Kinky Boots trample on Matilda’s night of musical triumph at the Tony Awards

 
1/11
10 June 2013
The Weekender

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Matilda the Musical won four Tony Awards, New York theatre’s equivalent of the Oscars, but was unexpectedly beaten to the top honour by a musical based on an obscure British film.

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s hit adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1988 children’s novel, selling out at the Shubert Theatre in Times Square in New York and the Cambridge Theatre in London, was the favourite at the Tonys to add to its success at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards and the Oliviers.

But it was beaten by Kinky Boots, featuring songs by Cyndi Lauper and based on a 2005 film about a drag queen coming to the rescue of a struggling shoe factory owner in Northampton, which walked off with six Tonys.

Matilda’s awards went to Londoner Dennis Kelly for best book of a musical, Gabriel Ebert for best featured actor in a musical, Hugh Vanstone for best lighting design in a musical and Rob Howell for best scenic design in a musical.

Accepting his award at the ceremony at Radio City Music Hall, Kelly, whose next project is writing the script for submarine film Black Sea, starring Jude Law, said: “When I wrote Matilda the Musical I really had no idea of how to write a musical so this is a ringing endorsement of ignorance and stupidity.” American actor Ebert thanked the creative team, led by director Matthew Warchus, who “trusted and allowed me to step into their immaculate vision with my crazy alligator-skin shoes”.

Insiders said Matilda might have suffered because of the success of other British imports. “In years to come, people will look back on Matilda as being a better musical than Kinky Boots,” said one producer.

“But Kinky Boots fought a highly aggressive campaign and Matilda also suffered from the recent Tony successes enjoyed by British transfers such as War Horse, One Man, Two Guvnors and Billy Elliot. There was definitely a sense this year of ‘let’s not honour another London import and instead we’ll show you what a New York show can do’.”

RSC artistic director Gregory Doran said: “Kinky Boots is a great show. I think ours is a more original show, a less formulaic show. a better show. In the end, the Tony gods decided but I don’t think it boils down to that much. They got six, we got four.”

The film of Kinky Boots received a lukewarm response from critics, with one decrying its “formulaic Britcom plot” and movie review website Rotten Tomatoes gave it a distinctly average overall rating of 57 per cent.

Bertie Carvel, who plays despotic headmistress Miss Trunchbull in Matilda, and who lost out to Billy Porter from Kinky Boots for best actor in a musical, told the Standard: “Would I like for Matilda to have brought in all 12 awards that it was nominated for? Of course, but that is not how I measure my work. Everybody likes to be given accolades but I have a certain ambivalence that I can’t disguise because if you desperately want to win, you fall hard when you lose.”

Kinky Boots choreographer Jerry Mitchell, who won a Tony for his work on the show, told the Standard: “Kinky Boots is coming soon to London. I can’t tell you when, but it’s soon. I’m going to London in two weeks which should tell you something.”

In another surprise, Tom Hanks, considered a shoo-in for his performance in media drama Lucky Guy, lost out to Tracy Letts in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Letts also beat Londoner Tom Sturridge in his Broadway debut in a revival of Orphans.

The night’s other winners include a revival of Steven Schwartz’s musical Pippin, which won four Tonys and the family satire Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, that won best play.

It was also a landmark night for African-American acting talent. Half of the major acting awards went to African-Americans, led by Cicely Tyson, who at 88 became the oldest Tony winner, winning best actress in a play for her performance in The Trip to Bountiful.

Guests included Scarlet Johansson, Liam Neeson and Sienna Miller.

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