This season has become a virtual boxing match with three stunning big name actresses battling it out to be the Heavy Weight Champion of "The Broadway".  Jennifer Garner (Alias and 13 Going on 30), Claire Danes (My So Called Life and Evening) and Rosie Perez (Do The Right Thing and Fearless) all take major roles in Broadway shows and we need to see who is going to emerge victorious!

In the first corner we have "Dancing Danes" in the yellow trunks making her B'way debut in Pygmalion.  In the other corner we have "Gritty Garner" battling it out in Cyrano de Bergerac in the purple trunks.  In the last corner (I know, I know - there are only supposed to be 2 corners) we have Rosie Perez throwing punches in The Ritz at The Roundabout Theater Company and she is wearing green trunks.  It doesn't really make any difference what color trunks they are wearing - it just matters who will be the last diva standing and who will get knocked out!  We may not have an answer until the final round (which I consider to be the TONY Awards) but until then let's "handicap" the match up to this point.  I guess you don't really handicap boxing matches do you?  Give a guy a break, I am a theater geek; I don't know too much about sports!

Round One: The Plays

It is important to start with good material (a good script) when you are trying to dazzle the competition on Broadway.  No matter how brilliant you may be you are never going to be able to make a dud of a play into a major hit.  Danes takes on Shaw (who is no light weight) with Pygmalion and gets to strut her stuff transforming from a bag lady to a high society lady.  This is meaty material.  Good choice.  Garner picked a well known classic and a crowd pleaser when she signed on to Cyrano de Bergerac.  Cyrano is a play that audiences Love - with a capital L.  Another good choice.  Perez isn't looking good in this round.  Her choice of The Ritz is a dated revival that feels a bit musty many years later.  While no one has really heard of the play, the role does allow Perez to show off quite a bit.

Winner, Round One:  Danes.

Pygmalion is a classic with a point of view and a killer role for a talented actress.

Round Two: The Leading Men

A boxer needs a good coach in his/her corner and an actress needs a good co-star to help her win the match.  Danes shares the stage with the remarkably talented Jefferson Mays (I Am My Own Wife) and he is relatively unknown and tends to disappear into his characters.  He is, however know for his acting fireworks that could steal Danes' thunder.  Garner is paired with the ever popular and uber-talented Kevin Kline.  A first-timer couldn't ask for a better partner to "teach her the ropes", but how can you beat the genius that is Mr. Kline?  He is likely to take all the kudos from Garner and steal the spotlight.  Perez is the biggest star in The Ritz and her co-stars are all men with long resumes but short amounts of star power.  She can get notes and pointers from everyone, but won't have to worry about sharing the buzz. 

Winner Round Two:  Tie - Danes and Perez.

Garner can not compete with Mr. Kline, but Perez and Danes will rise to the talent of their fellow "coaches" and deliver a one, two punch.

Round Three:  The Reviews

We are going to have to wait for the reviews to post for Garner (Cyrano opens this week), but the critics have dealt some blows for the other two contestants.  Danes has taken a pretty hard beating in the press.  Most critics are giving her turn in Pygmalion a "thumbs down".   The New York Times' Ben Brantley delivered a "below the belt blow" with this: "Ms. Danes works hard at maintaining audibility, while conveying the accents of the cockney Eliza and the gentrified version of the later scenes. But the effort pre-empts her relaxing into anything like spontaneous emotions."  I, however, felt she did excellent work and held her own with Jefferson Mays in difficult play.  Perez was a bit of a critic's darling with most of the reviews citing her performance as the one bright spot in an otherwise lackluster revival.  Brantley has this to say in The New York Times about Perez: "Seeing Rosie Perez's act as a talent-free chanteuse in the sporadically funny revival of The Ritz, which opened last night at Studio 54, provides the guiltless bliss of eating a slab of vegetarian foie gras that tastes like the real thing. When Ms. Perez sings - off-key, off-cue and off-balance, but with a menacing determination that threatens nasty reprisals if you don't applaud - you know you're in the hands of a woman who appreciates just how good bad can be."

Winner Round Three: Perez.

Hands down the clear winner; Perez is wowing audiences and critics all over town.  TKO.

Round Four: The Awards

It is really too early to predict any awards or nominations, but, heck, let's do it anyway.  I think Danes will be shut out at TONY time and a nomination for Perez seems unlikely.  True, Perez is looking good right now, but I don't believe nominators will remember the production and they won't think the role is big enough to garner (no pun intended) a "Best Actress" nomination.  It is a bit "fluffy".  That leaves only Garner.  I think the Cyrano star has the best hope of hearing her name when the nominations are announced.  This is really really grabbing at straws, but we will know more shortly.

Winner Round Four: Too Close To Call.

Stay tuned.

There are still a few more punches to be thrown in this contest (namely opening night for Cyrano) until we can declare a winner in this contest.  I will keep you posted on the next few rounds as they happen.  I can tell you this - there are already several winners in all of this; the producers and the audiences.  The producers for all three shows have TSOs (Total Sell Outs) in their theaters and the audiences get to enjoy three amazing stars in three enjoyable productions.  Now THAT is how I like my sports!

~ See You On The Aisle