It was a strange year on Broadway, but then itโs been strange everywhere. Our world at times seems downright unrecognizable, with politicians acting like mob bosses, AI transforming not just the internet but potentially the entire economy, the cost of living leaving only the super rich able to keep up, and I wonโt even mention the climate crisis, but the forecast calls for more doom and gloom.
Good work, however, wonโt be denied, even if Broadway producers have perhaps overlearned the lesson of last yearโs sleeper, Cole Escolaโs โOh, Mary!โ Parody with a heavy dose of camp has become all the rage in a theatrical season in which the best musical winner, โSchmigadoon!,โ is an affectionate sendup of golden age classics by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe and their inspired descendants.
If Broadway is changing faster than the old guard can keep pace, the same is true for the culture in general. The economics of producing have scrambled the old playbooks. Unusual risk has occasionally brought unexpected rewards. โSchmigadoon!โ fended off the competition to take the nightโs top prize along with awards for both its book and score by Cinco Paul.
Michael Ardenโs spectacular production of โThe Lost Boysโ โ the staging won awards for Dane Laffreyโs scenic design and Jen Schriever and Ardenโs lighting โ enriched the 1980s cult film on which the show is based with human substance and high-flying showmanship. Shoshana Beanโs win for her featured performance as a persevering single mom, is a testament to the musicalโs capacious heart. Ali Louis Bourzguiโs somewhat unexpected yet eminently worthy triumph for his featured performance as the vampire with front-man magnetism, catalyzed the productionโs thrilling virtuosity. But few would describe this yearโs ragtag selection of new musicals as robust.
The only overriding lesson may be that there are no overriding lessons. Two-time Oscar winner Adrien Brody made his Broadway debut in โThe Fear of 13,โ reprising his acclaimed Olivier-nominated London performance. But he didnโt even receive a nomination for his work โ a snub that I found unaccountable.
Spoofs like best musical nominee โTitanique,โ a zany burlesque of James Cameronโs โTitanicโ and all things Celine Dion, found new respectability on Broadway. And โTwo Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New Yorkโ), the two-person British musical by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan, endeared itself to audiences (if not so much to Tony voters) with its rom-com appeal. But what does it say about a season in which musical revivals upstaged new work?
โRagtime,โ the Lincoln Center Theatre production directed by Lear deBessonet that originated at New York City Center, was not only the most operatic offering of the season but was all the most emotionally stirring and dramatically ambitious. The show, which justly received the Tony for best musical revival contained perhaps the seasonโs most seismic tour de force. Joshua Henryโs Tony-winning lead performance as Coalhouse Walker Jr., the path-breaking pianist tragically ahead of his time, was astonishing in both its theatrical might and its generosity, which allowed everyone around him to shine, especially Caissie Levy, who picked up a Tony for her lead performance as a white matriarch whose political consciousness courageously awakens.
โCats: The Jellicle Ballโ pulled off the seemingly impossible by making Andrew Lloyd Webberโs megamusical look cool on Broadway. The productionโs radical concept brings the queer audacity of Harlem Ballroom culture to these feline proceedings. For their imaginative daring, co-directors Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch were justly honored as were costume designer Qween Jean and choreographers Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons, among the productionโs notable awards.
โChess,โ which was strangely overlooked in the best musical revival category (โThe Rocky Horror Showโ strutted in instead), may not have managed to overcome the challenge of this over-elaborate geopolitical tale, even with a puckish new book. But the production made Nicholas Christopher a likely future Tony winner star.
What was old was new again on Broadway, but letโs hope that producers can still believe that the best is ahead of us.