This is it: The Super Bowl for theater fans! The 49th annual Tony Awards will be presented on Sunday, June 7th, and the Library can help you get familiar with some of this year's nominees.  

In the Best Play category, the front runner seems to be The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Nighttime, based on the acclaimed novel by Mark Haddon. When I first read that this was going to be a play, I could not imagine how it could be done, but director Marianne Elliot does a brilliant job of bringing the world of Christopher Boone, a young boy with Asperger's Syndrome, to life. You actually see the world as Christopher sees it, at once scary, confusing, funny, overwhelming, and surprising. I would highly recommend reading the novel before seeing the play, only because each is excellent in its own way. Also in contention are Wolf Hall, based on the best-selling novel by Hilary Mantel, and Disgraced, the 2012 Pulitzer Prize Winner by Ayad Akhtar. Sadly, Disgraced has already closed, but I found it to be a very provocative piece about religion, identity, the Islamic experience, and assumptions people make about other cultures. A reading of the script could lead to an interesting and intense discussion.

In the Best Musical category, there's An American In Paris, based on the famed movie starring Leslie Caron and Gene Kelly. The musical makes some signifcant changes to the story about soldiers in the city at the end of World War II, but it features amazing choreography by Christopher Wheeldon. Tying An American in Paris with 12 nominations is Fun Home, with a book and lyrics by Lisa Kron and music by Jeanine Tesori. Based on the graphic novel by Allison Bechdel, Fun Home is the autobiographical story of Bechdel's coming to terms with her sexuality, her father's hidden life and subsequent suicide, and the oddities of living in a house that also functioned as a funeral home. If it wins, Fun Home will be the first musical with a creative team comprised entirely of women to take the top honor. Also in the running are The Visit, based on the play by Friedrich Durrenmatt, and featuring the last score by the legendary songwriting team of Kander and Ebb, and Something Rotten, which, without spoiling the surprise, makes Shakespeare and Hamlet  hilarious in ways you can't imagine.

The musical revival category is chock full of shows with scores by masters of the form. There's The King and I, by Rodgers and Hammerstein, On The Town, by Leonard Bernstein and Comden and Green, and On The Twentieth Century by Cy Coleman and Comden and Green.

Hopefully, some of these resources and links  will help you discover something new or different that opens your eyes, heart, and mind, and maybe even convinces you to experience the joy of live theater.

Happy Tony week!