By Maddie Orton
Arts Correspondent
In a Broadway season electrified by “Hamilton”‘s record number of Tony nominations, there’s a reason for celebration on this side of the Hudson. Paper Mill Playhouse will receive the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award.
“I was jumping up and down like a silly 5-year-old,” said Todd Schmidt, managing director of Paper Mill Playhouse.
Paper Mill joins two other New Jersey theaters — McCarter Theatre of Princeton and Crossroads Theatre of New Brunswick — in receiving this distinction.
Though the Tony’s date back to 1947, the award for Regional Theatre didn’t become an annual traditional until the mid-’70s.
Schmidt said it’s an honor for the theater’s team to be recognized by peers in the industry.
“Many regional theaters develop all those works you see ending up on a Broadway stage, so it’s a part of our theater community,” he explained.
As the name suggests, Paper Mill wasn’t always a playhouse.
“Paper Mill was a paper mill back in the 1700s. There’s a rumor that the paper mill here at one time made toilet paper for the Queen of England,” Schmidt laughed. “We’ve changed since then.”
In the late 1930s, the defunct mill was transformed into a theater. And some big names have trod the boards since then.
“Everybody in musical theater — or really in theater because we also do plays — has really played here,” said Schmidt.
Lobby walls are lined with photos of Dom DeLuise and Jack Gilford in “Forum”, Bernadette Peters in “Dames at Sea”, Chita Rivera, Norm Lewis, Kristin Chenoweth and Anne Hathaway. And, as the theater continues to be a hot spot for out of town tryouts, there’s no doubt a new generation of talent will come up through Paper Mill.
Paper Mill Playhouse isn’t alone in garnering Garden State pride. This morning’s announcement of Tony nominees included choreographer Savion Glover of Newark and actors Frank Langella of Bayonne, Laura Benanti of Kinnelon and Jane Krakowski of Parsippany-Troy Hills.