arts & culture
‘Parade, ‘Leopoldstadt’ Each Nab
6 Tony Nominations in a
Big Year for Jewish Broadway
Andrew Lapin | JTA.org
22 MAY 11, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
Joan Marcus via JTA.org
S hows about the Holocaust and
a notorious American antise-
mitic incident picked up several
Tony Award nominations on May 2,
as Broadway’s biggest honors made
room for a sizable Jewish presence.

Most notably, a revival of the 1998
musical “Parade,” starring Ben Platt as
the early-20th-century Jewish lynching
victim Leo Frank, scored six nomina-
tions, including best revival of a musical
and a best actor nod for Platt. Jewish
lead actress Micaela Diamond also
scored a nomination for playing Leo’s
wife Lucille, causing awards presenter
Lea Michele to squeal with glee (pun
intended) as she read Diamond’s
name at the livestreamed nominations
ceremony. Arriving during a heightened moment
of national awareness about antisemi-
tism, “Parade” attracted notice early
in its Broadway run when a perfor-
mance was picketed by neo-Nazis.

That incident led to an outpouring
of support from Broadway’s Jewish
community. Platt himself arrived at last
week's Met Gala wearing a Star of
David necklace, further driving home
the show’s message.

“Leopoldstadt,” Tom Stoppard’s
epic, highly personal play about multi-
ple generations of a Jewish Viennese
family before, during and after the
Holocaust, also received six nomina-
tions, including an expected nod for
best play. Brandon Uranowitz also
earned a nod for best actor in a featured
role in a play, and Patrick Marber
scored a best direction nomination;
both are Jewish.

Signs were more mixed for another
high-profile Jewish production, “The
Sign In Sidney Brustein’s Window,” which
eked out two nominations, including best
A view of the cast of “Leopoldstadt,” which focuses on multiple generations of a Viennese Jewish family
 revival of a play. The show, first written
by Lorraine Hansberry in 1964 shortly
before her death, follows a Jewish
bohemian grappling with political and
social change in Greenwich Village. It
had not been staged on Broadway since
its initial run. Neither of its A-list stars,
Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan,
earned acting nominations, though
Miriam Silverman did receive the show’s
lone other nomination for her featured
role as Isaac’s character’s sister-in-law —
who is casually antisemitic.

Besides “Parade,” the musical revival
category was dominated by shows
with Jewish roots. Also nominated was
a new version of the 1960 classic
“Camelot,” billed as “Lerner & Loewe’s
Camelot” in recognition of the two
Jewish Broadway scribes who crafted
the initial production, Alan Jay Lerner
and Frederick Loewe. Written by Aaron
Sorkin, who is Jewish, and directed
by Bartlett Sher, who learned as a
teenager that his father was Jewish,
the new “Camelot” had five nomina-
tions in total.

Two reinterpretations of Stephen
Sondheim standards, “Into The Woods”
and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon
Barber of Fleet Street,” rounded out
the category. The pop singer Josh
Groban, whose father was Jewish
before converting to his mother’s
Christianity, was nominated for playing
the lead role in “Sweeney Todd,” while
Julia Lester, whose great-grandfather
was part of a Yiddish theater in Poland,
was nominated for her featured role in
“Into the Woods.”
The play “Good Night, Oscar,” about
the Jewish entertainer Oscar Levant’s
struggles with mental illness, picked
up three nominations, including for
lead actors Sean Hayes and Rachel
Hauck. “Death of a Salesman,” a new
revival of the classic play by Jewish
playwright Arthur Miller, also picked up
two nominations.

Jewish actress Jessica Hecht picked
up an acting nomination for her lead
role in the play “Summer, 1976,” about
a lifelong friendship between two
women. Hecht is up against several
star performers in the category, includ-
ing Jessica Chastain, Jodie Comer and
Audra McDonald.

Among the other nominees was
a modern-day musical reimagin-
ing of “Some Like It Hot,” the 1959
cross-dressing comedy. The original
movie had plenty of Jewish talent:
It was directed by Billy Wilder,



Julieta Cervantes
Bruce Glikas/WireImage/GettyImages via JTA.org
Micaela Diamond and Ben Platt during the opening night curtain call for
“Parade” at New York City Center on Nov. 1, 2022
Oscar Isaac plays the titular character in a revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s
“The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” at the BAM Harvey Theater in
Brooklyn, New York.

co-starred Tony Curtis and Jewish
convert Marilyn Monroe, and featured
recently deceased Jewish character
actor Nehemiah Persoff in a small role.

The new musical, by Amber Ruffin and
Matthew López, led the pack with 13
Tony nominations including best new
musical. Veteran Jewish songwriter
Marc Shaiman picked up a nomination
New York” received nine nominations,
including best new musical.

The prolific Jewish theater composer
Jeanine Tesori had another Broadway
hit this year with the musical “Kimberly
Akimbo,” which received eight nomina-
tions, including one for her music.

The nominations were co-announced
by Michele, who has been the talk of
for co-writing the show’s score.

Another new musical based on a
movie, “New York, New York,” also
built off of Jewish talent: the songwrit-
ing duo John Kander and Fred Ebb
wrote the music for the original 1977
film, and Kander is co-credited with
Lin-Manuel Miranda for additional
music on the new film. “New York,
Broadway since she replaced Beanie
Feldstein as the lead of the “Funny
Girl” revival. Feldstein was snubbed at
the Tonys last year amid tepid reviews
for her performance in the musical
about Jewish comedienne Fanny Brice.

The Tonys will air on CBS and various
Paramount-owned streaming services
on June 11. ■
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