Our warm and hearty congratulations go out to local gal Cricket Hooper Jiranek, producer of the hit Broadway play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which just received the Tony Award for Best Play. Nice! (Did we mention that Jiranek is from Baltimore and graduated from Garrison Forest? Yes? Well, we’ll mention it again!)
The play stars Sigourney Weaver as an arrogant, aging actress who brings her 20-something boyfriend home to meet her middle-aged siblings. Originally scheduled to close last year, the play has been extended several times. This Tony win pushed its closing date back even further, until August 25. (Weaver will give her final performance on July 28, however.) Along with its Tony recognition, the play has also been named “best of the year” by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle, the Drama Desk, the Drama League, and the Outer Critics Circle.
Winning a Tony — especially the coveted “best play” accolade — not only boosts attendance on Broadway, notes New Yorker theater critic John Lahr — sometimes by as much as 20 percent! — it also makes it easier to sell a show on the road. So let’s hope we’ll see a local production of Jiranek’s play sometime soon; if not, it sounds like it’s well worth the trip up I-95.
Nice article …. Excellent Play ,and Great looking Producer ….Carrington Hooper ,,,
CONGRATULATIONS TO the PRODUCERS ,DIRECTOR ,and OUTSTANDING CAST of VANYA and SONIA ,and MASHA ,and SPIKE !!!