Other productions played directly and appealingly with a self-conscious awareness of just what the theater achieves and how it does it. The sparkling Broadway revival of The Real Thing, Tom Stoppard's keen-witted tale of a playwright in love, makes the case that certain things (love, for example) defy articulation.
Nonetheless, with the infinitely charming Stephen Dillane playing the playwright in this import from London, even groping in the dark acquires a glistening stylishness that is pure theater. Mr. Dillane's co-star, the radiant Jennifer Ehle, is, by the way, the daughter of an actress who gave another sublime study this season in stage-savvy artifice.
That's Rosemary Harris, whose portrayal of a great lady of the British stage exiled to a retirement home was the touchstone of Waiting in the Wings, a 40-year-old play by No�l Coward that received its Broadway debut only this season. Ms. Harris slyly plied, and gently sent up, the tricks of her trade to conjure a vanished era of stagecraft, turning them into the tools by which her character dominated her fellow residents. There is after all, it seems, a practical use for the skills acquired on stage.
Waiting in the Wings provided the additional pleasure of presenting a host of actresses on the far side of 60, from Lauren Bacall to Helen Stenborg, working as a team with contagious delight.
Predictions of who will/should win:
Best Revival of a play
Will win: A Moon for the Misbegotten
Should win: The Real Thing
Both are popular, both are worthy. Moon is an American classic, while The Real Thing is British highbrow but is not the season's snob hit (see Best Play - Copenhagen). So, I guess, Frayn and O'Neill win, and Miller and Stoppard lose.
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Will win: Gabriel Byrne
Should win: Stephen Dillane
The True West twins will knock one another out. As for the Byrne/Dillane contest, see note on Best Play Revival.
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Will win: Cherry Jones
Should win: Jennifer Ehle
Cherry Jones is a critic's favorite and an emergent Broadway star, apart from being wonderful in the O'Neill. At least young Ehle won't have to face beating her great mum, the also-nominated Rosemary Harris, and meeting her at the party afterward.
Predictions of who will/should win:
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play:
Who should win: Stunning Jennifer Ehle makes Stoppard's powerful-but-dubious arguments about love and betrayal seem so valid, you'd want to resist her at all costs - but you couldn't. She's the Real deal.
Who will win: However...Cherry Jones is a favored actress - in a classic, fantastic play. It's Cherry picking time.
What you might not know: Ehle is Rosemary Harris' daughter - and this year marks the first time a mother and her child will have their sights set on the same Tony.
It's mum v daughter in battle for Broadway prize
A British mother versus daughter race has been set up after the Tony nominations for the best of the Broadway season were announced.
Jennifer Ehle rose to international fame as Elizabeth Bennet in the TV version of Pride and Prejudice. She is nominated as best actress for her role in The Real Thing.
But also nominated is her mother Rosemary Harris, who stars in Noel Coward's Waiting in the Wings.
The musical comedy classics Kiss Me Kate and The Music Man drew the most Tony nominations.
The winners will be announced on June 4.