And the nominees will be...

The great Jule Styne, composer of “Gypsy” and “Funny Girl,” lived by an ironclad rule: The day after one of your shows opens to bad reviews, sit down at the piano and start writing the next one.

And whenever his colleagues were nursing their own critical wounds, he’d ring them up and shout: “Next!”

That’s pretty much how the theater industry feels about the current Broadway season.

Sure, there have been a few highlights here and there, mainly performances. But for the most part, we’ve staggered from dud to dud, nodding off 15 minutes into Act I, reviving ourselves at the bar during intermission, recalling, longingly, Hugh Jackman’s one man show throughout Act II.

So it’s time to close the book on the 2011-2012 season and hope for better things in 2012-2013.

But first, one last slog — the Tony Awards, which will be held June 10 at the Beacon Theatre, a suitable venue for a glamour free season.

The nominations come out Tuesday, and here, based on an extensive survey of the patrons (a couple of whom are Tony nominators) at the third floor bar of the Angus McIndoe restaurant, are my picks:

Best Musical: “Once” and “Newsies” are obvious. “Nice Work If You Can Get It” will make the cut, too. The big question is: Will “Spider Man, Turn Off the Dark” snag the fourth slot?

“Spider Man” has been a lightning rod of criticism within the theater industry, especially since its producers started bullying poor Julie Taymor.

On the other hand, the actors, led by the canny Patrick Page (the Green Goblin), have folded themselves nicely into the theater community, poking fun at themselves and their show and raising plenty of money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

There’s also plenty of contempt out there for “Ghost” and “Leap of Faith.” Alone, neither show rivals the badness of “Spider Man.” But lump them together, and you’ve got a real race to the bottom. I think “Spider Man” slips in, which means “Faith” closes next Sunday and “Ghost” loses all of its money by Labor Day.

Best Play: Not too hard to call. The nominees will be “Other Desert Cities,” “Clybourne Park,” “One Man, Two Guvnors” and “Peter and the Starcatcher.”

Revival of a Musical: “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Evita,” “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” and “Follies,” which will win.

Revival of a Play: “Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman,” “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man,” “Tennessee Williams’ A Street car Named Desire” and “Margaret Edson’s Wit.” (One day I hope we’ll see a revival of “Arthur Bicknell’s Moose Murders.”)

Best Actress in a Musical: The big fizzle of the season is Argentine Elena Roger in “Evita.”The pint size diva was supposed to win all the awards in sight, but her voice is shot, and she left her charisma in Buenos Aires.

Don’t cry for me, Tony voters/ The truth is I’ve lost my big notes/And you can’t see me/Beneath the railing/Though I’m on tiptoe/And use a foot stool.

She’ll lose her slot to Bernadette Peters (“Follies”),who’ll be up against Jan Maxwell (“Follies”), Audra McDonald (“Porgy”), Kelli O’Hara (“Nice Work”) and Cristin Milioti (“Once”).

As for the other nominees, flowers all around for James Corden and Tom Edden (both of “One Man”), Stacy Keach and Stockard Channing (“Other Desert Cities”), James Earl Jones and Angela Lansbury (“The Best Man”), Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Salesman”) and Danny Burstein (“Follies”).

And, finally, the great one, Linda Lavin, star of “The Lyons,”who with a bit of stage business—fixing her hair, flipping through a magazine, rubbing lotion on her hands— snatches attention, laughs and Tonys from everyone in sight.

Source: NY Post