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2013 Tony Nominations: The Theatre World Takes Broadway Back From Hollywood

By Tyler Coates on

Like any other award given to popular art, the Tonys can be divisive. The awards, handed out by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League, honor a select number of American theatre performances — productions must take place within the eligibility period (roughly, the Broadway season that runs from June to April) and in a Broadway house, which is defined not by location but by size (a theatre must have 500 seats or more). Considering the limited number of eligible productions, the small nominating committee of 42 theatre professionals, and the continuous commercialization of Broadway productions, it’s understandable that many critics see the Tony not as a respectable award but rather as an internal marketing tactic. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Two and a Half Men co-creator Lee Aronsohn issued an apology via Twitter last night for the misogynistic remarks he made in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Apparently comments like “we’re approaching peak vagina on television, the point of labia saturation” and “enough, ladies. I get it. You have periods” were meant… Read More

Fashion

The Fug Report: Highs and Lows from the Week in Fashion

By Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan on

[Editor's note: Welcome to The Fug Report! Every Friday our fashion blogger friends Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, the sartorial geniuses behind Go Fug Yourself, will feature some of their favorite looks of the week in this space. We hope you enjoy it!]

This week on Go Fug Yourself, we watched… Read More

News

The Morning's Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. According to TMZ, Charlie Sheen’s people are in “deep negotiations” with a major network (we’re guessing it’s probably Fox) for a new sitcom that’s being written specifically for him and could air as early as next January. There aren’t many other details, but we’ll go ahead and guess that Chuck Lorre is… Read More

News

The Morning's Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. We were happy to see that Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s hilarious musical The Book of Mormon killed it at the Tonys last night, taking home nine awards, but our favorite part of the night had to be host Neil Patrick Harris’ opening number. Watch it here.

2. JJ Abrams’ mysterious monster… Read More

News

The Morning's Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. The nominations for the 65th annual Tony Awards were announced this morning, and — no surprise here! — The Book of Mormon leads all other productions with 14 nods. [via WSJ]

2. Did you miss watching Will Ferrell become “rock hard” as he finally made good on his promise to shave off… Read More

Theatre

Theatre News: Closings, Outsourcing, and General Bad Behavior

By Caroline Stanley on

Broadway World reports that the producer’s of Neil LaBute’s Reasons To Be Pretty (which was his Broadway debut nominated for three Tonys) will be closing down the production come June 14th; they were obviously holding out to see if the show could nab any statues before they went public with the news. In case you missed it before, we interviewed Neil about the play here back in February. … Read More

News

5 Headlines from the Last 24 Hours That Shouldn’t Be Funny But Are

By Stelios Phili on

1. Historicaltweets.com Re-imagines Famous Moments through Tweets [via Time]
Why this IS funny: “Lassie: Idiot child fell down the mine shaft again. That makes 3 times in one week.”
Why this ISN’T funny: Lassie hated his job

2. Bret Michaels injured at the Tony Awards [via People]
Why this IS funny: The curtain for the “Rock of Ages” set at the Tonys nearly decapitated Bret Michaels!!!
Why this ISN’T funny: The curtain for the Rock of Ages set at the Tonys nearly decapitated Bret Michaels. … Read More

Theatre

“This Show Couldn’t Be Any Gayer”: Our 2009 Tony Awards Recap

By Liz Stanley on

So a confession. One of my guilty pleasures is Broadway musicals. So much so that I will stomach the misery of Times Square, with its throngs of annoying tourists and the not-so-cheap TKTS booth to see a show when I can. However, the new year marked a dim start for the Great White Way with more than a dozen plays and musicals closing by the end of January. (Knowing that Harvey is no longer on stage belting “(You’re) Timeless to Me” as Edna Turnblad is a dark reality I must face every day.) And shows that were opening didn’t seem that promising — American Idol reject Constantine starring in a show based on songs you can play on Guitar Hero? Not exactly Les Mis.

But there were a couple of shining stars that were able to grab the spotlight and restore some hope to the stage and tonight was all about celebrating them.… Read More

Theatre

Three Tonys, One Award: The Billy Elliots’ Joint Nom

By Caroline Stanley on

We just came across a post on the New York Times Arts Beat blog that explained that due to a ruling by the Tonys committee, the three boys who rotate the role of Billy Elliot “would be considered jointly for a single nomination for leading actor in a musical.” They are not eligible as individuals.

Our reaction? Well, that just doesn’t seem fair. There’s no way David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish — aka the three Billys — deliver the exact same performances, even if they are treated as equals by the producers and the creative team. Note: if they win all three will get their own statue. … Read More