB: A surprise downtown hit that transferred to Broadway, Max Wolf Friedlich’s play was the equivalent of a raw, fragmented monologue by a young woman (Sydney Lemmon) who appeared alongside her therapist (Peter Friedman), with a mystery shocker element thrown in.
Home: Samm-Art Williams’ 1980 coming-of-age drama, which follows a young Black farmer in the South whose peaceful existence is interrupted by his refusal to fight in Vietnam, received a relatively decent revival by the Roundabout last summer.
