The Rankings

My own current predictions. Obviously, its a little silly to judge where a show will sit before its opened. However, that's the task I set before myself, and using past credentials and word of mouth, here's what I've compiled. Updates will be made as shows open, are seen and reviewed, and category eligibility is made final.

Best Musical
1.) Bullets Over Broadway
2.) If/Then
3.) A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
4.) Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

5.) Rocky
6.) The Bridges of Madison County
7.) Aladdin
8.) After Midnight
9.) A Night With Janis Joplin
10.) Big Fish
11.) First Date
12.) Soul Doctor

Best Revival of a Musical
1.) Hedwig and the Angry Inch
2.) Violet
3.) Les Miserables
4.) Cabaret

Best Play
1.) Casa Valentina
2.) Act One
3.) Mothers and Sons
4.) All the Way

5.) The Velocity of Autumn
6.) The Realistic Joneses
7.) Outside Mullingar
8.) Snow Geese
9.) A Time to Kill
10.) Bronx Bombers

Best Revival of a Play
1.) The Glass Menagerie
2.) Twelfth Night
3.)  A Raisin in the Sun
4.) The Cripple of Inishmaan

5.) Waiting for Godot
6.) Richard III
7.) Machinal
8.) No Mans Land
9.) Of Mice and Men
10.) Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill
11.) Betrayal
12.) The Winslow Boy
13.) Romeo and Juliet
14.) Macbeth

Best Lead Actor in a Musical
1.) Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
2.) Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
3.) Ramin Karimloo, Les Miserables
4.) Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman's guide to Love and Murder
5.) Zach Braff, Bullets Over Broadway

6.) Will Swenson, Les Miserables
7.) Norbert Leo Butz, Big Fish
8.) Andy Karl, Rocky
9.) Steven Pasquale, Bridges of Madison County
10.) Adam Jacobs, Aladdin
11.) Zachary Levi, First Date
12.) Eric Andersen, Soul Doctor

Best Lead Actress in a Musical
1.) Idina Menzel, If/Then
2.) Sutton Foster, Violet
3.) Kelli O'Hara, Bridges of Madison County
4.) Jessie Mueller, Beautiful
5.) Michelle Williams, Cabaret

6.) Mary Bridgett-Davies, A Night With Janis Joplin
7.) Margo Seibert, Rocky
8.) Courtney Reed, Aladdin
9.) Krysta Rodriguez, First Date

Lead Actress in a Play
1.) Cherry Jones, The Glass Menagerie
2.) Tyne Daly, Mothers and Sons
3.) LaTanya Richardson Jackson, A Raisin in the Son
4.) Estelle Parsons, The Velocity of Autumn
5.) Audra McDonald, Lady Day

6.) Rebecca Hall, Machinal
7.) Debra Messing, Outside Mullingar
8.) Marissa Tomei, The Realistic Joneses
9.) Toni Collette, The Realistic Joneses
10.) Rachel Weisz, Betrayal
11.) Mary Louise Parker, Snow Geese
12.) Condola Rashad, Romeo and Juliet
13.) Anne-Marie Duff, Macbeth

Best Lead Actor in a Play
1.) Bryan Cranston, All the Way
2.) Denzel Washington, A Raisin in the Sun
3.)  Daniel Radcliffe, The Cripple of Inishmaan
4.) Zachary Quinto, Glass Menagerie
5.) Mark Rylance, Richard III

6.) Tony Shalhoub, Act One
7.) Ian McKellen, Waiting for Godot
8.) Patrick Stewart, Waiting for Godot
9.) Stephen Spinella, Velocity of Autumn
10.) Tracey Letts, The Realistic Joneses
11.) Santino Fontana, Act One
12.) Brian F. O'Byrne, Outside Mullingar
13.) James Franco, Of Mice and Men
14.) Michael C. Hall, The Realistic Joneses
15.) Chris O'Dowd, Of Mice and Men
16.) Roger Rees, The Winslow Boy
17.) Daniel Craig, Betrayal
18.) Orlando Bloom, Romeo and Juliet
19.) Sebastian Arcelus, A Time to Kill
20.) Peter Scolari, Bronx Bombers
21.) Ethan Hawke, Macbeth

The Tony Awards ...more than you needed to know.

So you're a Non-Union actor, working your box office job in NYC. And you have lots of free time on the computer. So course lots of time is spent mulling over shows, reviews, Youtube clips of Audra McDonald and: the Tony Awards.

I love the Tony's because, more than any other award show, they do a great job of showcasing a community.  The Oscars have a special place in my heart, but you can practically feel the rage, nervousness, and glances of agents and producers through your TV screen as names are called up to the podium. And while of course an element of competition exists at the Tonys there's a sense of respect and love in the room. A recognition of the immense talent it takes to make it in to that room, to work on theat level (at least thats what it seems to us viewers. Who knows maybe they're all ass-hats behind close doors. But, I prefer my optimistic view). So, how will the element of competition enter the ring if all these nice theatre people are too busy lavishing praise for one another? Allow me.

Were you wondering just how many shows debuted this season? Who's eligible where? I got it for you. Below, youll find every show of the 2013-2014 season sorted into their respective categories. Let the predictions begin.

New Musicals

FIRST DATE
Previews: July 9, 2013
Opening: August 8, 2013
Closing: January 5, 2014
Written by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner (music & lyrics) and Austin Winsburg (book)
Cast: Zachary Levi and Krysta Rodriguez

SOUL DOCTOR
Previews: July 17, 2013
Opening: August 15, 2013
Closing: October 13, 2013
Written by: Shlomo Carlebach (music), David Schecter (lyrics), and Daniel S Wise (book)
Cast: Eric Anderson with Amber Iman

BIG FISHPreview: September 5, 2013
Opening: October 6, 2013
Closing: December 29, 2013
Written by Andrew Lippa (music and lyrics) and John August (book)
Cast: Norbert Leo Butz with Kate Baldwin and Bobby Steggert 

AFTER MIDNIGHT

Preview: October 18, 2013
Opening: November 3, 2013
By: Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars
Cast: Fantasia Barino, Dule Hill 

A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLINPreview: September 20, 2013
Opening: October 10, 2013
Music of Janis Joplin
Cast: Mary Brigdett Davies

A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER

Theatre: Walter Kerr Theatre
Preview: October 22, 2013
Opening: November 17, 2013
Written by Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak
Starring: Jefferson Mays and Bryce Pinkham 

BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL
Previews: November 21, 2013
Opening: January 12, 2014
Written by: Carole King, Barry Mann, Gerry Goffin, and Cynthia Weil
Cast: Jessie Mueller with Jake Epstein, Anika Larsen, and Jarrod Spector

THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY

Preview: January 17, 2014
Opening: February 27 2014
Written by Jason Robert Brown (music and lyrics), Marsha Norman (book)
Cast: Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale with Hunter Foster, Cass Morgan, and Michael X. Martin

ALADDIN
Preview: February 26, 2014
Opening: March 20, 2014
Written by Alan Menken (music), Howard Ashman (lyrics), Tim Rice (lyrics), Chad Beguelin (book and lyrics)
Cast: Adam Jacobs and Courntey Reeds, with Jonathan Freeman and James Monroe Inglehart  

ROCKY

Preview: February 11, 2014
Opening: March 13, 2014
Written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (score), Thomas Meehan (book)
Cast: Andy Karl and Margo Seibert, with Terence Archie and Dekin Matthews 

IF/THEN

Preview: March 4, 2014
Opening: March 27, 2014
Written by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey
Cast: Idina Menzel, with LaChaze, Anthony Rapp and James Snyder

BULLETS OVER BROADWAY

Preview: March 11, 2014
Opening: April 10, 2014
Written by Woody Allen
Cast: Zach Braff with Marin Mazzie and Betsy Wolfe 

Musical Revivals

CABARET
Preview: March 21, 2014
Opening: April 24, 2014
Written by Joe Masteroff, John Kander and Fred Ebb
Cast: Alan Cumming and Michelle Williams, with Danny Burstein and Linda Emond
*Having previously won the Tony in this role, Alan Cumming is in-eligible to compete this year

LES MISERABLES

Preview: March 1, 2014
Opening: March 23, 2014
Written by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer
Cast: Ramin Karimloo and Will Swenson, with Caissie Levy, Nikki M. James, and Andy Mientus

VIOLET
Previews: March 28, 2014
Opening: April 20, 2014
Written by: Jeanine Tesori and  Brian Crawley
Cast: Sutton Foster, with Joshua Henry, Colin Donnell, and Emerson Steele


HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH
Previews: March 29, 2014
Opening: April 22, 2014
Written by John Cameron Mitchell, Stephen Trask
Director: Michael Mayer
Cast: Neil Patrick Harris

New Plays

A TIME TO KILLPreviews: September 28, 2013Opening: October 20, 2013
Closing: November 17, 2013Adapted by Rupert HolmesBased on Novel by John GrishamCast: Sebastian Arcelus and John Douglas Thompson, with Patrick Page, Ashley Williams, Tom Skerritt, and Tonya Pinkins 

 THE SNOW GEESE

Previews: October 1, 2013
Opening: October 24, 2013
Closing: December 15, 2013
Written by Sharr White
Cast: Mary Louise Parker, with Danny Burstein and Victoria Clark

 OUTSIDE MULLINGAR

Previews: January 2, 2014
Opening: January 23, 2014
Written by John Patrick Shanley
Cast: Debra Messing and Brian F. O'Byrne

BRONX BOMBERS
Previews: January 10, 2014
Opening: February 6, 2014
Written by: Eric Simonson
Cast: Peter Scolari, with Tracy Shayne, Christopher Jackson, Francios Battiste, and C.J. Wilson

ALL THE WAY
Previews: February 10, 2014
Opening: March 6, 2014
Written by: Robert Schenkkan
Cast: Bryan Cranston with Michael McKean, and Brandon J. Dirden

THE REALISTIC JONESES
Previews: TBA March, 2014
Opening: April 6, 2014
Written by: Will Eno
Cast: Tracey Letts, Marissa Tomei, Toni Collette, and Michael C. Hall

MOTHERS AND SONS
Previews: February 23, 2014
Opening: March 24, 2014
Written by: Terrence McNally
Cast: Tyne Daly with Bobby Steggert and Frederick Weller


ACT ONE
Previews: March 20, 2014
Opening: April 17, 2014
Written by: James Lapine (adaptation of autobiography by Moss Hart), with music by Jeanine Tesori
Cast: Santino Fontana and Tony Shalhoub with Andrea Martin and Chuck Cooper

THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN
Previews: April 1, 2014
Opening: April 21, 2014
Written by: Eric Coble
Cast: Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella

CASA VALENTINA
Previews: April 1, 2014
Opening: April 24th 2014
Written by: Harvey Fierstein
Cast: Patrick Page and John Cullum 

Play Revivals

ROMEO AND JULIET

Previews: August 24, 2013
Opening:  September 19th, 2014
Closing: December 8, 2013
Written by: William Shakespeare
Cast: Condola Rashad and Orlando Bloom 

THE GLASS MENAGERIEFirst Preview: September 5, 2013
Opening: September 26, 2013
Written by Tennessee Williams
Cast: Cherry Jones and Zachary Quinto with Celia Keenan-Bolger, and Brian J. Smith

THE WINSLOW BOYPreviews: September 20, 2013
Opening: October 17, 2013
Closing: December 1, 2013
Cast: Roger Rees

BETRAYALPreviews: October 1, 2013
Opening: November 3, 2013
Written by Harold Pinter
Cast: Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz, with Rafe Spall


TWELFTH NIGHT and RICHARD III

Previews: October 15, 2013
Opening: November 10, 2013
Written by William Shakespeare
Cast: Mark Rylance with Stephen Fry

MACBETH

Previews: October 24, 2013
Opening: November 21, 2013
Written by William Shakespeare
Cast: Ethan Hawke and Anne-Marie Duff, with John Glover, Malcolm Gets, Brian D'Arcy James, and Daniel Sunjata 

NO MANS LAND and WAITING FOR GODOT

Previews: October 26, 2013
Opening: November 24, 2013
Written by Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett
Cast: Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, with Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley

MACHINAL

Previews: December 20, 2013
Opening: January 16, 2014
Written by Sophie Treadwell
Cast: Rebecca Hall with Michael Cumpsty, Suzanne Bertish, and Morgan Spector

OF MICE AND MEN
Previews: March 19, 2014
Opening: April 16, 2014
Written by: John Steinbeck
Cast: James Franco and Chris O'Dowd with Leighton Meester

A RAISIN IN THE SUNPreviews: March 8, 2014
Opening: April 3, 2014
Written by Lorraine Hansberry
Cast: Denzel Washington and Latanya Richardson Jackson with Sophie Okonedo, David Cromer, and Anika Noni Rose

THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN 

Previews: April 6, 2014
Opening: April 20, 2014
Closing: July 20, 2014
Written by: Martin McDonagh
Directed by: Michael Grandage
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe with Ingrid Craigie, Sarah Greene, Padraic Delaney, and June Watson