Best Play

Democracy
Author: Michael Frayn
Producers: Boyett Ostar Productions, Nederlander Presentations, Inc., Jean Doumanian, Stephanie P. McClelland, Arielle Tepper, Amy Nederlander, Eric Falkenstein, Roy Furman

Doubt
Author: John Patrick Shanley
Producers: Carole Shorenstein Hays, MTC Productions, Inc., Lynne Meadow, Barry Grove, Roger Berlind, Scott Rudin

Gem of the Ocean
Author: August Wilson
Producers: Carole Shorenstein Hays, Jujamcyn Theaters

The Pillowman
Author: Martin McDonagh
Producers: Boyett Ostar Productions, Robert Fox, Arielle Tepper, Stephanie P. McClelland, Debra Black, Dede Harris/Morton Swinsky, Roy Furman/Jon Avnet, Joyce Schweickert, The National Theatre of Great Britain

Best Musical

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Producers: Marty Bell, David Brown, Aldo Scrofani, Roy Furman, Dede Harris, Amanda Lipitz, Greg Smith, Ruth Hendel, Chase Mishkin, Barry and Susan Tatelman, Debra Black, Sharon Karmazin, Joyce Schweickert, Bernie Abrams/Michael Speyer, Barbara Whitman, Weissberger Theater Group/Jay Harris, Cheryl Wiesenfeld/Jean Cheever, Clear Channel Entertainment, Harvey Weinstein, MGM on Stage/Darcie Denkert and Dean Stolber

The Light in the Piazza
Producers: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten

Monty Python's Spamalot
Producers: Boyett Ostar Productions, The Shubert Organization, Arielle Tepper, Stephanie McClelland/Lawrence Horowitz, Elan V. McAllister/Allan S. Gordon, Independent Presenters Network, Roy Furman, GRS Associates, Jam Theatricals, TGA Entertainment, Clear Channel Entertainment

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Producers: David Stone, James L. Nederlander, Barbara Whitman, Patrick Catullo, Barrington Stage Company, Second Stage Theatre

Best Book of a Musical

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Book: Jeffrey Lane

The Light in the Piazza
Book: Craig Lucas

Monty Python's Spamalot
Book: Eric Idle

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Book: Rachel Sheinkin

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek

The Light in the Piazza
Music & Lyrics: Adam Guettel

Monty Python's Spamalot
Music: John Du Prez and Eric Idle; Lyrics: Eric Idle

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Music & Lyrics: William Finn

Best Revival of a Play

Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Producers: Elizabeth Ireland McCann, Daryl Roth, Terry Allen Kramer, Scott Rudin, Roger Berlind, James L. Nederlander, Nick Simunek, Joey Parnes

Glengarry Glen Ross
Producers: Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Jam Theatricals, Boyett Ostar Productions, Ronald Frankel, Philip Lacerte, Stephanie P. McClelland/CJM Productions, Barry Weisbord, Zendog Productions, Herbert Goldsmith Productions, Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Ellen Richard, Julia C. Levy

On Golden Pond
Producers: Jeffrey Finn, Arlene Scanlan, Stuart Thompson

Twelve Angry Men
Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Ellen Richard, Julia C. Levy

Best Revival of a Musical

La Cage aux Folles
Producers: James L. Nederlander, Clear Channel Entertainment, Kenneth Greenblatt, Terry Allen Kramer, Martin Richards

Pacific Overtures
Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Ellen Richard, Julia C. Levy, Gorgeous Entertainment

Sweet Charity
Producers: Barry and Fran Weissler, Clear Channel Entertainment, Edwin W. Schloss

Best Special Theatrical Event

Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance!
Producers: Creative Battery, Harley Medcalf and Boxjellyfish LLC

Laugh Whore
Producer: Showtime Networks

700 Sundays
Producers: Janice Crystal, Larry Magid, Face Productions

Whoopi, the 20th Anniversary Show
Producers: Mike Nichols, Hal Luftig, Leonard Soloway, Steven M. Levy, Tom Leonardis, Eric Falkenstein, Amy Nederlander

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

Philip Bosco, Twelve Angry Men
Billy Crudup, The Pillowman
Bill Irwin, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
James Earl Jones, On Golden Pond
Brían F. O'Byrne, Doubt

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play

Cherry Jones, Doubt
Laura Linney, Sight Unseen
Mary-Louise Parker, Reckless
Phylicia Rashad, Gem of the Ocean
Kathleen Turner, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

Hank Azaria, Monty Python's Spamalot
Gary Beach, La Cage aux Folles
Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Tim Curry, Monty Python's Spamalot
John Lithgow, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical

Christina Applegate, Sweet Charity
Victoria Clark, The Light in the Piazza
Erin Dilly, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Sutton Foster, Little Women
Sherie Rene Scott, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

Alan Alda, Glengarry Glen Ross
Gordon Clapp, Glengarry Glen Ross
David Harbour, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Liev Schreiber, Glengarry Glen Ross
Michael Stuhlbarg, The Pillowman

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

Mireille Enos, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Heather Goldenhersh, Doubt
Dana Ivey, The Rivals
Adriane Lenox, Doubt
Amy Ryan, A Streetcar Named Desire

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical

Dan Fogler, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Marc Kudisch, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Michael McGrath, Monty Python's Spamalot
Matthew Morrison, The Light in the Piazza
Christopher Sieber, Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical

Joanna Gleason, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Celia Keenan-Bolger, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Jan Maxwell, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Kelli O'Hara, The Light in the Piazza
Sara Ramirez, Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Scenic Design of a Play

John Lee Beatty, Doubt
David Gallo, Gem of the Ocean
Santo Loquasto, Glengarry Glen Ross
Scott Pask, The Pillowman

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Tim Hatley, Monty Python's Spamalot
Rumi Matsui, Pacific Overtures
Anthony Ward, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Michael Yeargan, The Light in the Piazza

Best Costume Design of a Play

Jess Goldstein, The Rivals
Jane Greenwood, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
William Ivey Long, A Streetcar Named Desire
Constanza Romero, Gem of the Ocean

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Tim Hatley, Monty Python's Spamalot
Junko Koshino, Pacific Overtures
William Ivey Long, La Cage aux Folles
Catherine Zuber, The Light in the Piazza

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Pat Collins, Doubt
Donald Holder, Gem of the Ocean
Donald Holder, A Streetcar Named Desire
Brian MacDevitt, The Pillowman

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Christopher Akerlind, The Light in the Piazza
Mark Henderson, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Kenneth Posner, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Hugh Vanstone, Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Direction of a Play

John Crowley, The Pillowman
Scott Ellis, Twelve Angry Men
Doug Hughes, Doubt
Joe Mantello, Glengarry Glen Ross

Best Direction of a Musical

James Lapine, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Mike Nichols, Monty Python's Spamalot
Jack O'Brien, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Bartlett Sher, The Light in the Piazza

Best Choreography

Wayne Cilento, Sweet Charity
Jerry Mitchell, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Jerry Mitchell, La Cage aux Folles
Casey Nicholaw, Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Orchestrations

Larry Hochman, Monty Python's Spamalot
Ted Sperling, Adam Guettel and Bruce Coughlin, The Light in the Piazza
Jonathan Tunick, Pacific Overtures
Harold Wheeler, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Based on a recommendation by the American Theatre Critics Association, the Theatre de la Jeune Lune of Minneapolis, MN will be the recipient of the 2005 Regional Theatre Tony Award, accompanied by a grant of $25,000 sponsored by Visa USA. This award is given to a regional theatre company that has displayed a continuous level of artistic achievement contributing to the growth of theatre nationally.

A Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre will be given to Edward Albee.

The 59th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Hugh Jackman, will be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall, Sunday, June 5 from 8:00 - 11:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

I’ve already bought my ticket to see a new stage production from playwright Neil LeBute, This Is How It Goes, at The Public Theater. Directed by outgoing artistic director George C. Wolfe, the show stars the immensely talented Jeffrey Wright, Ben Stiller and Amanda Peet, the play is getting good reviews and causing quite a buzz among regular theatre-goers.

Also high on my list is the Pulitzer Prize winning play Doubt, from John Patrick Shanley. Set against the backdrop of a Bronx Catholic school in 1964, the play deals with a strong-minded nun who is faced with a difficult decision: Should she voice concerns about one of her male colleagues, a priest who may have abused a young student, even if she's not entirely certain of the truth? Sounds controversial and timely.

A star-studded cast brings a revival of David Mamet's 1984 Pulitzer Prize-winning Glengarry Glen Ross back to Broadway. Alan Alda, Liev Schreiber, Jeffrey Tambor, Frederick Weller, Gordon Clapp, and Tom Wopat take a behind the scenes look at a cut throat real estate office.

Some other shows have also caught my eye:

-- Monty Python’s Spamalot is the musical theatre adaptation of their hit 1975 film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, starring Tim Curry, David Hyde Pierce, and Hank Azaria.
-- Denzel Washington is Brutus in a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
-- James Earl Jones makes his long-awaited return to Broadway opposite Leslie Uggams in the revival of Ernest Thompson's acclaimed drama, On Golden Pond.
-- Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin are eating up the stage in the Broadway revival of Edward Albee's 1962 classic tale of dysfunction in a marriage, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
-- And uptown, Andre Deshields is appearing as Caligula at The Classical Theatre of Harlem.

I may or may not get out to see them, but they all sound like great shows.

What also seems like a must-see is the new exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum on the late visual artist and icon of the 1980’s Jean-Michel Basquiat. After a youth spent as a graffiti artist, the Brooklyn born Basquiat became one of the most accomplished artists of his generation, with work sold in the top galleries in SoHo. But an addiction to heroin caused this bright light to dim all too early at just age 27. The exhibition of his work runs until June.

I don’t know if or when it will make its way to New York, but there’s an interesting film out of Great Britain, Bullet Boy, that may do for England what Boyz n the Hood did here in the U.S. Although a fictional story it’s shedding light on a growing problem in that country of gun violence in the inner city. It has received praise at some of the top film festivals, so keep an eye out for it.

The Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival has released its 2005 schedule. Some 19 companies will perform from June 21 to August 28 in Becket, Massachusetts, including the Martha Graham Dance Company, Mark Morris, Savion Glover, Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, and my favorite company, Garth Fagan Dance.

Finally, because I am the unofficial press agent for the sensational Billy Porter, anyone in or around western Pennsylvania should catch his one-man, autobiographical performance Ghetto Superstar at the City Theatre in Pittsburgh, his hometown.

He made his screen debut opposite Eminem in 8 Mile; debuted on Broadway in an uneven revival of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, with Whoopi Goldberg; starred in Spike Lee’s ill-conceived male fantasy, She Hate Me; appeared last year on Broadway in Regina Taylor’s Drowning Crow, which critics seemed to dislike primarily for being an all-Black adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull; and received Independent Spirit Award and Gotham Award nominations for the Sundance Award-winning feature Brother to Brother. Another actor on a never-ending search for a good part.

Unfortunately, Mackie doesn’t find it in his latest project. McReele, the world premiere of Stephen Belber’s new play, produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company, is now in previews at the Laura Pels Theatre on W. 46th Street in New York. While it offers Mackie plenty of opportunity to display his versatility as a performer, it suffers from a meandering story line that tries to make too many points, the result of which is to make few of them well.

Darius McReele is on death row in a Delaware State Prison as the play opens, accused of killing a judge’s son during a botched drug deal 16 years ago when he was just 17. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence and has gotten the attention of a local newspaper editor Rick Dayne, played by Michael O’Keefe, who is interested not in McReele’s guilt or innocence but in an essay he has written. It seems prison life has allowed him plenty of time to think about what’s wrong with the outside world and he writes eloquently.

Dayne becomes fascinated with the charismatic McReele and convinced that the circumstantial evidence that put him away may be flawed. McReele provides leads to another man who may be the real culprit, and when Dayne takes up the cause, finally gains his release.

Post-incarceration, Dayne and McReele establish a relationship that allows the editor to hear more of the young man’s well-thought-out, albeit surprisingly centrist, political opinions. An arranged meeting with the state Democratic Party chair leads to an invitation to run for U.S. Senate against an entrenched GOP incumbent. And with that, this contrived mess of a story line wanders off.

To call this basic premise preposterous would be an understatement. Democrats are hard up for good candidates but no one would ask an ex-con--innocent or not--to run for office with no previous political experience. Further, playwright Belber (Match, Tape, The Laramie Project) never seems sure of what angle he wants to take.

Should he tell a story about a charming young man who may have a secret to hide? Is this play about how a carefully shaped media campaign can make a viable candidate out of anyone? Perhaps a tale about whether a politician is capable of actually saying what he means? Or whether a Black man is a sellout for wanting to leave the ghetto and move in power circles? Belber touches on all of these but never stays long enough to come to any conclusions.

The characters are one dimensional and thus difficult to feel any emotion towards. Tony Award nominee Doug Hughes (Doubt, Frozen) directs, but with only five actors and no more than four on stage at any one time, often leaves then standing in place for long stretches, as they deliver at times ponderously long bits of dialogue.

With the exception of O’Keefe, who gave a very wooden performance, most of the actors in this production did their best with inferior material: Jodi Long as Katya, Dayne’s girlfriend and host of a local tv news show; Portia as Opal, McReele’s wife, and Henry Strozier in multiple roles.

As a vehicle for Mackie, well, it never hurts to be a working actor. Having a play running Off Broadway should give him the visibility necessary to land his next role.

McReele, now in previews, will open February 24 and run until May 1.

SAG will honor its own at its 11th Annual Awards ceremonies on Saturday, February 5, at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center, televised nationally on Turner Network Television (TNT) at 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. CT, and 6 p.m. MT.

Of the top industry accolades presented to performers, only the Screen Actors Guild Awards® are selected purely by actors’ peers. Two selected panels--one for television and one for film--each comprised of 2100 SAG members from across the United States, chose this year’s Actor® nominees. The secret ballots were mailed Friday, December 10, 2004 and returned by the deadline of noon on January 7, 2005 to Integrity Voting Systems, the Awards’ official teller.

Awards ballots will be mailed on January 11, 2005. The entire active membership of the Guild across the country, including yours truly, will vote on all acting categories. Ballots must be returned to Integrity Voting Systems by noon on Thursday, February 3, where results will be tallied and sealed until they are opened by the presenters at the 11th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® ceremonies on February 5.

11TH ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS® NOMINATIONS

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Don Cheadle / HOTEL RWANDA - Paul Rusesabagina - United Artists
Johnny Depp / FINDING NEVERLAND - Sir James Matthew Barrie - Miramax Films
Leonardo DiCaprio / THE AVIATOR - Howard Hughes - Miramax Films
Jamie Foxx / RAY - Ray Charles - Universal Pictures
Paul Giamatti / SIDEWAYS - Miles - Fox Searchlight Pictures

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Annette Bening / BEING JULIA - Julia Lambert - Sony Pictures Classics
Catalina Sandino Moreno / MARIA FULL OF GRACE - Maria - Fine Line Features
Imelda Staunton / VERA DRAKE - Vera - Fine Line Features
Hilary Swank / MILLION DOLLAR BABY - Maggie - Warner Bros.
Kate Winslet / ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND - Clementine Kruczynski - Focus Features

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Thomas Haden Church / SIDEWAYS - Jack - Fox Searchlight Pictures
Jamie Foxx / COLLATERAL - Max - DreamWorks SKG
Morgan Freeman / MILLION DOLLAR BABY - Scrap - Warner Bros.
James Garner / THE NOTEBOOK - Duke - New Line Cinema
Freddie Highmore / FINDING NEVERLAND - Peter Llewelyn Davies - Miramax Films

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Cate Blanchett / THE AVIATOR - Katharine Hepburn - Miramax Films
Cloris Leachman / SPANGLISH - Evelyn - Columbia Pictures
Laura Linney / KINSEY - Clara McMillen - Fox Searchlight Pictures
Virginia Madsen / SIDEWAYS - Maya - Fox Searchlight Pictures
Sophie Okonedo / HOTEL RWANDA - Tatiana Rusesabagina - United Artists

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

THE AVIATOR - Miramax Films
Alan Alda - Senator Ralph Owen Brewster
Alec Baldwin - Julian Trippe
Kate Beckinsale - Ava Gardner
Cate Blanchett - Katharine Hepburn
Leonardo DiCaprio - Howard Hughes
Ian Holm - Professor Fitz
Danny Huston - Jack Frye
Jude Law - Errol Flynn
John C. Reilly - Noah Dietrich
Gwen Stefani - Jean Harlow

FINDING NEVERLAND - Miramax Films
Julie Christie - Mrs. Emma Du Maurier
Johnny Depp - Sir James Matthew Barrie
Freddie Highmore - Peter Llewelyn Davies
Dustin Hoffman - Charles Frohman
Radha Mitchell - Mary Ansell Barrie
Joe Prospero - Jack Llewelyn Davies
Nick Roud - George Llewelyn Davies
Luke Spill - Michael Llewelyn Davies
Kate Winslet - Sylvia Llewelyn Davies

HOTEL RWANDA - United Artists
Don Cheadle - Paul Rusesabagina
Nick Nolte - Colonel Oliver
Sophie Okonedo - Tatiana Rusesabagina
Joaquin Phoenix - Jack Daglish

MILLION DOLLAR BABY - Warner Bros.
Clint Eastwood - Frankie
Morgan Freeman - Scrap
Hilary Swank - Maggie

RAY - Universal Pictures
Aunjanue Ellis - Mary Ann Fisher
Jamie Foxx - Ray Charles
Terrence Dashon Howard - Gossie McGee
Regina King - Margie Hendricks
Harry Lennix - Joe Adams
Clifton Powell - Jeff Brown
Larenz Tate - Quincy Jones
Kerry Washington - Della Bea Robinson

SIDEWAYS - Fox Searchlight Pictures
Thomas Haden Church - Jack
Paul Giamatti - Miles
Virginia Madsen - Maya
Sandra Oh - Stephanie

PRIMETIME TELEVISION

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Jamie Foxx / REDEMPTION - Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams - F/X
William H. Macy / THE WOOL CAP - Gigot - TNT
Barry Pepper / 3 - Dale Earnhardt - ESPN
Geoffrey Rush / THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS - Peter Sellers - HBO
Jon Voight / MITCH ALBOM’S THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN - Eddie - ABC

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Glenn Close / THE LION IN WINTER - Eleanor Of Aquitaine - Showtime
Patricia Heaton / NEIL SIMON’S THE GOODBYE GIRL - Paula McFadden - TNT
Keke Palmer / THE WOOL CAP - Lou - TNT
Hilary Swank / IRON JAWED ANGELS - Alice Paul - HBO
Charlize Theron / THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS - Britt Ekland - HBO

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Hank Azaria / HUFF - Dr. Craig “Huff” Huffstodt - Showtime
James Gandolfini / THE SOPRANOS -Tony Soprano - HBO
Anthony LaPaglia / WITHOUT A TRACE - Jack Malone - CBS
Jerry Orbach / LAW & ORDER - Detective Lennie Briscoe - NBC
Kiefer Sutherland / 24 - Jack Bauer - FOX

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Drea De Matteo / THE SOPRANOS - Adriana La Cerva - HBO
Edie Falco / THE SOPRANOS - Carmela Soprano - HBO
Jennifer Garner / ALIAS - Sydney Bristow - ABC
Allison Janney / THE WEST WING - C.J. Cregg - NBC
Christine Lahti / JACK & BOBBY - Grace McCallister - The WB

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Jason Bateman / ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT - Michael Bluth - FOX
Sean Hayes / WILL & GRACE - Jack McFarland - NBC
Ray Romano / EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND - Raymond Barone - CBS
Tony Shalhoub / MONK - Adrian Monk - USA
Charlie Sheen / TWO AND A HALF MEN - Charlie Harper - CBS

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Teri Hatcher / DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES - Susan Mayer - ABC
Patricia Heaton / EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND - Debra Barone - CBS
Megan Mullally / WILL & GRACE - Karen Walker - NBC
Sarah Jessica Parker / SEX AND THE CITY - Carrie Bradshaw - HBO
Doris Roberts / EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND - Marie Barone - CBS

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

24 - FOX
Reiko Aylesworth - Michelle Dessler
Carlos Bernard - Tony Almeida
Elisha Cuthbert - Kimberly Bauer
James Badge Dale - Chase Edmunds
Joaquim De Almeida - Roman Salazar
Dennis Haysbert - David Palmer
Mary Lynn Rajskub - Chloe O’Brien
Paul Schulze - Ryan Chappelle
Kiefer Sutherland - Jack Bauer

CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION - CBS
Gary Dourdan - Warrick Brown
George Eads - Nick Stokes
Jorja Fox - Sara Sidle
Paul Guilfoyle - Jim Brass
Robert David Hall - Dr. Robbins
Marg Helgenberger - Catherine Willows
William Petersen - Gil Grissom
Eric Szmanda - Greg Sanders

SIX FEET UNDER - HBO
Lauren Ambrose - Claire Fisher
Frances Conroy - Ruth Fisher
James Cromwell - George Sibley
Idalis de Leon - Sophia
Peter Facinelli - Jimmy
Ben Foster - Russell Corwin
Sprague Grayden - Anita
Rachel Griffiths - Brenda Chenowith
Michael C. Hall - David Fisher
Peter Krause - Nate Fisher
Justina Machado - Vanessa Diaz
Freddy Rodriguez - Federico Diaz
Mathew ST Patrick - Keith Charles
Mena Suvari - Edie
Justin Theroux - Joe

THE SOPRANOS - HBO
Lorraine Bracco - Dr. Jennifer Melfi
Steve Buscemi - Tony Blundetto
Dominic Chianese - Corrado “Junior” Soprano
Vincent Curatola - Johnny “Sack” Sacramoni
Drea De Matteo - Adriana La Cerva
Jamie-Lynn Discala - Meadow Soprano
Edie Falco - Carmela Soprano
James Gandolfini - Tony Soprano
Robert Iler - Anthony Soprano, Jr.
Michael Imperioli - Christopher Moltisanti
Steven R. Schirripa - Bobby “Bacala” Baccilieri
Tony Sirico - Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri
Aida Turturro - Janice Soprano
Steven Van Zandt - Silvio Dante
John Ventimiglia Artie Bucco

THE WEST WING - NBC
Stockard Channing - Dr. Abigail Bartlet
Kristin Chenoweth - Annabeth Schott
Dulé Hill - Charlie Young
Allison Janney - C.J. Cregg
Joshua Malina - Will Bailey
Mary McCormack - Kate Harper
Janel Moloney - Donna Moss
Richard Schiff - Toby Ziegler
Martin Sheen - Pres. Josiah Bartlet
John Spencer - Leo McGarry
Lily Tomlin - Debbie Fiderer
Bradley Whitford - Josh Lyman

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT - FOX
Will Arnett - George Oscar Bluth II (Gob)
Jason Bateman - Michael Bluth
Michael Cera - George-Michael Bluth
David Cross - Tobias Fünke
Portia de Rossi - Lindsay Bluth Fünke
Tony Hale - Buster Bluth
Alia Shawkat - Maeby Fünke
Jeffrey Tambor - George Bluth, Sr.
Jessica Walter - Lucille Bluth

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES - ABC
Andrea Bowen - Julie Mayer
Ricardo Antonio - Carlos Solis
Marcia Cross - Bree Van De Kamp
Steven Culp - Rex Van De Kamp
James Denton - Mike Delfino
Teri Hatcher - Susan Mayer
Felicity Huffman - Lynette Scavo
Cody Kasch - Zach Young
Eva Longoria - Gabrielle Solis
Jesse Metcalfe - John the Gardener
Mark Moses - Paul Young
Nicollette Sheridan - Edie Britt
Brenda Strong - Mary Alice Young

EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND - CBS
Peter Boyle - Frank Barone
Brad Garrett - Robert Barone
Patricia Heaton - Debra Barone
Monica Horan - Amy McDougal-Barone
Doris Roberts - Marie Barone
Ray Romano - Raymond Barone
Madylin Sweeten - Ally Barone

SEX AND THE CITY - HBO
Kim Cattrall - Samantha Jones
Kristin Davis - Charlotte York
Cynthia Nixon - Miranda Hobbes
Sarah Jessica Parker - Carrie Bradshaw

WILL & GRACE - NBC
Sean Hayes - Jack McFarland
Eric McCormack - Will Truman
Debra Messing - Grace Adler
Megan Mullally - Karen Walker

Screen Actors Guild Awards 41st Annual Life Achievement Award
James Garner

Freedom that came with the end of slavery, and its impact on ex-slaves, is at the crux of August Wilson’s brilliant new play Gem of the Ocean now on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York. The ninth production in his ten play, decade-by-decade perspective on African American life in the 20th Century, this play examines the physical and spiritual journey taken by slaves and their immediate descendants after the great migration to the north.

The story is set in Pittsburgh of 1904--just 39 years after emancipation--in the home of Aunt Ester (masterfully portrayed by Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad). Aunt Ester is a 285 year old woman, who has seen and lived the entire slave experience in America, and is capable of taking people back through the middle passage and escapes along the underground railroad through her storytelling and connection to the spirits. (August Wilson fans were first introduced to her character in Two Trains Running, and informed of her passing in King Hedley II.)

Her home is a boarding house of sorts, and frequent gathering place for those who’ve found themselves north with no definite place to go. Among them, Black Mary (LisaGay Hamilton), a single woman who showed up one day looking for work and was invited to stay, and Eli (Eugene Lee), another ex-slave who tends to whatever needs fixing and looks after Aunt Ester.

Wilson supplies a colorful cast of characters who drop in. Solly Two Kings, (delightfully acted by the gifted Anthony Chisholm, who earlier gave Obie and Drama Desk Award-winning performances in another Wilson play, Jitney) is a former conducter on the underground railroad. He’s brought many slaves as far north as Canada, and would have taken more if Lincoln hadn’t, in his opinion, ruined things by his proclamation. He has begun to question the quality of life up in Pittsburgh, now that everyone is beholden to the mill as the sole source of employment and income. He sees little difference.

Rutherford Selig (Raynor Scheine)--another character first introduced in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone--is a junk dealer and traveling haberdasher. The play’s lone white character, he typifies the fact that times are hard for everyone. Were it not for his skin color, he’d have no special advantage in this world.

All of them are at odds with Caesar (Ruben Santiago-Hudson) who has risen to a position of relative importance in the community. Despite his own suspect past, he is now the law enforcement officer in charge of the Black community. His badge and gun afford him power and privilege enough to own his own boarding house, where his rental policies are as draconian as the mills’ hiring practices. He’s got his, and to his mind, Black folks should just make do with what they’ve got here. He is also Black Mary’s brother.

The story turns upon the arrival of Citizen Barlow (John Earl Jelks), a young man newly arrived from Alabama, carrying a deep spiritual burden. He has been told only Aunt Ester can relieve him of it, and he insists upon seeing her, even after being told to wait several days. The source of his distress is central to the plot and thus won’t be revealed here, but the manner in which he is freed speaks to this theme of freedom.

I cannot rave enough about Phylicia Rashad. I’ll make no named references to that tv show she was once on, but forget all images of her there. She completely inhabits the character of this wise, elderly woman, in body, voice and spirit. Rashad ceases to exist on the stage and only Aunt Ester remains, perhaps the highest compliment you can give an actor.

Chisholm too gives great life and energy to Solly, a grisled, feisty man who is the exact opposite of Caesar. His connection to community is unquestioned. When he receives word from his sister, still in Alabama, of the difficulties faced by the now sharecroppers and tenant farmers there, he realizes he must go back down south, despite personal risk, and bring more folks to this form of freedom.

August Wilson has an outstanding ear for dialogue and phrasing, and his ability to capture feelings and emotions through the most colorful use of the language is on full display here. Considering “Gem” in the context of his other plays, essentially the beginning of the 1900’s, makes sense out of all the others. A common thread of African Americans struggling to find their way in this new world runs through all of them.

David Gallo’s set design created an appropriately mysterious environment, Constanza Romero’s costumes evoked period and class, while Donald Holder and Dan Moses Schreier on lighting and sound design respectively, enhanced the mood and overall tone.

Perhaps director Kenny Leon (who directed Rashad in last season’s A Raisin in the Sun) had the easiest task. He had August Wilson’s powerful, moving and thought-provoking play, and seven enormously talented and award-worthy performers to work with. All he had to do was get out of their way.

Now between he and Avon Barksdale, I always liked Stringer best. I thnk we all did. As drug dealers go, he at least had a more worldly view. Even back in season one, you could tell he had no intentions of doing that “gangsta bullshit” his whole life. He took classes in business at a local college. He had the Barksdale drug money laundered in legitimate enterprises and invested in downtown real estate. He understood that all the killing that comes with the drug trade only drew police surveillance and community opposition. He looked good in a suit. In short, he had all the brains and polish that Avon lacked.

But maybe there was something to Avon’s contention that Stringer wasn’t tough enough for the game. When Stringer called for someone to be killed--young Wallace; various witnesses who were gonna testify against Avon; even D’Angelo, Avon’s nephew--it was always “just business.”

But when Avon wanted someone dead, it was almost always personal first, business second. The vendetta against Omar, resulting in his lover Brandon’s death, was Avon’s idea. This latest war with Marlo Stansfield. He needed to kill to send a message and prove his dominence over his opponents. You got the impression Stringer already knew he was better than everyone else, Avon included.

But he blew it, when he revealed that he had called for D’Angelo’s death. Business or not, that was Avon’s flesh and blood and surely he had to know that wouldn’t sit well. He allowed himself to get played by Senator Clay Davis, justifying in Avon’s mind, the foolishness of all that legitimate business activity.

But while Avon could love him like a brother and try to understand the rationale, and Davis had the protection of his prominent position, Stringer laid the foundation for his own demise last season when he tried to play both Omar and Brother Mouzone in the same stroke. They’re professional killers, who take their business personally. You got the sense they enjoyed pulling the trigger.

This season was interesting in other respects too. Cutty, the ex-con and would-be shooter for the Barksdales, along with Major Colvin, seemed to symbolize a community grasping for alternatives and an escape from all the crime. Cutty just didn’t have it in him any more and found himself trying to turn other young black men around. They wouldn’t have even been looking for alternatives if Colvin hadn’t set up Hamsterdam and taken away the allure of street running.

So, how will next week’s season finale wrap things up, and what’s in store for season four? Let’s speculate together:

• Stringer has already given Avon up to Major Colvin, so I’m guessing when he turns up dead, Colvin will put 2 and 2 together and carry out the raid on his hideout. Parole violation means a trip back to jail for Avon.

• Marlo Stansfield, another straight up gangsta, will now feel empowered to take over the west side. But he’s no Avon or Stringer and without the good heroin supplied by Prop Joe--who will now rise in stature among the cartel--he may find himself a target of either the police or the other dealers. Either way, I don’t feel he’s long for this world.

• Will Brianna step up? I doubt it. All those men will not take orders from a woman, even if her family name is on the business.

• The political establishment and the police brass will get a shakeup. Even though his plan was effective, Major Colvin will probably get the axe, along with Commissioner Burrell and possibly even the Mayor. Councilman Carcetti may be in line to take over afterall and Lt. Daniels wife may also step into a council seat. Corrupt Senator Davis escapes unharmed for yet another season.

• If the Barksdale empire collapses, what happens to the detail? Will they continue after the other drug dealers? Prop Joe still has the connection with the Greeks. Attorney Levy is the man with all the secrets. Will he cut a deal--maybe give up Davis--to try to get Avon a light sentence? What about Slim Charles and Shamrock, Avon and Stringer’s lieutenants, respectively? Slim could fall if Avon gets raided, while Shamrock’s voice is on lots of audio tape.

• Will Daniels continue his affair with Rhonda Pearlman or go back to his wife for her political career? Will Kima and Cheryl reconcile? Will McNulty find a woman to settle down with (don’t bet on it). Will Bubbs get clean? Will Herc and Carver ever become “good police” or will they remain head bangers who don’t know how to work a real case?

• With his vendetta settled, what’s in store for Omar?

Meanwhile dance critic and writer David Gere has written a new book, How to Make Dances in an Epidemic: Tracking Choreography in the Age of AIDS which looks at both the impact of AIDS on the dance community and the dance community’s creative response. This Village Voice article reviews the book.

The 2004 Peabody-winning HBO drama series THE WIRE, currently in production for a 12-episode third season, will return to the cablewaves Sunday, September 19 at 9:00-p.m. ET.

THE WIRE wrapped its second season last September. The first season depicted the national drug war through the microcosm of a West Baltimore housing project. Last season chronicled the de-industrialization of America, focusing on the travails of a longshoremen's union to survive in a changing economic landscape. In its third season, the drama will continue to expand its sociopolitical description of a fictional Baltimore by examining the city's political component and its relevance to the problems confronting a post-industrial city.

Observes David Simon, "More than characters or criminal procedure or even the drug culture, we are trying to write about the city itself, with Baltimore standing in for any number of American cities sharing the same hopes and fears and contradictions."

Actors returning from the first two seasons include Dominic West (Det. Jimmy McNulty), Sonja Sohn (Det. Shakima Greggs), Lance Reddick (Lt. Cedric Daniels), Wendell Pierce (Det. William “Bunk” Moreland), Wood Harris (Avon Barksdale), Idris Elba (Stringer Bell), Deirdre Lovejoy (Asst. State Atty Rhonda Pearlman), Clarke Peters (Det. Lester Freamon), Domenick Lombardozzi (Det. Thomas “Herc” Hauk), Seth Gilliam (Det. Ellis Carver), Jim True-Frost (Det. Roland “Prez” Pryzbylewski), Michael K. Williams (Omar), John Doman (Col. William Rawls), Frankie R. Faison (Comm. Ervin Burrell), Andre Royo (Bubbles), JD Williams (Bodie) and Corey Parker-Robinson (Det. Sydnor).

New cast regulars this season will include Chad L. Coleman ("Brother to Brother") as Dennis"Cutty" Wise, a recently paroled felon returning to a drug culture that has changed dramatically; Robert Wisdom ("Barber Shop 2: Back in Business") as Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin, a police boss frustrated with the futility of the drug war and willing to try something new; Aidan Gillen ("Shanghai Knights") as Councilman Thomas Carcetti, an ambitious and charismatic city councilman on the the rise; Jamie Hector (HBO's "Everyday People") as Marlo, a young street dealer protecting his turf from the encroaching Barksdale crew; Glynn Turman ("The Bernie Mac Show") as incumbent Mayor Clarence Royce, whose grip on municipal power seems assured, despite rising crime rates; and Isiah Whitlock ("Pieces of April") as Senator R. Clayton Davis, returning in his role as state Senator Clay Davis, a politician with surprising connections, not all of them legitimate.

The second season of THE WIRE generated wide critical praise. It was named Best Show on Television by Television Week's semi-annual poll of 50 television critics. The New York Times called it, "one of the best shows on television," while Time wrote, "irresistible... [David] Simon is a poet." TV Guide observed, "You won't find anything better all summer." Entertainment Weekly hailed THE WIRE as "[Grade:] A...it's a contender - for one of the year's best series... get hooked now," while the Chicago Tribune proclaimed, "HBO's 'The Wire' is the best show on TV," and the San Francisco Chronicle observed that THE WIRE was "the best show on television, period."

But Moore’s film is not the only documentary asking movie-goers to analyze some of today’s issues beyond the surface level. Three new ones have hit theatres in limited release and are worthy of attention:

The Hunting of the President

Harry Thomason and Nickolas Perry's incendiary documentary, based on the best-selling book by Gene Lyons and Joe Conason, offers a glimpse at the genesis of these partisan vendettas and explores the myths and truths behind the nearly 10-year campaign to systematically destroy the political legacy of the Clintons.

Using previously unreleased materials, interviews, and shocking revelations from both sides of the beltway, this probing work focuses on the smear campaign against Clinton from his gubernatorial days in Arkansas leading up to and including his impeachment trial. Kenneth Starr fans, beware.

Less of an advocacy film and more of an alarming treatise on the political power of the media and personal interests, The Hunting of the President offers us a gallery of defeated politicians, disappointed office seekers, right-wing pamphleteers, wealthy eccentrics, zany private detectives, religious fanatics, and die-hard segregationists, all chiming in discord
from the tops of their soapboxes.

Let's Get Frank

Bart Everly's sharp documentary does double duty, thrusting audiences back into the Lewinsky scandal and profiling the witty Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank, who defended Bill Clinton after recovering from his own sex scandal in 1990. The film unspools like an underground bus tour of the capital, led by one of its most irreverent and perceptive insiders.

The Corporation

One hundred and fifty years ago, the corporation was a relatively insignificant entity. Today, it is a vivid, dramatic and pervasive presence in all our lives. Like the Church, the Monarchy and the Communist Party in other times and places, the corporation is today’s dominant institution. But history humbles dominant institutions. All have been crushed, belittled or absorbed into some new order. The corporation is unlikely to be the first to defy history. In this complex and highly entertaining documentary, Mark Achbar, co-director of the influential and inventive MANUFACTURING CONSENT: NOAM CHOMSKY AND THE MEDIA, teams up with co-director Jennifer Abbott and writer Joel Bakan to examine the far-reaching repercussions of the corporation’s increasing preeminence. Based on Bakan’s book The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, the film is a timely, critical inquiry that invites CEOs, whistle-blowers, brokers, gurus, spies, players, pawns and pundits on a graphic and engaging quest to reveal the 4corporation’s inner workings, curious history, controversial impacts and possible futures. Featuring illuminating interviews with Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, Howard Zinn and many others, THE CORPORATION charts the spectacular rise of an institution aimed at achieving specific economic goals as it also recounts victories against this apparently invincible force.

Even though I no longer make my living in the profession, I keep my dues paid up in the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), just in case. I took voluntary withdrawal from membership in Actors Equity Association, which covers theatre actors and stage managers, because I doubt I’ll be doing any of that any time soon, but I keep up on the issues and concerns of working performers nevertheless.

So I have been watching with interest the ongoing negotiations between Equity and the League of American Theatres and Producers, the coordinating body for producers. The two sides reached a tentative agreement late on Monday after talks had broken off over the weekend.

The contract between the two expired June 27, and negotiations were held since then to try to resolve the issues of nonunion tours, soaring health care costs and worker safety. Tentative agreements had been reached on the last two items, but the thorny issue of nonunion tours kept both sides far apart and threatened to force actors to the picket lines.

Now you may need a little background. Despite the astronomical salaries granted to some big name movie stars, actors as a group are not rich. Performers in any medium who make over $50,000 a year represent less than 1% of the total population of professional unionized actors. The vast majority of working actors will earn less than $5,000 in any given year. And stage performers are the poorest.

Where movie and television actors have the benefit of larger national exposure and thus high revenue potential, not to mention residual payments, theatre is live and local. The only people who see it and pay for it are the audience members in the city where the play is staged. Thus pay scales for Equity members are more working class, even on Broadway. Payment for nonunion stage actors is often exploitative.

That was the sticking point over the issue of nonunion touring shows. You see, a Broadway play, produced under an Equity contract, develops the show’s reputation and following. Whether it’s Rent, The Producers, Hairspray or some other show, its glamour is created while it plays in New York. Then after the show closes or it makes back its money to investors, the rights are licensed to a touring company to mount a production that will travel around the country to smaller communities, to make even more money.

The problem, as Equity sees it, is that experienced professionals are not used in these shows, thus depriving working actors from making a living, while producers make tons of money charging high ticket prices while paying nonunion actors non-living wages. (There are horror stories about how little some of these people are paid while expected to survive on the road.) Audiences in these small towns are also being deceived, because they think they’re seeing “Broadway” shows.

It is a system that only benefits producers and simply isn’t fair. As far as the union is concerned a new contract agreement without changes to the touring system was a nonstarter.

Luckily, producers have come to their senses. When weekend talks broke off, and Equity scheduled a meeting to discuss a strike authorization from members, producers for two shows broke ranks with their bargaining unit and signed an interim agreement on their own with the actors. Obviously recognizing a lack of unity on their side, and fearing a repeat of last year’s four day musicians strike that cost them $5 million dollars, producers sat down with union reps Monday and reached a tentative agreement. The agreement will need ratification by rank and file members on both sides in order to be finalized.

This is welcome news to all the people who enjoy live theatre, but more importantly to all those who make their living from it. Despite the perceptions of some who think acting is a frivolous pursuit, or not much more than a hobby, certainly not “real work,” it is profession with a long history of giving millions of people great joy, excitement and enlightenment. All actors want is the right to work at a fair and decent wage.

I have never been the biggest fan of reality television. I made my living as an actor for 14 years and the idea that producers are making a lot of money without having to spend any on professional actors or writers, doesn’t sit well with me. And I think most of them are contrived situations that have very little to do with the “reality” of everyday life.

Nevertheless, they are apparently here to stay in some form or other. But I watch selectively.

I thought MTV’s Real World was an interesting concept when it debuted 14 years ago, but I lost interest after the season in Boston. The house mates all seemed to be playing to the cameras by then.

Like everyone else,I got hooked on last season’s runaway hit The Apprentice and will probably watch when season two premieres in September. I caught a few episodes of American Idol this season and last, but never in consecutive weeks. However most of the other programs leave me cold.

Except one.

Last Comic Standing ironically, but not coincidentally, combines the best qualities of all the aforementioned shows but also adds comedy as its main focus.

Hosted and executive produced by actor/comedian Jay Mohr ("Jerry Maguire"). the show is a nationwide talent search for professional and nonprofessional comedians. Once the selection process is narrowed to 10, they follow the comedians as they live together in a house and compete for the ultimate prize--an exclusive talent contract with NBC.
The comics have challenges to face and each week one of them gets eliminated following a head-to-head face-off in front of a voting audience.

Last summer comedic newcomer Dat Phan was the "Last Comic Standing," beating out nine other seasoned veterans, who in typical reality show fashion, formed alliances to conspire against him. It backfired on them. While I don’t think he was that funny, unlike them, he played to win. Since then, Phan has become the headlining act at comedy clubs nationwide and recently made his acting debut.

Weeks one and two this season narrowed the field, and in week three the 10 chosen comics moved into a mansion in Hollywood. Among the cast of characters are two brothas, Corey Holcomb and Alonzo Bodden (Real World never dared put two Black men in one house); an openly gay man, Ant; the obligatory “weird guy” Jay London; and now five other male and female comics of varying abilities. One woman, Bonnie McFarlane quickly displayed a cocky attitude but not a lot of humor, and was eliminated when she was forced to face off against another comedian John Heffron.

While comedians make their living getting other people to laugh, this show illustrates how a deep need for attention and validation is a powerful motivator. The pressure of living under one roof and facing elimination creates highs as tense as any Survivor competition and lows as devastating as a Simon Cowell critique. It’s not just about on-stage ability, but a test of their show business mettle. And it’s a lot of fun to watch.

Last spring her period drama Intimate Apparel made its New York debut to considerable acclaim and quite a few awards, including best play from the New York Drama Critics Circle and the Outer Critics Circle.

Now, just as that show is ending its run, her new play, Fabulation, Or the Re-Education of Undine is making its world premiere at Playwright’s Horizons.

While both plays center around the lives of Black women facing adverse circumstances in New York City, and drew their inspiration from Nottage’s family background or personal observations, there are few other similarities. Intimate Apparel was a dark, brooding portrayal of one woman’s loneliness and yearning at the turn of the 20th Century, but Fabulation soars as a fast-paced comedic jab at contemporary African American “buppie” culture and the pitfalls of forgetting ones roots.

Nottage displays deft skills in capturing both realistic characters and authentic dialogue, and under Kate Whoriskey’s direction and the splendid work of a mostly ensemble cast, they are displayed to their satiric best.

Charlayne Woodard stars as Undine Barnes Calles (with a spanish pronunciation on the last name), a high-powered public relations exec who specializes in splashy social events with A-list guests. As the play opens, she is married to Herve, a swarthy Argentinean who swept her off her feet at a party one night, giving her access to a higher class of people at a time when she was dating a gangsta rapper.

But Herve absconds with all of her money, leaving her penniless and pregnant. With her business in free fall and her bourgie friends abandoning her right and left, what’s a woman to do? Go crawling back across the river to the Brooklyn projects where she grew up and a family she hasn’t seen in 14 years. Home may not be an easy place for her to live, but it sure does lead to funny moments.

The re-education of Undine is precipitated by the fact that Undine has completely re-created herself. Nottage says she was inspired by a magazine profile of National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, where she was left with the impression Rice was willing to give up anything to get what she wanted in life.

The reality of Undine’s new life smacks her upside the head at every turn: family members with unfulfilled dreams; old neighborhood friends in the same place they were when she left; drug pushers in the hood; the welfare beauracracy, and the various personalities she meets in a substance abuse counseling session.

Woodard has a history of playing highly emotional characters whose boundless energy is barely contained below the surface and she’s just delightful to watch. She rides the humor and the pain Undine experiences.

But she is also surrounded by a bunch of gifted performers who handle the enormous task of playing several characters, and they all play them superbly. Melle Powers, Stephen Kunken, Daniel Breaker, Robert Montano, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, and Keith Randolph Smith are the collective co-stars of this show.

Scenic designer Walt Spangler makes optimal use of the intimate 96 seat Peter Jay Sharp Theater space. Located on the fourth floor of Playwrights Horizons’ one year old home on W. 42d Street, it is a beautiful place to see a play.

Fabulation runs until July 2.

If you enter New York’s Eugene O’Neill Theatre looking for that same old song and dance, you won’t find it. What you will find is cutting edge theatre and you won’t be disappointed.

Caroline, or Change is one of the most consciously innovative and engaging productions this season. The brainchild of Tony Award winners Tony Kushner (Angels in America) who wrote the book and lyrics, director George C. Wolfe, former Artistic Director at The Public Theater, the show’s producer, and Jeanine Tesori who wrote music, Caroline takes this concept of change and spins it in many ways.

It’s November 1963 and Caroline Thibodeaux (Tony nominated Tonya Pinkins) is the maid for the Gellmans, a Jewish family in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Her work is long and dreary, mostly spent in the basement--the only one in below-sea-level Louisiana--where she washes, dries and irons clothes day in and day out. She barely makes enough to support herself and her family and sees no way out of this life.

The “change” relates to the loose change she often finds in the laundry from the pants pockets of young Noah Gellman (Harrison Chad). Noah has grown moody since his mother’s death and attached himself to Caroline, despite her indifference. His stepmother Rose Stopnick Gellman (Veanne Cox), a transplanted New Yorker, is having a difficult time gaining his trust and teaching him the importance of money. She’s having similar difficulty with her new husband and Noah’s father, Stuart (David Costabile) who also longs for his late wife. Uneasy change is happen upstairs as well.

But change mostly relates to what’s going on in the world. The civil rights movement is threatening the natural order of things in the south and emboldening young Black people, like Caroline’s daughter Emmie (2004 Tony winner Anika Noni Rose), a high school student not content to stay quiet over Jim Crow laws and limited futures. Emmie represents opportunities Caroline never had as a single mother of four with little education. She is outspoken and determined. Caroline’s friend and fellow maid Dotty Moffett (Chandra Wilson) is also trying to improve herself, going to college at night.

Everyone is moving forward except Caroline, and this has made her a bitter and angry woman. It also makes this a play of dark complexity with a tension not usually found in musicals. The manner in which this story is told represents change in theatrical terms as well, for it is really less a musical and more an operetta. Nearly the entire play is sung.

Don’t expect to come away humming a number from the show however. The selection of songs, singers, and musical genres are less about creating a memorable piece and more about setting mood or enhancing the drama.

A clever and entertaining device is the voice given to inanimate objects, who play a Greek chorus or represent Caroline’s subconscious thoughts. Tracy Nicole Chapman, Marva Hicks and Ramona Keller shine as the radio, a kind of Motown-like girls group; Capathia Jenkins is a gospel singing washing machine, while Chuck Cooper is both a soul singing dryer, and a mournfully spiritual city bus the day John Kennedy is assassinated. There are no bad singers in this show, and in fact quite a few very good ones.

Detractors may take issue with the fact that this play doesn’t follow convention. It doesn’t offer a typical storybook ending and for audience members, it actually requires some work. Putting what amounts to serious subject matter in a musical format is a courageous step that not everyone may appreciate.

But if one believes new ideas should at least be encouraged and supported, then this change is a good thing.

Best Play

Anna in the Tropics
Author: Nilo Cruz
Producer: Roger Berlind, Daryl Roth, Ray Larsen, Robert G. Bartner, The McCarter Theatre Center

Frozen
Author: Bryony Lavery
Producer: MCC Theater, Robert Lupone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, John G. Schultz, Hal Newman, Zollo/Paleologos & Jeffrey Sine, Roy Gabay, Lorie Cowen Levy & Beth Smith, Peggy Hill, Thompson H. Rogers, Swinsky/Filerman/Hendel, Sirkin/Mills/Baldassare, Darren Bagert

I Am My Own Wife
Author: Doug Wright
Producer: Delphi Productions, Playwrights Horizons

The Retreat from Moscow
Author: William Nicholson
Producer: Susan Quint Gallin, Stuart Thompson, Ron Kastner, True Love Productions,
Mary Lu Roffe, Jam Theatricals

Best Musical

Avenue Q
Producer: Kevin McCollum, Robyn Goodman, Jeffrey Seller, Vineyard Theatre, The New Group

Caroline, or Change
Producer: Carole Shorenstein Hays, HBO Films, Jujamcyn Theaters, Freddy DeMann,
Scott Rudin, Hendel/Morten/Wiesenfeld, Bergére/Fox Theatricals/Manocherian, Roger Berlind, Clear Channel Entertainment, Joan Cullman, Greg Holland/Scott Nederlander,
Margo Lion, Daryl Roth, Zollo/Sine, The Public Theater

The Boy from Oz
Producer: Ben Gannon, Robert Fox

Wicked
Producer: Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt, David Stone

Best Book of a Musical

Avenue Q
Book: Jeff Whitty

Caroline, or Change
Book: Tony Kushner

The Boy from Oz
Book: Martin Sherman; Original Book: Nick Enright

Wicked
Book: Winnie Holzman

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

Avenue Q
Music & Lyrics: Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx

Caroline, or Change
Music: Jeanine Tesori
Lyrics: Tony Kushner

Taboo
Music & Lyrics: Boy George

Wicked
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Schwartz

Best Revival of a Play

Henry IV
Producer: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten

Jumpers
Producer: Boyett Ostar Productions, Nederlander Presentations Inc., Freddy DeMann,
Jean Doumanian, Stephanie McClelland, Arielle Tepper, The National Theatre of Great Britain

King Lear
Producer: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten, Stratford Festival of Canada

A Raisin in the Sun
Producer: David Binder, Vivek J. Tiwary, Susan Batson, Carl Rumbaugh, Ruth Hendel, Jayne Baron Sherman, Dede Harris, Arielle Tepper, Cynthia Stroum, Barbara Whitman

Best Revival of a Musical

Assassins
Producer: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Ellen Richard, Julia C. Levy

Big River
Producer: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Ellen Richard, Julia C. Levy,
Deaf West Theatre, Ed Waterstreet, Bill O'Brien, Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum

Fiddler on the Roof
Producer: James L. Nederlander, Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley, Harbor Entertainment, Terry Allen Kramer, Bob Boyett/Lawrence Horowitz, Clear Channel Entertainment

Wonderful Town
Producer: Roger Berlind, Barry and Fran Weissler, Edwin W. Schloss, Allen Spivak,
Clear Channel Entertainment, Harvey Weinstein

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

Simon Russell Beale, Jumpers
Kevin Kline, Henry IV
Frank Langella, Match
Jefferson Mays, I Am My Own Wife
Christopher Plummer, King Lear

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play

Eileen Atkins, The Retreat from Moscow
Tovah Feldshuh, Golda's Balcony
Anne Heche, Twentieth Century
Swoosie Kurtz, Frozen
Phylicia Rashad, A Raisin in the Sun

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

Hunter Foster, Little Shop of Horrors
Hugh Jackman, The Boy from Oz
Alfred Molina, Fiddler on the Roof
Euan Morton, Taboo
John Tartaglia, Avenue Q

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical

Kristin Chenoweth, Wicked
Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Avenue Q
Idina Menzel, Wicked
Donna Murphy, Wonderful Town
Tonya Pinkins, Caroline, or Change

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

Tom Aldredge, Twentieth Century
Ben Chaplin, The Retreat from Moscow
Aidan Gillen, The Caretaker
Omar Metwally, Sixteen Wounded
Brían F. O'Byrne, Frozen

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

Essie Davis, Jumpers
Sanaa Lathan, A Raisin in the Sun
Margo Martindale, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Audra McDonald, A Raisin in the Sun
Daphne Rubin-Vega, Anna in the Tropics

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical

John Cariani, Fiddler on the Roof
Michael Cerveris, Assassins
Raúl Esparza, Taboo
Michael McElroy, Big River
Denis O'Hare, Assassins

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical

Beth Fowler, The Boy from Oz
Isabel Keating, The Boy from Oz
Anika Noni Rose, Caroline, or Change
Jennifer Westfeldt, Wonderful Town
Karen Ziemba, Never Gonna Dance

Best Scenic Design

Robert Brill, Assassins
Ralph Funicello, Henry IV
Eugene Lee, Wicked
Tom Pye, Fiddler on the Roof

Best Costume Design

Jess Goldstein, Henry IV
Susan Hilferty, Wicked
Mike Nicholls and Bobby Pearce, Taboo
Mark Thompson, Bombay Dreams

Best Lighting Design

Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Assassins
Brian MacDevitt, Fiddler on the Roof
Brian MacDevitt, Henry IV
Kenneth Posner, Wicked

Best Direction of a Play

Doug Hughes, Frozen
Moises Kaufman, I Am My Own Wife
David Leveaux, Jumpers
Jack O'Brien, Henry IV

Best Direction of a Musical

Joe Mantello, Assassins
Kathleen Marshall, Wonderful Town
Jason Moore, Avenue Q
George C. Wolfe, Caroline, or Change

Best Choreography

Wayne Cilento, Wicked
Kathleen Marshall, Wonderful Town
Jerry Mitchell, Never Gonna Dance
Anthony Van Laast and Farah Khan, Bombay Dreams

Best Orchestrations

Paul Bogaev, Bombay Dreams
William David Brohn, Wicked
Larry Hochman, Fiddler on the Roof
Michael Starobin, Assassins

Regional Theatre Tony Award
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement
James M. Nederlander

Building on a tradition that began in November 2003, The 2004 Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre will be decided, announced and presented this fall in order to give the honorees their own moment to shine in the Tony spotlight.

The Tony Awards are presented by Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of the League of American Theatres and Producers and the American Theatre Wing.