Harry Potter should have cast a spell right before the announcement of the 2011 Tony award contenders – something along the lines of Nominatus Stellarium! – to secure a place in the running. But alas, Daniel Radcliffe's name was not among those uttered by presenters Matthew Broderick and Anika Noni Rose (maybe for the best; Broderick mangled Mark Rylance's surname as "Reliance").
Although box-office projections might have driven the casting of Radcliffe as corporate ladder-scrambler J Pierrepont Finch in the bouncy revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, the film star is perfectly charming, a decent singer, and his omission from nominations was the biggest surprise here. Perhaps the Tony nominating committee, heeding both its collective taste and last year's grumbling that too many awards went to slumming, undeserving celebrities (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Scarlett Johansson, Denzel Washington) decided to withhold.
Radcliffe's snub notwithstanding, plenty of Tony love was spread to UK artists and works. In fact, the 2010-11 season was especially rich in English and Anglo-American projects. Many productions began in London and transferred mostly intact (Brief Encounter, The Pitman Painters, La Bête, Jerusalem) or used local actors (War Horse, Sister Act) or some combination of the two (Arcadia, Priscilla Queen of the Desert). English actors were sprinkled over several of our homegrown productions: Sally Hawkins in Mrs Warren's Profession, Vanessa Redgrave in Driving Miss Daisy and the delightful Adam Godley in Anything Goes.
This interconnectedness isn't a surprise: our theatre cultures are fast intertwined. What's interesting this year is how the contests will play out. Because some of the hottest battles are between English nominees. The prizes in the musical category don't hold much transatlantic drama. The Book of Mormon, with 14 nominations, is virtually certain to win best new musical, with no serious competition from Catch Me If You Can. For partisans of the divisive meta-minstrel musical The Scottsboro Boys (which closed last December), its 12 nods are a vindication of the commercial flop's artistic merit.
But when we get to the race for best play, things heat up. Some American voters will be rooting for David Lindsay-Abaire's touching comedy-drama about class and ethics in Boston, Good People, but many also concede that Jerusalem (with six nominations) is the flashier, more artsy property. Jez Butterworth's magnificent tragicomedy also boasts a bravura turn from Mark Rylance – frontrunner in the best actor category.
The only other work that could unseat Jerusalem for best play is War Horse. And you can bet that Lincoln Centre Theatre, which is producing the New York version of this West End hit, will be campaigning hard for War Horse to inch out Jerusalem. The latter (whose ticket sales have been steady but not spectacular) is only in the US for a limited run throughout July. War Horse, on the other hand, is an open-ended run. So it behooves Lincoln Centre to get a best play Tony.
If in June it comes down to a fight between Jerusalem and War Horse, a perennial philosophical issue will arise: should voters consider the text of a play, or its entire production? Most critics would agree that War Horse is greater than the sum of its parts: Nick Stafford's adaptation of the young adult novel is not particularly subtle or insightful as a dramatic text, but the combination of video projection, breathtaking puppetry and picturesque stage effects creates a thrilling whole. Jerusalem, however, is a walloping grand play about land, identity, the death of magic and the decay of community, with a marvellous central role. Should the Tonys honour play or production? Literary or theatrical excellence? That, they say, is what makes a horse race.
