It may be a bit late to cop a ticket for this Sunday’s Tony Awards. But that doesn’t mean Broadway’s best is beyond reach this summer.
Among the nominees for Best Play is Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park, the story of race and the changes half a century brings to an American neighborhood. See it through Aug. 12 at the Walter Kerr Theatre at 219 West 48th St.
Gore Vidal’s politically pointed The Best Man is one of four nominees for Best Revival of a Play. In keeping with the tone of the times it centers on the two leading candidates for the president nomination of a political party. See it through Sept. 9 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 West 45th St.
Who says the American musical is dead? A quick look at the marquees in the Theatre District tells you it just isn’t true. Newsies has been nominated along with three others as Best Musical. Set in New York City at the turn of the century it harkens back to a day when print dominated the news, and “on-line” was where you hung out your clothes. Book to Nov. 2012 at the Nederlander Theatre.
Musical revivals are no stranger to the Great White Way, least of all Evita. Watch Sunday night on CBS as Ricky Martin and Elena Roger perform some of the shows memorable songs. Better yet, go to the Marquis Theatre for the real thing. Bookings are open through Dec. 31, 2012. The music is from Andrew Lloyd Webber, the lyrics the product of Tim Rice’s genius. Can’t get much better than that.
Other great musicals in town just now include a reprise of Cole Porter’s immortal Anything Goes at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre and Broadway’s recent nine-time Tony-winner The Book of Mormon at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.
See this year’s Tony’s. Better yet, see them as motivation to get up off the couch and into a fifth-row center seat on Broadway.
(Image: Javier Gutierrez Acedo)
