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CRUDUP IN 'THE COAST OF UTOPIA' Our predicted winner for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Anthony Chisholm, Radio Golf
Billy Crudup, The Coast of Utopia
Ethan Hawke, The Coast of Utopia
John Earl Jelks, Radio Golf
Stark Sands, Journey's End

PREDICTED WINNER Billy Crudup
For my money, this is the toughest category of the night. Honestly, any one of them deserves to win. And there's always the possibility that Chisholm and Jelks will split the Radio Golf votes, and that Hawke and Crudup will divide Utopia voters, leaving Sands' sensitive soldier in the spotlight. But Crudup's comic turn as a sweat-soaked literary critic was pretty universally beloved, and after losing in 2002 for The Elephant Man and in 2005 for The Pillowman, the devoted stage actor is certainly due.

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Jennifer Ehle, The Coast of Utopia
Xanthe Elbrick, Coram Boy
Dana Ivey, Butley
Jan Maxwell, Coram Boy
Martha Plimpton, The Coast of Utopia

PREDICTED WINNER Martha Plimpton
Ehle arguably did better (and subtler) work in the Utopia trilogy, but Plimpton — an Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk winner — had the showiest role in part three; she's fresher in voters' minds.

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Brooks Ashmanskas, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
Christian Borle, Legally Blonde The Musical
John Cullum, 110 in the Shade
John Gallagher, Jr., Spring Awakening
David Pittu, LoveMusik

PREDICTED WINNER John Gallagher Jr.
Pittu, dynamite as LoveMusik's Bertolt Brecht, will come in a close second, but Gallagher is the definite standout among Spring's vibrant young cast. Just listen to his angst-ridden renditions of tunes like ''I Don't Do Sadness'' and ''The Bitch of Living.''

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Charlotte d'Amboise, A Chorus Line
Rebecca Luker, Mary Poppins
Orfeh, Legally Blonde The Musical
Mary Louise Wilson, Grey Gardens
Karen Ziemba, Curtains

PREDICTED WINNER Mary Louise Wilson
She plays off Ebersole perfectly. More important, she holds her own opposite her scene-stealing costar. And that's no small feat when you're wearing a housedress, confined to bed, singing a song called ''Jerry Likes My Corn.''

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Bob Crowley & Scott Pask, The Coast of Utopia
Jonathan Fensom, Journey's End
David Gallo, Radio Golf
Ti Green and Melly Still, Coram Boy

PREDICTED WINNER Utopia. It was mammoth, spare, elegant, and stunning from start to finish.

NEXT PAGE: Predicting the Tony winners for Costume Design, and Scenic Design and Best Book of a Musical


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