Midler favored to say ‘Hello, Tony!’ during Sunday’s theater awards telecast
say A “divine” beloved – – entertainmentsome might even veteran is the heavy favorite to win best leading actress in a musical during the “71st Annual Tony Awards” telecast Sunday, June 11, on CBS. Kevin Spacey hosts the ceremonies, broadcast live from New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
Last year’s Tony Awards were less a celebration of Broadway than of “Hamilton,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical phenomenon that won 11 Tonys out of 16 nominations.
This year promises to be much more of a horse race among nominees, although Bette Midler is a strong frontrunner to win for her star turn in the current revival of “Hello, Dolly!,” which has received mostly rave reviews. At 71, Midler has audiences leaping to their feet nightly in a jubilant, sold-out production that is perfect for theatergoers exhausted by stressful current events. The actress and singer received a special Tony back in 1974 for “adding luster to the Broadway season” with her fabled “Clams on the Half Shell Revue,” but a win for “Dolly” would be her first in competition.
Her main rivals in the category are a pair of two-time Tony-winning Broadway divas, Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, who star together in the new musical “War Paint” as cosmetics mavens Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden.
If Midler and “Dolly” just seek to amuse and entertain, the new musical “Dear Evan Hansen” and its 23-year-old title star, Ben Platt, want to rip your heart out with a poignant story of a socially awkward and lovesick teenager who gets trapped in a terrible lie. Platt, whom Tony viewers may recognize from the two “Pitch Perfect” movies, already has won three other awards for his intense performance in this new show, and he appears to be the one to beat in the category of best leading actor in a musical.
“Evan Hansen” itself has a good chance of taking the Tony as best musical, but two other shows – “Come From Away,” an upbeat folk musical about a tiny Newfoundland town that took in airline passengers stranded after the 9/11 terror attacks, and “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,” adapted from part of “War and Peace” – have their champions as well.
In the category of best leading actress in a play, Laurie Metcalf (“Roseanne”) is a very strong contender for the new “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” a follow-up to a classic play by Henrik Ibsen. Her strongest competition appears to be Laura Linney in a revival of Lillian Hellman’s vintage drama “The Little Foxes,” for which Cynthia Nixon (“Sex and the City”) and Richard Thomas also are nominated in supporting categories.
among Other this recognizableyear’s nominees names include Kevin Kline (“Present Laughter”), David Hyde Pierce (“Hello, Dolly!”), Sally Field (“The Glass Menagerie”), Josh Groban (“Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812”), Danny DeVito (“The Price”), Nathan Lane (“The Front Page”) and Andrew Rannells (“Falsettos”).
In addition to the awards handed out in competition, James Earl Jones, 86, will receive a special Tony Award acknowledging his long and acclaimed stage career. The actor previously won two Tonys in competition, first in 1969 for “The Great White Hope,” then in 1987 for his towering performance in August Wilson’s “Fences.” Jones was last seen on Broadway in a hit 2015 revival of the comedy “The Gin Game,” opposite Cicely Tyson.