Canadian actress Louise Pitre is up for a Tony Award for her performance in Mamma Mia!, the unlikely Abba musical that yesterday earned five Tony nominations in Broadway's annual award derby.
Mamma Mia! is in the running for the top prize of best musical, going up against Urinetown the Musical, and two shows based on old movies: Thoroughly Modern Millie and Sweet Smell of Success, which originated in Toronto under Garth Drabinsky's Livent before that company shuttered amidst allegations of fraud. Sweet Smell earned seven nominations.
Pitre slept through the nominations yesterday morning in Toronto, where she was visiting a friend after taking part in a gala fundraiser for the Grand Theatre in London, Ont. Her first professional roles 22 years ago were at the Grand, near her alma mater, the University of Western Ontario.
"I feel pretty damn good, don't I?" she said after hearing the news. "I had a reunion with my university friends on Saturday night and sang [Sunday]in Toronto, so it's been a hell of a weekend."
Pitre plays Donna, a footloose divorcée living in Greece whose impetuous 20-year-old daughter schemes to bring together three men from her mother's past to determine which is her real father and who can sing the best rendition of Knowing Me, Knowing You.
Pitre originated the role in the Canadian production of Mamma Mia!, winning a Dora Award for her performance in the show. She was promoted to the New York cast when the show opened at Broadway's Winter Garden theatre last October.
The show marks the Broadway debut of Pitre, 45, who was born in the small northern Ontario town of Smooth Rock Falls and grew up in Montreal.
The Tony nomination is only the latest in a raft of honours Pitre has gathered since arriving in New York. She is up for a Drama Desk award and in February she was honoured with a caricature on the wall of Sardi's, the storied, theatre row restaurant.
"This is the way I've always sort of dreamed it would happen," she said yesterday, "except I didn't think it would be an Abba show, and I didn't think it would take so long. But if it had happened earlier I don't think I would have been ready for it. It's lovely, it's wonderful, and I accept it humbly, but I've worked hard for it."
Pitre faces stiff competition from Nancy Opel and Jennifer Laura Thompson, the two lead actresses in Urinetown. That show, an unlikely Brechtian musical that began as a sketch in the New York fringe festival, is due to play in Toronto next year during a North American tour.
Yesterday's nominations brought a sense of real competition to the Tony Awards, which was decidedly absent last year when Mel Brooks's The Producers took home 12 awards out of the 15 categories in which it was nominated.
No single show is as dominant this year on Broadway, which has been hurt by declining tourism last fall and a sense that there is no runaway must-see hit.
Thoroughly Modern Millie earned 11 nominations despite poor reviews, which are also afflicting Sweet Smell of Success. Neither show is a major hit at the box office.
The news of Garth Drabinsky's intention to rise from the ashes of Livent and re-emerge as a Broadway producer hit New York yesterday morning, drawing disbelief and joking among the producers and press agents who assembled at Sardi's for the nominations. "Good morning, I'm Garth Drabinsky. It's wonderful to be back in New York," cracked Jed Bernstein, the president of the Broadway trade organization that co-produces the Tonys. "I have to leave right after this," said Bernstein, referring to Drabinsky's fugitive status in the United States.
One press agent was slack-jawed at the news. "I can't believe he's thinking about coming back. He's got some balls."
The Tonys will be handed out June 2 during a three-hour live telecast. The first hour will air on PBS followed by a two-hour show on CBS.
The nominees Play:
The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, Fortune's Fool, Metamorphoses, Topdog/Underdog. Musical:
Mamma Mia!, Sweet Smell of Success, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Urinetown the Musical. Book of a Musical:
Mamma Mia!by Catherine Johnson, Sweet Smell of Success by John Guare, Thoroughly Modern Millie by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan, Urinetown The Musical by Greg Kotis.
Original Score:
Sweet Smell of Success, Marvin Hamlisch (music), Craig Carnelia (lyrics); Thoroughly Modern Millie, Jeanine Tesori (music), Dick Scanlan (lyrics); Thou Shalt Not, Harry Connick, Jr. (music & lyrics); Urinetown the Musical, Mark Hollmann (music); Mark Hollmann & Greg Kotis (lyrics). Special Theatrical Event:
Bea Arthur on Broadway, Just Between Friends, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, Mostly Sondheim, Sexaholix . . . a love story. Actor -- Play:
Alan Bates, Fortune's Fool; Billy Crudup, The Elephant Man; Liam Neeson, The Crucible; Alan Rickman, Private Lives; Jeffrey Wright, Topdog/Underdog. Actress -- Play:
Kate Burton, Hedda Gabler; Lindsay Duncan, Private Lives; Laura Linney, The Crucible; Helen Mirren, Dance of Death; Mercedes Ruehl, The Goat or Who is Sylvia? Actor -- Musical:
Gavin Creel, Thoroughly Modern Millie; John Cullum, Urinetown the Musical; John Lithgow, Sweet Smell of Success; John McMartin, Into the Woods; Patrick Wilson, Oklahoma! Actress -- Musical:
Sutton Foster, Thoroughly Modern Millie; Nancy Opel, Urinetown the Musical; Louise Pitre, Mamma Mia!; Jennifer Laura Thompson, Urinetown the Musical; Vanessa Williams, Into the Woods. Direction of a Play:
Howard Davies, Private Lives, Richard Eyre, The Crucible; Daniel Sullivan, Morning's at Seven, Mary Zimmerman, Metamorphoses. Direction of a Musical:
James Lapine, Into the Woods, Michael Mayer, Thoroughly Modern Millie; Trevor Nunn, Oklahoma!; John Rando, Urinetown the Musical. For a full list see: