Wow, what a night. Everyone expected that Steppenwolf’s production of August: Osage County would win big at the Tony Awards last night, but to sweep five of the six categories it was up for is quite a big deal. I was at the Steppenwolf Tony viewing party in the downstairs theater last night, and the applause, yelling, hooting, and noise-making for every August win during the ceremony, projected on two large screens, was thunderous. Now, I know how my college sports fanatic friends feel when they’re sitting in their designated school bar during the NCAA championships games, because that’s exactly how I felt last night watching the Steppenwolf crew, Chicago artists all, take trophy after trophy - swoony, heady, feeling like I just got vacuum pumped with adrenaline. It was a glorious night for Chicago theater, and our folks gave the most sincere, most gracious, most elegant, most down-to-earth speeches of the night (unlike mega-diva Patti Lupone, winner of Best Actress in a Musical for the new Gypsy revival, who growled while the orchestra was trying to play off her extended, phoney, very arrogant-sounding acceptance speech, or Best Actor in a Play Mark Rylance who quoted a pretty long, obtuse passage from an obscure Minnesota writer instead of thanking anyone from Boeing Boeing, just to be different). Best Featured Actress in a Play winner, Rondi Reed, thanked her artistic families in her speech and dedicated her award to August playwright’s Tracy Letts’ recently passed father, Dennis Letts, who played the Weston patriarch both in Chicago and during its initial run on Broadway. Best Director Anna D. Shapiro brought goose-bumps and tears to many in the downstairs theater (especially me!) when she mentioned that her six nephews and nieces didn’t care about any of this, “they just wanted tickets to The Little Mermaid”. Best Actress in a Play, the magnificently unforgettable Deanna Dunagan, was so refreshingly honest and humble (again a contrast to her counterpart winner in the musical category, monster diva Patti) when she said “…none of us dreamed we would be (at the Tonys). I certainly didn’t. After 34 years in regional theater I never even thought about it. I watched it on TV like everybody else…” And of course the brilliant Mr. Letts, accepting the Best Play award (with the fabulous Steppenwolf Artistic Director Martha Lavey beaming by his side) concluded his speech with a huge thank you to the Chicago theater community “…who made this possible.” I was pretty bummed that we didn’t get to see the full acceptance speech that Barbara Gaines, Artistic Director of the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre gave for the Regional Tony Award, since the award wasn’t part of the telecast, but I think she summed it up beautifully for all of us who love this city, who scream our voices hoarse proclaiming the talent and artistry that this city overflows with, when she said that founding Chicago Shakespeare was a risk and that “…we only could have taken that risk in Chicago, a world class city, a place where the arts are cherished and where theater is celebrated with generosity and passion”. To anyone who says they’re flying to New York City to see a Broadway (or even off-Broadway show), I’d like to say to them, save the fare and spend it instead on seeing the plays at Steppenwolf, at Chicago Shakespeare, at the Goodman, the Hypocrites, Redmoon Theatre, Lookingglass, the Next Theater, and the other hundreds of theater companies in Chicago where real theater lives, breathes, and dynamically evolves. For a complete list of Tony Award winners, click here. Picture: Deanna Dunagan accepts her Tony, one of the most richly deserved in decades!
Tags: August: Osage County, Chicago Shakespeare, Steppenwolf Theatre, Tony Awards
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