Disneyfication - 1, Art - 0

Congrats to my friend Chris Bond for having his show Evil Dead the Musical, that he co-created and co-directed, nominated for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical.

Of course, while that news is great, I'm not sure it means much when Mary Poppins gets 11 nominations while Spring Awakening gets 3. What the HELL? Don't get me wrong. I love Disney sometimes (Take me to DisneyWorld and I'm back to being a 10 year old kid, you know, as opposed to 16 in regular life). I love cheesy musicals. I've seen Mamma Mia multiple times for godsakes. Still. What the HELL?

I knew the cast would be blown off just because they were young, but no Best Lighting or Choreography? No Christine Estabrooke or Stephen Spinella? No John Galagher Jr.? The only nomination for A Chorus Line is for Charlotte D'Amboise? the biggest name but the weakest link of the show? If anybody, at LEAST Natalie Cortez or Jason Tam should have gotten one. At LEAST Barbara Walsh for Company.

Only 3 noms for Company? Simply the best revival I've seen to date, of ANY musical? I haven't seen In The Heights but I hear its sweet and cute but nothing to scream about, and that gets more than Spring or Company? Seems like the Outer Critics just went for the usual or big names; Michael Cerveris, Boyd Gaines, Donna Murphy, Audra McDonald, Karen Ziemba, David Hyde Pierce, Kristen Chenowith, Rebecca Luker (some deserved, others just out of lazy voting in my opinion). But Ashley Brown? Seriously, do people just have THAT short attention spans? Since most of the nominated shows only officially opened recently (minus the giant juggernaut of Mary Poppins).

Oh well, should I REALLY be surprised? Let's hope Tony voters will see the lame picks and choose more wisely. Though I'm not really counting on it now.