With the Tony nominators meeting this weekend, I’d like to make a final plea for a few performances that I fear might be overlooked come Tuesday morning’s announcement (which I’ll be posting with my comments as they happen). We all know Newsies and Once and Death of a Salesman and Follies are likely to wrack up big nods, but please, Mr. Tony, don’t forget about:

Off-Broadway Production of "Lysistrata Jones". Photo by Carol Rosegg.

• Christina Kirk’s deft balance of caricature to reveal character as a supporting actress in Clybourne Park.

• Celia Keenan Bolger’s wickedly smart and period perfect evocation of a gifted young adventuress in Peter and the Starcatcher.

• Kara Lindsay’s winningly engaging and show-centering supporting performance in Newsies.

• Judith Light’s deeply felt and revelatory turn in Other Desert Cities.

• Phillip Boykin’s menacing yet magnetic Crown in The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.

• Patti Murin’s warm, show-carrying performance and Lindsay Nicole Chambers‘ sassy sidekick with a vulnerable side in Lysistrata Jones.

• Hugh Dancy’s strong, essential partnering work in the delicious Venus in Fur.

• Melissa Van Der Schyff’s sweet singing and tumbleweed sense of place in Bonnie and Clyde.

Now it’s your turn. Which long-shot Tony nomination are you pulling for?  Lobby the committee with a shout out in our comments section!

Audra McDonald & Ricky Martin & the Cast of "Mary Poppins" at the 2012 Easter Bonnet Competition. Photo by Monica Simoes.

It’s time to dress you up in our love of theater with a very fashion forward news roundup…

• Broadway put on one heck of an Easter Bonnet this year as the proverbial hat was passed to the tune of $3,677,855 raised for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The winning chapeau went to the company of Mamma Mia during a song and dance packed event featuring big stars like Audra McDonald and Ricky Martin.

• 

  John Carrol. Photo by Kevin McDermott.

  In any sort of clothes (or out of them) our very own Theater Buff John Carroll is a special guy. And now the Advocate magazine has named him one of their Forty Under 40, “leaders in media, politics, sports, and science, [who] are facilitating our future”.

• Cinderella is getting another makeover…and we aren’t just talking a snazzy dress made by mice. A new version of the classic fairytale is headed to Broadway next season using Rogers & Hammerstein songs from their various TV incarnations and from their catalog and featuring a new book by Douglas Carter Beane (Lysistrata Jones). Laura Osnes (Anything Goes) and Santino Fontana (Brighton Beach Memoirs) will star and Mark Brokaw (The Lyons) is slated to direct.

• The 2011-2012 Broadway season officially came to a close this week with three more openings. And what did the all-powerful New York Times have to say about the final arrivals (in the spirit of our sartorial roundup theme): Don’t Dress for Dinner feels like hand-me-downs, Leap of Faith might need to head back to the tailor and The Columnist lays star John Lithgow bare. (I’m seeing Leap this weekend so I’ll have my take next week.)

• Feel like getting decked out in gold? How about just lining yourself with the latest awards nominations from the Drama Desk. Their list is out and features a mixture of Off-Broadway and Broadway, a bunch of shows not eligible because of previous consideration (to confuse you Tony predictors) and a pack leading 10 nominations for Follies and Death Takes a Holliday.

• Everyone’s favorite theater-inspired web series Submissions Only ends its second season today with a totally bedazzled final episode, embellished with some serious spangly star power. Guest stars included Jessie Tyler Ferguson, Nick Jonas, Harvey Fierstein, Lin-Manuel Miranda and the dancing boys of Newsies.