Brunchtime: Meet Greet and Eat with the 2002 Tony Award Nominees

Kaye, a Tony winner for The Phantom of the Opera (she played opera diva Carlotta), explained, "As thrilled as I am to be nominated, it's sort of a hollow honor, since the nomination committee overlooked Karen Mason (who has audiences in stitches at every performance and who shares 99 percent of Kaye's moments onstage)."

She did point out how much fun she's having, "romping, singing, dancing all over the place -- and in contemporary clothes, for a change! No 40-pound gowns with bustles! [In Mamma Mia!] we're having so much fun that it's a pleasure to go to work. As long as I have this job, I don't have to worry about out missing my aerobic excercises!"

One might assume from the longevity of her career in native Canada, where she catapulted to fame in 1992 portraying legendary French singer Edith Piaf in three different productions of Piaf, and her silver-gray hair that pixie Pitre is older than her 45 years, but her youthful face soon rids you of that thought. Pitre was sorry that her dashing husband, actor Joe Matheson (a cross between Tom Wopat and Moses Burke, with a dash of Steve Reeves thrown in), with whom she's collaborating on a new musical, wasn't there to share the moment, but he was across town. (She was on his very capable, strong arms at the Drama Desk Awards.)

Now one of Canada's most popular and enduring concert and musical theater performers, Pitre says that when she graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a degree in music education, "I planned a sensible career as a high school music teacher. Then I landed a role in a college revue and really got bitten by the acting bug." Pitre says she adores New York "and has fallen madly in love with audiences, whose unbelievable response every performance at Mamma Mia! amazes her. I didn't know people could have such a good time!"

This time last year, Urinetown: The Musical composer/lyricist Mark Hollman and book writer/lyricist Kotis would never have imagined their offbeat show would move from Off Broadway (where it was nominated for nine Drama Desk Awards) to Broadway, where, this season, it's nominated for 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Score. Their journey was a bumpy one.

Though grounded in the classical tradition of what a musical should be, their gritty show -- about a water shortage in a major metropolis so severe, water is rationed and a greedy tycoon sees profit in making the populace, already on hard times, pay to use public facilitie -- didn't exactly have theaters anxious to jump aboard. A couple even told them to get lost.

Hollman and Kotis, clutching their Tony Award nomination citations while they munched cookies from the brunch buffet, report that in 1998, they sent scripts and tapes to 60 theaters and 50 agents. "Nine times out of 10," says Hollman, "we got the `Thank you very much, but...' form letter."

"Thankfully," smiles Kotis, "a couple stated they felt the material promising and funny or we probably would have quit right then. Those theaters that thought we had something weren't in a position to take on big shows or they explained about their conservative audience base. When the composers pointed out that Urinetown had a love story -- between a young "revolutionary" who goes up against the tycoon and the tycoon's firebrand daughter -- it still didn't open doors. The composers think the musical's parody went over some heads and that others thought two characters -- Officer Lockstock and Little Sally -- tended to "deconstruct" the show too much with their depreciating humor about the "awful" title. There was also the expected handwringing about whether audiences were really ready for a musical about such a "downer of a subject."

Back home in Chicago, over ten years, they had worked various jobs to survive and participated, separately and later together, in fringe (or, as it is called there, "Off Loop") theater. They said that before they were connected to groups there, they were encouraged to bypass development, "rent a garage and put a show on." And that's what they decided to do here, but instead entered Urinetown in the 1999 New York International Fringe Festival. "We expected it to disappear," admits Kotis.

"But," explains Hollman, "we'd have the closure of having it on a stage in front of a live audience."

Urinetown became the hot ticket of the Festival. The Araca Group, producers of independent films and the Off-Broadway and tour productions of The Vagina Monologues, The Laramie Project (and the Broadway revival of Terrance McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) came to see the show.

After two years of development, Urinetown opened Off Broadway, where it created such a buzz that Dodger Theatricals entered the scene and decided to take the show to Broadway.

Hollman says, "It's still hard to believe the chain of events and that our dream has come true."

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The elegantly-dressed Kate Burton, who received two Tony nominations this season for her (Featured Actress) work in The Elephant Man and (as Leading Actress) in the now-departed Hedda Gabler, was possibly the friendliest star. She delighted in posing for photos, doing interviews and meeting every nominee she could. "It's so hard to believe this year," she says. "Maybe because it went by so fast, I haven't had time to think about it. It was so thrilling to realize my dream of doing Hedda and then to go from that right into Elephant Man, well, it's exciting."

She says she's taking a hiatus from theater to do TV and films for at least a year. She's currently in the thriller "Unfaithful" and soon will be seen in "Swim Fan," which she says is "a kind of a teenage `Fatal Attraction.'" But she will return to the stage, hopefully, next year in a production of The Royal Family, the thinly-disguised George S. Kaufman- Edna Ferber play about the Barrymores. Burton says her greatest wish is be joined by Marian Seldes, with whom she did the play "many years ago" at the Williamstown (NY) Theater Festival.

Coincidentally, a special 2002 Tony Award for excellence in regional theater will go The Williamstown Theater Festival. Burton happens to be married to Williamstown artistic director Michael Ritchie.

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Shuler Hensley, nominated in the Featured Actor category for his dark portrayal of Jud Fry in Oklahoma! spoke of the fact that since his solo, "Lonely Room," was cut from the original cast recording of the show and the film adaptation, new audiences think the song is in the show for the first time. "When I sing it, I can feel a strange audience reaction," he reports. "They seem to be puzzled about how to feel toward Jud, whether to like or dislike Jud." Could it be that they are just reacting to this handsome, almost touchy-feely Jud Fry? Jud Fry as matinee idol is almost unthinkable, but, as Hensley points out, audiences have a never-before-felt empathy for Jud. He's happy people are crediting his interpretation, but, he notes modestly, credit goes to Trevor Nunn.

As an actor, Hensley's happy to add dimension to Jud and not just play him as the copycat villain or bully of previous productions. "The song really talks about what Jud is feeling. I just try to bring out the hurt he's experiencing and that he's capable of those feelings."

Many seeing Hensley in Oklahoma! think they're seeing this Georgia native for the first time. Where have they been? Most recently, he was Javert in Broadway's Les Miz. Four years ago, he was cast as Jud in the Royal National Theater production of Oklahoma! but, because of the Actors Equity/Sir Cameron Mackintosh brouhaha over bringing the West End cast to Broadway, the show was very delayed getting here. Incidently, only Hensley and Josefina Gabrielle, who plays Laurie, remain from the London company.

Suddenly, a loud ruckus disrupted everything, as the alter ego of Elaine Stritch, 2001 Tony-nominee for Best Actress Claudia Shear, the original Dirty Blonde, tornadoed through the mob of celebrities and media exclaiming, "Elaine sent me! Elaine sent me!"

Stritch's Elaine Stritch at Liberty is nominated as Best Special Theatrical Event, but the star was sleeping in. Shear, holding Stritch's nomination citation with a tiny cut-out of Strict (that could be manipulated so that it appeared dancing), was having a ball.

When she met Hensley, she took one look at him and, as they were introduced, eyed his imposing self up and down.

Before you could say "thou shalt not in Oklahoma!," another blonde bombshell was the center of flashing lights and cries of "Over here! Over here!" It was Susan Stroman, nominated for her Oklahoma! choreography, embracing singer/composer Harry Connick Jr., whose score for Thou Shalt Not latter is nominated, Norbert Leo Butz, who got all the (good) press in that show (and who's nominated as Featured Actor in a Musical), and that tiny dynamo Andrea Martin (who's nominated as Feature Actress in a Musical for her spunky Aunt Eller) from Oklahoma!.

Someone was heard to mutter, "Who said Broadway isn't one big happy family!" It is who you know and, it would seem these days, it pays to know Stroman. She could be overheard paying tribute to the doors opened for women choreographers by the late, great Agnes DeMille, who classic choreography and ballets were landmarks in the original landmark Oklahoma!.

The Goat or Who Is Sylvia? nominees Edward Albee and Mercedes Ruehl (in the Best Actress in a Play category) were happy to pose for photos, but she wasn't happy at the nominating committee's "egregiously overlooking my co-star" Bill Pullman for a Best Actor nod.

Perhaps Albee has this reputation of being a recluse, for everyone seemed stunned to see him out and in the morning. He said he's a real morning person and does his best writing at that time. Discussing his controversial comedy-drama, he said, "A lot of people are questioning the play and how I come up with my themes, but when I set out to write a play, I set out to answer questions that are in my mind and not to be purposely controversial."

He and one of the plays co-producers, Daryl Roth, noted that they are very pleased response to the show has "settled" and that now it seems to be getting the sort of attention it deserves. How do they perceive this when people are still getting up within ten minutes of the intermissionless play and walking out? "In our first performances," reported Albee, "audiences were laughing where they weren't intended to laugh. Now, there is a lot less of that."

Since Estelle Parsons, Frances Sternhagen and Elizabeth Franz play sisters in the revival of Morning's At Seven, it's interesting that they come together, with co-star and fellow Featured nominee, William Biff Maguire. Parsons, just as spunky in person with spiked hair and in a very smart double-breasted suit, says it will be interesting to see how the voting goes, since she "and my two sisters" are all nominated in the same category, "but there have been miracles. Actually, what would have been great is for all the sisters [including Piper Laurie] is be nominated as one. After all, we work in an ensemble. I just hope one of us wins!"

Sternhagen and Franz lean in to concur. "That would have been nice!" After running the media gauntlet, they actually seem like a family, going through the buffet line and eating together.

One might be surprised to find Lead Actor in a Musical nominee and veteran legit actor John Cullum (1776, On the Twentieth Century and TV's "Northern Exposure") in the off-beat Urinetown. "I have to say I'm a bit surprised myself," he laughs. "I got sent this script of a new musical by my agent and when I saw the title, it just registered that it had to be a working title. Surely they're not going to call their musical that! Wrong! Even when I read the thing, I thought the lyrics were rather simplistic and wondered what the hell it was about."

Enter Mrs. Cullum, who read the script and thought it very funny. "I still had my reservations," Cullum reports, but once we got into it with [composers] Mark [Hollman], Greg [Kotis] and [director] John [Rando], I started coming around. Now, I'm working my tail off, but having the time of my life."

Brian d'Arcy James, a Featured nominee for Sweet Smell of Success, which he actually co-stars in, says, "working with John Lithgow is a treat. He's one of the nicest people I've met in the business, and I've learned a lot just observing him." There's not much of a soft side to his character, hungry, anything-for-a-buck press agent Sidney Falco, "but he's a fantastic character with a lot of dimension."

Both d'Arcy James and Lead Actor in a Musical nominee Lithgow are a bit tired of the negative reviews and swipes at their show. The important thing, they say, is that audiences are coming and loving it.

Marc Kudisch can't believe the fun he's having in Thoroughly Modern Millie. "Getting a nomination [as Best Featured Actor in a Musical] for something you love doing is just the topping on the cake." He loves that moment in the second act when his character "suddenly melts and breaks into love-smitten song and how the audience goes wild."

It still gets to him, so much so that a couple of times he says he was thrown and couldn't think of his next lines, "so I ad-libbed a bit until we got back into the swing."

Brian Murray, who's received a nod this season as Best Featured Actor, for his role as the deputy in The Crucible, has been an actor since childhood in his native South Africa and continued after immigrating to the U.K. "Isn't it marvelous!" he said, enjoying The View's view. "I've never known a place as exciting!"

He recalls falling "immediately in love with New York" while making his Broadway debut in 1965. Two years later, he returned, stayed and was determined to become a U.S. citizen -- a goal he achieved three years ago.

Murray laughs when told that he's that rare theatrical artist who seems never to be without work - whether on Broadway or Off, acting or directing. In 1998, he received two "lifetime achievement" awards: an Obie and a Lucille Lortel. His last Tony nomination was a 1997 Featured Actor nod for Lincoln Center Theater's revival of The Little Foxes. Before that, he was nominated along with fellow cast members Paul Hecht and John Wood in 1968 for Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a production he calls "an extraordinary experience."
"We won the Tony (for Best Play) and became a cult hit," notes Murray. "It was amazing. It was the 60s, and every kid who was possibly going to Vietnam identified with these two almost-nameless, background people who are used by the government. We ran for a year. I credit that first Tony nomination for securing my future on the stage here."

As a recent example of his "luck" (he likes to add, "now that I'm an American citizen!"), right in the middle of the Foxes run, he was hired for Roundabout's revival of Misalliance. From there, he went on to LCT's Twelth Night, Uncle Vanya (starring opposite Derek Jacobi and his current Crucible co-star Laura Linney) and, most recently, The Play About the Baby. In the latter, he developed an enduring friendship with co-star Marian Seldes.

If there's any "secret" to his always working, "it must be luck and timing," he chuckles. "Being available and the job being right, then being available for another." He's especially feeling lucky about his meaty role as Deputy Governor Danforth in The Crucible "because I get to go up against Liam (Neeson), whom I've long admired."

He says that maybe too many parallels are being made between The Crucible and the 50s' McCarthyism and the House Un-American Activities Committee's witch hunt. "Arthur Miller said that he had always wanted to write a play about that period in Salem [Massachusetts] history. He was surprised as anyone when critics began saying that The Crucible was an allegory about red-baiting [the HUAC's role in blacklisting suspected Communists in Hollywood]."

Murray says the business never gets easier, "and, in such a standout year for actors, I truly feel all the more blessed to be nominated. Not everyone that should have been nominated is nominated. Sad, isn't it, that there are only so many slots? I could think of a few more deserving names."

Star power gets recognition from the nominators, but what do you do when there are so many extraordinary featured performances? Audience response is one thing, but wouldn't it be nice to also be able to recognize, in some official way, the standout turns of Angela Bettis, Patrice Johnson and John Benjamin Hickey (all from Crucible), Anne Nathan (Millie's hilarious, tap-dancing Miss Flannery), Faith Prince and Richard Easton (Noises Off) and, the hands-down winner (if I had a vote!), Chad Kimball (Into the Woods' Milky White)?

In closing, let's go to David Letterman for the last words:

Top Ten Reasons Your Production Was Not Nominated For A Tony Award

10. The costumes consist of items stolen from theater coat check

9. A helicopter appears in climactic scene, but it's not in the script

8. No matter how good it is, a show in your parents' garage is not eligible

7. It's called a "revival" because you're constantly resuscitating audience members

6. The marquee reads, "Tom Arnold is Napoleon Bonaparte"

5. Instead of "Author! Author!" audience shouts, "There he is! Let's get him!"

4. Despite the fact it isn't a musical, the lead actor is constantly breaking into song

3. When the curtain rises, it only goes up a couple of feet

2. The big musical number is "The Tonys Can Kiss My Ass"

1. The name of the production is "Osama Mia"

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