Sara Krulwich/The New York Times Bette Midler as the agent Sue Mengers in “I’ll Eat You Last,†a one-woman show written by John Logan.Tony voters might want to lay low today if they don’t want to get devoured by Bette Midler, whose unrecognized turn as the super-agent Sue Mengers in the one-woman show “I’ll Eat You Last†was perhaps the most glaring of snubs when the nominations were announced on Tuesday morning. Ms. Midler, an A-list star making her return to Broadway after an absence of some 40 years, was well-received for her performance as Ms. Mengers, a tough-as-nails Hollywood player, in “I’ll Eat You Last.†But neither she nor this original comedy, written by John Logan (a Tony Award-winner for “Redâ€), received a nomination. (Still, she’ll always have “Rochelle, Rochelle: the Musical.â€)
A little further down the celebrity food chain, Fiona Shaw did not receive a nomination for her solo performance in Colm Toibin’s “Testament of Mary,†a monologue performed by the mother of Jesus, and Alan Cumming was similarly overlooked for his more-or-less one-man version of “Macbeth.†Alec Baldwin, the “30 Rock†star and sometime-nemesis of Shia LaBeouf, did not receive a Tony nomination for his performance in “Orphans,†though his co-star Tom Sturridge did. And a trio of Hollywood actresses who came to Broadway this season â€" Jessica Chastain in “The Heiress,†Scarlett Johansson in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof†and Katie Holmes in “Dead Accounts†â€" were all passed over, though none were expected to be cntenders.
Douglas Carter Beane’s “The Nance,†which drew a nomination for its leading actor, Nathan Lane, was nonetheless itself ignored in the best play category. And “Motown the Musical,†a huge hit, drew four nominations, but none of them were for best musical.
Meanwhile, “Bombshell,†Julia Houston and Tom Levitt’s new musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe, was entirely shut out, perhaps because it is completely fictitious and exists only on the NBC series “Smash,†and hence not eligible for real Tony Awards.
