Tony Awards: Movie stars, newcomers and Broadway veterans among those vying for top acting prizes in musicals
NEW YORK -- Movie stars, newcomers and Broadway veterans are vying for the top acting prizes in musicals at this year's Tony Awards.
Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster both received nominations for their leading roles in the revival of "The Music Man."
"Being back on Broadway in a show as big and bold and bright and effervescent as this is just a dream," Jackman told CBS2's Dave Carlin.
The cast of the show includes a number of child actors.
"You guys really are the mom and dad of that company," Carlin said.
"Yeah, we kinda are," Foster said.
"You guys are almost like protective mama bears," Carlin said.
"We feel also like it's part of our job to create a really wonderful environment," Foster said. "Because I'm a mom now, too, I have a 5-year-old, so I have, like, my mom gene has been ignited, and [Jackman]'s a father, and so we are. We kind of, like, take care of everybody. We have little rituals that I do with, you know, before the library [scene], I have little rituals and little handshakes and little things that I do with each kid, and make sure make eye contact with every single person and check in with, you know, I give dating advice. It's ridiculous."
Twenty-one young actors made their Broadway debut with this production of "The Music Man."
"We really want, especially the newbies and the little ones to know, like, that Broadway's awesome, you know? That Broadway can be amazing and safe and community and, like, it's all of us in it together, and it really is that," Foster said.
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Jaquel Spivey earned his first Tony nomination for his Broadway debut in the new musical "A Strange Loop." He stars as Usher, a Black, queer writer writing a musical about a Black, queer writer.
"Are you getting that from people who come up to you and say, thank you for this unique thing that speaks to everyone but speaks to some specific folks, too?" Carlin asked.
"Yeah, I've gotten that a lot, and it's... it makes it all worth it, you know. It's a difficult role, and it's a difficult show," Spivey said. "It's what we needed. We've been dying for something real. It's been so fake for so long, and it's like, yeah, OK, thanks for another beautiful, cute number about being in love, but people are hurting, people are not feeling accepted, people want love, people want to feel affirmed by other people, their own communities, and we've needed work like this."
Academy Award nominee and Emmy winner Mare Winningham is nominated for her performance in "Girl from the North Country," which features the music of Bob Dylan.
"I've been a Dylan fan my whole life," Winningham said.
In the show, Winningham performs Dylan's hit song "Like a Rolling Stone."
"Singing the most iconic song ever and doing it so beautifully, did you always know you could?" Carlin asked.
"The one time that it was nerve-wracking was when [Bob Dylan] was there. And I said to him actually, when I got to meet him, he said, 'You had to sing 'Rolling Stone.'' I said, 'Yeah, I had to sing 'Rolling Stone' in front of you,'" Winningham said.
This season saw another jukebox musical open on Broadway -- "MJ," telling the story of entertainer Michael Jackson as he prepared for his 1992 Dangerous World Tour.
Myles Frost is nominated for his portrayal of Jackson.
"It's such an amazing feeling. I take none of this for granted," he said.
Watch our special "Broadway and Beyond at the Tonys: Meet the nominees"
Joaquina Kalukango is nominated for her leading role in the new musical "Paradise Square."
"It's an epic, original story about a community in the Five Points between the Irish and the Black community and how they drifted apart," she said. "It's really about the tearing apart of communities."
Veteran comedian and actor Billy Crystal made his return to Broadway in his first musical, "Mr. Saturday Night," based on the 1992 film of the same name.
"Well, it's tremendously exciting. You know, after my first experience was '700 Sundays,' to be back in a musical, at the age of 74 to make my musical comedy debut. The audiences have been phenomenal," he said.
Rounding out the nominees for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical is Rob McClure, nominated for the new musical "Mrs. Doubtfire," based on the 1993 movie starring Robin Williams.
"What you do up there is a magic act every day. Tell me about the transformation that happens back and forth throughout this production," Carlin said.
"It's wild. We do, I do 248 quick changes a week, 31 a show, and it takes a team," McClure said. "They are my Indianapolis 500 pit crew who make that happen, and it's a really cool thing, and something that we have on the movie is that in the movie, when Robin Williams runs in the other room and comes back 18 seconds later as Mrs. Doubtfire, everybody knows that somebody yelled 'cut' and he went into a trailer for four hours. In the show, if I have 18 seconds, I have 18 seconds, and the audience knows I have 18 seconds. So they get to enjoy that insanity with me and sweat with me, so the stakes feel so high, and what's so great about a story like this and a show like this is that the comedy, it's subversive in its heart. You go expecting to laugh what you do, but the story really has a profound message."
Also nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical are Carmen Cusack for the new musical "Flying Over Sunset" and Sharon D. Clarke for the revival of "Caroline, or Change."
The Tony Awards are on Sunday, June 12. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. on Paramount+, and the awards ceremony starts at 8 p.m. on CBS2.
