SAN DIEGO – “Cry-baby” gave La Jolla Playhouse something to smile about Tuesday morning, as the snarky musical that got its start there last November earned four Tony Award nominations, including one for best musical.
But “A Catered Affair,” the smaller, more somber show that premiered at the Old Globe Theatre in September and likewise went on to Broadway, found itself left at the altar by comparison. It earned three nominations – none in the top musical categories.
Both shows were eclipsed by “In the Heights,” which landed a leading 13 nominations, and the Broadway revival of “South Pacific,” which earned 11. The Tonys, the top annual honors for Broadway shows, will be presented June 15 in New York.
The nominations represent a surprise swap of fortunes for the two locally sprung shows. “A Catered Affair,” written by Broadway powerhouse Harvey Fierstein, had looked strong going into Tonys season, earning a leading 12 Drama Desk nominations two weeks ago.
“Cry-baby,” meanwhile, appeared to be languishing, earning mixed reviews (as did “A Catered Affair”) after its April opening and failing to generate much heat in other awards events.
The musical, based on the 1990 movie by John Waters, wound up with Tony nods for the book by Mark O'Donnell and Tom Meehan (the team behind the hit Waters adaptation “Hairspray”), score by lyricist David Javerbaum and composer Adam Schlesinger, and choreography by Rob Ashford, plus the best-musical nod. Its story focuses on class clashes and forbidden romance in 1950s Baltimore.
“A Catered Affair” was tapped for lead actor (Tom Wopat), lead actress (Faith Prince) and orchestrations (Jonathan Tunick). The show, based on a Paddy Chayefsky teleplay and a later, Gore Vidal-scripted movie, concerns a family's conflict over how to pay for their daughter's wedding.
The Playhouse and its artistic director, Christopher Ashley, had a second reason to celebrate. “Xanadu,” directed by Ashley before he joined the La Jolla theater in October, earned a best-musical nomination and three other nods.
The show is a comic riff on the hokey 1980 roller-disco movie of the same name. It received nominations for the book by Douglas Carter Beane (who also wrote the recent Old Globe musical “Dancing in the Dark”), lead actress (Kerry Butler) and choreography (Dan Knechtges). “Xanadu” comes to the Playhouse this November.
“What a great way for Christopher Ashley to begin his first season,” said Steven Libman, the Playhouse's managing director.
“And of course, we're very happy that 'Cry-baby' has been nominated for four Tonys. And we congratulate our brethren at the Old Globe for the nominations that 'A Catered Affair' has received.”
“Cry-baby” is the 13th Playhouse show to be Tony-nominated in the theater's history, and “A Catered Affair” is the Globe's 12th. Both theaters have regularly sent works to Broadway since the mid-1980s.
The much-admired “South Pacific” revival also boasts a local connection. Nominated as director is Bartlett Sher, who in the mid-1980s headed the now-defunct San Diego Public Theatre and later started his own company here, the experimental Plus Fire Performance Group. (He also moonlighted as a waiter in La Jolla.)
Two other revivals made strong showings: Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's “Sunday in the Park with George,” with nine nominations, and “Gypsy,” with seven.
“In the Heights,” a groundbreaking musical about life in the multiethnic Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights, had been a heavy favorite to top the nominations among musicals. Its next closest rival was “Passing Strange,” the autobiographical show by the singer-songwriter Stew, which scored seven nominations.
The new-play categories likewise were dominated by a clear favorite, Tracy Letts' “August: Osage County.” The Pulitzer-winning work about a warring family in Oklahoma earned a leading seven nominations.
Also nominated were Tom Stoppard's “Rock 'n' Roll”; Conor McPherson's “The Seafarer”; and Patrick Barlow's “The 39 Steps,” a spoof based loosely on the movie of the same name and other films by Alfred Hitchcock.
“The Farnsworth Invention,” a piece about the early days of television by Aaron Sorkin, creator of TV's “The West Wing,” was a potential contender for best play. But the show, developed in the “Page to Stage” workshop program at La Jolla last year, failed to become the third Playhouse-related nominee.
James Hebert: (619) 293-2040;
jim.hebert@uniontrib.com
