The Theatrosphere Responds to the Tony Noms — and Donna Murphy -- Vulture -- Entertainment & Culture Blog -- New York Magazine

Boyd Gaines, "the male Cherry Jones."Paul Kolnik/Courtesy of Journey’s End

What the theater bloggers (and chatters) are all in a dither about this week:

The Tony nominations were announced this week, and Talkin' Broadway's All That Chat gang immediately sprang into action, though their targets were a bit surprising.

For example, poster Castro set off the biggest debate decrying Jason Taylor's lighting nom for Journey's End ("My eyes were so strained trying to watch this show I could hardly keep them open") while whyohwhyoh, after blasting Spring Awakening ("a tuneless disaster, something that a college student might write"), reserved his biggest grudge for … Boyd Gaines?

I want to know where the body is buried because the terminally bland Boyd Gaines is up once again for a TONY for his horrendous performance in the over-rated Journey's End. He's become the male Cherry Jones — no matter what he does, he gets a nom.

Meanwhile, the Playgoer does the math, comparing available noms to the number of actual shows, concluding mischievously, "31 productions eligible for Best something. Which means more than half automatically merited nomination. So I thought it would be fun to see just what wasn't nominated."

Among the Non-Nominees Playgoer cites are "Not nominated for Best Musical" (Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me), "Not nominated for Best Play" (David Hare’s star-studded The Vertical Hour), and, pointedly, "Not nominated for Best Musical Revival: nothing." Well, not nothing, Playgoer; the Les Miz revival didn’t make the cut, so perhaps all is not lost.

Meanwhile, blogger Leonard Jacobs is on the warpath after “Stupid nattering nabobs of narcissism” on the message boards spread rumors about why nominee Donna Murphy missed a few recent performances of LoveMusik, writing:

Whoever started posting on All That Chat today that something terrible had happened to Donna Murphy's husband … would you please leave the country? Or vaporize in a torrential downpour of your own unrelenting stupidity? Or — hey, how about this — just not participate in any kind of public dialogue anymore?

Note to self: Don't cross Leonard Jacobs. — Mac Rogers