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2025 Tonys Trends
The
takeaway from the 2025 Tony awards for this year of the highest grosses in
Broadway history: to paraphrase Norma Desmond: Broadway is big. It's the shows
that got small. Also, what's wrong with recognizing Hollywood stars?
The
trend for some time has been for smaller shows to take the Best Musical award
at the Tonys. Avenue Q in '04, Fun Home in '15, Dear Evan
Hansen in '17: the list goes on, and it leads us to this year. In 2025 the Best
Musical award went to Maybe Happy Ending, a small show that seemingly came out of nowhere and also
got Tonys for Best Actor, Book, Scenic Design, Original Score, and Direction. The
Tony for Best Revival of a Musical went to Sunset
Blvd., a show that used to be big but now
is given the postmodern stark scenic design/video closeup treatment.

Tastes
have changed. In the push to put younger, more varied audiences in Broadway
seats, not only have casts gotten more diverse, but shows appeal to people who
have grown up with the internet and never known a world without music videos.
This "less is more" thinking may spell the death of the old-school musical with
nary a chorus girl in sight, at least for the Tonys, where Smash got crushed and Boop! got zip. (The other award organizations [Outer Critics
Circle, Drama Desk] had different opinions; Boop! which is a big,
razzle-dazzle-y show, won Choreography and Costume Design from DD and OCC, and its
star, Jasmine Amy Rogers, won Outstanding Lead Performer from both
organizations.)
Speaking
of big: big Hollywood stars came to town, but were completely overlooked at the
Tonys. Jim Parsons? No. Denzel? Jake? No. Clooney? No. Big box office,
but no awards. Is this an anti-Hollywood bias at work among the Tony voters?
Who knows?
Broadway
is definitely still big, and still pulling big stars. Next season will feature
The Queen of Versailles, a brand new show with Kristin Chenoweth!
Theaterscene.com will be there and review.
See
you at the theater!
- Jeanne Lieberman,
Publisher
Obits

Linda Lavin: 1937-2024
We are sorry to report that the funny, caustic, delightful, Tony-winning Linda Lavin, who had a long career in theater and television, died on Sunday, December 29. She had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer.
Lavin was a frequent performer, on and off-Broadway. Career moments included originating Sondheim's "The Boy From." in The Mad Show in 1966, through starring as Mama Rose in Gypsy in 1990, to You Will Get Sick, in 2022. Of her five Tony nominations, she received the win for her performance in in Neil Simon's Broadway Bound.
Lavin worked extensively in television, where she had the title role in the sitcom Alice; she also sang the show's theme song, "There's a New Girl in Town," each season. Her eclectic TV career spanned everything from The Muppets to Barney Miller to The Sopranos, and at the time of her death, she was still working, shooting the upcoming Hulu sitcom Mid-Century Modern, opposite Nathan Lane.
Lavin's third husband, Steve Bakunas, survives her. Theaterscene sends our sympathy and condolences.

Theaterscene is sad to report that Sandi Durell, the founder
and longtime publisher and editor of Theaterpizzazz, has passed after a long,
courageous battle with cancer. Many in the theater and cabaret community loved
Sandi; she was special, vibrant, and delightful. We send our condolences to her
friends and particularly, her family: her husband, Dr. Robert Durell; her
daughter, Cooper Lawrence; and her son-in-law, critic and Drama Desk member JK
Clarke.
A celebration of life was held on Sunday, October 27.
Theater Loses Two Beloved Stars: Maggie Smith and
Gavin Creel

Maggie Smith (Photo:
the Everett Collection)

Gavin Creel (Photo:
Deadline.com)
Within a single week, the theater world
lost Maggie Smith, 89, and Gavin Creel, 48. These beloved actors were
extraordinary talented members of the theater community. Smith was a legend,
with a long run that spanned decades and garnered multiple awards for her work
in film and television as well as on the stage. The other, Creel, had a
shorter, but stellar, theater career.
Tributes from those who knew her speak of
Maggie Smith's intellect, of how sharp, funny, and clever she was and yet did
not suffer fools lightly. Gavin Creel's friends and colleagues talk about his
kindness, his huge and singular talent, how he had made Broadway brighter. Gone
too soon, yet still had so much greatness still to come.
Obituaries, courtesy of Theatermania, say
it all; click photos for links.

James Earl
Jones (Photo: Jeremy Daniel)
James Earl Jones, a
boundary-breaking actor with a voice of gold, has died.
One of the best known, most
versatile, and most beloved actors of our time, Jones's many talents earned him
EGOT status. He won two Emmy Awards, one for supporting actor (Heat Wave),
one for lead actor (Gabriel's Fire); a Grammy for his recording of the
Emancipation Proclamation on the album Great American Documents; three
Tonys - for The Great White Hope, Fences, and a Lifetime
Achievement Tony; and an honorary Oscar.
Born in Arkabutla,
Mississippi, in 1931, Jones had a speech problem he overcame magnificently,
using his golden voice in role after role. It's hard to think of Jones without
thinking of Darth Vader, arguably his best-known voice role, although his Mufasa
in The Lion
King might be just as well known. The list of his film and television work ranges from Dr. Strangelove to The Simpsons, Field of Dreams to Roots to The Great White Hope. On stage, he lent
his formidable presence to Othello,
You Can't Take It With You, Of Mice and Men, The Gin Game. the list goes on.
Broadway recognizes those it
loves: the Cort Theatre was renamed The James Earl Jones in 2022.
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