Here Lies Love Still - H 2013
Joan MarcusNEW YORK – Two unconventional immersive musicals, David Byrne‘s Here Lies Love and Dave Malloy‘s Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, lead the field with 11 nominations each for the 29th annual Lucille Lortel Awards, the top honors for off-Broadway theater.
Those twin tallies represent a record high, with no show in the Lortels’ history having previously garnered more than eight nominations.
A smash hit that extended multiple times during its premiere engagement last year at the Public Theater and is back for a return season beginning April 14, Here Lies Love is in the running for outstanding musical, for Alex Timbers‘ direction and Annie-B Parson‘s choreography. It also nabbed two lead actor slots, for Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora, one for lead actress Ruthie Ann Miles and another for featured actress Melody Butiu.
Conceived by Byrne, who collaborated on the score with Fatboy Slim, the show recounts the life of the former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, as a disco odyssey staged in a dance-club setting.
Malloy’s show doesn’t have the cachet of major music-industry names behind it, but the freewheeling retelling of a chapter from War and Peace, styled as electropop Russian dinner theater, has plenty of awards-season momentum. The musical had an extended run in a purpose-built tent space downtown before moving to Manhattan’s theater district for a longer stint.
In addition to outstanding musical, its nominations include mentions for Rachel Chavkin‘s direction, lead actress Phillipa Soo, featured actors Blake DeLong and Lucas Steele, and featured actresses Brittain Ashford and Shaina Taub.
Also vying for the top musical prize, with nine nominations, is Fun Home by Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron, based on Alison Bechdel‘s graphic novel about the parallel coming-out journeys of a father and daughter in a funeral-parlor family. The show also scored an impressive five acting nods, for leads Michael Cerveris, Sydney Lucas and Alexandra Socha, and for featured actors Noah Hinsdale and Judy Kuhn.
The final slot went to What’s It All About, a non-narrative romantic mood musical reinterpreting the classic songbook of Burt Bacharach and Hal David for a new generation. Starring Kyle Riabko, who also conceived the show with David Lane Seltzer, that production landed four nominations, including one for Riabko’s lead performance.
All four best musical nominees drew strong critical receptions, pointing to a relatively fertile environment off-Broadway for new musicals that contrasts sharply with this season’s Broadway crop. Tony Award prognosticators are looking glumly across the field of new Broadway musicals, the majority of which have been greeted with tepid reviews at best.
Competing in the Lortels for outstanding new play are Joshua Harmon‘s Bad Jews, Bruce Norris‘ Domesticated, Conor McPherson‘s The Night Alive and Will Eno‘s The Open House.
Nominees for outstanding revival are the Public Theater and Foundry Theatre’s Good Person of Szechwan, by Bertolt Brecht; MCC Theater’s Hand to God, by Robert Askins; Mint Theater Company’s London Wall, by John van Druten; Primary Stages’ The Model Apartment, by Donald Margulies; and the Irish Repertory Theatre’s The Weir, by McPherson, who has the rare distinction of having both a new play and a revival nominated in the same year. Kron also is a double nominee, getting a nod for her musical Fun Home and a featured actress mention for Good Person of Szechwan.
Up for outstanding solo show: the downtown smash Buyer & Cellar by Jonathan Tolins, performed by Michael Urie; How I Learned What I Learned by August Wilson, starring Ruben Santiago-Hudson; and Satchmo at the Waldorf, the Louis Armstrong bio-play by Wall Street Journal theater critic Terry Teachout, performed by John Douglas Thompson.
It was announced earlier that this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award will go to veteran producer Robyn Goodman, currently represented on Broadway with Rodgers & Hammerstein‘s Cinderella, and off-Broadway with the long-running Tony winner Avenue Q. Goodman also curates Roundabout Theatre Company’s Underground series devoted to emerging artists, which yielded this year’s four-time nominee Bad Jews.
The Lucille Lortel Awards ceremony will take place at NYU Skirball Center on Sunday, May 4, hosted by Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman, who will be appearing together off-Broadway starting April 13 in Sharr White‘s two-hander Annapurna for the New Group.
The complete list of 2014 Lucille Lortel Award nominations follows on the next page:
Outstanding Play
Bad Jews
Produced by Roundabout Theatre Company
Written by Joshua Harmon
Domesticated
Produced by Lincoln Center Theater
Written by Bruce Norris
The Night Alive
Produced by Atlantic Theater Company
Written by Conor McPherson
The Open House
Produced by Signature Theatre
Written by Will Eno
Outstanding Musical
Fun Home
Produced by The Public Theater
Music by Jeanine Tesori, Book and Lyrics by Lisa Kron
Based on the Alison Bechdel book
Here Lies Love
Produced by The Public Theater
Concept and Lyrics by David Byrne, Music by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim
Additional Music by Tom Ganey and J Pardo
Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812?
Produced by Howard & Janet Kagan, Paula Marie Black, John Logan, Lisa Matlin, Daveed Frazier, Tom Smedes, Vertical Ent./Roman Gambourg/Lev Gelfer
Written by Dave Malloy
What’s It All About
Produced by New York Theatre Workshop
Music by Burt Bacharach, Lyrics by Hal David and Others
Conceived by Kyle Riabko and David Lane Seltzer
Outstanding Revival
Good Person of Szechwan
Produced by The Public Theater and The Foundry Theatre
Written by Bertolt Brecht, Translation by John Willett
Hand to God
Produced by MCC Theater
Written by Robert Askins
London Wall
Produced by Mint Theater Company
Written by John van Druten
The Model Apartment
Produced by Primary Stages
Written by Donald Margulies
The Weir
Produced by The Irish Repertory Theatre
Written by Conor McPherson
Outstanding Solo Show
Buyer & Cellar
Produced by Darren Bagert, Dan Shaheen, Ted Snowdon, Daryl Roth, Martin Massman, Pat Flicker Addiss, Doug Nevin, Joan Raffe & Jhett Tolentino, Andrew Tobias, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
Written by Jonathan Tolins
Performed by Michael Urie
How I Learned What I Learned
Produced by Signature Theatre
Written by August Wilson, Co-conceived with Todd Kreidler, in collaboration with Ruben-Santiago Hudson
Performed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Satchmo at the Waldorf
Produced by Long Wharf Theatre, Shakespeare and Company, Scott and Roxanne Bok, Roz and Jerry Meyer, Ronald Guttman, Shadowcatcher Entertainment, John LaMattina
Written by Terry Teachout
Performed by John Douglas Thompson
Outstanding Director
Rachel Chavkin, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
Lear deBessonet, Good Person of Szechwan
Sam Gold, Fun Home
Alex Timbers, Here Lies Love
Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Hand to God
Outstanding Choreographer
Martha Clarke, Chéri
Marguerite Derricks, Heathers: The Musical
Danny Mefford, Fun Home
Annie-B Parson, Here Lies Love
Sonya Tayeh, Kung Fu
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play
Steven Boyer, Hand to God
Jon DeVries, Regular Singing
Peter Friedman, The Open House
Taylor Mac, Good Person of Szechwan
Armando Riesco, The Happiest Song Plays Last
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play
Tracee Chimo, Bad Jews
Diane Davis, The Model Apartment
Carolyn McCormick, The Open House
Laurie Metcalf, Domesticated
Andrus Nichols, Bedlam’s Hamlet and Saint Joan
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical
Jeff Blumenkrantz, Murder For Two
Michael Cerveris, Fun Home
Jose Llana, Here Lies Love
Kyle Riabko, What’s It All About
Conrad Ricamora, Here Lies Love
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical
Sydney Lucas, Fun Home
Ruthie Ann Miles, Here Lies Love
Alexandra Socha, Fun Home
Phillipa Soo, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
Barrett Wilbert Weed, Heathers: The Musical
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Carson Elrod, The Explorers Club
Philip Ettinger, Bad Jews
Russell G. Jones, The Call
Jeremy Shamos, Dinner With Friends
Fred Weller, Reasons to Be Happy
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Hannah Bos, The Open House
Lynn Cohen, I Remember Mama
Lisa Kron, Good Person of Szechwan
Molly Ranson, Bad Jews
Sarah Stiles, Hand to God
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Heath Calvert, Nobody Loves You
Nick Choksi, Bunty Berman Presents…
Blake DeLong, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
Noah Hinsdale, Fun Home
Lucas Steele, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Uzo Aduba, Venice
Brittain Ashford, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
Melody Butiu, Here Lies Love
Judy Kuhn, Fun Home
Shaina Taub, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
Outstanding Scenic Design
Miriam Buether, Love and Information
David Korins, Here Lies Love
Mimi Lien, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
Clint Ramos, Appropriate
Matt Saunders, Good Person of Szechwan
Outstanding Costume Design
Gabriel Berry and Andrea Hood, Love and Information
Clint Ramos, Here Lies Love
Anita Yavich, The Explorers Club
Paloma Young, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
Catherine Zuber, Far From Heaven
Outstanding Lighting Design
Daniel Ionazzi, The Jacksonian
Bradley King, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
Ben Stanton, Fun Home
Justin Townsend, Here Lies Love
Japhy Weideman, What’s It All About
Outstanding Sound Design
M.L. Dogg and Cody Spencer, Here Lies Love
Clive Goodwin, What’s It All About
Matt Hubbs, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
Ryan Rumery, The Hatmaker’s Wife
Christopher Shutt, Love and Information
SPECIAL AWARDS
Lifetime Achievement Award
Robyn Goodman
Playwrights’ Sidewalk Inductee
Richard Nelson
