The madcap musical “Monty Python’s Spamalot” led all Tony Awards nominees Tuesday with 14, and John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt” was the most-honored play with eight. The Tonys, which honor the best of Broadway, will be awarded June 5 in New York.
The Denver-born “Brooklyn,” which for much of last year was the only new musical on Broadway, was shut out. “Brooklyn,” developed for Broadway at the New Denver Civic Theatre in 2003, survived savage reviews and is in its seventh month.
Director and producer Jeff Calhoun was let down by Tuesday’s news.
“I am very disappointed by the lack of recognition,” he said. “I can’t believe there was a better cast, costume designer or score this season, … but then again, I’m prejudiced.”
“Spamalot” bills itself as a loving rip-off of the classic 1975 King Arthur film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” complete with dancing divas, flatulent Frenchmen and killer rabbits. The musical stars Tim Curry, David Hyde-Pierce and Hank Azaria.
Also nominated for best musical are “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and “The Light in the Piazza,” both of which earned 11 nominations, and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” with six. “Piazza” stars the Denver Center Theatre Company’s Mark Harelik, who also wrote the “The Immigrant.”
“Doubt” is the story of a nun who accuses a priest of sexual impropriety. Other best-play contenders are “Democracy” by Michael Frayn; August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean,” slated for a DCTC production beginning Jan. 26; and “The Pillowman” by Martin McDonagh.
Leading the way for best revival of a play are David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross,” starring Alan Alda, Tom Wopat, Jeffrey Tambor and Liev Schreiber, and Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” The other nominees are “On Golden Pond” and “Twelve Angry Men.”
Albee, the 2002 Tony winner for best play (“The Goat”), will receive a lifetime achievement award.
“Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance!” which caps the Denver Center Attractions’ new season Jan. 17-29, was nominated for best “Special Theatrical Event” but is expected to be buried by Billy Crystal’s “700 Sundays.”
The individual nominations reflect the Broadway trend toward bankable, celebrity-backed pro jects.
The biggest nominated names include Alda, Azaria, Schreiber, Curry, John Lithgow (“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”), Billy Crudup (“The Pillowman), James Earl Jones (“On Golden Pond”), Laura Linney (“Sight Unseen”), Mary-Louise Parker (“Reckless”), Phylicia Rashad (“Gem of the Ocean”), Kathleen Turner (“Virginia Woolf”) and Christina Applegate (“Sweet Charity”).
Snubbed stars include Denzel Washington as Brutus in “Julius Caesar,” Jeff Goldblum (“The Pillowman”) and Jessica Lange (“The Glass Menagerie”).
The winner of the best regional theater award is the Theatre de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis. The DCTC won in 1998.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
