It’s a busy time on Broadway with Tony nominees still celebrating from yesterday. Audiences are enjoying plays based on films, while revivals are keeping theatergoers singing tunes we know.
Here’s what’s going on this Month on Broadway.
Violet, nominated for the Tony award for Best Revival of a Musical, is a story about a woman searching for beauty in the 1960s. Sutton Foster, nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, plays Violet. Joshua Henry, who plays Flick, is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical.
The story is taken from The Ugliest Pilgrim by Doris Betts, according to the Associated Press. Violet is a young North Carolina woman who is learning to let go of the scars of the past. She dreams of transformation. Music is by Jeanine Tesori, who brought Caroline, or Change to the stage. Book and lyrics are by Brian Crawley. Director Leigh Silverman is nominated for Best Direction of a Musical.
Rocky
Rocky promises great choreography and a winning story. The musical is based on the Academy Award-winning 1976 Sylvester Stallone film, set in Philadelphia.
Andy Karl, who plays Rocky Balboa, received a Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. Steven Hoggett and Kelly Devine have been nominated for Best Choreography. Rocky also received nods from Tony voters for its design. Christopher Barreca was nominated for Best Scenic Design of a Musical, and Christopher Akerlind was nominated for Best Lighting Design of a Musical.
Music is by Stephen Flaherty. Lyrics are by Lynn Ahrens. Rocky is playing at the Winter Garden Theatre.
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill
In another Philadelphia based story, Tony Award winner Audra McDonald portrays the legendary blues singer, Billie Holiday. “In the end,” McDonald explained to Broadway.com, “it was her music that survived.” McDonald is nominated this year for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play.
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, a play with music, is set in a bar in 1959. McDonald performs such recognizable songs as “God Bless the Child” and “Strange Fruit.” Steve Canyon Kennedy is nominated for Best Sound Design of a Play.
The Bridges of Madison County
Fans looking for another great musical based on a film can check out Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale in The Bridges of Madison County. O’Hara has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical.
The Bridges of Madison County, based on the romance novel by Robert James Waller, is about a housewife in Iowa who finds love with a photographer.
Jason Robert Brown wrote the music and lyrics. He is nominated for the Tony Award for Best Original Score Written for the Theater and Best Orchestrations. Marsha Norman wrote the book. Donald Holder was nominated for Best Lighting Design.