Winner: If you only see one play this season, run to the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village to see Alexi Kaye Campbell’s splendid new play, The Pride, the 2008 hit at the Royal Court Theatre in London, reborn here in a brilliant new production directed by Joe Mantello.  Alternating between 1958 and 2008, the play is a searing portrait of gay life then and now–performed brilliantly by Hugh Dancy, Andrea Riseborough, and, especially, Ben Whishaw, the next big thing in the London theatre.  Must close March 28th!  And please ignore

Sinner Ben Brantley, whose review  completely misrepresented The Pride, especially this paragraph, in which virtually  every word is a lie: “Most of the people in “The Pride” are also, no doubt, in extreme pain. But they remain oddly unmoving, despite fluid direction by Mr. Mantello and polished performances from an ensemble that also includes Adam James in a juicy assortment of roles. Though you always understand the thematic import of what the characters say, it’s harder to credit that they would say it themselves, or in the way that they do. They often seem like illustrations of debate points — human evidence, as opposed to human beings.”

FCP has never seen five more compelling human beings on the stage anywhere.

Winners: Writer Mart Crowley, director Jack Cummings III and the splendid cast in the Transport Group’s gripping revival of  The Boys in The Band, the 1968 landmark play of gay theatre–the first time nine  gay  characters were accurately portrayed on the stage at the same time.  Again, Brantley’s review  is wholly off the mark.

Winners: Colin Firth in A Single Man and Morgan Freeman in Inviticus, both nominated for Best Actor this evening.  Neither of them is likely to win (Jeff Bridges is the favorite) but each of them gives one of the great performances of their careers, especially Freeman as a luminous Nelson Mandela.  Newcomer Nicholas Hoult also does a lovely turn in A Single Man as the student infatuated with the teacher portrayed by Firth.  And director Tom Ford makes sure every scene in A Single Man is beautiful to look at.

Winner: Kathryn Bigelow, who directed The Hurt Locker, the astonishingly good, lowest-budget hit of the year.  This great anti-war polemic will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.  If Avatar doesn’t make it tonight, The Hurt Locker will surely win best picture.

Winner: Laura Linney in Time Stands Still on Broadway.  The veteran actress gives a searing  performance as a war photographer addicted to her craft.

Plus FCP’s Special bonus pick for ink-stained wretches

Winner: Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers: John Rubenstein directs a superb ensemble in this riveting account of how Washington Post publisher Kay Graham found the courage to emulate Arthur Ochs Sulzberger by publishing the Pentagon Papers.  The New York Theatre Workshop is giving this radio play by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons its first full-scale Off-Broadway production.    Peter Strauss does an extraordinary impersonation of Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, and veterans Larry Pine and Peter Van Norden are equally good as Richard Nixon and Henry  Kissinger.  
 

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