BROADWAY RECALL: Gone, But Still Nominated

Welcome to BROADWAY RECALL, a bi-monthly column where BroadwayWorld.com's Chief Theatre Critic, Michael Dale, delves into the archives and explores the stories behind the well-known and the not so well-known videos and photographs of Broadway's past. Look for BROADWAY RECALL every other Saturday.

With the rush of April openings finally concluded, nominators from New York’s various theatre organizations have begun the serious business of sorting out the outstanding contributions of the season and placing them into award nominations.  We’ve already heard from the Drama Desk, the Outer Critics Circle and the Drama League and the Broadway community now anxiously awaits the decisions of the Tony nominating committee.

Many times these nominations tend to favor shows that are still running, so it’s always fun to see honors go to productions that have closed many months ago and may have faded from memory a bit.  This season, I was especially happy to see honors going to The School For Lies, The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World, By The Way, Meet Vera Stark and Sweet and Sad.  Here are some highlights from other closed productions readers may be happy to see remembered.

While the re-imagined revival of On A Clear Day You Can See Forever had both supporters and detractors, there was plenty of praise for Jessie Mueller, whose performance as a jazz singer from the past earned her Drama League and Drama Desk nominations.

Bonnie & Clyde picked up nominations as the season’s outstanding musical from both the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle:

Stick Fly was recognized as one of the season’s outstanding Broadway plays by the Outer Critics Circle:

Off-Broadway’s Queen of the Mist received a trio of nominations as the season’s outstanding musical, with individual honors for composer/author Michael John LaChiusa, director Jack Cummings III and leading lady Mary Testa:

Jeff Talbott’s The Submission, about a white playwright who hires a black actress to pretend she wrote his newest drama, was one of the more controversial pieces this season and has been nominated for the Outer Critics Circle’s John Gassner Award for an American play, preferably by a new playwright:

Death Takes A Holiday shared top honors with Follies as the Drama Desk’s most nominated show of the season:

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After 20-odd years singing, dancing and acting in dinner theatres, summer stocks and the ever-popular audience participation murder mysteries (try improvising with audiences after they?ve had two hours of open bar), Michael Dale segued his theatrical ambitions into playwriting. The buildings which once housed the 5 Off-Off Broadway plays he penned have all been destroyed or turned into a Starbucks, but his name remains the answer to the trivia question, "Who wrote the official play of Babe Ruth's 100th Birthday?" He served as Artistic Director for The Play's The Thing Theatre Company, helping to bring free live theatre to underserved communities, and dabbled a bit in stage managing and in directing cabaret shows before answering the call (it was an email, actually) to become BroadwayWorld.com's first Chief Theatre Critic. While not attending shows Michael can be seen at Citi Field pleading for the Mets to stop imploding. Likes: Strong book musicals and ambitious new works. Dislikes: Unprepared celebrities making their stage acting debuts by starring on Broadway and weak bullpens.

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