TWO NEW MUSICALS HIT THE HEIGHTS ON CD

Even if you're one of those people who usually look at things from a "half-empty" perspective, there's at least one good reason to regard the 2007-2008 Broadway season with happiness and optimism. After all, when was the last time that the roster of Tony Award nominations included two entirely original musicals, neither based on pre-existing source material and both featuring new scores by wildly talented composer-lyricists in their Broadway debuts?

The only unfortunate fact about In the Heights and Passing Strange going head to head for the Best Musical Tony is that, presumably, only one of them will win. My guess is that the former show will be in residence at the Richard Rodgers Theatre for quite some time even if it doesn't capture the award, while the latter may not have quite so long a run at the Belasco because, for all its brilliance, it's a very special piece with less broad appeal. At any rate, both scores are now available to the masses thanks to Ghostlight, the invaluable label that has recorded and released the shows' cast albums.

The true genius of these musicals is the way in which they fuse the familiar with the fresh. Passing Strange is an alternately moving and funny coming-of age story. This is not exactly a new concept, but the specifics of co-creator/co-star Stew's semi-autobiographical tale -- a middle class, African-American youth from a nice part of L.A. journeys to Amsterdam and Berlin to experience Real Life and to achieve Freedom of Expression -- mark it as unique. In the Heights shows us the joys and challenges of an immigrant community, something we've seen before. But the community brought to life by composer-lyricist-star Lin-Manuel Miranda and company, namely the colorful barrio that is Washington Heights, has never before been depicted in a Broadway musical.

Of course, the "everything old is made new again" essence of these shows extends to their music and lyrics, as demonstrated by the cast recordings. In Passing Strange, Stew and collaborator Heidi Rodewald expertly combine indie rock sounds with more traditional song forms. The prologue ("We Might Play All Night") wouldn't seem out of place in a garage band concert, and there's more heavy rock to be heard as the CD progresses. But one of my favorite numbers is the witty cha-cha "We Just Had Sex," in which the creators quote the 1925 show tune "Tea for Two." Also bursting with wit is "The Black One," about the Berliners' reaction to their new friend from America. If ballads are your thing, "Mom Song" and "Come Down Now" will be right up your alley. These and the other songs that make up this great score are variously performed to the hilt by Stew, Daniel Breaker (as his alter-ego, "Youth"), De'Adre Aziza, Eisa Davis, Colman Domingo, Chad Goodridge, and Rebecca Naomi Jones, backed by a kick-ass rock band.

As for In the Heights, Miranda is a terrific rapper -- both as a writer and performer -- yet he uses just enough rap to make an exciting effect without turning off audience members who enjoy melody in their musicals. For those of us in that category, the score's highlights include "It Won't be Long Now," beautifully delivered by Karen Olivo as Vanessa; "When You're Home," an irresistible duet for Benny (Christopher Jackson) and Nina (Mandy Gonzalez); and Abuela Claudia's heartfelt "Pacienca y Fe," soulfully sung by Olga Merediz. Every song on the album is suffused by Miranda's extraordinary talent as a lyricist, which enables him to group together words like "exaggerated," "exacerbated," and "emigrated," and to rhyme "escalator" with "(I'm gonna) test ya later." In addition to the top-flight singing actors mentioned above, Robin de Jesús, Andréa Burns, Priscilla Lopez, and Eliseo Román come across especially well on the CD.

Since these are Ghostlight releases, it goes without saying that both are notable for state-of-the-art sound quality and attractive packaging. (The tri-fold package for the two-disc In the Heights set is way cool.) Just as trips to the Rodgers and the Belasco are required for anyone who cares about the future -- and the past -- of musical theater, so is purchase of these CDs. An important historical note: Passing Strange is apparently the first Broadway musical recorded live in the theater, at a special session. To my taste, the volume level of the audience's applause and cheers could have been ramped up quite a bit more, but even as mixed in here, their reaction adds to the thrill of the performance.

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ONE WHITE DRESS

You only have to listen to the first seven minutes or so of A Catered Affair on the PS Classics cast album to get a good idea of the show's strengths as well as its flaws. After a brief orchestral prelude, the CD begins not with a song but with nearly two full minutes of spoken dialogue over music -- and, by the way, there's actually much more dialogue at the start of the show as seen at the Walter Kerr Theater than is included on the recording. It's the first indication that composer-lyricist John Bucchino and book writer/co-star Harvey Fierstein didn't have a firm handle on how to musicalize this story, based on the film written by Gore Vidal and the original teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, about a Bronx family's dilemma over whether or not to give their daughter an expensive wedding they really can't afford.

When the first song finally begins, it's pretty, but it exhibits a contemporary sound and perspective that seem way out of synch with the story's early-1950s time frame; the incipient bride and groom Janey and Ralph's use of the word "partners" to describe their relationship is a glaring anachronism, and the song's Maltby & Shire-esque, William Finnish rolling accompaniment sounds more '70s or '80s than '50s. The rest of the score is much the same. Even the two best songs in the show, "One White Dress" and "Don't Ever Stop Saying I Love You," somehow sound too "modern" in a way that's difficult to define.

Another problem: Although Fierstein gives an admirably restrained performance as Uncle Winston, a character he has unwisely reconceived and rewritten as gay, his voice is so unusual that he simply doesn't blend with the ensemble. Whenever he speaks or sings on the recording (or in the show), A Catered Affair is suddenly all about Winston, which it should not be.

On the plus side, Faith Prince does some of the best work of her career as mom Aggie; and Tom Wopat as hubby Tom proves once again that he's one of Broadway's best actors, whether in a musical or a straight play. Leslie Kritzer has some lovely moments as Janey, but Matt Cavenaugh is given little to do as Ralph, and the talents of Lori Wilner, Heather MacRae, and especially Kristine Zbornik are almost completely wasted in other under-written roles. Jonathan Tunick's orchestrations are as satisfying as one could expect, given that he's only writing for nine pieces. A Catered Affair has the great virtue of not screaming at the audience in the manner of so many other overblown, overamplified, modern-day musicals, but that virtue is sadly undercut by the show's significant failings.

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ZERO HOUR

I haven't done any digging, so I don't know whence came all of the money behind Adding Machine, which has been transplanted from Chicago to the Minetta Lane Theatre. We've all read and heard a great deal about how the current economics of Off-Broadway work against the financially successful production of musicals unless they're have teeny-tiny casts and modest production values. So I was amazed by the sets, lighting, costumes, and video design of this arresting musical based on Elmer Rice's expressionist 1923 play about a poor sap named Mr. Zero who, when summarily fired after working for 25 years in the basement of an anonymous company, reacts by killing his boss and is then executed for his crime.

But how does the score, by Joshua Schmidt (music and libretto) and Jason Loewith (co-librettist), stand up on CD without all the visual trappings? Very well, indeed. The music for the first scene -- in which Mrs. Zero blathers to her husband in bed about a Hollywood scandal and then begins to berate him for his failings -- is appropriately annoying, and there are plenty of maddeningly repetitious notes and spiky harmonies for the subsequent scenes that show the identity-erasing mechanization of modern American society. Schmidt's setting of the final sequence in the hereafter, where Mr. Zero's soul is recycled along with that of his unrequited lover Daisy, is truly unnerving. But there are also some lovely passages along the way, as in the scene where Mrs. Z. comes to visit her spouse on death row, or the moment when Daisy confesses her love for Zero. The highlight of the score is "I'd Rather Watch You," first sung by Daisy as a sensuous blues number and then reprised towards the end of the show as a gorgeous duet with Mr. Zero, backed by a chorus.

The performances -- especially those of Joel Hatch and Cyrilla Baer as the Zeros, and Amy Warren as Daisy -- register with remarkable clarity on the CD. As of this writing, Adding Machine is still playing at the Minetta Lane, and it should not be missed. But if you can't get there right away, pick up the PS Classics recording and marvel at the fact that this singular musical has somehow achieved well-deserved recognition and success in the present theatrical climate.

RAÚL STOPS THE SHOW

It took Raúl Esparza only six years to go from being the one virtually unknown entity among the leads in The Rocky Horror Show to having his name above the title as the star of John Doyle's production of Company, for which performance he earned a Tony Award nomination. Now he has joined that select group of prodigiously talented individuals who've been Tony-nominated in two successive seasons, having been recognized for his work as Lenny in The Homecoming. Previously, he was nominated for Taboo, which means that he has been in the Tony hopefuls circle three times already. Quite a career trajectory, yes?

If you caught Company live at the Ethel Barrymore or on PBS, you don't need me to tell you that the emotional climax of the show was Raúl's unsparing performance of one of Stephen Sondheim's most profound songs, "Being Alive." But if you missed both the show and the telecast, never fear; the TV version is due for release on DVD any day now, and Raúl will reprise "Being Alive" in a New York Philharmonic concert aptly titled Broadway's Greatest Showstoppers, to take place on Tuesday, May 20 at Avery Fisher Hall. Marvin Hamlisch will conduct and Kristin Chenoweth will co-star, along with Michel Bell and J. Mark McVey.

"Marvin approached me about the concert when I was doing The Homecoming," Raúl told me at the press reception for this season's Tony nominees. "He said, 'I'd like you and Kristin to come and sing a few songs,' and I said, 'Absolutely!' He wanted me to recreate 'Being Alive, ' and I'm going to do something from Evita, a show I did on tour. Kristin and I are going to do 'Tonight' from West Side Story. I'm also going to do 'Soliloquy' from Carousel. That's a great big one, and some parts of it are very low for me, so I'm still working on it." (If you need further incentive to buy a ticket: Chenoweth is also to sing "Ice Cream" from She Loves Me, "Glitter and Be Gay" from Candide, and "If You Hadn't But You Did" from Two on the Aisle. Rounding out the program will be selections from such shows as My Fair Lady, Annie Get Your Gun, Show Boat, Les Misérables, and Hamlisch's own A Chorus Line.)

With six Broadway shows now under his belt, Raul says the best part about the whole thing is "the experience of walking into those old theaters and being part of something that started long before you were there, stepping onto a stage where some great star stood and realizing that you're part of all that in some small way. The Cort, where we did The Homecoming, doesn't have the greatest history -- except that's where I saw The Grapes of Wrath, which came from Steppenwolf. That show was the reason I moved to Chicago, to work with Steppenwolf. Now they're back [with August: Osage County], and my friend Deanna Dunagan is nominated for Best Actress. She's one of the reasons I'm in New York; she encouraged me to come here, so I really have to thank her for that."

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ATTACK OF THE THEATER PEOPLE

I laughed like a loon all the way through Marc Acito's How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship, and Musical Theater. So it was no surprise to me that I laughed like a loon all the way through the sequel, Attack of the Theater People (Broadway Books), and I can pretty much guarantee that you'll do the same.

These are the further adventures of Acito's vaguely autobiographical hero, Edward Zanni, who at the end of the previous book had just managed, through various weird machinations, to get into the acting program at Juilliard. As Attack of the Theater People opens, he's being thrown out of that august institution -- by Marian Seldes herself! -- because he's too "jazz hands" for the school. Edward is briefly devastated, but he soon finds a job as a "party motivator" and soon after that discovers that one way to make quick cash is to get involved in insider trading.

The tale is enlivened by Acito's portraits of Edward's colorful cronies and his on-the-nose observations about life in New York City in the mid-1980s. For example: "As I pound the pavement on the Yupper West Side, luxury condos sprouting up every other block, I'm keenly aware how Manhattan is twenty-three square miles of Not For You: windows full of products You Can't Buy, posters for events You Can't Afford, restaurants full of food You Can't Eat." When Edward's friend Natie finds them an apartment in a "scab-colored" tenement on a rough block in Hell's Kitchen and assures him that the neighborhood is "in transition," Edward replies, "To what? Landfill?"

As was the case with Acito's previous book, Attack of the Theater People has plenty of jokes that will appeal specifically to, well, theater people -- e.g., "Thanks to the second-worst season in Broadway history (the worst being the season before), restaurants now have more waiters than the chorus of Hello, Dolly!" And: "To call Starlight Express garbage is an insult to sanitation workers. A noisy, epilepsy-inducing assault on the senses, it is the Chuck E. Cheese of musicals, a show so astonishingly vapid it makes Cats look like The Lion in Winter."

But, as was also the case with How I Paid for College, the bulk of the humor here is universal. When Edward's longtime crush Doug put his hand on a sloshed Edward's shoulder, our hero confides, "it takes every bit of self-control I have left not to lean over and lick him." Jealous of his friend Kelly for signing with an agent, Edward admits, "I know I'm being petty. If I were a rock 'n' roller, I'd be Tom Petty. If I were in the navy, I'd be chief petty officer. If I were underwear, I'd be a petticoat." At a roller rink, confronted with a guy dressed in "tube socks, tight satin shorts and terry cloth shirt, with a long silk scarf around his neck," Edward recalls that "Mama said there'd be gays like this."

I'd love to quote you the entire book, but that would be illegal. Pick it up if you're in the mood for a hilarious read.

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READ UP AND LISTEN GOOD!

Well-timed to coincide with the opening of the beautiful South Pacific revival at Lincoln Center Theater, Laurence Maslon's The South Pacific Companion is new from Simon & Schuster/Fireside. This large-format coffee table book is notably superior to Maslon's The Sound of Music Companion, which was marred by some odd choices of photos (and poor reproduction of well chosen photos). There are a few questionable passages in the text: Maslon bungles the old joke about the woman who couldn't find a friend or relative to use her dead husband's ticket to the sold-out original Broadway production of South Pacific because "they're all at the funeral," and he erroneously labels the 1967 Music Theater of Lincoln Center production as the show's "first major revival." But, overall, this is a lively history of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, from the writing and reception of its source material -- James Michener's novel Tales of the South Pacific -- through the planning stages of the current revival.

Anyone who was lucky enough to be present at the Metropolitan Room recently when Broadway veteran Maureen McGovern did a show of songs from her new album A Long and Winding Road will want to get his or her hands on the CD, which has just been released by PS Classics. And if you weren't there, that's all the more reason to pick up the disc, which features her beautiful interpretations of "The Times They Are a-Changin'", "The Circle Game," "Imagine," "Fire and Rain," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," and 15 other representative pop songs of the 1960s and '70s. I've always maintained that McGovern possesses one of the great voices of the 20th and 21st centuries, and it's wonderful to hear that it's still intact more than 35 years after she exploded on to the scene with her smash-hit recording of "The Morning After." Jeff Harris is the album's stellar music director/arranger, and there's a special guest appearance by bassist extraordinaire Jay Leonhart.

Finally: If for some unfathomable reason you don't already own Broadway Musicals: The 101 Greatest Shows of All Time, by Ken Bloom and Frank Vlastnik, be advised that this fabulous pictorial history book is now available in paperback from Black Dog & Leventhal. Filled to bursting with thrillingly vivid color (and black & white) photos of the chosen shows, the book was always a bargain in hardcover at $34.95, and now you can get your hands on the somewhat smaller paperback for $22.95 or less. You'll probably want to pick it up even if you do own the first edition, because some recent shows -- such as Avenue Q, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Wicked -- are now included, though this of course has entailed the excision of an equal number from the former list. There are also some great, alternative photos of the musicals that have been retained among the 101 greatest.

NO, NO, NANETTE IS THE BEE'S KNEES

The word "revisal" has come to be rather a dirty one, with dreadful rewrites of old shows far outnumbering the successful examples. But in 1971, they got it right. A guy named Harry Rigby had the crazy idea that, in the wake of shows like Hair and Oh, Calcutta!, Broadway audiences might just cotton to No, No, Nanette -- a cute, feather-light 1925 musical comedy that had been hugely popular in its day but had pretty much faded from the public consciousness, partly because no representative movie version was ever made.

Burt Shevelove adapted the original book of the show by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel to make it more accessible to modern-day comic sensibilities. Set in New York and Atlantic City, Nanette centers around Jimmy Smith, a Bible publisher who just wants everyone to be happy. To this end, he gives cash to three young gold-diggers and is thus caught in a compromising position -- even though, we are told, he never laid a hand on any of them. When Jimmy's lawyer, Billy Early, tries to help his client, his wife Lucille thinks he's the one who's philandering. Meanwhile, Jimmy's high-spirited young ward Nanette is determined to "lead the high life" for a while before settling down, and this gets her in trouble with her strait-laced boyfriend, Tom.

All ends happily, but at any rate, the plot is hardly the point of this show. It's just an excuse for a series of great songs by Vincent Youmans (music), Irving Caesar & Otto Harbach (lyrics). These in turn are excuses for amazing dance routines that have always been the show's raison d'etre. And indeed, it's the dancing that's the supreme highlight of the City Center Encores! production, which opened last night four a four-day run.

From the joyous tapping in "I Want to Be Happy" to the breezy soft-shoe in "Tea for Two" to the nifty, Charleston-inspired moves in "Take a Little One Step," choreographer Randy Skinner delivers the goods over and over again, continually topping himself. And since he has a company of phenomenal dancers at his disposal, Nanette turns out to be a show full of show-stoppers. City Center is due for a renovation, and none too soon; at several points during last night's performance, the audience reaction was so vocal and visceral that I half expected the roof to blow off and the walls to collapse.

My praise of the choreography is certainly not meant to imply that the production is lacking in any other area. On the contrary, the Encores! Orchestra -- here conducted by the series' original music director, Rob Fisher -- sounds better than ever as it plays the lush orchestrations that Ralph Burns and Luther Henderson wrote for the 1971 revisal. Some of the Encores! shows have been over-amplified, but that's not the case here, thanks to sound designer Scott Lehrer. Scenic consultant John Lee Beatty has provided two lovely, gauzy false proscenia to frame the action and just enough in the way of additional set pieces to establish the various locales, which are beautifully lit by Ken Billington. Nanette also boasts more elaborate costuming that any previous Encores! show, courtesy of Gregg Barnes. Perhaps this is one reason why rumors of a Broadway transfer have arisen?

Walter Bobbie directs the proceedings with just the right touch of flapper-era whimsy, and his casting of the leads is spot-on. Though Charles Kimbrough seemed a bit tentative with some of his lines on opening night, he brings the perfect air of sweet, comic befuddlement to the role of Jimmy. As Jimmy's wife, Sue, Sandy Duncan is a wonderfully warm presence and an awesome dancer. In "I Want to Be Happy," and "Take a Little One Step" she keeps right up with the kids in the ensemble, most of whom are probably less than half her age.

Beth Leavel and Michael Berresse are style personified as Lucille and Billy; her big solo moment is "The 'Where-Has-My-Hubby-Gone' Blues," he shines most brightly in "The Call of the Sea" and "Telephone Girlie," and they really set off sparks when they come together for the multi-part song and dance duet "You Can Dance With Any Girl." Mara Davi is a more belty, less soprano-ish Nanette than I'm used to hearing, but this makes her seem all the more spunky. As her intended, Tom, Shonn Wiley sings as smoothly as he dances.

Angel Reda, Jennifer Cody, and Nancy Anderson offer sharply etched comic caricatures of Flora, Betty, and Winnie, the three young ladies who want their "Uncle Jimmy" to keep making them happy. And Rosie O'Donnell delivers a disciplined, thoroughly professional, hilariously deadpan performance as Sue's and Jimmy's long-suffering maid, Pauline.

The Encores! series has given us some unforgettable shows, but this is truly one of the best ever. No, No, Nanette is the bee's knees!

KEEP YOUR MOUTH OFF THE MERM!

You may have noticed that some people who have a stake in revivals of classic musicals feel it necessary to trash the stars and other aspects of the original productions. Who can explain it? Who can tell you why? I'd be a fool to give you a reason, but I can report that some theater pros are very upset by this practice.

Mary Rodgers (daughter of Richard) recently raised eyebrows when she described Ezio Pinza, the opera star who played Emile de Becque in the original Broadway production of South Pacific, as a "fat old geezer." This is quite a surprising statement, considering that Pinza was far from obese and was regarded as a sex symbol even in late middle age, when he starred in the Rodgers and Hammerstein masterpiece. In fact, there was a very funny joke about his romantic allure: Guy from out of town who looks a lot like Pinza visits New York during the run of South Pacific. Everybody he encounters mistakes him for the great singer, but the guy keeps repeating, "I'm not Ezio Pinza." "I'm not Ezio Pinza!" "I'M NOT EZIO PINZA!!" Then a gorgeous, naked young woman shows up at his hotel room one night and says, "Oh, Mr. Pinza, I'm your biggest fan. I want you to make love to me right now." And the guy starts singing, "Some enchanted evening..."

One would have thought Pinza's rep was safe -- but then, one would have thought the same thing about Ethel Merman's iconic portrayal of Rose in Gypsy. So you can imagine the reaction of some staunch Merman fans to the fact that the souvenir program for the current Broadway revival of the classic musical, starring Patti LuPone, includes a piece by Mark Shenton that quotes negative comments on The Merm's performance by Stephen Sondheim, the show's lyricist, and Arthur Laurents, author of the book and director of this production.

As per Shenton, "Arthur Laurents...recalled the difficulties of getting [Merman] to act. 'Ethel Merman was a voice, a presence, and a strut, not an actress,' he says in his autobiography, Original Story. Sondheim is said to have described her 'Rose's Turn' as 'a talking dog' [sic], since it was performed to counts. Laurents gave her stage directions for her speeches: 'slower,' 'softer,' 'louder,' 'faster,' 'starting flat, then building.' As he says: 'An actress would have broken pencils furiously crossing them out. Ethel quoted them if any of her line readings were questioned.'"

This little paragraph has not gone down well in certain quarters. Brian Kellow, author of an acclaimed new biography of Merman, offered his thoughts as follows: "Merman owns that part in a way that no one else does, and this seems to pose a problem for both Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim. I don't know why, because she was a huge part of what put Gypsy on the map. You'd think they'd be grateful to her, but they certainly don't appear to be.

"It's true that Merman wasn't a trained actress in the way that Patti LuPone is," Kellow allows. "But I get a little uncomfortable when I hear Laurents -- for whom I have the utmost respect -- talk about how they've gotten closer in this production to the real dramatic intention of the show. Gypsy is the strongest musical I've ever seen, but it's not and was never intended to be Mourning Becomes Electra. There are a lot of joke set-ups and snappy one liners in it. Without question, Merman was a first-rate comedienne, and she really put those over. You know, every time one of Laurents' shows is revived, he gives all these interviews talking about how the new star is so much better than the person who originated the role. It was the same when they revived The Time of the Cuckoo and he trashed Shirley Booth as compared to Debra Monk. I think it's hucksterism. He's just trying to get people to buy tickets to the revival."

The very idea that Ethel Merman's performance in Gypsy needs to be defended by anyone may seem ludicrous, but Bob Ullman -- a retired press agent whose credits include the original production of A Chorus Line, and who worked with The Merm late in her career -- is happy to do so. "I did five shows with Merman," he tells me, "and she was the greatest musical comedy star of the century. Nobody will ever have the kind of career she had, because she had the greatest composers of the time writing shows especially for her.

"Gypsy was directed by Jerome Robbins, and he got a performance out of Merman the like of which she had never given before. The show did for her what The Glass Menagerie did for Laurette Taylor, but Arthur Laurents didn't like her. As for Sondheim, he's a genius, but that doesn't mean his opinion of Ethel Merman is more valid than anyone else's. I saw Merman in Gypsy and I don't feel I have to say much about her performance, because all you need to do is play the fucking record. It's absolutely amazing. Anyone who does that role should have to listen to the record first."

I'll leave the last word on this subject to Forbidden Broadway creator Gerard Alessandrini: "Every time I see Gypsy, as much as I love the current performances, I always hear Merman's voice in the lines, even though I didn't see her in the show. I really do think there's something of her in the script. She was so married to the role. People say Merman wasn't a great actress, but I don't believe that's true. She didn't act angst, like we're used to seeing in the contemporary theater; she did something else, but it was still truthful and real. Of course, she also had one of the great voices of the 20th century. It was like a trumpet. If I could go back in time and see any performance in any show, I would pick Ethel Merman in Gypsy."

HIGH DRAMA

Theater vets and up-and-comers gathered at the Arte Cafe on Thursday, May 1 at a reception for nominees for this year's Drama Desk Awards, which honor excellence in all areas of New York theatre: Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and not-for-profit. Here are Michael Portantiere's photos of some of the talents who came to pick up their nomination ceritificates, meet the press, and chat with their colleagues. The 53rd Annual Drama Desk Awards will be held on Sunday, May 18 at in the F.H. LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center, beginning at 9pm. For more information, including a complete list of the nominees, visit www.dramadesk.org.

The one-and-only Stew, co-creator and one of the stars of Passing Strange.

Daniel Breaker, who plays Stew's younger self in the show.

Faith Prince (A Catered Affair) and Gerard Alessandrini (Forbidden Broadway).

Linda Lavin, who has audiences rolling in the aisles nightly with her brilliant comic performance in Paul Rudnick's The New Century.

Two of the stars of Gypsy: the beautiful Laura Benanti, who has the title role...

...and the always terrific Boyd Gaines, who plays Herbie.

The great Elizabeth Ashley, who starred in Dividing the Estate at Primary Stages, with Andrew Leynse, artistic director of that company.

Michael McKean, one of the superb actors nominated for their ensemble performance in The Homecoming.

André De Shields and Francis Jue, respectively nominated for their work in Black Nativity and Yellow Face.

The gorgeous Sierra Boggess (The Little Mermaid).

The gorgeous Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu).

Jenna Russell and Daniel Evans, who nightly spend Sunday in the Park With George.

Two of the stars of Young Frankenstein: Andrea Martin, who plays Frau Blucher...

...and Shuler Hensley, who plays the Monster.

Composers John Bucchino (A Catered Affair) and Stephen Flaherty (The Glorious Ones).

Choreographer Rob Ashford (Cry-Baby).

Tom Kitt and Alice Ripley, the composer and star of Next to Normal.

Danny Burstein, a.k.a. Luther Billis in South Pacific.

Leslie Kritzer, a.k.a. Jane in A Catered Affair.

Deanna Dunagan, who plays the mother of all mothers in August: Osage County.

Amy Morton (August: Osage County) with Bill Pullman (Peter and Jerry).

Bobby Steggert, nominated for his performance in The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island at the Vineyard, with that theater's executive director, Jennifer Garvey-Blackwell.