New York City: June 2008 Archives
So, I read the [tos] blog all the time, and I found out the gang is going to be appearing as guests at Creation Nation TONIGHT at the Zipper Theatre. So, if you are in the area, check it out. Here's the post btw...
Yes, I enjoyed the Tonys this year. I even did the "who I want to win" and "who I think will win" ballot from Tonyawards.com. It was actually surprising how many of my predictions were correct, even though I hadn't seen any of the shows this season! If you read the trades, you can pretty much guess who is going to win. South Pacific anyone? In the Heights? Yup.
But I still have three lingering questions about this year's show:
1. What was Kristin Chenoweth giggling at? (That she has a steady TV gig this fall on Pushing Daisies and Idina Menzel doesn't?)
2. Why didn't Stephen Sondheim show up to receive his Lifetime Achievement award? (I mean, come on…)
3. How could they possibly think it was the right thing to do to eliminate the "Best Book of a Musical" and "Best Revival of a Play" from the tv show? As a musical book writer who is always being told "the book is the most important thing" in a musical, I was offended. I honestly could have done without quite so many goofy musical bits with Whoopi Goldberg, if it meant we could see those awards as part of the telecast.
I thought this official statement from the Dramatists Guild said it very well:
DRAMATISTS GUILD STATEMENT ON THE TONY AWARDS
On Sunday night of June 15, the annual celebration and commendation of this year’s Broadway theatre season was celebrated at the Tony Awards hosted by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League. While we gratefully acknowledge the program time spent on how playwrights construct their dramatic ideas (and the mention of all four playwrights’ names), we are concerned (and have expressed our concern) that the awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Revival of a Play were relegated to pre-televised programming. Council President John Weidman maintains, “The theatre is an art form which is driven by writers. Nothing exists before the script. So when theatre awards are given out, it’s appropriate that the writing awards should take first position. Even acknowledging the enormous time pressures on the producers of the Tony Award broadcast, Best Book of a Musical and Best Revival of a Play belong live, on the air.”
Actually, I do have a fourth question:
4. When will Hugh Jackman host the Tonys again?
Note: By Suzy Conn
Yay!! The 2008 Tony Awards aired Sunday, June 15th, and I thought enormous improvement had been made from last year's show. Whoopi Goldberg was the host, and I thought she did a pretty good job. However, nobody will ever beat Hugh Jackman, but what can you do? The program was obviously created to be more interesting and user-friendly, with more singing and less of the "boring" awards (I definitely do not consider them boring, but things such as scenic design, costume design, and even play revival were given before the broadcast).
Final Awards Tally:
South Pacific - 7
In the Heights - 4
Gypsy - 3
Boeing-Boeing - 2
The 39 Steps - 2
Passing Strange - 1
The Seafarer - 1
Mad props to South Pacific, which took home Best Revival of a Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Paulo Szot), Best Scenic Design of a Musical, Best Costume Design of a Musical, Best Lighting Design of a Musical, Best Sound Design of a Musical, and Best Direction of a Musical. Bartlett Sher was the award-winning director of this successful revival, and has been the Artistic Director of the Intiman Theatre here in Seattle since 2000. Represent!
Best speeches of the night would have to go to Laura Benanti for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, Mark Rylance for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, Lin-Manuel Miranda for Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre, and Patti LuPone for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical. These winners, as well as all the others, completely deserved their Tonys and had inspirational, funny, or just plain cool speeches to boot! Great job, guys!
Stephen Sondheim received the Lifetime Achievement Award, but wasn't there to accept it. HUH?!?!? According to a quote from Mandy Patinkin in the Chicago Sun-Times, Sondheim is a "shy man." Really though? Dude, if you're going to be getting an award of this magnitude, at least be there to accept it. Although, I gotta admit that I did enjoy his heartfelt speech, and Patinkin's facial hair. :-)
Have to say that my favorite performance of the evening was Megan Mullally's "Deep Love" from Young Frankenstein. I saw her in that show when it did its pre-Broadway tryout here in Seattle, but I don't think her performance will ever get old for me. She is just so fantastic, with an amazing voice and incredible charisma. I also enjoyed the selection from In The Heights, and loved seeing Cheyenne Jackson in the Xanadu number!
Well, I know that I may be quite alone in this statement, but I did enjoy this year's Tony Awards. Most of the speeches were interesting, and there were some really great performances. I really want to see In the Heights now, because I thought it was pretty fantastic! I also want to see Xanadu, Little Mermaid, Gypsy, and South Pacific! I believe the only appropriate response to this evening would be "Oh, What a Night!" (I know, I know...)
