Loveland’s Heather Hach isn’t worried about having to make a speech from the Radio City Music Hall at Sunday’s Tony Awards (7 p.m. on KCNC-Channel 4).
“Oh, I won’t win,” said the University of Colorado graduate, who was nominated for writing the high-energy new Broadway musical, “Legally Blonde.” It’s the first script Hach (“Freaky Friday”) has ever written for the stage.
“But I promise I’ll look better than Rupert Holmes in a dress,” she said of her fellow nominee, for “Curtains.”
“I get to wear Oscar de la Renta – nothing wrong with that.”
This year’s best-musical contest might be called a battle of spring vs. winter. The gray hairs are pulling for “Grey Gardens” and “Curtains,” but the overwhelming favorite is “Spring Awakening,” a former underdog that grew out of a shared chant between two Buddhists (Steven Sater and pop star Duncan Sheik) eight years ago.
“Grey Gardens” is a kind of creepy musical adaptation of an infamous 1975 documentary chronicling how two of Jackie Kennedy’s relatives went from socialites to hermits living in squalor. The sentimental choice is “Curtains,” the final collaboration between John Kander and the late lyricist Fred Ebb (“Cabaret”). It’s an old-fashioned salute to Broadway razzmatazz.
But forget it: “Spring Awakening” is the most exciting, youthful and form-bending new musical to hit New York in years – and ironically, it’s a 106-year-old story that deals so honestly with the sexual anguish of teens, it couldn’t feel more contemporary.
More irony: The musical that was the most pure fun – and promises to be the biggest hit on the touring circuit – is Hach’s “Legally Blonde,” which wasn’t nominated. The fourth slot went instead to Disney’s magical but very traditional “Mary Poppins.”
“Spring Awakening” is the leading Tony nominee with 11. Also regarded as a lock is Tom Stoppard’s “The Coast of Utopia,” actually a trilogy of plays. Other best-play nominees are “Frost/Nixon,” “The Little Dog Laughed” and August Wilson’s final play, “Radio Golf.”
Other shoo-ins: Christine Ebersole (best actress musical, “Grey Gardens”), Raul Esparza (actor musical, “Company”) and Frank Langella (actor, play, “Frost/Nixon”) – though Liev Schreiber deserves votes for “Talk Radio.” Also: Eve Best (actress, play, “A Moon for the Misbegotten”), “Journey’s End” (best revival, play); John Gallagher (featured actor, musical, “Spring Awakening”); Jerry Mitchell (choreography, “Legally Blonde”) and Bob Crowley (set design, “Mary Poppins”).
If it sounds like the three-hour ceremony will lack suspense, it will. The only major horse race appears to be between “Company” and “110 in the Shade” for best musical revival. Surprisingly, no one’s even mentioning “A Chorus Line” in that mix.
Hach’s competition for best book are Holmes and Peter Stone (“Curtains”), Doug Wright (“Grey Gardens”) and Steven Sater (“Spring Awakening”), with Wright the favorite.
Another nominee with Colorado ties is Allen Moyer for best scenic design (“Grey Gardens”). He’s designed 10 productions for Opera Colorado.
The Tonys, named for Denver native Antoinette Perry, won’t have a single host this year. Presenters will include Harry Connick Jr., Neil Patrick Harris, Felicity Huffman, Eddie Izzard, Usher, Vanessa Williams and John Turturro. In addition to musical numbers from all four top nominees, Fantasia will perform a song from her role in “The Color Purple.”
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
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Nominees by category:
Best Play
The Coast of Utopia. Author: Tom Stoppard
Frost/Nixon. Author: Peter Morgan
The Little Dog Laughed. Author: Douglas Carter Beane
Radio Golf. Author: August Wilson
Best Musical
Curtains
Grey Gardens
Mary Poppins
Spring Awakening
Best Book of a Musical
Curtains, Rupert Holmes and Peter Stone
Grey Gardens, Doug Wright
Legally Blonde the Musical, Heather Hach, University of Colorado
Spring Awakening, Steven Sater
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) written for the theater
Curtains. Music: John Kander. Lyrics: Fred Ebb, John Kander and Rupert Holmes
Grey Gardens. Music: Scott Frankel, Lyrics: Michael Korie
Legally Blonde the Musical. Music and Lyrics: Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin
Spring Awakening, Music: Duncan Sheik, Lyrics: Steven Sater
Best Revival of a Play
Inherit the Wind
Journey’s End
Talk Radio
Translations
Best Revival of a Musical
The Apple Tree
A Chorus Line
Company
110 in the Shade
Best Special Theatrical Event
Jay Johnson: The Two and Only
Kiki & Herb, Alive on Broadway
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Boyd Gaines, Journey’s End
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Brían F. O’Byrne, The Coast of Utopia
Christopher Plummer, Inherit the Wind
Liev Schreiber, Talk Radio
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Eve Best, A Moon for the Misbegotten
Swoozie Kurtz, Heartbreak House
Angela Lansbury, Deuce
Vanessa Redgrave, The Year of Magical Thinking
Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Michael Cerveris, LoveMusik
Raúl Esparza, Company
Jonathan Groff, Spring Awakening
Gavin Lee, Mary Poppins
David Hyde Pierce, Curtains
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Laura Bell Bundy, Legally Blonde the Musical
Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens
Audra McDonald, 110 in the Shade
Debra Monk, Curtains
Donna Murphy, LoveMusik
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Anthony Chisholm, Radio Golf
Billy Crudup, The Coast of Utopia
Ethan Hawke, The Coast of Utopia
John Earl Jelks, Radio Golf
Stark Sands, Journey’s End
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Jennifer Ehle, The Coast of Utopia
Xanthe Elbrick, Coram Boy
Dana Ivey, Butley
Jan Maxwell, Coram Boy
Martha Plimpton, The Coast of Utopia
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Brooks Ashmanskas, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
Christian Borle, Legally Blonde The Musical
John Cullum, 110 in the Shade
John Gallagher, Jr., Spring Awakening
David Pittu, LoveMusik
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Charlotte d’Amboise, A Chorus Line
Rebecca Luker, Mary Poppins
Orfeh, Legally Blonde The Musical
Mary Louise Wilson, Grey Gardens
Karen Ziemba, Curtains
Best Direction of a Play
Michael Grandage, Frost/Nixon
David Grindley, Journey’s End
Jack O’Brien, The Coast of Utopia
Melly Still, Coram Boy
Best Direction of a Musical
John Doyle, Company
Scott Ellis, Curtains
Michael Greif, Grey Gardens
Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening
Best Choreography
Rob Ashford, Curtains
Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear, Mary Poppins
Bill T. Jones, Spring Awakening
Jerry Mitchell, Legally Blonde The Musical
Best Orchestrations
Bruce Coughlin, Grey Gardens
Duncan Sheik, Spring Awakening
Jonathan Tunick, LoveMusik
Jonathan Tunick, 110 in the Shade
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Bob Crowley and Scott Pask, The Coast of Utopia
Jonathan Fensom, Journey’s End
David Gallo, Radio Golf
Ti Green and Melly Still, Coram Boy
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins
Christine Jones, Spring Awakening
Anna Louizos, High Fidelity
Allen Moyer, Grey Gardens
Best Costume Design of a Play
Ti Green and Melly Still, Coram Boy
Jane Greenwood, Heartbreak House
Santo Loquasto, Inherit the Wind
Catherine Zuber, The Coast of Utopia
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes, Legally Blonde The Musical
Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins
Susan Hilferty, Spring Awakening
William Ivey Long, Grey Gardens
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Paule Constable, Coram Boy
Brian MacDevitt, Inherit the Wind
Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner, and Natasha Katz, The Coast of Utopia
Jason Taylor, Journey’s End
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kevin Adams, Spring Awakening
Christopher Akerlind, 110 in the Shade
Howard Harrison, Mary Poppins
Peter Kaczorowski, Grey Gardens
