VOA标准英语2013--Best of Broadway to be Honored Sunday

 

Best of Broadway to be Honored Sunday

Sex is in the Heel is one of the show-stopping tunes¹ that garnered² Kinky Boots a Tony nomination³ for Best Musical. David Cote,  theater critic for "Time Out New York," says its 13 nominations⁴ are well-deserved.

“Kinky Boots is a bright, funny, silly but sentimental⁵ show about drag queens in a shoe factory in England,” he said. “It’s an underdog story. So in that sense it’s a good show, it’s a fun show, it’s a crowd-pleaser, it’s an American show."

Kinky Boots faces stiff competition from Matilda, a Royal Shakespeare Company production based on Roald Dahl’s children’s book. 

“It’s also is about an underdog,” said Cote, “a young girl named Matilda who has some horrid⁶ parents and a terrible headmistress named Miss Trunchbull at this English public school where she attends…And it ends with a song called Revolting Children, in which the children sort of wallow in their own revoltingness and how revolting society is and how revolting her rhymes are. It's an anthem⁷ to bad behavior."  

Both Best Musical frontrunners are conventional Broadway productions, according to Cote.

“They have a little bit of comedy here, a little bit of conflict, but everything turns out all right in the end. And even if there’s a little sexual ambiguity⁸ with the characters, like you have drag queens and uptight⁹ straight characters sharing the stage,” he said. “You don’t see a lot of musicals that are dark or weird¹⁰ or ambiguous or whose music really pushes the boundary for what we hear onstage.”

Of the four nominees¹¹ for Best Actor, two are well known stars. Nathan Lane is up for his role in The Nance¹², about a burlesque¹³ performer in the 1930s, and Tom Hanks plays the lead in Lucky Guy, a Nora Ephron play about a real life New York reporter during the 1970s, 80s and 90s. 

“Tom Hanks is magnificent in this play,” Cote said. “He’s got the charisma¹⁴, the swagger, the kind-of old school patter down perfectly¹⁵. It’s a love letter to New York and tabloids¹⁶.”

Lucky Guy is also nominated for Best Play. To win, it has to beat three other plays, including a comedy called Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike¹⁷, by veteran playwright¹⁸ Christopher Durang.  

“It’s kind of about being middle-aged¹⁹ and sad and feeling your life hasn’t really ended up where you wanted it,” Cote said, “themes that any average theater critic can relate to."  

Some Tony watchers are interested in who got snubbed. Many were surprised that singer and comedienne Bette Midler, who plays a colorful foul-mouthed Hollywood agent in I’ll Eat You Last, was not nominated for a Tony.

Casting a celebrity²⁰ may boost ticket sales, but it doesn’t guarantee a Tony.     

"A lot of industry people vote for the Tonys, and they may really want to nominate and award people who are stage stalwarts,” said Cote.

Just who will win the Tonys at Sunday's ceremony is a closely guarded secret. But that’s show business. Otherwise, where would the drama be? 

1 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 garnered   

v.收集并（通常）贮藏（某物），取得，获得( garner的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith gradually garnered a national reputation as a financial expert. 史密斯先生逐渐赢得全国金融专家的声誉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals. 他的提议得到了广泛的支持。 来自辞典例句

3 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

4 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

5 sentimental   

adj.多愁善感的，感伤的

参考例句：

• She's a sentimental woman who believes marriage comes by destiny.她是多愁善感的人，她相信姻缘命中注定。
• We were deeply touched by the sentimental movie.我们深深被那感伤的电影所感动。

6 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

7 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

8 ambiguity   

n.模棱两可；意义不明确

参考例句：

• The telegram was misunderstood because of its ambiguity.由于电文意义不明确而造成了误解。
• Her answer was above all ambiguity.她的回答毫不含糊。

9 uptight   

adj.焦虑不安的，紧张的

参考例句：

• He's feeling a bit uptight about his exam tomorrow.他因明天的考试而感到有点紧张。
• Try to laugh at it instead of getting uptight.试着一笑了之，不要紧张。

10 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

11 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

12 nance   

n.娘娘腔的男人，男同性恋者

参考例句：

• I think he's an awful nance.我觉得他这个人太娘娘腔了。
• He doesn't like to be called a nance.他不喜欢被叫做娘娘腔。

13 burlesque   

v.嘲弄，戏仿；n.嘲弄，取笑，滑稽模仿

参考例句：

• Our comic play was a burlesque of a Shakespearean tragedy.我们的喜剧是对莎士比亚一出悲剧的讽刺性模仿。
• He shouldn't burlesque the elder.他不应模仿那长者。

14 charisma   

n.(大众爱戴的)领袖气质，魅力

参考例句：

• He has enormous charisma. He is a giant of a man.他有超凡的个人魅力，是个伟人。
• I don't have the charisma to pull a crowd this size.我没有那么大的魅力，能吸引这么多人。

15 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

16 tabloids   

n.小报，通俗小报（版面通常比大报小一半，文章短，图片多，经常报道名人佚事）( tabloid的名词复数 )；药片

参考例句：

• The story was on the front pages of all the tabloids. 所有小报都在头版报道了这件事。
• The story made the front page in all the tabloids. 这件事成了所有小报的头版新闻。

17 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

18 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

19 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

20 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。