Outer Critics Circle Awards Predict Tony Award Winners

WCBS 880's Jim Taylor shares his thoughts on Broadway and the 2011 Tony Awards. He will be blogging about his thoughts and reviews of the Great White Way leading up until the Tony Awards, and will be covering the awards for CBSNewYork.com as they air live on CBS on June 12.

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It's a pretty good barometer of Tony voting: The Outer Critics Circle Awards.

In the interest of full and fair disclosure, I must say I am not a member of the Circle, made up of writers and commentators who cover New York theatre. But the voting turns out to pretty much mirror most of my thoughts, with an exception or two. To see the way the committee voted, click here.

There is no doubt the season's best musical is The Book of Mormon, and no surprise it picks up the Outer Critic's honor.

Mostly on the strength of spectacular theatrical puppetry, War Horse wins best play.

And on the strength of Cole Porter's sentimental standards and some memorable choreography, Anything Goes wins best musical revival. The show also wins a best actress award for Sutton Foster who really belts 'em out.

And then there's the man who may be the greatest acting force in theatre today: Mark Rylance in Jerusalem, who edged out Al Pacino for best actor in a drama.

I couldn't agree more with the tie between newcomer Nina Arianda in Born Yesterday and Frances McDormand in Good People for the top actress award. Don't know which of those fine performances in very different roles I would vote for.