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[0:08] Alan Seales: Welcome to this very special bonus episode of The Theatre Podcast. I'm your host Alan Seales, and the Tony Award nominations for the 2019-2020 season just came out a few hours ago, and I'm not quite sure what to make of them. I've actually got a special guest, my friend Lauren LeBeouf, who is one of my closest friends and an avid theatergoer and an actress herself. Hi Lauren, how are you?

[0:33] Lauren LeBeouf: Yes, I guess I'm really not that special. I have really no credentials to be on this show other than the fact that I love theater and I see a lot. Well, I saw a lot of it back in the day when there was theater.

[0:45] Alan Seales: I was around then. You see more theater than me, and that says a lot because I see a lot of theater.

[0:51] Lauren LeBeouf: But that's true, yes. So the Tony Award nominations were announced. I'm just gonna give a quick recap for everybody. They were announced, and Jagged Little Pill got the most with 15 nominations, followed by Moulin Rouge! The Musical with 14, and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical and Slave Play with 12 apiece. Do you think The Lightning Thief got snubbed?

[1:10] Alan Seales: I don't.

[1:15] Lauren LeBeouf: I speak the truth. I mean, first of all, how exciting that there are nominations because in March and in April, who knew what was happening in the world? So I'm excited that the actors and the creatives, the casts are getting the recognition that they deserve. And I'm not sure if The Lightning Thief...

[1:42] Alan Seales: Let me...

[1:44] Lauren LeBeouf: Or I guess I'll add on to that by saying that I think this falls into the same problem that Be More Chill found, is that the story and the audience is young adult who don't have the disposable income to go to Broadway shows. Whether or not that belongs on Broadway, whether or not that deserves awards. So this gets into the whole Aaron Tveit being the only one nominated for Best Actor category, this whole thing because the only other show that was eligible was The Lightning Thief that had a male lead. So Chris McCarroll arguably got snubbed.

[2:20] Alan Seales: I could agree with that. I could agree with that. I thought the lead was great.

[2:25] Lauren LeBeouf: What's interesting to me though is in this whole, you know, thing everyone's like, "Well, Aaron's gonna win it." He's obviously the only one. But what's actually kind of the fine print is, this is in the Tony Awards rules, and I quote, "If the Tony Awards nominating committee has determined that if there is only one nominee in a category listed, such category shall be submitted to the Tony voters which may by the affirmative vote of 60% of the total ballots cast grants an award in that category." End quote. That means that he still could not win the Tony and be the only one nominated in that category.

[3:05] Alan Seales: That would be a sad day for Aaron.

[3:12] Lauren LeBeouf: I know, I know. But just give him the award. I mean, he was great. He was great. Beautiful voice. Moulin Rouge, you know, it's a spectacle. It's a Vegas show, but like a really good one. I mean, most Vegas shows are really great when you think of theater, when you think of the spectacle. Moulin Rouge delivers.

[3:26] Alan Seales: It really does. I'm surprised Jagged Little Pill got more nominations than Moulin Rouge.

[3:34] Lauren LeBeouf: Because Jagged Little Pill... Well, okay, so this can go either way. I was gonna say because it's a much more serious subject matter, I'm surprised that it got more nominations. But maybe that's why it did, because it touched so many different people on different levels. So that's one show I actually never saw, so I can't comment on it. But all I will say is Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill was the very first album I owned, and I learned every single lyric to every single song. It was incredible. And Elizabeth Stanley, of course, deserves her nomination for Best Actress, and she's up against Karen Olivo, who of course deserves hers, and Adrian Warren, who of course deserves hers. But there are three such different performances.

I would hate to be a Tony voter because I wouldn't know which way to go. I feel this way about the Oscars and other award shows. When you have such dynamic performances, you know, how do you pick one? But I think hopefully society recognizes even a nomination, you know, is a huge accolade. And even if because of COVID there aren't as many people in these categories, you know, there's an Academy, you know, they're putting this together. They wouldn't put you in it if you really didn't deserve it. So they should give Aaron the award.

[5:00] Alan Seales: So looking at plays, we've got Grand Horizons, The Inheritance, Seawall: A Life, Slave Play, and The Sound Inside, all of which I saw.

[5:09] Lauren LeBeouf: Okay, so I did not see The Inheritance. That was the only one I did not see. Slave Play is one of the best pieces of art I've ever seen.

[5:16] Alan Seales: Agreed.

[5:19] Lauren LeBeouf: Agreed. Hands down. Yeah, look, it's very apropos, of course, to what's going on in our country culturally right now. And, you know, Jeremy O'Hara's is a brilliant playwright. The Grand Horizons was good. The Inheritance deals with, you know, the AIDS crisis going across two different generations. Seawall brought Jake Gyllenhaal his first nomination. Congrats to Jake. And The Sound Inside, of course, also really fantastic.

[5:50] Alan Seales: Fantastic. And Mary Louise Parker nominated. Yeah, well-deserved. She's incredible. I've, you know, been a fan of her since Weeds, you know, over a decade ago. Again, I wouldn't know which way to go because all of these are so different. But it's nice that there are five at least in this category and not just the three that are in Best Musical.

[6:08] Lauren LeBeouf: Yes, you know, it's interesting. I think because of COVID, I think the future of plays, who knows with musicals, but with plays, I think we're going to see a lot of one-person plays. I think it'd be great to recognize, you know, Slave Play, this ensemble cast. It pushed the boundaries. I just remember watching it, and it had me completely fooled. It's like one of those jaw-dropping shows, but your jaw remains dropped. I think I was in the fourth row. The set design, the mirror at the back of the theater, so you're looking at yourself. I mean, I'm not going to go into the symbolism there, but I mean, it just was phenomenal.

[7:00] Alan Seales: Yeah, Clinton Ramos got a nomination for Slave Play, that scenic design. I tend to love things that cross genres, and for me, Slave Play did that. So I really rode the wave of all feelings in that, and that to me is art. When I will leave the theater, I want to feel differently. That play did that. I will say I loved Grand Horizons, that end of act one. I saw Seawall when it was at the Public, so I saw My Name is Lucy Barton, one-woman show Laura Linney. I mean, incredible. First of all, anyone who has to do a one-person show and memorize that amount of lines, there could be a category in and of itself. Mary Louise Parker, it was close. I also saw The Sound Inside, absolutely incredible. I will say the lighting design in The Sound Inside, Heather, you deserve an award. Incredible. I am so impressed by one-person shows, but for me, it's still going to be Slave Play. It'll be Slave Play all the way for me.

[7:58] Lauren LeBeouf: I think you're right. Let's shift over to...

[7:58] Alan Seales: This season was cut short, of course, by the coronavirus. There were only 18 shows eligible for the awards, and we've just talked about a lot of them. The ceremony is supposed to take place in December. Don't know when or how yet, but we'll figure that out soon. What's really weird to me though, actually before we get into what didn't open, is that I don't think there's going to be a 2021 season, and I don't think we're going to have Tony Awards next year. We're not supposed to come back until May 30th, 2021, which is, you know, like days before when we would have had the Tony Awards. I guess then they have a really long time to come up with the best opener. My 2022 opener better be really freaking great, Neil Patrick Harris. Well, there were no musical revivals that opened at all during the eligibility period, which actually for anyone counting was April 26, 2019, to February 19, 2020. So that category is completely eliminated from this year's Tonys.

[9:03] Alan Seales: But all of these musicals we've all heard about. I was watching the live comments on YouTube as the announcements were coming out, and everyone, aside from being upset that there was no mention of Lightning Thief, was like, "What about Six?" There's no Six, but guys, girls, Six was not eligible. It was supposed to open the night Broadway shut down on March 12th. Oh, just the power of their voices should have made them eligible. It should have been nominated, but it absolutely will be the next round. Oh, of course. Costume designer absolutely better be nominated. I absolutely loved it, and it was episodes 86 through 93 that I released all of May in my podcast. I called it my corn queen takeover.

I was bouncing back and forth between Broadway cast and Australia cast. The other things that didn't open, that all of these, by the way, have not announced if they are going to return or not, are West Side Story, Girl from the North Country, which you mentioned, The Gender Swapped Company with Katrina Lenk and Patti LuPone, Chris Siebert, Jensen Lamard, and of course, Mrs. Doubtfire, Rob McClure. I don't see how these big-budget musicals will not come back.

[10:13] Alan Seales: So the musicals that have said they're going to reopen, which was of course before the recent shift to May 30th, just came out was Diana, which was of course filmed on stage earlier. It's coming out for Netflix, Carolina Change with Casey Levy, Chip Zion, Flying Over Sunset, a book by James Lapine, music by Tom Kitt. Sing Street said they're going to return actually for the 2021-22 season. I just saw this morning that David Byrne's American Utopia is coming back in the fall. They've announced that, and then of course the ever-controversial Music Man, the marquee went up. It's not going anywhere. But Sonia Tayeh, who got a Tony Nom for choreography for Moulin Rouge, also did choreography for Sing Street.

So she, in theory, could have been nominated twice had Sing Street actually opened, been nominated against herself. Let's see the plays that haven't opened have actually a lot of star power, some of which we will never see. The Minutes starring Jessie Mueller. Yes, I had a ticket for that. Yeah, supposed to come in late spring. Now they have no idea since it's been since our reopening has been pushed to May. The Hangman said they will not return. Lehman Trilogies announced nothing. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf with Laurie Metcalf and Rupert Everett said it will not return. Plaza Suite with Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker. They haven't said anything. American Buffalo, which is now the latest David Mamet play, was going to have Lawrence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell, and Darren Criss.

Nothing about that. Birthday Candles with Deborah Messing. How I Learned to Drive with another Mary Louise Parker and David Morse is expected to come back and Take Me Out, the baseball play. Best of Tyler Ferguson. Right. Right. Yeah, that's a new word on that. I don't know what that's going to do, but there is just so much, pun intended, waiting in the wings right now.

[12:00] Alan Seales: Oh, yes. I saw Hangman at Atlantic Off-Broadway. Really great. I don't think it would draw. You know, it kind of reminds me of like Ferryman, you know, really great piece, but not no star power. And I think in this time of COVID, I just think you're going to need that. There are things now being written for Zoom. I don't want to see theater over Zoom. I just don't. I would rather actors and crews quarantine themselves and film something on a stage, and that I would watch. And I don't know, I need to like smell the theater. I need to feel it. I need to, you know, sit on a really creaky old seat. That's me. But again, I'm an avid theater goer, so it's like a huge stark contrast to watch stuff on Zoom.

I'd rather see things filmed like Diana. And I would, you know, watch that. I saw Diana, and that was incredible. Look, coronavirus will eventually go away, and then we're going to have a huge renaissance of artists who are coming out and so excited to create, you know, their masterpieces. And I think that when you go through struggle like we all are, that's where you find your gold.

[13:25] Alan Seales: Thank you so much. Gosh, I just don't know where we're going to go from this as an industry. I don't know when we're going to come back. For those listening before November 3rd, just vote. Just go out there and absolutely vote. Make a difference. Yeah. Lauren, thank you. This has been fun. And just to, you know what, for all those Zoom performances, no, I think it's amazing what you're doing. And I will say a lot of Zoom performances are fundraisers for these theaters. So I do support them. Attend them because this is how these theaters are raising money to stay afloat. And if we don't attend these Zoom readings, et cetera, these theaters cannot stay afloat.

[14:08] Alan Seales: On that note, too, the actors, like you've got Tony winners, Tony nominated actors who have gone home and like back to save money and live with family, or they've left the city and they have no income right now. There are major actors that have no income, and it's going to be over a year before they can get back on stage again. Follow your favorite actors on social media. A lot of them are turning to other things. They're doing coaching. They're doing masterclasses. They're doing these Zoom readings that just keep in mind that it's really hard. It's really hard out there right now. And keep in mind that these people made it right. They made it to Broadway. So if you're an aspiring artist, you might have access to these people when you don't have access to them when they're busy, when they're doing a show, you know, so if you can take a class from someone or learn piano or how to sing, do it now because this is when these people have time, and they're experts in their field. They made it. They made it to the top. So you're absolutely right. Follow them, support them. And also it's interesting to see how they're navigating it.

[15:17] Alan Seales: And on that note, I think that is a wonderful place to say goodbye. I don't know how we got here. This was all about the Tonys. But on a more serious note, congratulations to all of this year's nominees. Thank you for doing what you do. Thank you for putting yourself out there and making yourself vulnerable eight times a week. I've said it so many times before in other episodes, but it's worth repeating. You are the Olympians of theater. Very few people can do what you do at the level that you do it. So once again, thank you and congratulations.