The Outer Critics Circle award winners for the 2018-19 have been announced. Broadway’s Hadestown is the top winner, with six awards including Outstanding New Broadway Musical.
The Outer Critics Circle is an association of writers and commentators who represent more than 90 newspapers, magazines, websites, radio and television stations, and theatre publications in America and abroad.
The Outer Critics Circle also awarded a Special Achievement award to the puppetry team that created the 2,000-lb puppet for King Kong on Broadway.
A Special Achievement Award also went to York Theatre Company in recognition of its 50-year history.
Here is the full list of winners:
OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY
The Ferryman
OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL
Hadestown
OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
White Noise
OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
Girl from the North Country
OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Robert Horn, Tootsie
OUTSTANDING NEW SCORE (THE MARJORIE GUNNER AWARD) (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Anaïs Mitchell, Hadestown
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
All My Sons
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Fiddler on the Roof (in Yiddish)
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A PLAY (The Lucille Lortel Award)
Sam Mendes, The Ferryman
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL
Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER
Warren Carlyle, Kiss Me, Kate
OUTSTANDING SCENIC DESIGN (Play or Musical)
David Korins, Beetlejuice
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN (Play or Musical)
Bob Mackie, The Cher Show
OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN (Play or Musical)
Bradley King, Hadestown
OUTSTANDING PROJECTION DESIGN (Play or Musical)
Peter England, King Kong
OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN (Play or Musical)
Peter Hylenski, King Kong
OUTSTANDING ORCHESTRATIONS
Daniel Kluger, Oklahoma!
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Bryan Cranston, Network
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Santino Fontana, Tootsie
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Benjamin Walker, All My Sons
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Celia Keenan-Bolger, To Kill a Mockingbird
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
André De Shields, Hadestown
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Amber Gray, Hadestown
OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE
Mike Birbiglia, The New One
JOHN GASSNER PLAYWRITING AWARD (Presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright)
Jeremy Kareken & David Murrell, and Gordon Farrell, The Lifespan of a Fact
Broadway and the movies have been going steady for a long time.
That's because the movies often provide good, solid stories that can be turned into Broadway musicals. Since the book is often one of the weakest parts of any musical, an already available well-structured story is a godsend. And if the movie was very successful, the musical that is constructed around its story comes with its own established brand and a huge built-in audience.
But none of this necessarily guarantees success.
Recent cases in point: Groundhog Day, The Bridges of Madison County, Rocky and Honeymoon in Vegas. All of these musicals made from successful movies failed to gain a big audience on Broadway.
Adapting a movie into a musical is a tricky business. It requires just the right balance. It can't follow the movie too closely but it can't veer too far from the essence of what made the film a success. It usually needs star power but the actors cannot and should not mimic the successful stars of the original film production. And, the movie must be condensed to the confines of the stage while retaining some of the scope of the big screen. That, in itself is a huge challenge.
Two adapted movie comedies are currently running on Broadway -- one a RonCom, the other a biting social satire. One succeeds wildly, scoring a solid 10 while the other sputters a bit and can manage little more than a six or seven on the 10-point scale.
There's almost a cult surrounding Pretty Woman, the 1990 Cinderella story that starred Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. This now classic megahit has kept is loyal audience and added new followers over a period of nearly three decades.
Now, along comes the musical with Samantha Barks and Andy Karl. Somehow, the whole thing comes off as surprisingly tinny. Overall, the music and lyrics by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance make for a not-particularly-memorable nor fully integrated score. And the book by Garry Marshall and J. F. Lawton follows the movie scenario so closely as to be all too predictable.
While we love Andy Karl and have admired his performances in several other musicals, despite his best efforts there seems to be no real chemistry between him and Samantha Barks. Karl's wife Ofeh is also in the show in a supporting role and, though she has a powerful voice, she comes across as shrill and imposing.
There are some bright spots. In a dual role, Eric Anderson steals several scenes and probably should have garnered a Tony nomination. And some of the numbers (like On A Night Like Tonight, Freedom, Something About Her and I Could Get Used to This) really pack a punch. And, it's not as if the show is a dud. In fact, it's been running for almost a year now and seems to have found an audience. But it charts no new ground and garnered no award nominations.
And the show suffers by comparison with the season's big new hit, the movie-to-musical Tootsie starring Santino Fontana in a role that allows him to knock it out of the park. Based on the 1982 movie, the adapted Tootsie musical digs deep to find new relevance in this trailblazing gender-blending story.
When it comes to praising Tootsie, we almost don't know where to begin. Veteran director Scott Ellis has mined pure comedy gold with Tootsie. But, with a book by Robert Horn we also have a fully woke Tootsie that is up-to-the-minute with zingers that are as fresh as the morning's headlines. No question about it, this is the funniest show on Broadway right now and it truly breathes new life into Broadway musical comedy. In fact, we haven't heard such sustained laughter from the audience of a musical in years. And the show manages to be aware and meaningful without being peachy or doctrinaire.
Much of this has to do with the impeccable timing and the superb performances of Fontana, Lilli Cooper, Sarah Stiles, Andy Grotelueschen. Michael McGrath, John Behlmann and the entire cast. Stiles' staccato delivery of the hilarious number What's Gonna Happen literally takes your breath away. Ditto for Gotelueschen's Jeff Sums it Up. And Behlmann's take on the hunky, clueless Max Van Horn comic heaven. But it's Fontana who pulls it all together via a tour-de-force performance that brings back memories of the best of shows such as La Cage Aux Folles, Hirspray and Victor, Victoria. Fontana manages to be sagacious, funny, neurotic, ingenious, poignant, endearing and exasperating from one moment to the next. And it all works.
Beyond all this, the show's production values are superb. Tootsie is not only blessed with great tunes by the hugely talented David Yazbek but also a large cast; a full, rich, resonant orchestra; great costumes by the legendary William Ivey Long; sets by David Rockwell and choreography by Denis Jones. The show acts looks and sounds like a big, real, live Broadway musical.
No wonder it has attracted huge raves and 11 Tony award nominations. This is the one to see!
