Supporting Actor (Musical)
Tobin Hissong, The Fantasticks, The Encore Musical Theatre Co.
•Zach Barnes, Les Misérables, The Encore Musical Theatre Co.
•Eric Gutman, Next to Normal, Meadow Brook Theatre
•Paul Hopper, 70, Girls, 70, Meadow Brook Theatre
•Christopher L. Tucker, Ordinary Days, Tipping Point Theatre
Unwavering conviction made Barnes a natural leader, raising hopes for his citizen battalion’s revolution that were all the more dashed in light of his stirring inspiration. For all your tactical overload, diagram digestion, and machine-gun patter recitation needs, turn to Hopper — literally, the man with the plan. Tucker’s capacity for optimism and his enthusiasm at being even adjacent to greatness were welcome interjections into a world often mired in routine foibles. Gutman first withheld as boring Doctor Thus-and-such, then held forth as thrilling Doctor Rockstar, demigod hallucination and master of juxtaposition. Yet this one goes to Hissong for a truly fatherly performance: whatever his genial bumbling and out-of-touch quirks, the character’s pure adoration of his daughter was the actor’s crowning achievement.
Supporting Actress (Musical)
Kryssy Becker, Ordinary Days, Tipping Point Theatre
•Madison Deadman, Les Misérables, The Encore Musical Theatre Co.
•Aubrey Fink, Next to Normal, Two Muses Theatre
•Erika Henningsen, Les Misérables, The Encore Musical Theatre Co.
•Leslie Hull, A Little Night Music, Performance Network Theatre
Acting at acting out is no easy feat, but here Fink excelled at clearly feeling, processing, and responding in ways that her despondent teenaged character likely couldn’t explain or understand. Although Deadman demonstrated her chops in a classic torch song, her finest work was in the complexity of accepting a tragic end in order to protect the object of her unrequited love. Henningsen made reciprocation and connection the hallmarks of her Cosette, a choice that made the sheltered character into more than just a lovely voice. Script and score may paint the broad strokes of sultriness and sauce, but Hull’s exuberance and the electric twinkle in her eye were what made that insouciant character leap off the page. Ultimately, the honor goes to Becker for a brightly cynical and hilariously candid turn, which peaked in a display of mental unraveling that was exquisite to witness.
Lead Actor (Musical)
John Seibert, A Little Night Music, Performance Network Theatre
•J. Michael Bailey, Les Misérables, The Encore Musical Theatre Co.
•Kevin Rose, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Encore Musical Theatre Co.
•Brian Thibault, The Fantasticks, The Encore Musical Theatre Co.
•George Andrew Wolff, Next to Normal, Meadow Brook Theatre
Rose’s titular character kept vocal command, but needed little more than the actor’s genuine guilelessness and wondrous joy to get the viewer in his corner. Accustomed to having his needs take a back seat to others’, Wolff was sympathetic as a supporter, which made his one desperate, defensive foray into selfish decision making that much more arduous. Bailey matched his character’s noted strength and resilience with vocal fortitude, physical subtlety and stamina, and moments of closeness that helped ground the personal stakes within the larger story. Caddish Thibault deepened an elusive, devilish character by layering on remorse, painstakingly demonstrating how clearly he knew what he was doing, and yet did it anyway. But there was no catching Seibert, in an impeccably sung, terrifically funny, deeply felt performance of revelatory proportions.
Lead Actress (Musical)
Naz Edwards, A Little Night Music, Performance Network Theatre
•Audrey Northington, The Divas Project, Plowshares Theatre
•Mary Robin Roth, 70, Girls, 70, Meadow Brook Theatre
•Thalia Schramm, The Fantasticks, The Encore Musical Theatre Co.
•Stephanie Wahl, Next to Normal, Meadow Brook Theatre
Wahl moved mountains with a treacherous character arc — feeling dead inside without flattening out, racing through simultaneous emotional pathways, and explaining the inexplicable — while remaining musically sublime. Embodying a fairytale ingénue and all the starry-eyed romance that entails, sweet-voiced Schramm nevertheless eschewed preciousness for something more relatable. That brazen broad Roth took all the world’s available pluck, plated it in brass, and had more fun doing it than is probably legal. Northington clearly knows her way around a crowd, but gleefully worked her audience and loved every attention-grabbing minute, a true capital-D Diva. And still, none could top Edwards: beguiling appeal, side-splitting ennui, heartbreaking poise, and lyrical mastery were at her indomitable command.
Best Musical
Next to Normal, Meadow Brook Theatre (director Travis W. Walter)
•The Divas Project, Plowshares Theatre (director Gary Anderson)
•The Fantasticks, The Encore Musical Theatre Co. (director Barton Bund)
•A Little Night Music, Performance Network Theatre (director Phil Simmons)
•Ordinary Days, Tipping Point Theatre (director Brian P. Sage)
A jazzy, soulful mélange of styles and homages, The Divas Project reveled in its loose, freewheeling atmosphere, focusing exclusively on the magic of the music. Working within the prescriptively theatrical boundaries of the script, The Fantasticks nevertheless played to the strengths of the space and its players in fresh and innovative ways. A Little Night Music impressed with a tremendous cast, pleasing sights, and tremulous sounds, as well as its light deft hand with comedy. The forced perspective of Ordinary Days gently converged a few scattered New Yorkers to show the expressive, special, aesthetically stunning art that is everyday life. But for sheer breakout energy and saturated risks that paid off several-fold, the beautifully controlled chaos of this aggressively personal, acutely painful Next to Normal comes out on top.