Patrick Stewart Nominated For Tony [UPDATED: Looks Forward To Abrams Trek]

Patrick Stewart (TNG: Picard) today received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance By a Leading Actor in a Play, for his performance in Macbeth, currently playing on Broadway. The actor has received a number of previous theater awards and nominations for Macbeth (and previous plays), but this is his first Tony nomination.

Big news for Shakespeare fans – Stewart elated
Even though Shakespeare is often shunned by the Tonys, Macbeth garnered a total of six nominations, including Best Revival of a Play as well as Best Performance By a Leading Actress for Stewart’s co-star Kate Fleetwood.
Stewart told Playbill:

It feels so good! This is a primo nomination for a stage actor, and for a British stage actor to be nominated on Broadway is about as good as it can get. So it’s a wonderful morning. This is quite something for a show that started out in a 200-seat studio theatre on the South Coast of England. I was told that, if I were nominated, I would be the first actor in the history of the Tony Awards to be nominated for this role. That’s amazing. I don’t think any production of Macbeth has been nominated before.

Stewart has some stiff competition, going up against Ben Daniel (Les Liaisons Dangereuses), Laurence Fishburne (Thurgood), Mark Rylance (Boeing-Boeing), and Rufus Sewell (Rock ‘n’ Roll). A full list of nominees available at the official Tony Award site.

UPDATED: EW Interview with Patrick Stewart + talks Abrams Trek
Entertainment Weekly just put up a new interview with Stewart, here are a coupe of excerpts.

On being nominated

EW: I was surprised to realize this is actually your first time being nominated for a Tony. Are you surprised it’s taken this long?
Stewart: There have been a couple of disappointments in the past, yeah. But I’m not surprised. At awards time, you just have got to be as philosophical as possible. I’ve won, I’ve lost, I’ve been ignored, you know — I’ve run the whole gamut of experiences of awards! But this morning is a very, very special morning. It’s always been a dream of mine to have a Tony nomination. It is the premier theater award, and for English actors, of course, it has a very special meaning.

Stewart looking forward to Abrams Trek

EW: Are you looking forward to seeing the new Star Trek film that’s coming out next year?
Stewart: Oh, I am! Yes, looking forward to it very much. And I know nothing about it.

EW: Have the producers of that film been in touch with you at all?
Stewart: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It has nothing to do with The Next Generation at all.

Stewart also talked to EW about his upcoming performance of Hamlet with David Tennant (Doctor Who) and a secret theater project to follow. On that followup, Stewart would only say it was with “an actor I’ve wanted to do something with for a long time.”

Stewart and Whoopi together again…and again
Stewart will find out if he wins at the 2008 Tony Awards on June 15 at Radio City Music Hall. The show is hosted by Whoopi Goldberg (TNG’s Guinnan) and will be broadcast on CBS. Stewart will be seen even sooner with Goldberg, when he is the guest on The View Thursday.

Stewart Talks Macbeth
The NY Post has put up a new backstage video interview (conducted before the Tony nominations) with Stewart.

51 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

I hope he wins it. A great actor. The only problem is Tony’s are rarely given out for a production of Shakespeare.

http://www.americantheatrewing.org/downstagecenter/detail/patrick_stewart

Here’s an hour audio interview done just this weekend; goes into a lot of detail regarding the finer points of theater. Can’t wait to see him & David Tennant in September!

Picard was a bore, but Stewart has always been a fine actor, good for him.

I’m really, really happy for him. Patrick wears his fame very easily and without fanfare and is a class act. I’m glad he’s getting the recognition. He deserves it.

Given the superstitions surrounding “the Scottish Play”, I’m wondering how they announced it in the theater that the Tony Award noms were given out in…

I almost forgot to add that this is a feather in his cap — just being nominated for Macbeth is historical enough in and of itself…here’s hoping he gets the Tony!

#2: What’s he appearing with Tennant in?

Patrick: Go for it, and get it!

Congratulations to Patrick Stewart for this prestigious honor within his craft. He may have portrayed my least favorite Starfleet Captain, but he has enormous talent as a stage actor. I hope he wins!

From the comments Stewart has made in interviews, one can feel his pride in his role in this particular production. I am sure it would mean a great deal to him to win this award and am also as sure it would be well-deserved.

Does Patrick borrow the witches from Catspaw?

Good story!

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2008 Stratford-Upon-Avon season will star Patrick Stewart in the role of Claudius with David Tennant in the title role of Hamlet.

Gosh, I cannot wait for Saturday when I go to Broadway to see this play!

I am so very excited!

Bravo, Patrick!

The View… again? That’s twice in one week my love of Trek is forcing me to choke down the bile that is The View. I hope they give him more than the pawltry few minutes they gave The Shat.

If only Picard had been more like Patrick!

What wonderful news for Mr. Stewart — I can feel his excitement in those quotes. He’s long-overdue for such an honor.

17. I think that part of the reason Picard mellowed out over the last few seasons of the show might have been to incorporate more aspects of Patrick Stewart’s personality into the role. He took the show very seriously, but seemed proud and happy about it, not stodgy and self-righteous as Picard was in danger of becoming in the early seasons.

Regarding the Tony nomination, perhaps this will bring luck to the Scottish play. To borrow from a different Shakespearean tragedy perhaps this play will garner outrageous fortune without the slings and arrows.

I can’t think of a more deserving actor. Congratulations, Mr. Stewart!

I should add that I never found Picard to be anything but the opposite of boring. I felt about Picard the same way I did about Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird.

CmdrR#11- No, his witches are Vulcanista, Spockanella and I. We labor over our enchanted plomeek soup cauldron chanting:

Double, double, toil and trouble,
Nimoy appear on the double.
Eye of newt, hair of mare,
He enchants with Vulcan stare.
Feminine hearts around him felled,
As he seduces with alien meld.
Root of hemlock, a virgin’s tear,
He tempts all with pointed ear.
Camera aimed and naked fems,
He conjures art with untamed lens.
Adder’s fork and feather of dove,
He masters rhyme and verse on love.
And now about the cauldron rise,
His name bound to that of Enterprise.
By the pricking of my thumbs,
His gaze alights and one succumbs.

Cannot say how I got from Patrick Stewart in Macbeth to Leonardo – I suppose he just makes my fire burn and my cauldron bubble…he..he..

^ Well Done! :-))

Congrats to Patrick. I hope that he wins.

Today word of the Scottish play we spake?
For its title, cursed this website be?
Tip’d and so pointed with irony’s sake
Vulcan ears may only the grace on he!

Save us from witchcraft and the devil’s hate!
Damn-ed along with this poem’s meter
Coupled perhaps with proper rhyme fate
Credible naught must this poem peter.

Perhaps if logic gave itself to me
Vulcans and captains would be granted peace
But no logic in this work now finds thee.
More irony: Vulcan pervades this piece

As with P.S. and JLP’s commit
Her lies another damn Star Trek sonnet

I think it’s great that those who would not normally go see Shakespeare or a classic Broadway play will go to one now because of their liking of Patrick Stewart. Be it Trek fans or X-Men fans. It’s a great eye opening experience for all.

EricC.#24- LOL! Very nice!

I wish that Stewart would bring his Macbeth to California. It’d be very interesting to watch.

i think Patrick’s denial was a little too emphatic…here’s hoping he shows up at the beginning of the film….before old Spock goes back in time.

#24…hmmm…there’s a chat where I think you’d fit right in.

Who thinks that Picard was a bore???

In my opinion Picard was the best Captain Star Trek has ever seen! Maybe a bit too European for you Americans ;)

29. Actually that’s my very first sonnet. I think I did it right. I don’t remember having to do them in high school, just memorizing soliloquys from Hamlet.

Just this weekend I borrowed a Complete Idiot’s Guide to Shakespeare so that I may start to enhance my grasp of Western canon.

BTW, I’m posting this from my home laptop instead of my computer at work, so only my first name appeared the first time.

Picard was the hottest captain to say the least. I saw Macbeth in Feb. I t was the coolest thing I have ever seen on stage. My heart was pounding during the play. But I don’t think I have ever had so many butterflies in my whole life. I mean, its not everyday that you are in the presence of Patrick Stewart.

Isn’t t a contradiction, when he claims that the new movie has nothing to do with The Next Generation at all, although he said first he knows nothing about the new movie? An odd talk, don’t you think?

Peace and greetings
Logan

Man I wish Abrams would do something with TNG, I’d love to see someone other than Berman play in that universe, I bet the people who have hated TNG would be suprised as well.

#7 Doctor Who….

I’d love to see Stewart do something in Doctor Who. He’d make a fantastic Davros–or Master.

Oh, and to Logan, I’d say it’s because he knows nothing about the film, thus leaving him pretty sure that it has nothing to do with TNG, as it would be very unlikely they’d continue with any of the TNG cast without a little Picard.

34. I suppose it’s a confirmation instead of a contradiction of his lack of knowledge of the film since earlier this week a spoiler was confirmed on this site that

the film would open post-Nemesis.

BTW-Your first name wouldn’t be John would it?

I intended for the above to have a spoiler warning but it didn’t work out.

Sorry.

#37: “I’d love to see Stewart do something in Doctor Who. He’d make a fantastic Davros–or Master.”

Seconded. And Davies left in a small loophole just in case the Master were to return… (remember he had what they jokingly called “the hand of the Rani” remove the ring from the Master’s finger during the cremation scene…) I could definetly see Patrick as the Master, and since they had Sir Derek Jacobi (“Cadfael”, “I Claudius”) play him in “Utopia,” there’s a precedent for famous Shakespeareans taking on the character.
Perhaps as Davros also, though would they have to give him the extensive makeup? Though his time spent as Lenin for “Fall of Eagles” woudl give hoim the requisite ability to play a megalomaniac…

#35—Maybe, but for me, it would need to be devoid of such elements as holodecks, children on starships, culturally regressed Klingons obsessed with imaginary honor, artificial persons in Starfleet, “away teams”, and ship’s counselors. In other words, probably not.

I like my Trek in the more romantic 23rd Century, and my Captains to be fist-fighting fornicators with egos the size of a Class-M planet.

Give me a hard-drinking, two-fisted engineering “Miracle Worker”, a neck-pinching half-Vulcan Science Officer verbally sparring with a Southern smartass Chief Medical Officer, a Russian navigator who thinks everythng was “inwented in Russia”, a fencing helmsman, a seductive communications officer, tons of mini-skirts, “hailing frequencies open”, “standard orbit”, “He’s dead, Jim”, “Warp speed”, and “phasers on stun”.

But congratulations once again to Patrick Stewart. He is a fine actor.

Poopey-Closet#42- I second that exclamatory statement and throw in a few green Orion slavegirls and a couple mirror universes…

RSC Confirms David Tennant and Patrick Stewart for 2008 Season

By John Nathan
September 11, 2007

In the wake of London’s Donmar Warehouse announcing a Jude Law Hamlet in 2009, the Royal Shakespeare Company has confirmed that “Dr. Who” star David Tennant will take on the title role in that Shakespeare classic next year with Patrick Stewart as Claudius.

Gregory Doran’s production of Hamlet opens at the RSC’s Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon on Aug. 5, 2008, following previews that begin July 24.

The cast and director will then turn their attention to Love’s Labour’s Lost, in which Tennant will play Berowne. The comedy opens at the Courtyard on Oct. 8 with previews beginning Oct. 2.

The season kicks off with a revival of The Merchant of Venice (beginning April 3) directed by Tim Carroll, his RSC debut. Conall Morrison, who recently directed Macbeth for the RSC, will direct the same ensemble in The Taming of the Shrew.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (performances begin May 9) will play in repertory with Morrison’s production of The Taming of the Shrew (beginning April 24) and Caroll’s The Merchant of Venice.

Artistic director Michael Boyd, whose acclaimed productions of Shakespeare’s History Plays transfers to London’s Roundhouse in April, said of the Stratford season, “2008 will see the future shape of the RSC begin to emerge. The Histories Ensemble is proving that the imaginative power which grows among a group of actors working together for an extended period can be something special. These actors have confirmed my faith in the Ensemble principle, which is at the heart of my ambitions for the RSC. I’m delighted that we can follow the Complete Works Festival in such sure-footed fashion with our eight play History cycle.”

Next year will also see the London premiere of new plays presented under the RSC’s new work banner: The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes by American playwright Adriano Shaplin and Marina Carr’s The Cordelia Dream. Both will join join previously announced London productions of works by Leo Butler and Roy Williams.

For more on the RSC’s 2008 season, for which public booking opens on Oct. 15, call (0)844 800 1110.

#7: Look here for Stewart Tenant info:

www play bill com/news/article/110925.html

He’ll win count on it.

Thanks Joseph, thanks Eric.

Eric, as you sad, we know that the movie will open in TNG-Era. That’s why I got confused by his talk. Joseph, clearly we won’t see our beloved Picard in the next one. Anyhow, I eagerly waiting for the next trailer to come soon this spring. I hope they don’t let us wait too long…

Peace and greetings
Logan

“I know nothing about it (the new Trek film)”.

Join the club, Patrick!!!

#49—-Personally, I like it better that way. Imagine the surprise and awe that would have gripped Trek fans in 1982 if TWOK had just been called STII and we had no idea that Ricardo Montalban was cast in the film. You’re sitting in the theater and have no idea what is going on until Checkov sees the Botany Bay emblem in the cargo hold and says, “Botany Bay…Botany Bay…Oh no! We’ve got to get out of here…Damn! Hurry!”
Imagine the chills moving down our necks as Khan removes his mask and begins to describe his version of the events in “Space Seed” and reveals his intention to find the man he blames for his situation and the death of his wife. Instead, we see not only his name in the title, but his face in the trailer and RM’s name in the casting credits on the poster. Too many spoilers, IMO.

That is the level of drama and surprise I’d like to feel in the theater next May. If you ask me (and you haven’t, obviously), I think this is the way to do it. I don’t need to know anything else about the plot than I already do. Enterprise shots…fine. Casting photos in new uniforms…fine…details about the plot…no thank you.