The 38-year-old Puerto Rican actress and Golden Globe winner is developing a series adaptation of Sonoro podcast series Princess of South Beachfor Netflix.
The streamer has optioned the podcast with the formerJane The Virginstar set to executive produce the project under her I Can & I Will Productions banner alongside Sonoro, iHeart’s My Cultura Network and Jasmine Romero .
Rodriguez is not currently attached to star in the series.
Additionally, the scripted podcast series has been renewed for a second season, set to premiere this fall.
Princess of South Beach is iHeart’s My Cultura Network’s top performing title and was nominated for Best Fiction Podcast at the Ambies last year.
The second season will be released in both English and Spanish and will be marketed to audiences globally. It will feature some of the first season’s biggest stars, including X Mayo, Gina Torres, Raul Esparza and Danny Pino.
Princess of South Beach follows Maria del Carmen and Gloria, twin sisters who were separated at birth and raised in dramatically different ways — one in a convent and the other in the lap of luxury. When a freak accident kills Gloria, Maria del Carmen assumes her identity and uncovers that Gloria’s rich family isn’t as picture-perfect as they seem.
The bilingual series pays homage to beloved telenovela tropes and adds modern twists. It stars Rachel Zegler, Esparza, Torres, Pino and Sheryl Rubio.
Season 2 will see Raul and Estrella set off on a road trip to figure out the whereabouts of Estrella’s long-lost high school sweetheart, Gabby, and in turn, uncover the dark past behind Esteban Calderon.
Camila Victoriano and Joshua Weinstein will executive produce season two on behalf of Sonoro, and Gisselle Bances for iHeart’s My Cultura Network. Romero served as a writer (alongside Joanna Hausmann) and director on Season 1 and will return in both capacities in the second season.
The 52-year-old Cuban-American stage, screen and voice actor and singer will star in FX’s hour-long pilot The Answers, the network’s adaptation of Catherine Lacey’s novel.
In addition to Esparza, the series regular cast will include Lucy Hale, Krys Marshall, Melanie Field, Pallavi Sharda and Kine Kunutu in the project from Sorry for Your Loss creator Kit Steinkellner, Dopesickcreator Danny Strong, Requiem for a Dream director Darren Aronofsky and 20th Television.
They join previously announced male lead David Corenswet.
The story, which has drawn comparisons to The Handmaid’s Tale, is set in the near future, where a heartbroken young woman, Mary (Hale), joins an enigmatic experiment that promises to hack love, but after moving into an idyllic, secluded location with her fellow female participants, she and the other women start questioning what’s really happening in the experiment, and why they’ve all been tasked with dating the same mysterious man, Christopher Skye (Corenswet).
Esparza plays Dr. Crowe; Marshall portrays Ellis; Field is Dani; Sharda plays Ash and Kunutu is Nic.
Steinkellner wrote the pilot and executive-produces. Strong and Aronofsky executive produce with Mandy Safavi with Danny Strong Productions and Ari Handel and Elizabeth Gesas with Aronofsky’s Protozoa Pictures.
Gillian Robespierre will direct and executive produce the pilot. 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios, is the studio.
This Sunday’s 75th Annual Tony Awards will feature a line-up of all-star presenters from the stage and screen, including the 42-year-old Puerto Rican actor, rapper, composer, playwright and filmmaker.
Miranda, a multiple Tony Award winner, is among a roster of presenters that includes Andrew Garfield, Laurence Fishburne, Nathan Lane, Bowen Yangand both Paris and Prince Jackson, the children ofMJsubject Michael Jackson.
The roster of presenters was announced by Tony Awards producers, and also includes Josh Lucas, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Skylar Astin, Zach Braff, Danielle Brooks, Danny Burstein, Len Cariou, RuPaul Charles, Jessica Chastain, Lilli Cooper, Bryan Cranston, Wilson Cruz, Colman Domingo, Anthony Edwards, Cynthia Erivo, Raúl Esparza, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Tony Goldwyn, David Alan Grier, Vanessa Hudgens, Jennifer Hudson, Bebe Neuwirth, Kelli O’Hara, Sarah Paulson, Bernadette Peters, Jeremy Pope, Billy Porter, LaTanya Richardson, Chita Rivera, Tony Shalhoub, Phillipa Soo, Sarah Silverman and George Takei,
The four-hour June 12 Tony evening begins at 7:00 pm ET/4:00 pm PT with The Tony Awards: Act One, a one-hour streaming event of exclusive content live on Paramount+ hosted by Darren Criss and Julianne Hough.
The 75th Tony Awards, hosted by Oscar-winning actress and singer Ariana DeBose, follows at 8:00 pm ET/5:00 pm PT on CBS and Paramount+. The awards will be presented live coast-to-coast from Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
Last night, DeBose confirmed that the Tony Awards also will pay respect to the swings and understudies who made this Covid-plagued Broadway season possible. In response to a tweet from Actors’ Equity president Kate Shindle dismissing social media rumors that swings and understudies would be ignored during the ceremony,
DeBose reiterated Shindle’s assurances, writing, “To all concerned, all I can ask is that you keep the faith & trust. I am working round the clock to bring you all a beautiful celebration of everyone’s hard work…”
The 51-year-old Cuban American actor and Broadway star has been cast in FX’s Retreat, a limited series from Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij.
Led by Emma Corrin, the list of new additions to the cast includes Clive Owen, Harris Dickinson, Alice Braga, Jermaine Fowler, Joan Chen, Edoardo BalleriniPegah Ferydoni, Ryan J. Haddad and Javed Khan.
Retreat is a radical conceptualization of the whodunit with a new kind of detective at the helm — a gen Z amateur sleuth named Darby Hart (Corrin). Darby and 11 other guests are invited by a reclusive billionaire to participate in a Retreat at a remote and dazzling location. When one of the other guests is found dead, Darby must fight to prove it was murder against a tide of competing interests and before the killer takes another life.
Esparza is David; Owen plays Andy; Marling portrays Lee; Dickinson is Bill; Braga plays Sian; Fowler is Martin; Chen portrays Lu Mei; Ballerini plays Ray; Ferydoni portrays Ziba; Haddad plays Oliver and Khan is Rohan.
Marling and Batmanglij will write and direct the series. FX Productions is the studio.
Esparza is best known for his role as New York Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Rafael Barba in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
He received Tony Awardnominations for his roles as Philip Salon in the Boy Georgemusical Taboo in 2004; Robert in the musical comedy Companyin 2006; Lenny in Harold Pinter‘s play The Homecomingin 2008; and Charlie Fox in David Mamet‘s play Speed-the-Plow in 2009.
There’s some law and order in Eva Noblezada’s future…
The half-Mexican American actress and Broadway star will appear on next week’s episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
The TonyAward-nominated Hadestownactor is among several Broadway stars who will appear on the long-running series.
“We are trying to hire every Broadway actor we can while we and they wait for the curtains to rise again,” says showrunner Warren Leight to Deadline.com.
“We know how hard the community has been hit here. The goal is to get as many jobs to as many theater actors as we possibly can.”
The National Endowment for the Arts recently released figures indicating that while the overall unemployment rate has averaged 8.5 percent, the average among actors was 52 percent. (The figures do not distinguish between Broadway, film and TV performers.)
The NBC New York-basedLaw & Order franchise has long been known as a steady source of employment for the city’s theater performers – rare is the stage actor whose Playbill credits don’t include at least one of theL&O series – but the coronavirus pandemic has pushed Leight’s team to ramp up even those efforts for the current Season 22.
Stage actors already cast in parts for this season include the Tony-winning Adriane Lenox, Elizabeth Marvel, Jane Bruce, Jelani Alladin, Michael Mastro and Betsy Aidem.
Even Raúl Esparza, a four-time Tony nominee known to the wider television audience for his six-season SVUrun as Assistant D.A. Rafael Barba, is making a temporary franchise comeback to reprise the role for this week’s episode “Sightless in a Savage Land.”
Leight says the Broadway-filled roles range in scope from one-day parts to more substantial turns, but have an important practical impact for the actors, adding to the work day minimums required for Actors Equity-Broadway League health insurance.
The casting offers a significant logistical benefit to the show as well: casting New York actors is the more practical and efficient option during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the prospect of long-distance flights from Hollywood and required quarantine protocols can complicate using Los Angeles-based actors.
“In the past we’ve done what you could call Hollywood stunt casting,” Leight says, “but a lot of those players aren’t going to be willing to get on a plane and quarantine right now. We realized early on that we’ll have to cast locally much more.”
The Broadway shutdown also allows the show to get around the planning issues that Broadway’s usual performance schedule demands: Coordinating a shoot around the identical eight-performance weeks of working stage actors is daunting. There’s only so much guest-starring that can be crammed into a dark Broadway Monday.
The 49-year-old Cuban American stage and television actor is among this year’s Outer Critics Circle Awards recipients, a collection of Broadway and Off Broadway ecipients that make up the organization’s first-ever slate of multiple honorees.
With the Tony Awards remaining a mere possibility this year, the 70th Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards took a different approach to an unusual, pandemic-shortened theater season: Instead of selecting traditional nominees with one winner from each category, the OCCnamed five honorees in each of its technical categories and up to six honorees in the acting categories.
Esparza was named one of the honorees in the Outstanding Actor in a Playcategory for his acclaimed performance in Seared.
Esparza’s Searedco-star Krysta Rodriguezwas one of the honorees in the Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play category.
Matthew Lopez’s The Inheritance picked up an honoree designation for Outstanding New Broadway Play.
The Puerto Rican playwright penned the two-part play, which is set in New York three decades after the height of the AIDS epidemic.
John Ortiz was one of the honorees in the Outstanding Director of a Play for helming Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven, while one of the play’s stars, Liza Colón-Zayas, was named an Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play honoree.
Karen Olivo picked up an honoree designation for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for her starring role in Moulin Rouge!
Recalibrated to celebrate “widespread excellence in New York theater this season,” the OCC Awards – chosen by the official organization of writers on New York theatre for out-of-town newspapers and national publications – were announced by past honorees Kristin Chenoweth, Bryan Cranston, Patti LuPone, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Patrick Stewart.
The OCC is making a donation to The Actors’ Fundin support of its emergency relief efforts.
Here’s a look at the 2019-2020 Outer Critics Circle Award honorees:
OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY
Grand Horizons Written by Bess Wohl
The Height of the Storm Written by Florian Zeller Translated by Christopher Hampton
The Inheritance Written by Matthew Lopez
Linda Vista Written by Tracy Letts
The Sound Inside Written by Adam Rapp
OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL
Jagged Little Pill Music by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard Lyrics by Alanis Morissette Book by Diablo Cody
Moulin Rouge! Book by John Logan Based on the 2001 Twentieth Century Fox Motion Picture written by Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical Book by Katori Hall With Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins
OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
Cambodian Rock Band Written by Lauren Yee
Greater Clements Written by Samuel D. Hunter
Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Make Believe Written by Bess Wohl
Seared Written by Theresa Rebeck
OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
Darling Grenadine Book, Music, and Lyrics by Daniel Zaitchik
Octet Book, Music, and Lyrics by Dave Malloy
The Secret Life of Bees Book by Lynn Nottage Music by Duncan Sheik Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead Based on the novel by Sue Monk Kidd
Soft Power Book and Lyrics by David Henry Hwang Music and Additional Lyrics by Jeanine Tesori
A Strange Loop Book, Music, and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Betrayal Written by Harold Pinter
Fires in the Mirror Written by Anna Deavere Smith
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf Written by Ntozake Shange
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune Written by Terrence McNally
A Soldier’s Play Written by Charles Fuller
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Little Shop of Horrors Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman Music by Alan Menken
The Unsinkable Molly Brown Music and Lyrics by Meredith Willson Book and New Lyrics by Dick Scanlan Based on the Original Book by Richard Morris Music Adapted by Michael Rafter
West Side Story Music by Leonard Bernstein Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by Arthur Laurents Based on a Conception by Jerome Robbins
JOHN GASSNER AWARD (Presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright)
Georgia Mertching Is Dead by Catya McMullen Heroes of the Fourth Turning by Will Arbery Our Dear Dead Drug Lord by Alexis Scheer Pari sby Eboni Booth
OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Diablo Cody, Jagged Little Pill David Henry Hwang, Soft Power Michael R. Jackson, A Strange Loop Lynn Nottage, The Secret Life of Bees Mark Saltzman, Romeo and Bernadette
OUTSTANDING NEW SCORE (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Susan Birkenhead and Duncan Sheik, The Secret Life of Bees Ross Golan, The Wrong Man Michael R. Jackson, A Strange Loop Dave Malloy, Octet Jeanine Tesori and David Henry Hwang, Soft Power
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A PLAY David Cromer, The Sound Inside Stephen Daldry, The Inheritance Kenny Leon, A Soldier’s Play Jamie Lloyd, Betrayal John Ortiz, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL Stephen Brackett, A Strange Loop Michael Mayer, Little Shop of Horrors Diane Paulus, Jagged Little Pill Alex Timbers,Moulin Rouge! Ivo van Hove, West Side Story
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER Sidi Larbi Cherakoui, Jagged Little Pill Raja Feather Kelly, A Strange Loop Sonya Tayeh,Moulin Rouge! Anthony Van Laast, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical Travis Wall, The Wrong Man
OUTSTANDING ORCHESTRATIONS Tom Kitt, Jagged Little Pill Alex Lacamoire, The Wrong Man Justin Levine, with Matt Stine, Katie Kresek, and Charlie Rosen,Moulin Rouge! Christopher Nightingale, A Christmas Carol Duncan Sheik and John Clancy, The Secret Life of Bees
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY Ian Barford, Linda Vista Edmund Donovan, Greater Clements Raúl Esparza, Seared Tom Hiddleston, Betrayal Will Hochman, The Sound Inside Jonathan Pryce, The Height of the Storm
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY Eileen Atkins, The Height of the Storm Judith Ivey, Greater Clements Joaquina Kalukango, Slave Play April Matthis,Toni Stone Mary-Louise Parker, The Sound Inside Portia, Stew
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY David Alan Grier, A Soldier’s Play John Benjamin Hickey, The Inheritance Paul Hilton,The Inheritance Samuel H. Levine, The Inheritance John-Andrew Morrison, Blues for an Alabama Sky Chris Perfetti, Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY Liza Colón-Zayas, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven Montego Glover, All the Natalie Portmans Marsha Mason,Little Gem Krysta Rodriguez, Seared Lois Smith, The Inheritance Jennifer Van Dyck, The Confession of Lily Dare
OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE David Cale, We’re Only Alive For a Short Amount of Time Laura Linney, My Name Is Lucy Barton Aedin Moloney, Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom Deirdre O’Connell, Dana H. Michael Benjamin Washington, Fires in the Mirror
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL Jonathan Groff,Little Shop of Horrors Joshua Henry, The Wrong Man Adam Kantor, Darling Grenadine Larry Owens, A Strange Loop Isaac Powell, West Side Story Aaron Tveit, Moulin Rouge!
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL Beth Malone, The Unsinkable Molly Brown Janelle McDermoth, We’re Gonna Die Karen Olivo, Moulin Rouge! Shereen Pimentel, West Side Story Elizabeth Stanley, Jagged Little Pill Adrienne Warren, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL Christian Borle,Little Shop of Horrors Danny Burstein, Moulin Rouge! Gus Halper, Sing Street Jay Armstrong Johnson, Scotland, PA Francis Jue, Soft Power Daniel J. Watts, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL Eisa Davis, The Secret Life of Bees Kathryn Gallagher, Jagged Little Pill LaChanze, The Secret Life of Bees Judy McLane, Romeo & Bernadette Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill Saycon Sengbloh, The Secret Life of Bees
OUTSTANDING SCENIC DESIGN (Play or Musical) Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol Tim Mackabee, Seared Derek McLane, Moulin Rouge! Clint Ramos, Grand Horizons Anthony Ward,The Height of the Storm
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN (Play or Musical) Vanessa Leuck, Emojiland Jeff Mahshie, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice Mark Thompson, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical Rachel Townsend & Jessica Jahn, The Confession of Lily Dare Catherine Zuber, Moulin Rouge!
OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN (Play or Musical) Isabella Byrd, Heroes of the Fourth Turning Heather Gilbert, The Sound Inside Justin Townsend, Moulin Rouge! Hugh Vanstone, A Christmas Carol Hugh Vanstone, The Height of the Storm
OUTSTANDING PROJECTION DESIGN (Play or Musical) Luke Halls, West Side Story Brad Peterson, Broadway Bounty Hunter Lisa Renkel and Possible Productions, Emojiland Aaron Rhyne, The Sound Inside Hannah Wasileski, Fires in the Mirror
OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN (Play or Musical) Simon Baker, A Christmas Carol Mikhail Fiksel, Dana H. Peter Hylenski, Moulin Rouge! Lee Kinney and Sanae Yamada, Is This A Room Daniel Kluger, The Sound Inside
Lin-Manuel Miranda is celebrating a living musical theater legend.
The 40-year-old Puerto Rican composer, lyricist, singer, actor, producer and playwright, widely known for creating and starring in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musicals In the Heights and Hamilton, has signed on to appear on Sunday’s Stephen Sondheim virtual birthday concert.
Miranda, who starred in Mary Poppins Returns, joins a roster of new additions that includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Linda Lavin, Laura Benanti, Neil Patrick Harrisand Ben Plattfor the all-star benefit for Artists Striving To End Poverty.
Previously announced stars participating in the concert include Annaleigh Ashford, Melissa Errico, Beanie Feldstein, Josh Groban, Judy Kuhn, Randy Rainbow and Lea Solanga.
Special appearances will be made by Victor Garber, Joanna Gleason, Nathan Lane and Steven Spielberg.
They’ll all join the previously announced Meryl Streep, Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone and Audra McDonald, among many others, in the special virtual concert to celebrate Sondheim’s 90th birthday.
Take Me To The World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration, hosted by Raúl Esparza, is set for this Sunday, April 26, the 50th anniversary of the opening night of Sondheim’s groundbreaking musical Company.
The concert kicks off at 8:00 pm ET, and will be available for free at Broadway.comand the Broadway.com YouTubechannel.
Other artists performing songs from the Sondheim catalog will include Mandy Patinkin, ChristineBaranski, Donna Murphy, Kristin Chenoweth, Sutton Foster, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kelli O’Hara, Aaron Tveit, Maria Friedman, Iain Armitage, Katrina Lenk, Michael Cerveris, Brandon Uranowitz, Stephen Schwartz, Elizabeth Stanley, Chip Zien, Alexander Gemignani and, from the cast of Pacific Overtures at Classic Stage Company, Ann Harada, Austin Ku, Kelvin Moon Loh and Thom Sesma.
Esparza starred as Bobby in the 2006 Tony Award-winning revival of Companyand in the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration productions of Sunday in the Park with George and Merrily We Roll Along in 2002, as well as the City Center Encores! production of Anyone Can Whistle and in last year’s Road Show.
“The world is in a hard place,” Esparza said in a statement, “and we are all searching for something great. Well, Stephen Sondheim is greatness personified.”
Mary-Mitchell Campbell will be the music director, with Paul Wontorek serving as director.
The online event will act as a fundraiser for ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty), the organization conceived by Campbell and Juilliard students to transform the lives of youth through art.
The New York Drama Desk Awards nominations have been revealed, with the 48-year-old Cuban American stage and television actor and voice artist earning recognition.
Esparza, who has previously won the Drama Desk Award for his roles in Company on Broadway (2007) and Taboo (2004), is nominated in the Outstanding Actor in a Play category for his role in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.
Santino Fontanahas earned a nod for his gender-bending role…
The 37-year-old part-Spanish American actor/singer is nominated in the Outstanding Actor in a Musical category for his starring role as Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie, which is based on the 1982 comedy film of the same name.
Fontana previously won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Playfor his work in Brighton Beach Memoirs.
George Salazarhas also earned a Drama Desk nod.
The 33-year-old half-Ecuadorian American actor, singer and musician is up for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for his role in Be More Chill.
He was previously nominated in the same category in 2017 for his role in The Lightning Thief.
Unlike the Tony Awards, the Drama Desk Awards cover both Broadway and Off Broadway, significantly lessening the nominations’ prediction factor.
The winners of the 64th annual Drama Desk Awards will be announced Sunday, June 2, during a ceremony hosted by Michael Urieat the Town Hallin Manhattan. The awards are voted on by theater critics, journalists, editors, publishers and broadcasters.
Here ‘s the complete list of Drama Desk Awards nominations (Off Broadway productions are indicated by theater company):
Outstanding Play “Fairview,” by Jackie Sibblies Drury, Soho Rep “The Ferryman,” by Jez Butterworth “Lewiston/Clarkston,” by Samuel D. Hunter, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater “Usual Girls,” by Ming Peiffer, Roundabout Theatre Company “What the Constitution Means to Me,” by Heidi Schreck, New York Theatre Workshop and Broadway
Outstanding Musical “Be More Chill” “The Hello Girls,” Prospect Theater Company “The Prom” “Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future,” Ars Nova “Tootsie”
Outstanding Revival of a Play “Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine,” Signature Theatre “Henry VI: Shakespeare’s Trilogy in Two Parts,” National Asian American Theatre Company “Our Lady of 121st Street,” Signature Theatre “Summer and Smoke,” Classic Stage Company/Transport Group “The Waverly Gallery” “Uncle Vanya,” Hunter Theater Project
Outstanding Revival of a Musical “Carmen Jones,” Classic Stage Company “Fiddler on the Roof,” National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and Off-Broadway “Kiss Me, Kate, Roundabout Theatre Company “Merrily We Roll Along,” Fiasco Theater/Roundabout Theatre Company “Oklahoma!,” Bard Summerscape/St. Ann’s Warehouse and Broadway
Outstanding Actor in a Play Jeff Biehl, “Life Sucks” Edmund Donovan, “Lewiston/Clarkston” Raúl Esparza, “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui” Russell Harvard, “I Was Most Alive With You” Jay O. Sanders, “Uncle Vanya”
Outstanding Actress in a Play Midori Francis, “Usual Girls” Zainab Jah, “Boesman and Lena” Elaine May, “The Waverly Gallery” Laurie Metcalf, “Hillary and Clinton Heidi Schreck, “What the Constitution Means to Me”
Outstanding Actor in a Musical Brooks Ashmanskas, “The Prom” Andrew R. Butler, “Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future Damon Daunno, “Oklahoma!” Santino Fontana, “Tootsie” Steven Skybell, “Fiddler on the Roof”
Outstanding Actress in a Musical Stephanie J. Block, “The Cher Show” Beth Leavel, “The Prom” Rebecca Naomi Jones, “Oklahoma!” Anika Noni Rose, “Carmen Jones” Stacey Sargeant, “Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future”
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play Charles Browning, “Fairview” Arnie Burton, “Lewiston/Clarkston” Hampton Fluker, “All My Sons” Tom Glynn-Carney, “The Ferryman” Brandon Uranowitz, “Burn This”
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play Harriett D. Foy, “The House That Will Not Stand” Megan Hill, “Eddie and Dave” Celia Keenan-Bolger, “To Kill A Mockingbird” Ruth Wilson, “King Lear” Alison Wright, “Othello”
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Corbin Bleu, “Kiss Me, Kate” André De Shields, “Hadestown” Sydney James Harcourt, “Girl from the North Country” George Salazar, “Be More Chill” Patrick Vaill, “Oklahoma!”
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Stephanie Hsu, “Be More Chill” Leslie Kritzer, “Beetlejuice” Soara-Joye Ross, “Carmen Jones” Sarah Stiles, “Tootsie” Ali Stroker, “Oklahoma!” Mary Testa, “Oklahoma!”
Outstanding Director of a Play Sarah Benson, “Fairview” Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, “The Jungle” Sam Mendes, “The Ferryman” Tyne Rafaeli, “Usual Girls” Taylor Reynolds, “Plano” Jeff Wise, “Life Sucks”
Outstanding Director of a Musical Noah Brody, “Merrily We Roll Along” Rachel Chavkin, “Hadestown” Scott Ellis, “Tootsie” Daniel Fish, “Oklahoma!” Joel Grey, “Fiddler on the Roof”
Outstanding Choreography Camille A. Brown, “Choir Boy” Warren Carlyle, “Kiss Me, Kate” Denis Jones, “Tootsie” Lorin Latarro, “Twelfth Night” Rick and Jeff Kuperman, “Alice by Heart” David Neumann, “Hadestown”
Outstanding Music Andrew R. Butler, “Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future” Joe Iconis, “Be More Chill” Peter Mills, “The Hello Girls” Mark Sonnenblick, “Midnight at the Never Get” Shaina Taub, “Twelfth Night” David Yazbek, “Tootsie”
Outstanding Lyrics Chad Beguelin, “The Prom” Andrew R. Butler, “Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future” Joe Iconis, “Be More Chill” Peter Mills, “The Hello Girls” David Yazbek, “Tootsie”
Outstanding Book of a Musical Scott Brown and Anthony King, “Beetlejuice” Andrew R. Butler, “Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future” Robert Horn, “Tootsie” Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin, “The Prom” Dominique Morisseau, “Ain’t Too Proud”
Outstanding Orchestrations Larry Blank, “Fiddler on the Roof” Simon Hale, “Girl from the North Country” Daniel Kluger, “Oklahoma!” Charlie Rosen, “Be More Chill” Daryl Waters, “The Cher Show”
Outstanding Music in a Play Paul Castles and Jongbin Jung, “Wild Goose Dreams” Justin Ellington, “Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie” Justin Ellington, “The House That Will Not Stand” Nick Powell, “The Lehman Trilogy” Jason Michael Webb and Fitz Patton, “Choir Boy”
Outstanding Set Design of a Play Miriam Buether, “The Jungle” Es Devlin, “Girls & Boys” Maruti Evans, “The Peculiar Patriot” Mimi Lien, “Fairview” Matt Saunders, “Daddy”
Outstanding Set Design for a Musical Rachel Hauck, “Hadestown” Laura Jellinek, “Oklahoma!” Laura Jellinek, “Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future” David Korins, “Beetlejuice” Rae Smith, “Girl from the North Country”
Outstanding Costume Design for a Play Dede M. Ayite, “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark” Dede M. Ayite, “If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka” Ásta Bennie Hostetter, “Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie” Toni-Leslie James, “Bernhardt/Hamlet” Nicole Slaven, “Henry VI: Shakespeare’s Trilogy in Two Parts”
Outstanding Costume Design for a Musical William Ivey Long, “Beetlejuice” William Ivey Long, “Tootsie” Bobby Frederick Tilly II, “Be More Chill” Michael Krass, “Hadestown” Bob Mackie, “The Cher Show” Paloma Young, “Alice by Heart”
Outstanding Lighting Design for a Play Amith Chandrashaker, “Boesman and Lena” Amith Chandrashaker, “Fairview” Jiyoun Chang, “Slave Play” Jon Clark, “The Jungle” Simon Cleveland, “Spaceman” Yi Zhao, “The House That Will Not Stand”
Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical Adam Honoré, “Carmen Jones” Bradley King, “Hadestown” Jamie Roderick, “Midnight at the Never Get” Barbara Samuels, “Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future” Scott Zielinski, “Oklahoma!”
Outstanding Projection Design Peter England, “King Kong” Katherine Freer, “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark” Luke Halls, “The Lehman Trilogy” Alex Basco Koch, “Be More Chill” Peter Nigrini, “Beetlejuice” Joshua Thorson, “Oklahoma!”
Outstanding Sound Design in a Play Tyler Kieffer, “Plano” Fitz Patton, “Choir Boy” Nick Powell, “The Ferryman” Jane Shaw, “I Was Most Alive With You” Mikaal Sulaiman, “Fairview”
Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical Simon Baker, “Girl from the North Country” Drew Levy, “Oklahoma!” Brian Ronan, “Tootsie” Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz, “Hadestown” Mikaal Sulaiman, “Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future”
Outstanding Wig and Hair Design Campbell Young Associates, “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus” Cookie Jordan, “Eddie and Dave” Paul Huntley, “Tootsie” Charles G. LaPointe, “Beetlejuice” Charles G. LaPointe, “The Cher Show”
Outstanding Solo Performance Mike Birbiglia, “The New One” Carey Mulligan, “Girls & Boys” Liza Jessie Peterson, “The Peculiar Patriot,” National Black Theatre/Hi-Arts Erin Treadway, “Spaceman,” Loading Dock Theatre Phoebe Waller-Bridge, “Fleabag”
Unique Theatrical Experience “All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914,” Theater Latté Da/Laura Little Theatrical Productions / Sheen Center “Love’s Labor’s Lost,” Shake & Bake The B-Side: “Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons,” The Wooster Group “What to Send Up When it Goes Down,” The Movement Theatre Company
Outstanding Fight Choreography U. Jonathan Toppo, “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” Claire Warden, “Daddy” Claire Warden, “Slave Play”
Ensemble Award: “To the uncanny ensemble of Dance Nationfor their pointed portrait of a dance troupe riven by competition but fused by the experiences of youth: Purva Bedi, Eboni Booth, Camila Canó-Flaviá, Dina Shihabi, Ellen Maddow, Christina Rouner, Thomas Jay Ryan, Lucy Taylor, and Ikechukwu Ufomadu.”
Sam Norkin Award: “To Montana Levi Blanco, who enriched this season with his vibrant and detailed costumes for Fairview, The House That Will Not Stand, Fabulation, Or the Re-Education of Undine, Eddie and Dave, “Daddy,” and Ain’t No Mo’. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a Blanco costume is worth considerably more, telling us a complete story about its wearer while giving us something fabulous to look at.”
To Mia Katigbak, “the backbone of the off-Broadway scene, we acclaim her for her performances this season in Henry VI: Shakespeare’s Trilogy in Two Parts, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, Peace for Mary Francis and Recent Alien Abductions. This award also recognizes her vital presence as the artistic director of NAATCO and her sustained excellence as a performer and mentor.”
To Repertorio Español“for presenting a year-round rotating repertory of new and classic Spanish-language plays in its intimate Gramercy venue. For the past 51 years, Repertorio has been an indispensable theater for Spanish-speaking audiences, while inviting non-Spanish-speaking theatergoers to discover the delights of the Spanish-language canon and introducing New York audiences to the work of actors like Zulema Claresand Germán Jaramillo.”
Raúl Esparza will have a buildup of cases in the near future…
The 42-year-old Cuban American actor and Broadway star has been promoted to series regular on NBC’s long-running crime drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
“Making him a series regular is a small way of acknowledging his enormous contribution to our show,” said the show’s executive producer Warren Leight about Esparza’s promotion.
Esparza portrays by-the-book headstrong prosecutor Assistant DA Rafael Barba on the police procedural, which returns for its 15th season beginning on September 25.
Esparza’s television credits include a recurring role on Pushing Daisies, as well as a role on Hannibal.
His Broadway credits include Tony-nominated performances in the Boy George musical Taboo and the musical comedy Company.
Law & Order: SVU, which also stars Danny Pino, begins shooting next week in New York.
The 40-year-old Puerto Rican singer/actor will bring his role as Ernesto “Che” Guevara to life at the upcoming Tony Awards, which will be hosted byHow I Met Your Mother’s Neil Patrick Harris.
Martin, who made his Broadway debut in Les Miserables, has wowed audiences on Broadway alongside his Evita co-stars Elena Rogers, who plays Eva Perón, and Michael Cerveris, who plays Juan Perón.
To get in character as the controversial revolutionary icon—in a role that has taken him to “another place mentally, physically, and spiritually”—Martin has grown a moustache. But the experience has had more than a physical impact on him.
“I’ve felt emotions onstage that I never felt before, it has strengthened me as a person and as an artist,” Martin said in a press conference in March. “It’s been a great journey. I’m here to grow and to learn. It’s been a fascinating trip,” he added.
In addition to Martin, the list of performers at this year’s Tony Awards include
Cuban-American Broadway star Rául Esparza, Audra McDonald, Matthew Broderick and the casts of Godspell and Ghost The Musical, among many others.
The Tony Awards will take place on Sunday, June 10.