'Poppins' OCC Favorite

The floodgates of theatre awards have opened. The Outer Critics Circle announced their nominations on Mon., the Drama League on Wed., and the Drama Desk will reveal theirs on Thurs. Mary Poppins garnered the most OCC nominations with 11! Mary Poppins???? I thought this was for best musical, not the longest. I'll bet Disney execs are kissing the ground the OCC nominating committee walks on. Word is they were petrified Poppins would not received a nomination for Best Musical from the Tonys. This is one expensive show and audiences have not been pouring in like they have for Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. They need every nomination they can get to Mary flying high. The show felt like a Disney attraction to me with everything preprogrammed and broadly played. There was very little real sentiment. When I was five years old, I was taken to the movie and I cried my eyes out when the Bird Lady wasn't in here usual place. For the Broadway version, my eyes were dry. I'll bet there will be a full-page ad touting the noms in this Friday's Times.

Even more strange, the OCC gave Spring Awakening only three noms.

In other news, I just got an email announcing that there will be a permanent Nunsense theatre and museum opening in the San Francisco Bay area on Mother's Day weekend. The thetre will house the differnt versions of Nunsense while the museum will display memorabilia from various productions worldwide.

--David Sheward