Kudos to Swenson, LaBute for Tony nods

First things first. I can't begin to write anything about the Tony Awards without issuing a huge congratulations to Utahn Will Swenson.

Last week, Swenson was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actor in a Musical for playing Berger in the revival of "Hair." (Those awards will be announced May 17).

Now he's been nominated for a Tony Award in the category of Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical.

The revival of "Hair" garnered eight nods and is up against "Guys and Dolls," "West Side Story" and "Pal Joey" for Best Revival of a Musical.

Swenson is now on the media roller-coaster ride that comes along with a nomination, and he will spend the next month doing interviews, attending soirees and, hopefully, enjoying every minute of it.

Another local Tony tie: Playwright and Brigham Young University graduate Neil LaBute was nominated in the Best Play category for "Reasons to be Pretty," which is about a man's off-handed remarks about a female co-worker's pretty face — and his girlfriend's lack thereof. Of course the comments make their way back to the girlfriend.

The other plays in the Best Play category include "Dividing the Estate," by Horton Foote; "God of Carnage," by Yasmina Reza (currently starring James Gandolfini and Jeff Daniels); and "33 Variations," by Moises Kaufman (currently starring Jane Fonda).

In the Best Musical category, the nominees are: "Billy Elliot, The Musical," (my personal favorite); "Next to Normal"; "Rock of Ages"; and "Shrek: The Musical"

Other Tony thoughts:

The Web sites dedicated to Tony news ask the nominees where they were and what they were doing when they found out they were nominated.

Am I the only one who finds it odd that most of these actors never seem to be watching the announcement?

By and large, all of them either say they were asleep when the phone rang, or they were out and about and had to be called by their agent. Some even found out by text.

Most seem to have had no idea the nominations were being announced.

Really?

When called and greeted with "Congratulations!" their response was most often, "For what?"

Really?

You're a working actor, this is your livelihood and you really don't know when the biggest award nominations of the year are being announced?

I applaud those who just admit they were watching TV, anxious, waiting for the announcement. Granted, many actors are quite superstitious. But shouldn't they at least be aware what's happening?

E-mail: ehansen@desnews.com