The current Broadway season will likely be remembered for restoring respect to the American musical form, if - as many experts predict - the hit show "City of Angels" takes the lion's share of the Tony Awards.
The Cy Coleman-Larry Gelbart satire of Hollywood's golden days and private eye movies of the 1940s is nominated for 11 Tonys, including those for best musical, best score and book, best director, best actor (two), best featured performance (two) and several technical awards.Its jazzy score and double story - one told in color and the other in black and white - are unlike anything seen on the stage in recent years, and seem to appeal to all tastes.
"City of Angels," which cleverly weaves together its two plots - a screenwriter struggling to retain his integrity while adapting his hardboiled detective novel for the screen, and the private eye story itself - is what Newsweek termed an American original and "a miracle".
While Tommy Tune's "Grand Hotel, The Musical" topped the Tony nominees' list with 12, its reviews were mixed as compared to the universal raves won by "City of Angels," making City the strong favorite for the top award when the Tonys are presented Sunday night.
It already has won New York Drama Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards.
The other nominees in the category, "Meet Me in St. Louis" and "Aspects of Love," are given little chance of winning, the latter despite the name of Andrew Lloyd Webber, by far Broadway's most successful composer.
On the drama side, a horse race is shaping up for best play between an adaptation of "The Grapes of Wrath" and August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson," which won a Pulitzer Prize earlier this year.
"The Piano Lesson," already cited as best play by both the Drama Critics Circle and Drama Desk, is the fourth in a series of plays by Wilson exploring black family life in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is considered serious, stirring drama.
So, too, is "The Grapes of Wrath," an adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater Company, a highly respected group that has received little public recognition. In the minds of the Tony voters, this may be a chance to give Steppenwolf its due.
Other nominees include Craig Lucas' "Prelude to a Kiss" and Peter Shaffer's "Lettice and Lovage."
"Prelude" received many good reviews but is a small, rather quirky play about a bride and groom who must cope when the bride's spirit enters the body of a 70-year-old man on their wedding day and it might not charm enough Tony voters.
Shaffer's comedic play, which stars Maggie Smith in a widely acclaimed and flamboyant performance, was not at all well reviewed, and would be a surprise winner.
However, Smith's performance - she plays a tour guide at an uninteresting English manor who makes up the estate's history during her tours - is likely to bring her the Tony award that has eluded her thus far.
The same might be said of Robert Morse, whose nightly interpretation of author Truman Capote in the one-man show "Tru" also won raves despite poor notices for the play itself.
Morse's primary competition will come from Charles S. Dutton for "The Piano Lesson." Dutton's performance was widely lauded, but it is his personal story - he is an ex-convict - that is the sort of thing voters find inspiring and deserving.
Dustin Hoffman's performance in "The Merchant of Venice" won mixed reactions and because he was only in five scenes the nomination for best actor was considered his award. Tom Hulce, also nominated, is no longer playing in "A Few Good Men" and voters often have short memories.
Smith may get some competition from Geraldine James, whose performance as Portia in Merchant carried the show. She could well be a long-shot winner.
Other nominees are Kathleen Turner for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and Mary Louise Parker for "Prelude to a Kiss."
On the musical side, James Naughton is likely to prevail over co-star Gregg Edelman in "City of Angels." Edelman has the more understated role as the screenwriter, while Naughton is the flashier, more memorable private eye.
Bob Gunton, who starred in a much-praised revival of "Sweeney Todd," is also nominated but the show has long been closed and Gunton's chances may be hurt further by memories of Len Cariou and George Hearn in the original production.
Oddly, that problem is not expected to haunt Tyne Daly, who is likely to walk off with the best actress award for her role as Mama Rose in a revival of "Gypsy."
The role was considered to be practically copyrighted by Ethel Merman and it was to Angela Lansbury's credit that she managed to emerge from Merman's shadow in a subsequent revival of the show years later.
Now Daly has scored a similar triumph, and faces little competition in the category. Among other nominees, only Liliane Montevecchi is still appearing, in "Grand Hotel."
In the supporting, or featured performance, categories, little is certain with the possible exception of Michael Jeter, who plays the dying accountant looking for a fling at the high life in "Grand Hotel, The Musical."
The 37-year-old actor's performance as a 60-year-old man was said by one Broadway observer to be "the best performance on the musical stage in years," and Jeter's exuberant tap dance number receives the show's greatest applause nightly.