Brantley and Isherwood Weigh In On Year In Theatre

Following the release of this year's Tony Award nominations, New York Times theatre critics Ben Brantley and Charles Isherwood spoke about the recently-ended theatre season. In the new feature, the critics sound off on the "spotty" season.

A few selections:

Q. Last season the Tony Awards competition was dominated by the 15-nomination juggernaut "Billy Elliot: The Musical" and critically acclaimed plays like "God of Carnage" and "The Norman Conquests." This season the nominations are much more spread out. What does the field of nominees tell us?

Ben Brantley It was a spotty season: a feast in the case of male performances, and relative famine in the case of female. But I can't say there's been anything on Broadway that I thought was transcendent this season.

CHARLES ISHERWOOD I would agree. This season didn't have the same range of really expertly done shows as last season, particularly musicals. It's telling that they had to nominate two plays in the best score category, and even one, "Enron," didn't have much music.

Q. Did the revivals of "A View From the Bridge" and "Fences" tell us anything new about those major plays, or reveal anything about their performers?

BRANTLEY Who'd have thought about Scarlett Johansson? She endowed her part in "View From the Bridge" with a luminously rendered sense of conflict and confusion. The moment where she realizes that Liev Schreiber has a jones for her, this man she's always thought of as a paternal figure - well, it's not a "My sister! My mother!" kind of reaction. You can just see this color draining out of her face, as if she thought there was safety here, but now it's a threat. I get shivers in a moment like that.

ISHERWOOD Viola Davis's speech of outrage in "Fences" was a moment where I was completely overwhelmed emotionally. She realized that her entire life up until that moment had been founded on a trust that was no longer there, and she felt she had established a partnership with this man who turns out to be someone who is not who she thought he was. You saw this utter devastation as it moved through her body.

To read the entire feature, click here.

The Tony Awards Nominations were announced Tuesday, May 4th and the Tony Awards will be broadcast in a live three-hour ceremony from Radio City Music Hall on the CBS television network on Sunday, June 13, 2010.