Spring is here — time to rev up Tony Award fever.
A major issue facing the Tony eligibility committee is what to do with the Roundabout’s revival of the Roundabout’s revival of “Cabaret.”
That last bit isn’t a typo: The Roundabout is producing — or, rather, re-producing — the same production of “Cabaret” it won a Tony for in 1998.
The only significant difference this time around is Sally Bowles. Back then, the role was played by a heartbreaking Natasha Richardson. This time, it’s Michelle Williams, making her Broadway debut.
Everything else — costumes, sets, direction, choreography, orchestrations and Alan Cumming as the emcee — is the same.
There’s a sense around Broadway that the Roundabout is doing this to make a quick buck. It’s no secret the company finds itself stretched a little thin these days. It has four theaters to run and hasn’t had a money-making production in a long time. To make ends meet, the Roundabout has become a landlord, competing for shows with the Shuberts, the Nederlanders and Jujamcyn theaters.
Right now, the Roundabout’s renting its Stephen Sondheim Theatre to the producers of “Beautiful,” which is doing $1 million-plus a week.
It’s hoping to cash in again with “Cabaret” at Studio 54.
That, of course, remains to be seen.
I was a big fan of this “Cabaret” all those years ago. But I’m skeptical it will have the same impact in 2014. Director Sam Mendes is overseeing the production, but he’s hardly the hungry young turk he was in 1998.
Rob Marshall, co-director and choreographer, is in Europe directing the film version of “Into the Woods.” It’s doubtful if he’ll even attend the April 24 opening.
“They’re just taking the old production out of mothballs,” says a source on the Tony eligibility committee.
This committee member, as well as a couple of others I’ve chatted with this week, say they’re opposed to permitting “Cabaret” to be in the running for Best Revival.
Which means there will be only three nominees this year: “Les Misérables,” which is a new production because there’s no turntable, and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and “Violet,” both of which have been around before, but not on Broadway.
The committee is also likely to disqualify the direction, choreography and design elements of “Cabaret.”
Cummings won a Tony for the role in 1998, so he is automatically ineligible.
But what about Williams?
Some may argue that, since this isn’t a new production, she is in effect a replacement Sally Bowles and therefore shouldn’t be up for nomination.
But that may be a little extreme, and I’m sure CBS will want her to be on the Tony Awards telecast in June.
I bet she’ll be eligible, as will the other new cast members, including Danny Burstein, as Herr Schultz, and Linda Emond, as Fraulein Schneider.
Pope John Paul II is due to be canonized on April 27.
But more important, he may be nominated for a Drama Desk Award on April 25.
The Storm Theatre Company is presenting “Our God’s Brother” beginning April 4 at the Church of Notre Dame on Morningside Drive at 114th Street.
The play was written by Karol Wojtyla, which was what John Paul was called before he became pope. The main character is a freedom fighter under the Nazis and Soviets. He becomes a priest and a champion of the poor.
It’ll be interesting to see how the critics treat “Our God’s Brother.”
If they pan it, they might find themselves damned for all eternity to sit through “Rock of Ages,” drinking bad wine in sippy cups.