Minnesota connections to 'Great Comet' and other Tony nominees

Honorees include works by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights Lynn Nottage and Paula Vogel and director Rachel Chavkin.

May 2, 2017 at 2:13PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The 2017 Tony Award nominees were announced Tuesday, and the musical "Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812" led the pack with 12 nominations, including one for director Rachel Chavkin, who staged "The Royal Family" at the Guthrie Theater this winter.

Playwright Paula Vogel's "Indecent," which will be produced at the Guthrie next February, was nominated for three Tonys, including best play, where it competes against Lynn Nottage's "Sweat."

"Sweat" was nominated for three Tonys as well. Actors Michelle Wilson (pictured above left in photo by Joan Marcus) and Johanna Day (right) also got nods. Nottage's drama about the collision of race and class in contemporary America won the Pulitzer Prize a month ago, Nottage's second Pulitzer. She also won in 2009 for her unstinting and brilliant play "Ruined," which had a memorable production at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis.

Nottage's play "Intimate Apparel" is currently prepping to open in the Twin Cities under director Austene Van for Ten Thousand Things theater. That production opens May 12 at Open Book.

The other main Twin Cities connection to the Tonys is the revival of August Wilson's "Jitney," which was nominated for six Tonys, including one for director Ruben Santiago-Hudson.

The complete list of Tony nominees is here.

about the writer

about the writer

Rohan Preston

Critic / Reporter

Rohan Preston covers theater for the Minnesota Star Tribune.

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