A SAG for Jennifer Ehle!

Congratulations to the cast of The King’s Speech, including Jennifer as Myrtle Logue. This is major Squeeee territory!

"The King's Speech" won the Screen Actors Guild award on Sunday for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture. SAG Awards: 'The King's Speech' wins top prize

and

”Oscar front-runner "The King's Speech" scored its second big prize in as many days on Sunday, taking home the best ensemble cast prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The prize is often seen as a key indicator of the best picture Oscar prize, which will be announced on February 27” suggested in this Reuters Article


In a second major SAG Award for the film, Colin Firth won for Outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role. Congratulations to Colin for this and for his Golden Globe Award too!

A complete list of SAG Award winners

Bucolic grace and paradisiacal landscapes

• Both Santosh Sivan and Linus Roache attended the Edinburgh International Film Festival for the screenings of Before the Rains. See Wireimage for the above photos and others from the photo call on June 19. Times Online also mention that Nandita Das is in Britain promoting the film.

Reviews thus far from the Scottish capital are as follows:

• Dear Cinema give largely a narrative but find the film 'gripping'. As we have seen previously, the visuals are afforded the most praise:

[...] Opening with stunning shots of his Kerala locations - lush green hills, emerging from wisps of morning mist - Before the Rains is testament to Sivan’s background as cinematographer ... But the breathtaking visuals are grounded in narrative: from the sensual, fecund jungle hideaway that is the location for Moores’ and Sanjani’s love-making to the ominous torch-lit procession that enraged locals make for a climactic showdown with T.K., landscape and climate are deftly expressive of emotional mood. [...]

• Eva Hoffman from Montage offers a short but sweet appraisal:

[...] It is a stunningly beautiful film simultaneously lush and precise. Be it the clash of two cultures, betrayal among friends, greed, cowardice, disappointment, honesty, redemption or love; like a painting it tells the greatest and smallest stories on a single canvas. [...]

• Future Movies mention multiple positives, but always succeed them with the word 'but':

[...] Director Santosh Sivan constructs the story’s context very well; there is a great sense of place due to some gorgeous cinematography, and several good scenes effectively convey the political and social unrest of the era. But the story itself never comes alive ... There is one very good scene in which the central twist occurs, and it feels for a moment like the film is about to spring to life. But alas, it is one highlight in an otherwise ... conventional drama. [...]

Thoughts from further afield meanwhile are continuing to trickle in:

• Frank Gabrenya of The Columbus Dispatch is not without criticism, but still says:

[...] Before the Rains is a handsome but conventional melodrama presented by the Merchant-Ivory group...Sivan provides superb cinematography of lush hillsides, sumptuous waterfalls and nature filmed in extreme close-up. [...]

• Philip Marchand of The Star similarly says 'India has rarely looked so beautiful onscreen'. He also highly praises Sivan's work as a director:

[...] Sivan, a director who was raised in Kerala, does not stop to brood or moralize... In this well-paced movie he simply allows events to unfold according to an iron logic. That logic leads us to a conclusion that satisfies us with its sense of inevitability, something rare in current movies. [...]

• Liz Braun of the Toronto Sun adds to the love of the visuals and sees them as a facade in front of greater depth:

[...] The film shows some of the breathtakingly beautiful countryside in the remote area of Kerala; that and the cinematography make this one a treat to look at. But Before the Rains is not some dreamy costume epic about the Raj ... Don't be deceived by pretty pictures. Before the Rains has a whiff of the thriller about it. [...]

• Vanessa Farquharson of the National Post again praises the cinematography and papers over problems to give an optimistic outlook overall:

[...] Director Santosh Sivan and the film's editors nicely parallel the increasingly hot, stifling environment of southern India with the claustrophobic turmoil of the characters' lives ... But where the cinematography achieves bucolic grace with simple shots of a naturally stunning landscape [...]

[...] Aside from a few ... uninspiring plot developments and character tropes ... Before the Rains makes a concerted effort to offer something that feels real, and it succeeds on most levels. The road to original cinema isn't a smooth one, so Sivan at least deserves credit for avoiding as many bumps and potholes as possible. [...]

• Indy Week's paragraph meanwhile is concise but complimentary:

[...] Director Santosh Sivan's sumptuous cinematography in the south Indian region of Kerala is a lush invitation to enter a paradisiacal landscape, and also emphasizes the gloomy plot's heavy-handed symbolism of winding roads and drenching rains. Bose and Das, both stellar Indian art film veterans, excel as individuals caught between the millstones of tradition and modernity. [...]

• The only bad truffle today is The Globe and Mail, who claim that in Rains, Sivan has made all the mistakes he avoided in his earlier work, The Terrorist.
• There are also now comments from the Lake Placid Film Forum which took place earlier this month. Lake Placid News reports:

[...] Attendee’s responses to the forum on Friday night was positive. “I really like the selection [this year],” said Saranac Lake resident Richard Maid, who has been coming to the forum since it was founded. “It looks like a good variety. I saw ‘Before the Rains’ last night and I thought it was really excellent. It was absolutely an intimate movie.” [...]

• From the public sector, academics Ellen and Jim think deeply about the film, beginning as follows:

[...] Before the Rains is not specifically a womens’ film, but the angle from which we see the tragedy unfold and its victim is that of two women. [...]

• Secondly, it is a big thumbs up from the unfortunately named FilmVomit:

[...] Santosh Sivan has made an almost note-perfect entry into the ever-growing compendium of third cinema inspections of the source and subversion of imperialist power in colonial states. ... Sivan as a cinematographer is superb. ... The film is sumptuous and elegant - quite simply, utterly beautiful. [...]

In other news:

• For those who are interested, the Toronto Sun find out where Rains star Linus Roache got his acting bug from.
  
• Thank you to Janet for drawing our attention to Barbara Hoffman of the New York Post's piece on the Theatre World Awards. Her discussion on past recipients includes a particular two people:

[...] For Rosemary Harris, the giving was even sweeter. She won her award in 1952 and presented another - nearly half a century later - to her daughter, Jennifer Ehle. "All I could do was say, 'Here,' and give her a hug," says the woman best known these days as Spider-Man's Aunt Mae. [sic] "Most people get carried away, because they love it so. It's the first affirmation you receive from your peers that you're on the right track - that your parents won't ask, 'What have you got as backup?' "

All Ehle remembers was that she and her mom were both up for a Tony that year (2000), and when "the 14 millionth person in a month" asked her how that felt, she burst into tears. "So there I was, crying with my mother, and
she stood up and gave me this lovely thing." [...]

That's all for today folks. Apologies for the lateness!

Pit Stop

Greetings all!

Firstly, can I just second the thanks for the Blog's birthday wishes, and thank you again to the phenomenal T!

Rains-wise today:

• The Adirondack Daily Enterprise note that Before the Rains will be shown at the Lake Placid Film Forum, occurring June 12-15:

[...] “Before the Rains,” which will also be screened on June 12 at the Palace Theater, is set in 1937 in a picturesque hill station in the south of India. Director Santosh Sivan, who also did the sublime cinematography, creates an increasingly tense atmosphere as his leading character, an English plantation owner played by Linus Roache, begins an affair with an Indian house maid. [...]

The Forum's website adds that 'Paul Hardart, one of the film's producers and the president of Adirondack Pictures, will host this screening.'

• There are more tidbits on the three Houston wins (Film, Cinematography and Music). See Galatta and IndiaFM.
• One Rediff reporter was happy with the film, although 'tut tut' to the mistake:

[...] In the early hours of the New York morning, Sivan's film transported me back to pre-independence Kerala. Sivan's stunning camerawork and Rahul Bose's quiet and moving performance made up for the lapses in the film's script. ... Two days later, I was at the Soho House...in the Meatpacking district of Manhattan for the press day of Before The Rains. Bose and Nandita Das were there along with the two British stars of the film -- Linus Roache and Jennifer Ehle. [...]

Another blogger is equally complimentary, calling the film 'visually breathtaking'. She adds:

[...] As the wife of the English planter, Jennifer Ehle gives an amazing performance. When she realizes what has happened between her husband and the servant girl, I thought her glare alone would kill her husband. [...]

• The critics are ushering lots of love in the direction of Mr Bose (see India FM for a taster). Also, ION Cinema speak to the actor, while Movie Web have a video chat about the film and Mr Bose's other passion, professional rugby. Elsewhere, Linus Roache tells Daily News about working in India.

Rains info from the first of those is as follows:

[...] Before The Rains releases in America on May 9. It's going to play in New York and 10 other cities. Not in the NRI theatres, but it's definitely an art house release. So director Santosh Sivan and I hope to make an impact beyond the song-and-dance formula with this one," says Rahul from Los Angeles. [The film] goes to the UK in summer. [It] has just won three major awards at the Houston Film Festival. "It's a triumph for Santosh on so many levels. A film in English from India winning the awards for Best Film, Best Cinematography and Best Music… it's incredible!" says Rahul, who plays the male lead in Santosh's cross-cultural colonial love story.

Rahul is in LA for the screening of Before The Rains before he moves to Houston for a gala screening. "There'll be an auctioning of the film for me by the NGO Pratham. My sympathies with the people who'll have to lunch with me," jokes Rahul. About the film, Rahul says, "It's a film-noire about an illicit love relationship and how I get caught. It's definitely an art house product with an element of the whodunit." [...]

• Rukus Avenue have a picture of the-man-behind-the-music, Mark Kilian, in action at the IFFLA. (Second photo down). They consider 'walking out of Santosh Sivan’s Before the Rains screening and finding the film’s composer...performing selections from the soundtrack' to have been one of the most memorable moments of the Rhythm Village Festival.

In other news:

• Playbill note that Time magazine have listed Tom Stoppard as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. The page on Sir Tom was written by a certain Mr Hawke. Here is a snippet:

[...] I remember when I was younger being intimidated by the intellect, scope and verbiage of his plays; they were impressive but written for some elite group to which I had not been given membership. But I came to find that more often than not, the audience left the theater impressed with themselves. He'd challenged them, and they'd answered. [...]

• The Rankin Vault urge everyone to pick up the works of J. Ehle Snr:

[...] If you haven't read any of Ehle's novels about Western North Carolina, you are missing one of the greats. His novels clearly show he is a man who wrote ahead of his time. [...]

• TimesOnline chat to Peter Hall as he uncovers another new star, and he re-tells the story of how he discovered someone else 17 years ago:

[...] “I always write on my audition notes something that will help me remember them afterwards,” he recalls. “This extraordinary girl came in and read, and was remarkable. And I wrote on my sheet of paper ‘voice like Rosemary Harris’. And, of course, it was her daughter, Jennifer Ehle, whom I didn’t know.” [...]

• Lastly, one lovely blogger gives an insight into the many and varied ways the world enjoys Pride and Prejudice:

[...] I ironed a ridiculously wrinkled pair of pants while watching part of the BBC (Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle) version of Pride and Prejudice. [...]

Well, why not?! Being mentally in Meryton certainly makes household chores more bearable!

From North Carolina to Indiana

• The above, from the NC Department of Cultural Resources, is a line-up of the aforementioned North Carolina Award recipients. I am sure you know that Ms Harris is 4th from the right. (You may also recognise 4th from the left; to see him interviewing the daughter of 4th from the right, click here and search 'Jennifer Ehle'. This interview is also available on DVD).
  
• Secondly. the Star Wars Community announce that the second volume of The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones will be available on DVD from December 18. On sale in the Star Wars Shop, the $75.99 package consists of 'a nine-disc boxed set that includes eight chapters of the digitally remastered television series, plus over 25 all-new documentaries.'

Ms Ehle appeared as Empress Zita in Adventures in the Secret Service, which is the sixth disc. A trimmed-down recap of the hour and a half long disc is as follows:

[...] Indy's duties for French Intelligence continue, and now he is teamed up with the brothers Prince Sixtus and Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma. At first, Jones thinks them nothing but puffed up royalty, but they may hold the key to ending the war. In their possession is a letter from the French government, which they must get to their sister, Empress Zita. Her husband, Emperor Karl I of Austria, wishes to negotiate a peace settlement separate from Germany. If that happens, Germany would lose its major ally. So Jones must escort them into Vienna, under the careful watch of the Austrian secret police...but it turns out navigating past them might be easier then braving the treacherous waters of international diplomacy. [...]

• In other bits and bobs, Screen India have an article on the DIFF, and the George Street Playhouse Blogspot mention the January arrival of Oscar and the Pink Lady, although neither have new information. Sign on SanDiego meanwhile announce Jack O'Brien's departure from his post as Artistic Director at The Old Globe, after twenty six years. Lastly, another blogger passes comment on Possession, noting that Ms Ehle 'had this sort of ethereal, luminous quality about her' while Jeremy Northam 'was his usual hot self'. No comment!

Utopia Coasts To Victory (AGAIN!)

• The Utopian mantelpiece must surely now have collapsed! Further to Daniel Swee's prize for casting last week, the entire design crew have now picked up a 2007 Henry Hewes award in the esteemed category of 'Special Citation for Outstanding Achievement in Theater Design'. Here is Playbill's list of the clever eleven:

[...] Angelina Avallone (makeup), Mark Bennett (sound), Bob Crowley (scenery), William Cusick (projections), Paul Huntley (hair and wigs), Natasha Katz (lighting), Brian MacDevitt (lighting), Scott Pask (scenery), Kenneth Posner (lighting), Tom Watson (hair and wigs) and Catherine Zuber (costumes) [...]

The Orlando Sentinel explain the special recognitive significance of the awards:

[...] The annual awards, named for the late esteemed New York theater critic Henry Hewes, recognize work that is regularly glossed over or ignored completely on the Tony Awards show -- design work from Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway. [...]

And just as it did at the Tonys, The Coast of Utopia is causing a record to be broken at these awards - for the first time in its 43-year history, the Henry Hewes Committee will confer honors 'on a record 15 talented theater artists'.

Theatermania also cover the story. The formal presentation ceremony will take place at Sardi's tomorrow, November 15. Congratulations to them all.

• If you are not in a country in which Rosemary Harris' latest film Before the Devil Knows You're Dead has opened, you may want to watch some clips on the film's official website. There are unfortunately no glances of Ms Harris, but there is ample Ethan Hawke-age in Extract 1 and - unless I am very much mistaken - Extract 2!
• Another week, another event - and this time it was Utopia director Jack O'Brien's turn to be on the receiving end of the accolades. He was one of two Broadway stalwarts honoured at the 23rd Primary Stages Anniversary Gala Benefit, and one of the three honorary co-chairs for the event was last week's Library Lions honoree Tom Stoppard. BroadwayWorld announces the event. Mr O'Brien is also listed as one of the upcoming interviewees for the American Theatre Wing's Downstage Center. We will of course let you know when that becomes available.
• Penultimately, an apology: the site I previously gave as the official DIFF site is not - this is the (more sophisticated!) official DIFF site. Incidentally, if you have some spare time, spare roubles, are over fifteen and can speak English, you can go to Dubai and be a festival volunteer!
• Lastly, a very happy birthday to ex-Utopian Martha Plimpton who turns 37 on the 16th.

Drove those other childs wild

• You'll already have seen this if you keep track of the tagboard, but the photo of the two J. Ehles over there was sent by a tipster (gracias). Apparently it's from a book cover. Too cute, innit? The same person also brought our attention to an article about Natalie Herzen in the Russian Review, which you can read if you've got access to academic journal databases.
  

• Thanks to Ann for sending scans from American Vogue, one about how Jennifer Ehle proves God's existence, the other about Coast of Utopia's "crass commercialism" (not). She found a photo of Ms Ehle at the Romeo and Juliet gala from Broadway.com as well (yep, a little behind here).
  

• Listen to three gorgeous tracks from Before the Rains' score at the website of composer Mark Kilian.

• An interview with Santosh Sivan in the Times of India - hopefully not a double post:
  

  [...] “I’m looking forward to Toronto where the film will be premiered and where our film is positioned with other interesting films,” says Santosh.
  
  The Rains is set in Kerala during the British times. “Our protagonist is a British planter who shares a bond with Rahul Bose who works for him. The film’s essentially a human drama and about individual choices,” he says.
  
  Why Kerala? He says, “We adapted the script to Kerala, since it also dealt with the times of colonisation. It has always fascinated me to see these winding roads leading through forests into spice hills and the stories of how the British had constructed those roads with the help of the locals long time back.”
  
  Says Santosh, “We shot the film in Munnar with a mixed cast and crew from London and the US. It was quite interesting to see the chemistry between people from different countries.” Commenting on the film’s cast, he says, “I’ve known Rahul Bose for a long time and I was interested in seeing him in a different role. And Nandita Das is someone who can effortlessly handle the extremes of emoting any role. And we had Linus Roache who is quite a perfectionist.” [...]

• And another. See through a cinematographer's eyes in this two part interview about Mr Sivan's lush visual world at TIFF's South Facing blog. A poet of both light and words! Keep an eye out for the photo of Rahul Bose and Linus Roache in Before the Rains. On his home state, the setting for the film, he says:

  [...] My attempts to capture light are based on my experiences with weather the rain, sun, snow and clouds. In Kerala where I grew up monsoons made heavy rains a part of our life. Besides, there was always a presence of water -- Rain, ponds, sea water or the backwaters. My fascination for water in a very indirect way helped me hone my eye for colour and light in visuals and cinematography. [...] I am lucky to be born and brought up in Kerala. In the predominance of water, there are states like Bengal which are similar but Kerala is a state of visual language. Kerala has lyrics and metaphors and its arts forms. [...]

• Here are the results of our previous poll on readers' opinions of Coast of Utopia. Due to my l33t skillz, "0 stars" and "haven't seen it" were accidently coded as 1 star. Oops.
  

• YouTube goodness: watch Ethan Hawke speaking about Utopia on Jimmy Kimmel's talk show and Tom Stoppard's acceptance speech for the Best Play award at the Tonys.

• If you look up at the right hand bar, you'll see we've got a fundraising project for Broadway Cares. Initially I only intended to donate advertising proceeds from the blog, but since BC/EFA had a new option for group fundraising, thought to draw on the power and the pockets of Ehle fans as a whole. A $1 500 target has been set for the end of the year. Don't let those Colin Firth fans show us up - Colin Firth 24/7 managed $10 000 last year! Skip a coffee or two and donate $10 to help fight AIDS (and maintain Jennite Pride, yo).
  

That's it, the last of umpteen linky lists. I've been meaning to tie up loose ends and sign off properly for months now but by some superhuman feat of procrastination have avoided it, leaving Kate and Abi rather in the lurch. Though they have effectively been holding the reins from before the Tonys, and managed superbly, I feel the need to officially pass on executive powers with a bit of ceremony both for their sake and my own. First there are the practical matters - any news and questions you have can be sent to the team at ehleblog@gmail.com. jenniferehle@gmail.com is being retired although mail to that address will be forwarded to my civilian inbox. The DVD library is still running and accepting new borrowers.

To the sentimental stuff. Over two years, with many people's help and almost daily prodding, I've seen the blog grow from a tentative experiment born on a whim to the hub it is today, thriving without my efforts. I've grown up alongside it and learned so much - sometimes the hard way! It has exposed me to the alien and rich world of theatre, and through it I have gained warm friendships that have far surpassed the bounds of co-fandom. It is a joy to be able to pass guardianship of the blog on to a couple of these friends. I can scarcely believe my luck in finding two people with the dedication (coughinsanity) to take on this job, in whose initiative, judgment and discretion I have absolute faith. Kate and Abi, thank you for the hard work you've already put in. Thank you for being willing to adopt my baby.

In the course of this project, I have been moved by great and small acts of generosity. Now's the last time I can name names, so forgive me for rattling on a bit. To Chelsea, original partner in crime and better half, thank you for the crazy fun and yakka and listening and planning and and and. Agent E, thanks for those priceless DVDs and treasure chest, for all the tips and support. Kez, for the creation and liberation of Terry and for one of the most memorable phone convos evar. Sands, for being a friend in those early wobbly days. Mary, for the graphics and for the forum company. To the Jerryboreers, for those three crazy/amazing days of communal excitement. Thanks to the folks from other fandoms who have helped us out. Most notable are the girls at Colin Firth 24/7 and Josie. Also, thanks to AustenBlog and Pemberleans for tolerating ever so much potbanging, and to various cooperative Officials of the Public and Lincoln Centre Theatres. To the ever-vigilant tipsters and contributors, thanks for making the job that much easier. And thanks to everyone who has kept up with this thing, and spoken from the void. Finally- she who is made of awesome, who inspired the whole mad adventure. Who has put up with so much and given so incredibly, impossibly generously - nope, not over it yet. Whose work still elicits awe and LMAOs and excessive blinking, who still intrigues, electrifies and astonishes even when you think you've seen it all. Thanks for everything. It has been a pleasure and an honour, and I can't wait to see whatever comes next.

It was a pleasure to be beaten by you

Just when you thought we were finished gabbing about the Tonys...

• Confessions of a Paparazzi reveals her secrets to star-spotting outside of Radio City Music Hall before, during, and after the Tonys ceremony. It is pretty impressive (and by impressive I mean a little scary!) She also posts the photos she took, including one of Martha Plimpton. The caption reads:

  On the side of RCMH there is a "Stage Door" (Martha Plimpton in green dress smoking a cigarette after losing to her costar in Coast of Utopia). The stage door is exactly across the street from an entrance to Rockefeller Headquarters.

  She also caught "Tom Stoppard and his Tony make[ing] their way to the press room."
• Janice posts a belated Tonys fashion report. Under the category "Better in Person?" she says, "I think this gown on Jennifer Ehle (looking not at all like her appearance in Pride and Prejudice) is flattering but a necklace would be good and the top seems a little too tailored for the Tonys." In the "Don't Believe Live Would Save It" category she opines, "This dress on Martha Plimpton reminds me of occasions when I've had trouble with metallic wrapping paper." Ouch.
• Christopher Rawson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reviews his Tony predictions:

  If you play the predictions game, you have to 'fess up. So I went back to look at my Tony Awards predictions and discovered I scored just 18 out of 25. I did worst on actors in a play, missing three out of four: With Jennifer Ehle, I guess I underestimated the impact of her nude scene, and with Billy Crudup, I was misled by my rooting for Anthony Chisholm. That's the reverse of how I missed David Hyde Pierce, who was my rooting preference for best actor in a musical.

• The Star-Ledger has a cute article about The Coast of Utopia's Erika Rolfsrud, in which she discusses her latest project. She also reminisces about her days as a serf:

  [...] That was a good choice, for she eventually worked at the city's Old Globe Theater with such high-powered directors as Dan ("Proof") Sullivan and Jack ("Hairspray") O'Brien, who respectively directed her as Imogen in "Cymbeline" and Masha in "The Sea Gull." O'Brien later cast her in the nine-hour trilogy "The Coast of Utopia," the centerpiece of the 2006-07 Broadway season. "I was a lowly serf," she says. "Amy Irving got to beat me. Off stage, she was lovely though, and I'll always treasure her note that said, 'It was a pleasure beating you every night.' I just had to write back and say, 'And it was such a pleasure to be beaten by you.'" [...]

• The Coast of Utopia is among the ten plays selected to be in "The Best Plays Yearbook" of 2006-07. The book will include an essay about Utopia by Charles Wright. See BroadwayWorld and Playbill for more details.
• Bearcat of All That Chat asks what many of us are wondering: When will the Lincoln Center version of The Coast of Utopia become available in print? I don't believe it has been announced as yet.

In other news:

• Jenna posts a video preview of the upcoming film about Jane Austen called Becoming Jane and suggests that none other than Jennifer Ehle should have been cast as Jane. (Good idea, but I have to say that there are more compelling arguments than "She's not that old!")
• The Janites on the James blog recently held a "Battle of the Darcys" and it seems that Colin Firth has won the title. No surprises here! Click here to view the results.
• In Variety's "Summertime Oscar Talk," Pride and Glory had been included in the "preliminary awards-contender" list and Colin Farrell had been listed as a potential Best Actor. Alas, since the movie's release date has been pushed back to March 14, 2008 (post-Oscar eligibility), it has been stricken from the lists.
• And lastly, Flixya.com has a video of Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi joshing each other on the set of Spider-Man 2. Rosemary Harris is shown briefly, commenting on their relationship.

Surviving le deluge

Apparently Jennifer Ehle took some time away from her zinnia watching and returned to the Delacorte Theater to attend the gala performance of Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare in the Park. New York Magazine says:

[...] Some of the celebs who’d stuck it out through the first batch of rain — Janney, Josh Hamilton, Liev Schreiber — bolted. Idina Menzel, in a poncho, pushed past us on her way out. Marcia Gay Harden was seen running for a cab, dress hiked up to her waist. But Tony winner Jennifer Ehle proved herself to be totally cool, running around in a white tunic dress. [...]

BroadwayWorld has photo coverage, and although I can't find any pictures of Jennifer Ehle, there is one of Josh Hamilton. The New York Times also has a video featurette documenting the event, which is kind of fun.

An anonymous tipster commented on a previous post that there is a picture of Jennifer Ehle in the June issue of Vogue. Apparently they called called her glorious and the "best reason to believe in the existence of God." If anyone has a copy and would like to scan it and send it to us, that would be awesome!

The Hindu has another article about Jennifer Ehle's Before the Rains co-star Rahul Bose. Here is the relevant quotage:

[...] Next in the kitty is Before the Rains, a film set in 1937. It explores the relationship be tween an English planter and a Malayali villager. “This is the most eclectic film by Santosh Sivan that I am waiting for. It is about divided loyalties, betrayals, fondness and patriotism. Most probably, it will be premiered in the Toronto Film Festival this year.” [...]

There hasn't been much news lately, so here are a few marginally related items:

• Broadway.com has another review of The Coast of Utopia CD.
• This week the American Theatre Wing's Tony Committee announced that they are adding two new categories to the Tony Awards: 1) Best Sound Design of a Play and 2) Best Sound Design of a Musical. The Envelope speculates that this is Tom Stoppard's doing:

  [...] When four-time Tony champ Tom Stoppard talks, the theater award administrators listen. Backstage on Tony night, I asked for his thoughts about his play trilogy "The Coast of Utopia" winning a record seven awards this year. The celebrated author bemoaned the fact that the achievement of Mark Bennett, who composed the music and sounds that underscored so many scenes, was not eligible for consideration. On Tuesday, the Tonys announced the creation of two new categories — sound design for both a play and a musical — bringing the total Tony tally to 27 (the Oscars have 25 by comparison). [...]

• The New York Social Diary has a picture of Rosemary Harris at the American Theatre Wing's Annual Spring Gala, which "honored Carol Channing, James Earl Jones and Tommy Tune for their innovative and artistic accomplishments to the theatre." Martha Plimpton and David Pittu were also photographed at the gala.
• Josh Hamilton will be taking part in a free reading of Wirehead on June 25th. See BroadwayWorld for the details. And, according to Playbill, Utopians Jason Butler Harner and Mia Barron have been cast in a production of A Wake on Chappaquiddick at the Cape Cod Theater Project in Massachusetts.
• Finally, the Gothamist tells us that Lincoln Center now has free WiFi!

  On opening day of this season's Midsummer Night Swing, Lincoln Center has become a free WiFi hot spot. So if you're at Josie Robertson Plaza, in Damrosch Park, or on the North Plaza by the Reflecting Pool, your laptop, phone or PDA will be wired. Lincoln Center president Reynold Levy said, “One of the goals of Lincoln Center’s transformation projects is to encourage visitors to our campus to come earlier and linger longer, both before and after performances." We wonder if this will encourage people to blog about performances during intermissions. [...]

A new and improved acceptance speech video!!

Thank you for the video Pinky!!

A few stragglers

There are still a few straggling bits of news and quotes from the Tonys Awards.

• Greensboro's News-Record reports that North Carolinians are happy to bask in Jennifer Ehle's reflected glory:

  The region got to bask in a bit of reflected glory last week when Jennifer Ehle, who was born in Winston-Salem and attended the School of the Arts, won her second Tony award, this one for best performance by a featured actress in "The Coast of Utopia." Bravo!

• New York Magazine has a short Tonys slideshow featuring a picture of Billy Crudup. The caption reads:
  

  Billy Crudup communes with his Tony for The Coast of Utopia, which closed in May. Is he having withdrawal? “It’s depressing! Totally and utterly depressing. You give up this thing that you’ve devoted all your time and creative energy to, and it’s gone. For theater, it’s even worse because it’s in the ether. There’s nothing left anywhere but your experience.”

  Also, the caption under Liev Schreiber's photo informs us that he was given first dibs on doing The Coast of Utopia:
  

  “I love these awards,” he says. “They’re better than the Oscars. At least these people know how to put on a show.” Schreiber, who was up for his performance in Talk Radio, says he was the first person Jack O’Brien approached for Utopia. “I said no. I don’t have the balls those guys do.” Next up, fatherhood and writing a screenplay. “I don’t want to talk about it, because then I can’t change my mind. They’ll be like, ‘Ah, he didn’t win the Tony. And now he’s failed again.’”

  There is also some speculation as to which part Liev Schreiber was asked to play at All That Chat.
• Variety was backstage at the Tony Awards to interview the winners. Here are the relevant bits - From Tom Stoppard:
  

  [...] "I did tell Jack O'Brien that if he wanted to a do a musical of this, I think 'Serfs Up' would be a good title," Tom Stoppard cracked after his win for "The Coast of Utopia," his saga about Russian intellectuals in the 19th century. The play, produced in Gotham by Lincoln Center Theater, is gearing up for a Russian production, and there's interest in a French incarnation as well, Stoppard said. "Coast" was more of a sweeping success Stateside than it was in its U.K. preem at the National. "Well, I had four years to think about it," Stoppard explained. "I made the thing clearer, and I made the narrative swifter." Stoppard's next Rialto project is a transfer of his play "Rock 'n' Roll." His next writing project? "I don't write at all until I get bitten by something, and then I only write," he said. "I was hoping to write something this summer, but I haven't got any ideas. Do you have any?" [...] [Oh, Tooom?]

  From Jack O'Brien:
  

  [...] "The Coast of Utopia" helmer Jack O'Brien recalled the months spent rehearsing and rolling out the three plays one by one over the course of six months. "We were never out of rehearsal," he said. "I said to the actors, 'You're gonna be so sick of the sound of my voice.'" Added the three-time Tony winner, "No one's ever going to do anything like this again. The awards are just frosting on the cake. But I have to tell you, the cake was pretty delicious." [...]

  From Billy Crudup:
  

  [...] Crudup, like fellow nominee Ethan Hawke, gave up many months of film opportunities to appear in the multiplay epic. "I don't have such a high cost of living that I can't be paid an actor's wage for working on a stage," he said. "I just have the one apartment." [...]

  And from Jennifer Ehle:
  

  [...] Jennifer Ehle, who won her second Tony when she nabbed featured actress in a play for "The Coast of Utopia," won the honors for a variety of characters she played over the course of Tom Stoppard's three-play epic. "I didn't have a favorite; I loved all three," she said of the roles. Does she miss performing the show, which ended its long but limited run May 13? Not so much. But she keeps up to date on her castmates. "We email obsessively," she said. "There's never been a cast that's stayed in touch so much." [...]

• Jeff provides us with a BBC press release reporting that several of Tom Stoppard's works will be broadcast on BBC radio stations this summer.
  

  Sir Tom Stoppard is to be celebrated across BBC Radio with a season of his work on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and BBC 7. This includes the radio debut of his most recent play, Rock 'N' Roll, which has been specially adapted by Stoppard with a new final scene. The season also features new Stoppard adaptations of Arcadia, The Fifteen Minute Hamlet and Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, and listeners are given another chance to hear some of the acclaimed playwright's best radio productions. [more]

• What are the Utopians up to this summer? Well, at least three of them are sticking together. TheaterMania informs us that Jason Butler Harner, Amanda Leigh Cobb, and Robert Stanton will be performing in The Front Page at the Williamstown Theatre Festival this July.
• No news about about any upcoming projects for Jennifer Ehle, but an interview with actor Rahul Bose at Express India gives us hope that Before the Rains (aka Road to the Sky) will debut at the Toronto Film Festival.
  

  [...] The actor is also excited about Before The Rains. Directed by Santosh Sivan and set in 1937, it explores the relationship between a British tea planter and a young Malayali villager who constructs roads. “It’s about infidelity, divided loyalties and betrayals. The film is ready and will hopefully premier at Toronto.” [..]

• Finally, TheaterMania has a review of The Coast of Utopia CD, which was released last week.
  

  [...] Another praiseworthy aspect of the Lincoln Center production was Mark Bennett's music, over-amplified in the theater but enjoyable as heard in a new recording on the Ghostlight label. This is the sort of lush, lovingly orchestrated score you'd expect to hear on the soundtrack of an epic film. There are 38 music cues in all, each of them quite short; the CD contains only 35 minutes of material in total. Among the most compelling pieces are "Trilogy Prologue: 500 Souls," "The Telescope," "Birch Trees," and "Curtain Call." Note that the CD isn't completely instrumental; five of the tracks feature vocals by cast members Felicity LaFortune and/or David Pittu. In a brief appreciation in the booklet accompanying the CD, Utopia director Jack O'Brien hails Bennett's score for, among other things, its simplicity. Would that the work it accompanied had exhibited the same virtue. [...]

"My dress won a Tony!"

Well, I think the Tonys craziness is subsiding, and I believe we've covered all of the photos and videos out there. Still, here are a few more Tony tidbits and random finds (and discussion of fashion, which seems inevitable post-awards!)

• At Day Life, you can see a neato slideshow of pictures of Jennifer Ehle at the Tonys. (The photos, which have already been posted, are from getty images).
• Woot! Broadway.com named Jennifer Ehle a "Tony Trendsetter" in fashion and gave her the award for Best Neckline: "Her plunging Carolina Herrera showed the perfect amount of skin." Martha Plimpton placed fifth in the Best Dressed category, and Billy Crudup was applauded for bringing back the classic tuxedo. Way to go Utopians!
• Livejournaler shigella also loved Ms Ehle's corseted dress, calling her "Tony Awards Eye Candy." The discussion that follows her post is somewhat, umm, entertaining as well.
• On the other hand, bakerloo called her dress "horrendous" and theparkbencher concluded that she had the most "misguided dress:

  [...] Now this is a difficult category, but I’m going to have to go with Jennifer Ehle, who won Best Featured Actress in a Play for The Coast of Utopia. I decided on her instead of Cynthia Nixon’s Unfortunate Neckline Styling 2007, only because I expected more from Elizabeth Bennett. I love Jennifer Ehle and I want her to always be lovely. And she was, but the dress was terribly misguided. [...]

  To each his own!
• Panekattack talks about watching the Tonys ceremony on television and gives a very interesting tidbit about Jennifer Ehle's dress:

  [...] On the other hand, our utter rapture was unmeasurable when Jennifer Ehle won Best Supporting Actress in a Play: Moises' close friend designed Ms. Ehle's dress upon his recommendation. "My dress won a Tony!" he proclaimed. [...]

• Also on the fashion front, Zoe commends Jennifer Ehle's choice of jewelry:

  [...] Jennifer Ehle who won best actress for The Coast of Utopia wore a simple diamond bracelet...Sometimes, as these classy ladies have shown, it is more impressive to pick one or two amazing pieces of jewelry that accentuate your image than to pick one that overwhelms it. Take a note from their book. [...]

• Robert Osborn of the Hollywood Reporter had this to declare: "The most elegant ladies onstage [were] the classy Angela Lansbury and best featured actress winner Jennifer Ehle." He also made mention of the new edition of "Forbidden Broadway," which began on Wednesday:

  [...] All those Tony wins for "The Coast of Utopia" definitely add oomph to "Forbidden Broadway: The Roast of Utopia," the special summer retrospective edition of the "Forbidden Broadway" franchise that debuts Wednesday and runs through August 22 at the 47th Street Theatre. Not only will Tom Stoppard's nine-hour marathon be royally spoofed, but so will Sunday's other big Tony champ, "Spring Awakening," as well as "Mary Poppins" and other current shows, mixed in with encores of the most popular "Forbidden" parodies from the past 25 years. [...]

• FOXNews gives Jennifer Ehle some Tonys kudos and provides us with a quote:

  [...] And congrats, too, to Jennifer Ehle, who picked up her second Tony, this time for "The Coast of Utopia." Ehle is the daughter of famed actress Rosemary Harris, but she told me she still hasn't had a chance to see her mom in "Spider-Man 3" as Aunt May." I hear she's great, but I've been in the play," she said. [...]

• Lonecub of MySpace was a fan of Ms Ehle's acceptance speech: "I also refuse to talk about how endearing Julie White's speech was or for that matter Jennifer Ehle's speech." I cannot imagine how anyone could think otherwise!
• Times Online has an article about Tom Stoppard beating the record for most Tony wins by a play.

  [...] “I would be more than happy to have equalled the playwright of Death of a Salesman and a contemporary of mine, Alan Bennett,” Stoppard said after the awards ceremony on Sunday night. [...]

• There is a also quote by Jack O'Brien at the Associated Press:

  [...] "It's betrayal, marriage, families, the DNA of social change," said "Coast" director Jack O'Brien. "I never imagined that the city, the community would ever embrace this." [...]

• Speaking of Jack O'Brien, Playbill tells us that the production of Puccini's Il trittico that he directed will be airing on PBS this week as part of the Great Performances at the Met series. (This is his other triology.) There is some discussion of this at All That Chat as well.
• Also on Playbill are some photos from the Outer Critics Circle Awards. (They are a little behind!) There are none of Jennifer Ehle, but Martha Plimpton and Jack O'Brien are shown.
• Remember that the Tonys telecast was up against the finale of The Sopranos? Well, Slate has noted further coincidences and connections between the two Tonys.
• Smore2 of All That Chat has some gripes about the Tony Awards and feels that The Coast of Utopia had an unfair advantage over the other plays. Pffttttt.
• Oy! Apparently Pride and Glory's release date has been pushed back to March 14, 2008.

For my own amusement: Many viewers of this year's Tony Awards were surprised to discover that "Lizzy Bennet" is in fact a blonde American.

• Freyalorelei said, "In between I watched a bit of the Tony awards, and apparently Jennifer Ehle has an American accent. It was like finding out that Santa Claus isn't real. :)"
• More bewilderment from CaptainOz: "(eww...Jennifer Ehle has blond hair. She looks so *not* like Liz Bennett. Holy crap! She's not even British!! Good God, I've been totally bamboozled. I'm watching the Tony Awards, btw...and Jennifer Ehle just won for whatever show she's in. Hmm. I'm just weirded out."
• Isabel79 was similarly bamboozled: "What the phage!?! Jennifer Ehle (best know as Lizzie Bennet in P&P 1995) isn't British!?! "
• And, Persephone33 explains, "I did NOT predict Jennifer Ehle winning best supporting actress. I'm so glad she did, and was flabbergasted to hear that her natural accent is decidedly not British. (It gives us non-Brit actresses with passable accents hope.) She's my Lizzie. Love her."

(I don't know why I get such a kick out of these!)

Finally, go to YouTube to see Triumph the Insult Comic Dog interview Martha Plimpton (and other celebrities) on the Tonys red carpet. It is well worth it.

Acceptance speech video!!!

YouTube mirror.

The ghetto version: Photobucket, YouTube.

Transcripts: official Tonys site one, commentary-enriched fan-typed one.

Words stagger after

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• Quotage at NY1:

  [...] Jennifer Ehle also won for Best Featured Actress for an acting triple play that stood out in an already distinguished ensemble.
  
  "To be nominated for a Tony is already phenomenal and to have actually won – I don't know, I think I'm at a loss for words," said Ehle of her win. [...]
  

• BroadwayWorldTV has the full version of their video backstage coverage! Can't see Ms Ehle yet but.....ahhhhh YES! And Jack O'Brien as well! Her bit is about 40% into the video.
  
• BroadwayWorlders rate the best of the past five years' Tony winners. Some picks there for you know who. And some scroogery about her acceptance speech - but at least one person is defending her honour, bless 'em.
  

  [...] The fact that Jennifer Ehle seemed unprepared didn't bother me at all. I was unprepared for her to win, too, so I welcomed her honest, genuine demeanor. She's fab. At least it seemed impromptu and real rather than similar to a Rashad monolgue. [...]

• The Vancouver Sun echoes the same sentiment, even if their facts are a little wobbly (although what she says is true of both Mr Easton and Stoppard!):

  [...] The Coast of Utopia also won two awards early in the evening for best featured actor and actress in a play: Billy Crudup and Jennifer Ehle, who delivered one of the night's most emotionally heartfelt acceptance speeches, calling Stoppard a British "national institution." [...]

• Jennifer Ehle wins "Best Plea" at EW.com:

  [...] Jennifer Ehle, kind of a surprise winner for Featured Actress in a Play for her sterling three roles in Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia, hoping that the play's success will allow theatres to consider the idea of repertory again. Hear, hear! [...]

  Newsday says amen to that:
  

  [...] The nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater had the courage to devote its entire season to a rethinking and restaging of the Stoppard trilogy, which had had its unremarkable world premiere in London. The achievement is extraordinary of itself, but also for suggesting that theatergoers and major actors would embrace the long-promised ideal of a resident repertory company. How gratifying to hear Jennifer Ehle, in her featured-actress acceptance speech, declare, "We all do want a repertory company at Lincoln Center." Maybe the Tonys will push that decades-old dream along. [...]

• Metro, Hello Mag and the Daily Mail (with gorge photos) are claiming her for England, whereas the News Observer and Winston-Salem Journal insist she's a tar heel. For example:

  [...] Jennifer Ehle’s win of a second Tony Award Sunday night was certainly a coup for her. But it was also a win for Winston-Salem, The City of the Arts. [...]

  The Guardian chooses the middle way, "Anglo-American". Though of course, being half American and half British, at heart she is Australian!
  
• Another couple photos of her and Ethan Hawke is up at TheaterMania's and USA Todays' photo features, and the Beeb have her above the fold. #29 on Broadway.com's coverage has her and Mr Hawke joshing with Sir Tom, and she and Mr Hawke are in their "Classy Couples" feature, "bringing their movie star glamour to Tony's red carpet".
• Reuters love:

  [...] Most charmingly enthusiastic speechmaker: Julie White, best actress for "The Little Dog Laughed." The most elegant ladies onstage: the classy Angela Lansbury and best featured actress winner Jennifer Ehle. [...]

• Another wee mention at Fox:

  [...] There were also not a lot of stars for the show. By the time of the after party, there was no sign of people like Ethan Hawke, Zach Braff or Billy Crudup. Ann Heche made a brief appearance; Fantasia was nowhere to be found. Many shows have their own parties following the Tony dinner at Rockefeller Center.

  Only "Talk Radio" star Liev Schreiber and pregnant girlfriend Naomi Watts stuck around for a bit, as did "LoveMusic" star Donna Murphy, who carried her own plate of food. Others who fended for themselves included new Tony winner Jennifer Ehle and presenter Marcia Gay Harden, who couldn't find a seat near the buffet. [...]

• Broadway.com has pics from the Winners' Ball, none of Ms Ehle but some of the Utopian creative team were there. Bob Crowley, one of the geniuses behind Utopia's much-lauded design, scored two awards for play and musical.
• Check out Playbill's cute pic of Jennifer Ehle and Martha Plimpton at "Stars in the Alley".
• Ack with all the excitement we forgot to remind you about the Coast of Utopia CD release yesterday - there was an event at Barnes & Noble with Mark Bennett and some cast members, reports BroadwayWorld. Have a listen to a few clips and order the CD at Ghostlight Records. Barnes & Noble have heaps of clips too.
• One more thing - first person to find or post a video of the acceptance speech wins...a lot of love!
• Nope, still more. Videos of part of Tom Stoppard's acceptance speech at KUTV, and a bit on ITN, photo of Billy Crudup, Ms Ehle and JackO'Brien at CBS, an acceptance speech one at the NY Times, and a couple at Talkin' Broadway, Playbill and ABC News.
  

Two. Time. Tony. Award. WINNER!!!!

Congratulations on your Tony win for your amazing performances in The Coast of Utopia Jennifer Ehle!

I will try to post photos and whatnot as soon as possible, but here are a couple of things to tide you over:
[Edit: I have been adding things as I go. I apologize in advance for the disorganization.]

• Visit our forum to read a complete transcript of Ms Ehle's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful speech. (Courtesy of the lovely Kerry!) You can also read a bit of our own squeeeeing at the live chat while you're at the forum. Brace yourself!
• From Broadway.com's "Live from the winners' circle:"
  

  9:15pm Jennifer Ehle sweeped in looking gorgeous in a fitted navy satin gown. She declared that she couldn't choose a favorite of the three characters she played in Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia: "I loved them all. They were different characters who lived such different lives; I can't imagine removing one from the equation. It was like stringing beads, we brought them on one at a time." Ehle felt comfortable with the long journey of mounting Stoppard's three-part epic, she added, after having done rep for a year at the Royal Shakespeare Company. On winning her second Tony, Ehle declared, "This form of competitiveness is not natural among actors, but I hope if I'm nominated again, I'm not up against my mother [Rosemary Harris, whom Ehle famously beat for the Best Actress in a Play Tony Award in 2000 ] or one of my co-stars [Martha Plimpton]." Her first Tony, for The Real Thing, was followed by a period of concentrating on her personal life. "I met my husband two weeks after I won, and that's when my life really began. I gave up acting for four years, got married and had a baby." I asked what she would do next, Ehle replied, "I've planted about 70 zinnias, and I'm going to watch them grow." MIA in the press room, by the way is Ehle's co-star, Billy Crudup, the first winner of the evening. Where's Billy?!

• BroadwayWorld has photo coverage of the red carpet arrivals. But, where is Jennifer Ehle?!
• There are a few Tony arrival pictures at Playbill, including one of the Utopians.
• Playbill also had live updates from the press room:
  

  9:09 PM A very glamorous Jennifer Ehle — Tony winner for Best Featured Actress in a Play — was just escorted onto the small stage of the press room. About the show's limited run ending, Ehle says, "I haven't been sad the way I thought I would. I thought I'd be devastated. We e-mail obsessively. There's never been a cast that's stayed in touch so much."......9:13 PM "Yay!!!" That was Ehle's response when told her Utopia director, Jack O'Brien, won the Tony for Best Director of a Play. "I'm so happy he won," she added. "It was not very suspenseful, but it's wonderful." As for her own future projects, she said, "I just planted about 70 zinnias, and I'm going to watch them grow."

• There is similar quotage from Jennifer Ehle at TheaterMania:
  

  Jennifer Ehle, winner of Best Featured Actress in a Play for Coast of Utopia, says, "I haven't been sad the way I thought since we closed. I haven't been devastated. We email among ourselves incessantly." Asked about competing against her co-star Martha Plimpton, and about having bested her mother, Rosemary Harris, for her first Tony Award for The Real Thing, she says: "This form of competition is not natural among actors. If I am blessed to be nominated again, I hope it's not against my mother."

• Broadway.com's red carpet photo coverage is now online, and there is a cute picture of Jennifer Ehle with Ethan Hawke. The same site has pictures from the winner's circle and a few more of the arrivals.
• There are wonderful photos of Ms Ehle on the red carpet and giving her acceptance speech at getty images. (Search for "Jennifer Ehle").
• WireImage also has tons and tons of Tonys photos!
• More fabulous pictures of the winners can be found at BroadwayWorld. Also at BroadwayWorld are photos from the Tony Awards cocktail party, which took place the evening before the awards ceremony.
• Oy! Jennifer Ehle made BwayBaby18 of BroadwayWorld's worst dressed list.
• There is more quotage from Jennifer Ehle at the Tony website's press room blog:
  

  [...] Now here's Jennifer Ehle, who just won her second Tony, this time for her performance in The Coast of Utopia. She said she loved all three characters she played in Tom Stoppard's epic play, and that she's performed in different plays at different times in repertory and hopes to again. That is, she said, "A theatre actor's natural habitat." [...]

• BroadwayWorld has posted a "video teaser" of backstage interviews, which includes a short interview with Jack O'Brien. They will be posting their full coverage tomorrow night.
• Broadway.com has video footage of the red carpet arrivals, but none of Jennifer Ehle unfortunately.
• SCORE! The Tonys website has now posted their interviews with the winners! Jennifer Ehle, Tom Stoppard, and Jack O'Brien are among them. The Tonys website also has a few pictures from inside the winnner's circle, not excepting Ms Ehle, and they have posted transcripts of the acceptance speeches. (Note: Kerry's previously mentioned transcript gives more of the lovely details!) Ahh, this same wonderful site now has video footage of the red carpet interviews. Jennifer Ehle, Martha Plimpton, and Ethan Hawke are all interviewed together!

You can see a complete list of this year's winners and nominees at Playbill (or just the winners at Broadway.com). The Coast of Utopia won a total of seven awards, which is the most that any non-musical has ever won in the history of the Tony Awards. Go Utopia!

Here is a list of the awards that went to The Coast of Utopia:

• Best Play
• Best Director of a Play: Jack O'Brien
• Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play: Billy Crudup
• Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play: Jennifer Ehle
• Best Scenic Design of a Play: Bob Crowley and Scott Pask
• Best Costume Design of a Play: Catherine Zuber
• Best Lighting Design of a Play: Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner, and Natasha Katz

The 61st Annual Tony Awards!

Before we get going, have a look at the Tonys site to see pictures of Jennifer Ehle last evening at the pre-Tony champagne reception.

Go to the Tonys website now to see all of the pre-Tonys and Tonys coverage!

Please join us at the Live Chat!

Two words: Tony. Awards.

First things first. Don't forget to join us at the Tonys live chat! It's less than 24 hours away and it's going to be a lot of fun!

• In their 4th video poll, Broadway.com asked the Tony nominees, "How Will You Get Red Carpet Ready?" Watch to hear Jennifer Ehle's response. (Note: It's towards the end of the video).
• To see some photo coverage of the "Stars in the Alley" concert, including a couple of pictures of Ms Ehle and Ms Plimpton, visit BroadwayWorld. Broadway.com has more photos from the same event. Also, Jennifer Naimo of Jersey Boys talks about performing in "Stars in the Alley" on her official website, and she mentions seeing the Utopian women there.
• More photos of Jennifer Ehle and Rosemary Harris at the Theatre World Awards can be found at both Broadway.com and Playbill.
• BroadwayWorld has video coverage of the Outer Critics Awards ceremony and there is an interview with cool cat Martha Plimpton, who won the award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
• At the Tonys website, there are a couple of things that might be of interest. Show Business: The Road to Broadway (Parts 1 & 2) are available online as is an interview with the executive producers of the Tonys telecast.
• The results of the BroadwayWorld Fans' Choice Awards are now in. Sadly, Jennifer Ehle lost the award for Best Featured Actress to her cast mate by a mere percentage point, but The Coast of Utopia proved to be quite popular as a whole. You can click here to see the final percentages in each of the categories.
• Paul Wontorek, the Editor-in-Chief of Broadway.com, gives his Tony predictions, including some notes on what he sees as the really competitive categories and the possible spoilers.
• Our faithful friend Broadway.com has also put together a nice tally of what the Broadway journalists have predicted. 90% of the pundits have slated The Coast of Utopia for a win, and 75% have predicted that Martha Plimpton will go home with a Tony. (Jennifer Ehle came in 2nd with 20% of the votes.) Matt Windman of AM New York, has put together a similar tally of predictions. Have a look if you can bear it.
• Josh R provides a rationale as to why Martha Plimpton may have the edge over Ms Ehle:

  [...] Forget about that annoying little girl from The Goonies – in The Coast of Utopia, Martha Plimpton confirmed her status as a stage actress of remarkable presence and charisma. For as much praise as I’ve lavished on her co-star Jennifer Ehle, who excels in three very different roles, this is actually a close call from my perspective. While Ehle dominated the trilogy’s middle passage, "Shipwreck," it was Plimpton who really shone in "Salvage," the concluding installment – consequently, the latter’s achievement is probably fresher in the minds of Tony voters. As the emotionally volatile Natasha, whose vivacious, impetuous nature hardens into a mass of vacillating feelings fueled by self-recrimination, she was nothing less than a revelation – something her inevitable victory will reflect. SHOULD WIN: Jennifer Ehle (The Coast of Utopia) WILL WIN: Martha Plimpton (The Coast of Utopia) [...]

• The New York Post gives us some predictions as well as something to keep in mind while watching the Tonys (even if it is a little disheartening):

  [...] In a nutshell: Quite a few of the 740 Tony voters don't bother to see all the nominated productions yet still vote in all the categories. It's a big no-no, but pretty much everybody does it...A Broadway publicist estimates that even the hit shows draw only about 70 percent of Tony voters...But, as one cynic says, "The purpose of the Tonys is to sell tickets, though it's in the guise of being an artistic award. So there's no urgency to change the system." [...]

• Okay, that's the end of the predictions. Phew! Be sure to watch the 61st Annual Tony Awards Ceremony tonight, June 10th, at 8:00pm US EST on CBS! Squeeeeee!!!!

Sing Out Louise!

• At BroadwayWorld you can find several cute pictures of Jennifer Ehle and Rosemary Harris at the Theater World Awards, which took place yesterday, June 5th. SarahB was lucky enough to attend the event, and she has posted some of her own photos on her blog.
• You can also see a photo of Jennifer Ehle at this afternoon's "Stars in the Alley" concert at the Tonys website. There is a thread at BroadwayWorld where people have been discussing the concert. Apparently, someone recorded it and has been kind enough to post some of the video footage at YouTube. Corine's Corner also has some information about today's "Stars in the Alley," including a complete cast list.
• "Meet the Nominees on Video: Part 5" has now been posted on the Tonys website.
• New Yorkers, set your Tivo. According to Playbill, WCBS-TV will be airing a one-hour "Tony Awards Preview Special" on June 10th at 11:00am. Supposedly, there will be interviews with some of this year's nominees. Cross your fingers!
• Playbill also informs us that there will be a Tonys-themed episode of "Theater Talk" on June 10th on CUNY-TV. There will be interviews with many of the nominees, but unfortunately Jennifer Ehle is not included in the line-up. The show starts at 8:00pm, so if you'd like to watch it, be sure to set your Tivo because you will be watching the Tony Awards at that time!
• Are you dying to attend the Tonys ceremony but were not able to get tickets? Well, Playbill says you can "Sing for Your Tonys Tickets" on June 8th by entering a talent competition in Herald's Square. The judges will be Orfeh, Mo Rocca, and Tommy Tune and the prize: two tickets to the Tonys. See Playbill for more details.
• Finally, no post would be complete without a few Tony predictions. Entertainment Weekly has added its picks to the fold, and Howard and Shubow of BroadwayWorld have published their thoughts as well. The New York Observer and Idol Thoughts of blogland also get in on the prediction-making. If you find all the predicting of the past few weeks a bit confusing, the Envelope has put together a "scorecard" to keep track of what the bigwigs have said.

Only 4 days until the Tonys!!!!

The Heroic Spirit of Actors

The Tonys are less than one week away. Let the countdown begin!

• BroadwayWorld announces that Jennifer Ehle, along with many other actors, will be making a special appearance at the free outdoor concert "Stars in the Alley." This event will take place in Shubert Alley (West 44th St., West of 7th Ave) on Wednesday June 6th at 11:00am. According to the Stars in the Alley website, this concert "features performances and special appearances by cast members from Broadway's most popular musicals and plays." For those of us who cannot attend, a video montage of the event will be available on the website after June 10th. For those of you who are planning to go, there is a thread at All That Chat where people have been offering advice as per the best time to arrive, etc.
• At New York Magazine there is a short article about the nominated actors from The Coast of Utopia, which includes a few pictures and quotes:
  

  [...] Ehle, who took a new role in each segment, sounds almost wistful, adding that “everybody feels like they’re all a part of the nominations. It’s a blessing that we get to keep celebrating it and each other.” [...]

• Backstage.com offers a "Salute to the Tonys" and points out that "[t]he great thing about this year's Tony nominations — in the acting categories especially — is how stiff the competition is." The article also includes a profile of all 40 Tony nominated actors. Here's what they have to say about our favorite:
  

  [...] Jennifer Ehle, who seven years ago lit up Broadway with her Tony-winning performance in the revival of another Stoppard play, The Real Thing, did the virtually impossible in The Coast of Utopia: In the first part, Voyage, she played Liubov, one of the four sisters of Ethan Hawke's Michael Bakunin, an aristocrat turned anarchist; in the second part, Shipwreck, she was Natalie, wife of Brían F. O'Byrne's philosopher Alexander Herzen; and in the final part, Salvage, she was Malwida von Meysenbug, the German governess supervising Herzen's growing brood. Each of the characters, from their bearing to their voices to the reactions on their faces as Stoppard's sprawling drama plays out, seemed distinct and, improbably enough, distinguished as a portrait of a 19th-century woman. Ehle remains one of our best young actors, and here's a toast to her return. [...]

• There is a cute "Cue & A" with funny girl Martha Plimpton at Playbill. (Note: She can rewire a lamp in under five minutes!) Ms. Plimpton has also added a new blog entry to her MySpace page, which is viewable to everyone.
• The Connecticut Post has an interview with David Pittu, and there is an article at the New York Times about all five nominees for Best Actor in a Play, including Brian F. O'Byrne.
• "The Road to the Tonys: Episode 3" has now been posted on the Tonys website along with a video guide for the week leading up to the Tonys (eg. THIS week!). Some things that might be of interest are 1) an interview with the executive producers of this year's Tony Awards telecast, who will give us some insight into how the Tonys are broadcast and 2) "some never-before seen cut footage from Show Business: The Road to Broadway. See exclusive Tony-related footage shot for this feature film, which opens in cinemas across the US this spring."
• Just in case anyone is interested, there will be performances by many of the Tony nominated musicals on various talk shows this week. Playbill has published a list of shows that will be featured on "Live with Regis and Kelly" as well as a more general "Talk Show Watch." There is also a thread on All That Chat where other upcoming television performances are mentioned.
• At BroadwayWorld, being.jeremiah has posted the New York Times "Critics' Picks" for the Tonys. (Unfortunately, they did not make any picks in the featured acting categories). The New York Daily News offers their Tony predictions as well.
• Jacques Le Sourd of Journal News 'wraps up' the Broadway season and provides a list of all of the shows that opened, along with a review of each. Here is some of what he has to say about The Coast of Utopia: (Warning: it's a bit of a backhanded compliment.)

  [...] The man who saved the whole absurd project from terminal boredom was director Jack O'Brien, who kept the illusion of movement alive with the great ebb and flow of a huge, gorgeously dressed cast on a beautiful mirrored set. The best part, every night, was the elaborate curtain call (to soaring music by Mark Bennett) at the end. It signaled more than the end of torture. It said something about the foolhardy but heroic spirit of actors, if not playwrights. [...]

• Well, life goes on. Playbill tells us that a production of Shakespeare's Cymbeline, directed by Mark Lamos, will succeed The Coast of Utopia at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.
• And, in other new, the Citizen-Times reports that John Ehle will be taking part in a celebration honoring the recently deceased Asheville writer, Wilma Dykeman, on June 13th.

Multimedia Galore!

Okay maybe not galore, but there are some exciting finds:

• First off, BroadwayWorld has some great video interviews with many of the Tony nominees, including Jennifer Ehle. (And it's more than 2 seconds long!)
• Broadway.com has created a page for each one of this year's nominees, complete with factoids, Tony odds, and video clips. They have this to say about Jennifer Ehle's chances for winning:

  In what may be one of the most wide open Tony races of all, Ehle is perhaps the frontrunner—because of her integrity and her meaty roles in all three plays of the trilogy.

  Be sure to check out the pages for Martha Plimpton, Billy Crudup, Ethan Hawke, and Brian F. O'Byrne to see more video clips from all three parts of The Coast of Utopia. (5 acting nominees + 1 Best Play nominee = a lot of video clipage!)
• "Meet the Nominees on Video: Part 4" is available at the Tonys site.
• The Tonys site also announces that on June 9th, the evening before the Tonys, there will be "a champagne reception hosted by Hilton Hotels, honoring the 2007 Tony Award nominees. Past winners, presenters, Tony Awards marketing partners, and other VIPs will get one final chance to wish the nominees luck before their big day."
• For those of you who live in NYC, a panel discussion about the Tonys will be held on June 5th at Ars Nova. Michael Riedel, a columnist for the New York Post, will be the moderator. See Playbill for more details.
• There is yet another thread of Tony predictions at BroadwayWorld. Note that there are quite a few picks for both women of Utopia.
• According to TheaterMania, "Broadway set a new record for ticket grosses - $939 million - during the 2006-2007 season." Supposedly, The Coast of Utopia brought in $11.2 million, the most of all the non-musicals. (See Platinum Broadway.)
• There is some exciting news about the soon-to-be-released Coast of Utopia CD. Playbill announces:

  [...] To celebrate the release of the CD, composer Bennett and Utopia cast members Martha Plimpton, David Pittu and Felicity LaFortune will make an appearance at the Barnes & Noble Lincoln Square that day. The June 12 event will begin at 5:30 PM. [...]

• And, BroadwayWorld has a list of other theater-related events that will take place at the Barnes & Noble Lincoln Center during the next couple of weeks.
• Remember that "Uncharted: Dan Lipton" will take place this Sunday, June 3rd, at Ars Nova. Martha Plimpton will also be taking part in this concert, which features the original music of Dan Lipton.
• Playbill informs us that the latest edition of Forbidden Broadway, the long running off-Broadway show, has been titled The Roast of Utopia. ItsCalledHistory at All That Chat found a description from Gold Star Events:

  THE ROAST OF UTOPIA Special Summer Edition is the brand new installment of the hilarious musical comedy that has been skewering Broadway's biggest shows and brightest stars for more than 25 years. The latest version of this 2006 TONY Honor recipient grills everything from Legally Blonde to Spring Awakening, Grey Gardens to Hairspray - even Annie, The Lion King, & Mary Poppins get burned! Nothing is sacred, and no one is off-limits. If you missed The Coast, see "The Roast!"

• John Longenbaugh of Seattle Weekly gets philosophical and asks, "How long should a play be?" He mentions that, "In the '90s, epics like Angels in America caught the zeitgeist, but the most common critical reaction to the current nine-hour Stoppard epic, The Coast of Utopia, is that, while it's good, even split across three evenings it's a butt numb-er."
• Finally, the Douglas Henshall Blog alerts us to some notable updates at the Douglas Henshall Website. A new page for The Painter of Dishonour has been created and The Relapse page has been updated. Visit these sites to see some production photos of Jennifer Ehle and to read the reviews.