The Tony Awards were supposed to be held on Sunday, but the pandemic darkened Broadway just as the 2019-20 season was kicking into high gear.
"Six," the much-buzzed-about musical about the wives of "Henry VIII," was scheduled to open on March 12, the day the theaters were closed. The new revival of "Company," starring Katrina Lenk as a female "Bobbie" and Patti LuPone as one of the ladies who lunch, was still in previews. So too was "Diana," the splashy musical about Princess Di that was launched at La Jolla Playhouse.
Some shows, including an eagerly awaited revival of the Tony Kushner-Jeanine Tesori musical "Caroline, or Change," have been rescheduled for next season. But, sadly, the production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" starring Laurie Metcalf and Rupert Everett and the Broadway premiere of Martin McDonagh's "Hangmen," both of which were in previews, have been called off.
Despite Broadway's abrupt suspension, there was no shortage of work to acknowledge. I was looking forward to celebrating Jeremy O. Harris' path-breaking "Slave Play," thrillingly directed by Robert O'Hara, and was ready to go to the mat for Ivo van Hove's multimedia reconstruction of "West Side Story."
I also was eager to salute Laura Linney for her emotionally translucent solo turn in "My Name Is Lucy Barton" and hoped to see Mary-Louise Parker and her co-star Will Hochman feted for their seamless work in Adam Rapp's "The Sound Inside." I assumed no one would forget Jamie Lloyd's pitch-perfect revival of Harold Pinter's "Betrayal" with Tom Hiddleston and longed to see Adrienne Warren properly extolled for her star-making performance in the title role of "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical."
But instead of choosing the best from an incomplete list, I decided to play a different game. Looking back at the last 10 years of Tony winners, I came up with my own nominations and winners for the Charlie Awards, representing the creme de la creme of Broadway from 2010 through 2019.
Awards are subjective, and this exercise reminded me just how capricious they are. Picking winners among categories of disparate greatness entailed fiery arguments with myself. For lead actor in a play, a field so rich I found no room for Denzel Washington's thunderous performance in "Fences," I kept changing my mind so often I was on the verge of sending myself divorce papers. For best play, a weaker group reflecting not only the historical timidity of producers but also the refusal of the Tony Awards to distinguish excellence in playwriting from excellence in production, I wanted to change my own procedures and nominate Ayad Akhtar's "Disgraced," Lucas Hnath's "A Doll's House, Part 2" and Heidi Schreck's "What the Constitution Means to Me," even though they didn't win in their respective years.
But a game is only fun if you stick to the arbitrary rules. The Tonys are for hailing virtuosity. The Charlies are for remembering it and arguing over it. Have at me! You won't be the first to give me hell for my scorecard. I've been hollering at myself for days.
