Some Thoughts About the Tonys

No, I didn't see most of the productions in question, but I did see Urinetown, and I've been following the news/reviews all year. Whether that means my opinions are informed or not is up to you. Mostly I'm just venting here.

1. Everyone hyped "the suspense" present in the show this year, as opposed to last year. What suspense? If you kept up with Broadway news, you knew that nearly all of the awards were a foregone conclusion. I think the only surprises for me were The Goat taking Best Play (I really thought Top Dog/Underdog would win) and Into the Woods as Best Revival of a Musical.
2. I missed the first 15 minutes or so because the broadcast was supposedly starting at "8 ET/PT," but I live in MT, and it started at 7…. So I missed the lifetime awards.
3. The PBS broadcast was more honest and much less annoying than the CBS broadcast, which trotted out a bunch of irrelevant-to-the-stage stars, like Whoopie Goldberg and Mary Tyler Moore (whose only connection to the evening was having appeared in the movie of Thoroughly Modern Millie).
4. It was great seeing Michele Lee as part of the tribute to Richard Rodgers. But couldn’t they find any men who could actually sing to take part? (I excuse John Raitt; I was just glad to see he was still alive.) Mos Def looked dreadfully uncomfortable—"My Favorite Things" is a terrible song for an adult male to sing, he’s clearly no musical theatre performer, and why did they dick around with the lyrics?—and why did he hang back, out of the spotlight, after he finished, but before the tribute ended? I thought he was going to emerge with some kind of short solo turn, but no.
5. For that matter, the tribute was unconscionably lame. Rodgers was one of the most important figures in Bway history, and this was the best they could do?
6. Gregory Hines and Bernadette Peters didn’t look comfortable together, even if they have known each other for 40 years, but their little tribute to New York had occasional nice moments, especially him tap-dancing to her a capella "Broadway Baby."
7. Who wrote those LAME jokes for the presenters? The jokes were dying left and right, and the presenters knew it. They could’ve adlibbed better than that!
8. On second thought, no they couldn’t have. With few exceptions they sounded stiff and uncomfortable. The young ones in particular were dreadful, reinforcing the notion, for example, that Alicia Silverstone doesn’t belong on the legitimate stage. But even pros like Joanna Gleason sounded mechanical. Easily the best presenter of the evening was Elaine Stritch.
9. Millie winning Best Musical was a CROCK. I think it won because reviewers were tired of all the hype about Urinetown, and because Millie was fresher in their minds. But the voters were clearly rewarding convention over experimentation. Not that that's anything unusual. I can show you umpteen years when ordinary feel-good shows beat out daring edgy ones.
10. It was great seeing Hal Prince, and he was right on the money with his speech about Broadway needing to be more daring. He was certainly digging at the many current crap productions, but he may have been targeting the Tony voters as well.
11. The audience clearly preferred Urinetown throughout the evening (as did Stritch). That was a canny audience in general! The applause for Millie was considerably less than for Urinetown when they were announced.
12. Thank God Urinetown took Best Book and Best Score. I'd've had to have killed someone if they hadn't.
13. How the hell can you NOT give the top prize to the musical that takes both best book and best score? What more did Millie supposedly have? Note that the other awards it won were (except for choreography) fairly minor in the overall scheme of things: Best actress, best featured actress, best orchestrations, and costumes. Prediction: In 20 years, hardly anyone will remember this show.
14. My dad was watching, and we communicated frequently on the phone. He thought the sample scene from Millie was pleasant but undistinguished, while the same from Urinetown was wonderful.
15. The most touching acceptance speeches were by Mary Zimmerman (Best Director of a play) and Brian MacDevitt (Lighting Design).
16. CBS treated Elaine Stritch very shabbily. This Tony was something we’ve all been waiting for; she’s a friggin’ theatrical legend, for Christ’s sake. They could give her the extra few minutes. But then, who expects CBS to even vaguely understand such things?
17. John Lithgow winning for Best Actor in a Musical was BULLSHIT. Now, I’m a John Cullum fan, so I was pulling for him, but I didn’t think his role was enough to give him the Tony in that category. Frankly, I thought he should’ve been nominated as Best Supporting Actor, with Jeff McCarthy and Hunter Foster nommed for Best Actor (that neither of them were nommed was a CRIME)—but shit, man! Did any of these voters watch John McMartin? I haven’t seen the revival, but I saw McMartin in the Into the Woods sample scene, and he was marvelous! Whereas the "Dirt" sequence from Sweet Smell of Success hardly showed anything about Lithgow; it was obviously designed around his lack of singing ability, and he was basically just being bitchy John Lithgow up there on stage. Big deal.
18. Actually, nominating Sweet Smell for anything except lighting and set design was BULLSHIT.
19. At least they got it right with Into the Woods. Though I thought it should’ve won for Costume Design and Scenic Design as well (although I can’t object to the Private Lives guy winning the latter).
20. Thank god Oklahoma! took only Best Supporting Actor. I couldn’t stand the "we can do it better than you" attitude of the Brits surrounding this production.
21. Blessed shutouts: Mamma Mia!, Thou Shalt Not. Though I’d liked to have seen Judy Kaye take the Tony. (God, a voice like hers and she’s singing ABBA songs? Gah!)
22. Unblessed shutout: Top Dog/Underdog. What did the Pulitzer committee see that the Tony voters didn’t?
23. I’m glad Noises Off didn’t win more than Best Supporting Actress. I hate that show.

Let me know your opinion of this page. I welcome dissenting opinions! Also any corrections or additions.

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