ALICE BURDICK SCHWEIGER

Special to the Jewish News

I

is not until the prestigious Tony
Award nominations are
announced each year that the-
atergoers learn which way
Broadway s tide is turning. While past
competitions have focused on flashy
musicals, this year's hot races are
focused on dramatic plays — many of
them by great American playwrights.
This year's winners will be
announced in a live broadcast from
New York on Sunday, June 6, begin-
ning at 8 p.m. on PBS and continuing
on CBS from 9-11 p.m. While there
is no single host, the star-studded list
of presenters includes Calista
Flockhart, Julie Andrews, Rosie
O'Donnell, Angela Lansbury, Bea
Arthur, Christian Slater, Chita Rivera,
Scott Wolf, Kevin Spacey, David Hyde
Pierce and Brian Dennehy.
"If we had to characterize this sea-
son, we would say it's the year of the
straight play," says Jed Bernstein, exec-
utive director of the League of
American Theaters and Producers,
which presents the Tony Awards with
the American Theater Wing. "That's
particularly gratifying because only
four or five years ago people were say-
ing there weren't going to be any more
serious plays on Broadway.
"[But] producers have found a vari-
ety of ways to mount productions and
capture public interest. A play can be
produced with or without a star, and for
a limited run, where costs are con-
tained," Bernstein notes. "It opens the
doors for many more plays. If you com-
pare the number of dramas this year
with four years ago, you have twice as
many shows on the New York stage."
Perhaps the most contested awards
surround classic American plays rein-
vented for today's audiences. The
front-runners for Best Revival of a Play
are Death of a Salesman, written by
Arthur Miller, and The Iceman
Cometh, written by Eugene O'Neill.
This is the 50th anniversary of
Salesman's original debut on Broadway.
It has earned six nominations this
time around, including Best Lead
Actor in a Play for Brian Dennehy
and Best Featured Actress in a Play for
Elizabeth Franz, both of them widely
acclaimed for their portrayals of Willie
and Linda Loman, respectively.
The Iceman Cometh landed five
nominations, including Best Lead
Actor in a Play for Kevin Spacey, who
also has won raves.
Not About Nightingales, written by

The Play's The Thing

'

6/4
1999

82 Detroit Jewish News

With works by Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams
and Eugene O'Neill winning raves on Broadway,
this year's Tony Awards puts the spotlight on drama.

As for musicals, there are no British
Tennessee Williams, has six nomina-
shows stealing the thunder this year.
tions, including one for Best Play.
"The British musicals were clearly a
Written some 60 years ago, this is the
1980s and early 1990s phenomenon,"
first time Nightingales has been per-
notes Bernstein. "Contenders this year
formed on Broadway.
— Civil War, Fosse, Parade and Footloose
"We have this wonderful phenome-
— are distinctly American [stories]."
non this year," says Bernstein. "For the
Grabbing much of the hype for Best
first time in history, [American play-
Revival
of a Musical is the distinctly
wrights] Eugene O'Neill, Arthur
American production
Miller and Tennessee
Annie Get Your Gun.
Williams all have a
Alfred Uhry "Parade," a musical
You're A Good Man,
play on Broadway at
based on the true story of Leo
Charlie
Brown, which
the same time."
Frank, a Jewish man erroneously
previewed
in Detroit
At this year's cere-
found guilty of murdering a 13-
at
the
Fisher
Theatre
mony, the Lifetime
year-old girl, received nine Tony
prior
to
opening
on
Achievement Award
nominations, the most for any
Broadway, is up for
will go to University of production this year.
an award in the same
Michigan graduate
category, and gar-
Arthur Miller, still
nered nominations for director
going strong at age 83. A fitting recipi-
Michael Mayer, featured actress Kristin
ent, Miller walked away with the Tonys
Chenoweth (Sally) and featured actor
for Best Play and Best Author of a Play
Roger Bart (Snoopy).
50 years ago for Salesman. O'Neill died
Topping the list with the most
in 1953 and Williams in 1983.

nominations of all is a musical with a
Jewish theme. Parade garnered nine,
including one for Best Musical.
Set in 1913 in Georgia, Parade tells
the true story of Leo Frank, the Jewish
superintendent of the National Pencil
Company, who is wrongfully accused
of murdering 13-year-old Mary
Phagan. The trial is a sham, and
Frank, who puts his trust in American
justice, is sentenced to death. As a Jew
from New York, he is an easy target
for the anti-Semitic Southern press.
Frank's wife convinces the governor
to re-examine the case. Discovering
that the witnesses were bribed or
forced to lie, he commutes Frank's sen-
tence to life imprisonment. But a
lynch mob decides to take the law into
its own-hands, pulls Frank out of his
prison cell and hangs him to death.
Originally, skeptics thought the mate-
rial was too hea\T for a musical, but Hal
Prince, the director, and Alfred Uhry,

