Tipped for success … Douglas Hodge in La Cage aux Folles. Photograph: Tristram Kenton
Two small London theatres which regularly punch above their weight – the Menier Chocolate Factory and the Donmar Warehouse – today led a strong British charge when the nominations for this year’s Tony theatre awards were announced.
Terry Johnson’s production of La Cage aux Folles, which began life at the former chocolate factory in Southwark before a West End run, and last month transferred to Broadway, picked up 11 nominations, sharing top spot with Fela! It included mentions for its two stars, Douglas Hodge reprising his role as fading drag queen Zaza/Albin and Kelsey Grammer (Frasier from Frasier) as his long-suffering partner Georges.
The revival of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music which followed the same path – the 180-seat Southwark theatre, then West End, then Broadway – was nominated four times, including one each for Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones who gets to sing the show’s best-known ballad, Send in the Clowns.
Producer Sonia Friedman, who took La Cage aux Folles to the West End and Broadway, said the Chocolate Factory’s success was based on the vision of its artistic director, David Babani for «telling the story». She said it had been a gamble taking La Cage to New York because there was a Broadway production just five years ago. «I’m mightily relieved and absolutely thrilled for everyone involved. We’ve been nominated in every category we could be nominated in and it’s a huge relief because people said it was way too soon to bring it back.
«We came in with a small advance and it has built really, really quickly and we now have a strong chance of running for a long time.»
The Donmar Warehouse’s production of Red, a new play by John Logan based on Mark Rothko’s Seagram mural commission, was one of the strongest straight plays, in terms of numbers, winning seven nominations, including acting plaudits for its two stars, Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne. Michael Grandage was shortlisted for the direction, Christopher Oram for the set, Neil Austin for the lighting and Adam Cork for the sound.
Jude Law was nominated for Hamlet, which began life as a Donmar production in the West End, and is joined in the best acting category by a striking set of heavyweights: Molina, Denzel Washington, Christopher Walken and Liev Schreiber.
Grandage, artistic director of the Donmar, said: «The Donmar’s productions of Red and Hamlet have allowed us to demonstrate our commitment to new writing and the classical repertoire in the same Broadway season and I’m delighted both productions have been honoured.»
The good British showing also includes a play on a very American subject. Enron, based on the financial scandal and written by the young Surrey-born playwright Lucy Prebble, received four nominations following its transfer from London.
The nominees for best actress in a play are all American. They include Viola Davis, Linda Lavin, Laura Linney, Jan Maxwell and an actor still best known for one of the best 1970s sitcoms, Valerie Harper (Rhoda from Rhoda).
A revival of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge received six nominations, including ones for its acting stars Schreiber, Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Hecht.
By any standards, the Tony award ceremony – to be held on 13 June – is a long, gruelling night with 30 awards given out. The only winners known at this stage are playwright Alan Ayckbourn, who will receive a lifetime achievement award, and David Hyde Pierce (Niles from Frasier) who wins a special award to mark his charitable work for Alzheimer’s disease.
The nominations come after what has generally been regarded as a good, if not golden, year on Broadway, in contrast to the West End which last year saw record audiences and some memorable plays and revivals from Enron and Jerusalem to A Streetcar Named Desire.