Sunday night’s 72nd Tony Awards will have a much different vibe than last year.
For starters, the host of the 2017 ceremony, Kevin Spacey, will not be on the premises. Instead, the emcees are singing/performing/Broadway vets Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles – safe choices who might do a fine job, but they’re not gonna bring-in any viewers outside of the core Broadway community.
Second – three of the four Best Musical nominees are based on popular entertainment brands. “Mean Girls: The Musical”, penned by the 2004 film’s screenwriter, Tina Fey, and “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical”, based on the phenomenon Nickelodeon show, tie with the most nominations: 12. And Disney’s “Frozen” musical is also competing for the big prize, though it only has two other nominations overall. The fourth show in the category is also based on a movie: “The Band’s Visit”, with 11 noms.
Another pop culture staple, “Harry Potter” is headlining the Play categories, with 10 nominations for “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two”.
Some of the star-studded acting nominees include Michael Cera, Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf, Mark Rylance, Amy Schumer, Tony Shalhoub and Denzel Washington. And John Leguizamo will receive a Special Tony Award for his career.
But quite possibly the biggest name guaranteed to win a Tony this Sunday is The Boss. Bruce Springsteen will also be receiving a Special Tony Award – for his sold-out, genre-bending, one-man Broadway show.
Tony producers, do us all a favor and let Springsteen perform at any point during the show… as many times as he wants. If you want to try to make this show have mass appeal and seem “Bigger Than Broadway” – he’s the way to do it.