Tony Awards 2018: Read EW's reviews of this year's musical and play nominees

Tony Awards 2018

The Tony Awards are just a few days away, and throughout the 2017-2018 Broadway season EW has been in the audience as its new and revived productions made their theatrical bows.

Ahead of Sunday night’s ceremony, we’ve compiled our reviews of contenders for the top musicals and plays. Head here to see the full list of nominees, and be sure to come back to EW on Sunday night for all our Tonys coverage.

The Band's Visit (Nominated for Best Musical)

Number of Tony nominations: 11

EW grade: A-

“For a musical centered on an unexpected collision of a group of Egyptians and a group of Israelis, there is almost no talk of politics in The Band’s Visit. No one mentions religion or war. The centuries of geopolitical conflict underlying the story’s premise are like a metaphorical held breath —and the show itself is a slow, easy exhale. This is a musical about people, not countries.” — Dana Schwartz (Read the full review here.)

Frozen (Nominated for Best Musical)

Number of Tony nominations: 3

EW grade: B+

“In bringing the 2013 animated hit to the Great White Way, the film’s original creative team — composers Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and writer Jennifer Lee — face the unenviable task of turning a family movie into something a little sleeker, a little deeper, and a little more sophisticated, all without losing its most beloved elements. They aren’t reinventing the snowman, but they’ve certainly built a better Frozen.” — Kelly Connolly (Read the full review here.)

Mean Girls (Nominated for Best Musical)

Number of Tony nominations: 12

EW grade: B+

“An ode to self-respect and the benefits of a STEM-based education, Broadway’s Mean Girls is a lively, frequently hilarious adaptation of Tina Fey’s 2004 high school comedy. Propelled by dazzling set design and several stand-out performances, the musical — written by Fey, with music by Jeff Richmond, and directed by Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon) — gives fans everything they want while bringing the saga of Regina George and the Plastics into the social media age.” — Kristen Baldwin (Read the full review here.)

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical (Nominated for Best Musical)

Number of Tony nominations: 12

EW grade: B

“Translating a cartoon to the Broadway stage is strange business (unless, of course, you’re Disney). And it’s even stranger when that cartoon is one of the most surreal kids’ programs that’s ever been on TV: Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants. In a musical full of bright colors and bold choices, director Tina Landau’s boldest choice requires a hefty amount of trust in her audience’s imaginations." — Isabella Biedenharn (Read the full review here.)

The Children (Nominated for Best Play)

Number of Tony nominations: 2

EW grade: B

“Apocalyptic stories are ubiquitous in popular art right now, and Kirkwood takes the necessary step of pushing the trend forward. Instead of envisioning future disasters, she treats them as inevitable, with a matter-of-factness, and probes our ability to atone for the part we play. The Children targets a specific generation to directly assess the looming threat of climate change. But it’s so deeply interested in Boomer selfishness that it also gets at the less obvious ways in which life can be impacted by inaction.” — David Canfield (Read the full review here.)

Farinelli and the King (Nominated for Best Play)

Number of Tony nominations: 5

EW grade: B-

“Mark Rylance, in the role of the king, is as brilliant as one might expect from one of the most lauded actors of his generation. On stage, the Oscar- and Tony-winner is magnetic and infinitely compelling, every twitch of his besocked-toe contributing to one’s sensation that all of his acclaim has been justly awarded. But given the shallowness of the show around him, Farinelli and the King could more accurately be characterized as a showcase for Rylance, a two-hour, live-action segment of an acting reel: a brilliant performance with no context.” — Dana Schwartz (Read the full review here.)

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two (Nominated for Best Play)

Number of Tony nominations: 10

EW grade: A

“The play, which opened Sunday at Broadway’s newly-renovated Lyric Theatre, is so massive, it’s best to examine it as two lofty halves: Parsed as a text, Cursed Child is a theme-park whirligig that dizzyingly checks all the boxes you’d expect to see of a show that bears the famous Potter name; parsed as a production, it’s a technical achievement that redefines the possibilities of theatre. Strong performances and touching themes make it a worthy play, but magical showstoppers, in lieu of musical numbers, transfigure it into something else entirely.” — Marc Snetiker (Read the full review here.)

Junk (Nominated for Best Play)

Number of Tony nominations: 2

EW grade: B+

“Still, it’s an enthralling production: John Lee Beatty’s grid of a set is like an Excel spreadsheet come to life — and when those illuminated cubes are combined with Doug Hughes’ direction, Ben Stanton’s lighting, and Mark Bennett’s sound, they can make a board meeting feel as dramatic as the Super Bowl. And despite each character’s path seeming inevitable, their choices — or lack thereof — will stick with you long after the final bow.” — Isabella Biedenharn (Read the full review here.)

Latin History for Morons (Nominated for Best Play)

Number of Tony nominations: 1

EW grade: A-

“Leguizamo’s one-man show features the performer as a version of himself, revising the way American history is typically taught to elevate the heroes of his own ethnic background, and to give his son the chance to feel pride in where and what he comes from. Leguizamo, who was born in Colombia, has long been a wild stage presence, an actor of enough range to keep an entire theater enraptured through his own musings, impressions, and literal pratfalls. (Previous one-man shows have netted him Obie and Drama Desk awards.) Yet while Latin History doesn’t exactly depart from that script — Leguizamo is hardly subdued here — this production is a sobering expression of political urgency that reflects its star’s maturation as a Latino public figure.” — David Canfield (Read the full review here.)

My Fair Lady (Nominated for Best Revival of a Musical)

Number of Tony nominations: 10

EW grade: A

"In the sumptuous, thrilling new revival at Lincoln Center, director Bartlett Sher (who won a Tony for the 2008 revival of South Pacific) has chosen a most surprising Eliza — Lauren Ambrose, best known as Claire Fisher on Six Feet Under. It’s not really fair to compare her to Elizas who’ve gone before, but those performances — especially Hepburn’s — are so deeply seared into our brain, most viewers can’t help but do so. Though Ambrose sings beautifully, her voice doesn’t have the power of Andrews’. And there’s no one on the planet with Hepburn’s sheer star quality (Hepburn is so enthralling she gets away with having her vocals dubbed by Marni Nixon). But Ambrose is a bold and electrifying actress, and her Eliza is more human than any Eliza we’ve seen before — a woman scarred by life but intent on finding joy. She’s frightened and erratic, but her soul is indestructible. Like the production itself, her performance is a thing of beauty." — Jess Cagle (Read the full review here.)

Once on This Island (Nominated for Best Revival of a Musical)

Number of Tony nominations: 8

EW grade: B+

"The four gods are all crowdpleasers with standout moments and costumes that become gradually more intricate and otherworldly as the show goes on. But, while Salonga is undoubtedly the biggest Broadway draw of the bunch, her performance is overshadowed by Newell, whose energetic 'Mama Will Provide' is a highlight and one of the show’s most memorable and most cheered moments." — Breanne L. Heldman (Read the full review here.)

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel (Nominated for Best Revival of a Musical)

Number of Tony nominations: 11

EW grade: C

"It doesn’t help that three-time Tony nominee Mueller (and winner for Beautiful) and two-time nominee Henry (who also played Aaron Burr in Hamilton on the road) are devoid of chemistry and egregiously miscast. That said, while Mueller’s talents are mostly wasted, Henry sounds terrific in every number, especially 'Soliloquy,' where Billy muses about his unborn child ... Renee Fleming, however, is as fabulous as Julie’s Aunt Nettie as you’d expect from the famed opera singer — this production marks her first role in a Broadway musical — and her energetic 'June Is Bustin’ Out All Over' and passionate 'You’ll Never Walk Alone' are show-stopping highlights." — Breanne L. Heldman (Read the full review here.)

Angels in America (Nominated for Best Revival of a Play)

Number of Tony nominations: 11

EW grade: A

"This new production, a transplant from London’s National Theatre, should appeal to two audiences: Those who fell for the play’s humor and wonder the first time around (they are unlikely to be disappointed in director Marianne Elliott’s take), and those who come to the show with no history. As a member of the first group, I have some envy for those in the second. Because while there may be bragging rights in being able to compare the Angel then (looking as if she flew off a Roman edifice) with the Angel now (more wild, broken-down and bird-like), the play’s text and imagery deliver an ecstatic jolt the first time you see it." — Allison Adato (Read the full review here.)

Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women (Nominated for Best Revival of a Play)

Number of Tony nominations: 6

EW grade: B

"Having its Broadway premiere nearly a quarter-century after its Off-Broadway debut, Three Tall Women is far from an easy evening of theater, despite being a swift, intermission-less hour-and-a-half. In the first act a woman in her 90s (played by Glenda Jackson and identified in the program only as “A,”), strong of will but failing of mind, is tended to by a woman in her 50s (Laurie Metcalf, “B”) and visited, for vague legal reasons, by a woman in her 20s (Alison Pill, “C”). The text, by turns poignant and funny, can also be, like Jackson’s character, prickly and distant." — Allison Adato (Read the full review here.)

Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh (Nominated for Best Revival of a Play)

Number of Tony nominations: 8

EW grade: A-

"Washington has spent a lot of time on the New York stage (most recently in Fences and A Raisin in the Sun) but his presence still feels like an event. Though the character doesn’t turn up until nearly an hour into the play, Hickey is an actor’s life-list role, one that makes the demands both of Macbeth and The Music Man’s Professor Harold Hill. He’s a charming fast-talker, evangelizing for sobriety in a saloon, joking and smiling and all the while hiding a guilty, gnawing secret. When that secret is revealed, Washington’s Hickey proves a transfixing storyteller, a salesman who knows how to close." — Allison Adato (Read the full review here.)

Lobby Hero (Nominated for Best Revival of a Play)

Number of Tony nominations: 3

EW grade: B+

"Lobby Hero is indisputably set in a lobby — the nondescript foyer of a nameless New York City apartment building — though it’s not immediately clear who the hero might be, or if one exists at all in director Trip Cullman’s high-wattage production of Kenneth Lonergan’s clever, discursive 2001 dramedy." — Leah Greenblatt (Read the full review here.)

Travesties (Nominated for Best Revival of a Play)

Number of Tony nominations: 4

EW grade: A-

"Director Patrick Marber — himself a vaunted playwright (Closer, Don Juan in Soho) — keeps Stoppard’s verbal ballet moving briskly, occasionally slowing the action down just enough to let the narrative (and the audience) breathe. Travesties‘ ratatat bursts of farce and romance and political theory may be too discursive to ever quite nail down exactly what it’s all about, other than everything. Still, one line from early in the first act does seem especially apropos, even if it undersells the frenetic wonders within: 'It may be nonsense, but at least it’s clever nonsense.'" — Leah Greenblatt (Read the full review here.)