Worst Tony's Ever?

[CJWesselman]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:07pm

Just wanted to fire up the flames of that discussion.

Between the most boring opening number in recent memory, uncalled-for snubbing of everything Sondheim, and another confusing Best Musical winner (if one show wins Book AND Music, how can you justify a totally different show winning Best Musical? It doesn't make sense,) not to mention the complete lack of a host, could this year's ceremonies go down as one of the worst? You decided. And attack me. Cause yeah, I expect that to happen.

[Act4ever]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:10pm

hated the opening number, not having a host didnt bother me... it was "okay" -- it seemed a little rushed for me... I dunno, it just didn't seem any kind of magical

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:11pm

DEFINATLY was not as magical (like you say CJ) as other years. Actually it seem to lose more and more of it every year. I pray next year is a complete turn around.

[CJWesselman]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:12pm

It did seem rushed. Right after someone would make their acceptance speech, they'd be introducing the presenters for the next award.

[rocker05]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:13pm

In ways, I do agree with you, the opening number was definitely the worst ever on the Tony Awards. It was pointless. Sondheim was definitely snubbed. Every performance was great especially Jersey Boys and The Wedding Singer! The awards were great until The Pajama Game won best revival and LaChanze won best actress in a musical (major disappointment in my opinion!) I think John Lloyd Young was completely deserving of best actor in a musical and I thought that all of the other supporting actor/actress awards were definitely fair (Christian Hoff was a shocker!) I was a little depressed about Inishmore, but maybe after I see The History Boys, I'll think differently about it. Overall, the performances were great, but I don't really think they needed the little Phantom segment, it was kind of stupid, and the orchestra was way ahead of McGillin (he is great though). If Hal Prince was standing in the theatre that Phantom is located in, in The Venetian, it looks awesome! Overall, satisfying Tony show with the exception of the lackluster opening and some undeserved awards.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:14pm

Well, I've only watched the Tony's the past 10 years and without fail, this was the worst. And I missed the opening number!!!! Just flat out boring!!!! And I'm extremely pissed the Sweeney Todd lost Best Revival!!! Who the hell voted for Pajama Game?!?!? All the other awards I agreed with even though I wanted Patti to win, but LaChanze gives an amazing performance as well.

[brdwaybaby17]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:15pm

I... really liked it.
Sure, I wasn't excited about some of the wins, but the people who did win gave excellent, eloquent speeches.
Annndddd... Canada and the UK really pulled out a lot of awards tonight which is always fantastic.
Not one of the performances bored me...
And Kristen Bell presented an award and looked freaking HOT.
So... not too many complaints here...
Except for the unjust winners...
But I'll get over it.

[CJWesselman]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:17pm

They need to take the awards back to PBS and to a Broadway house, not Radio City Music Hall. I believe Patti LuPone said something recently on a Broadway.com video interview about Radio City not being the right place for the awards or something. I don't recall her exact words, but she's right. Broadway's getting too Hollywood. Julia Roberts got some of the biggest entrance applause of the entire night. Why? She just proved to us that she can't cut it on Broadway. She's not that amazing an actress, why should people have to praise her? Go back to Hollywood. I agree with you totally, 4ever. The Tonys have lost their magic, as has most of Broadway, it seems.

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:20pm

No awards ceremony that lets Lupone go home empty-handed can be all wrong

[Bret]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:21pm

I agree with everythig above regarding the suckiness of this ceremony. It was quite bad.

[CJWesselman]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:22pm

I guess the majority of my anger comes from only a couple things:

1. Sweeney being snubbed for multiple awards, above all Best Revival. At least John got Director.

2. Jersey Boys walking away with Best Musical. As stated before, my main argument is the 2/3 Rule. If you win Best Musical, you better damned well have won either Best Book or Best Music and Lyrics as well or it doesn't make any sense. Drowsy won both of those....yet doesn't win Best Musical? That doesn't make any sense.

[brdwaybaby17]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:23pm

I just don't get it.
It seems like any time Broadway fans have a chance to build something up, they talk about how crappy it was.
Sure, Broadway isn't in it's hey day, but shouldn't we try to do as much as possible to get others interested? Shouldn't we talk about what we love about it?
Instead, what we do, is complain about the ONE national event we get of the year. The one day that it's OUR day.
According to everyone around here, they're never gonna get it right again.
So why do you watch?
Because you love it.
You would still pick watching a crappy Tony show over most anything else on t.v. (except maybe Veronica Mars... ah-hem).
I think constantly talking about how wrong everyone was and how disappointing it was makes the rest of us almost feel... like we were wrong. Somehow we don't have the high caliber that the rest of you do.
It's just upsetting that I can't come here and talk to others about how much we enjoyed certain aspects about the show. Let's admit it, there were some terrific performances tonight.
If you disagree, than I don't know what you're expecting Broadway to be.
They continue to be innovative and creative with the way they present things. And some of those speeches were downright fantastic. Something you get at no other award show.
I just don't know what to say...
I'm not disappointed in the show,
I'm disappointed in the fans.

[mijofly19]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:24pm

I actually really liked it. I loved most of the performances, and I thought the presenters were fine. I agree that they really don't need it in Radio City, but I don't agree that it should be on PBS. That would make even less people watch it, exposing less people to live theatre.

[Marguerite Chauvelin]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:27pm

Dissapointments-

1. Sweeney snubbing
2. Bad opening sequence
3. I miss Hugh Jackman....

Otherwise, I love any opportunity where Broadway excellence is commended and I hope it gets good ratings. Go Broadway!

[Kevinoes]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:31pm

I think this is actually one of the better ones in recent years (I started watching in 2003 when HAIRSPRAY won). Every other show seemed very awkward, poorly organised, or "fake". This one (which I do agree on rushed) was slick and polished...with some minor exceptions. Namely:

- The opening. Not only did Harry look bewildered, but the cast upstage looked absolutely useless - and you could tell every one of them was grating their teeth going "Wow! This was the dumbest idea ever!".
- The really strange and embarassing cameo of SPAMLOT for the educational message.
- John Tartaglia. Yes, I absolutely LOVED the republican puppet joke, but it's sort of depressing that 2 years after the show's initial success and being away from the show for such a significant amount of time, John still has Rod on his arm. This man needs to reinvent himself in a new show now or he's gonna disappear so quickly it won't be funny.
- The teleprompters that sucked...they noteably screwed James Earl Jones up, as he referred to August Wilson as "Troy" numerous times until he caught the mistake.
- The "Phantom of the Opera" performance. Too short and pointless...and poor HOWARD McGILLIN mixed the words up in this pathetic 'medley'.
- Cutting Richard Griffiths off in his speech (THE ONLY ONE IN THE WHOLE NIGHT TO HAVE THAT!!)


I thought each and every performance was exceptional, showcasing the casts to perfection and there were no excrutiating vocal performances either. Congrats to everyone!

Personal favorite moments were any win to DROWSY CHAPERONE (yay to Canadians!), Ian McDiarmid whispering to his presenter that she mispronounced his last name, Beth Leavel's chaperone gag, and LaChanze not knowing how to get to the stage.

[CJWesselman]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:33pm

This world would be an even sadder place if we couldn't talk about the things that upset us or make us angry, baby17. I'm not saying everything about the ceremonies sucked. As I pointed out, what I'm upset about it generally a couple BIG things. If you were watching the world series and it was game 7, your favorite team is up one to nothing in the bottom of the ninth and your starting pitcher has a perfect game going but then gives up a 2-run homer and you lose the game, do you say, "Oh, well those other 8 innings were fabulous, I'm not gonna be upset about it." F*CK NO. You bitch and complain about it. I will never understand why Sweeney didn't win Best Revival, and I will NEVER understand how a show can win Best Book and Best Music/Lyrics then not win Best Musical. I LOVED getting to see Drowsy and Sweeney perform and was pleased with the other performances. I LOVED seeing all those beautiful people (especially Kristen Bell and Anna Paquin) on stage. Doesn't mean it's going to make up for what I view as a grave mistake by the Tony voters. And it doesn't mean I'm not allowed to complain. So don't come in here and bitch about "being disappointed in the fans." Whatever. Have fun in your little world of make-believe where you never look at the negative aspects of things even though they're right in your face.

[DreamFlyer22]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:35pm

And, ironically? This thread subject title pops up every year at just about this time. Without fail.

[CJWesselman]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:36pm

Kevinoes,

Thanks for reminding me of those other horrendous moments. lol. Spamalot and the 'republican puppet' bit (more so just Johnny T still having that ****ing thing) also caused "Good grief..." moments in my living room.

[broadwaybaby77]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:40pm

I was genuinely hoping that tonight's Tony's would be good, because I love having people over and celebrating this magnificent night...unfortunately, tonight's ceremony didn't do much for me.

I haven't seen much that was nominated, but I don't feel that this year was a very good year in terms of musicals. Plays, however, had their standouts, such as "History Boys". Anyway, I didn't like how there was no host. Maybe Connick could have done it - he would have been the new Hugh Jackman.

I was disappointed in who won certain awards. I'm going to save all of my pennies to go see "Jersey Boys" and understand what all of the fuss is about, because I don't really get it. I think it goes under the same category as "Mamma Mia!", but something about it must be better.

Although the prescence of a host may sometimes go unnoticed, tonight the lack of a host was more apparent than ever. It may just be Jackman-separational anxiety syndrome, but I feel that a host was needed.

[brdwaybaby17]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:41pm

Oh, sure, there were bad moments, but have you seen all the negative threads on here?
Yes, you can say that I didn't have to read them, but I really only did because I didn't understand the anger.
Without fail, there will always be people who shouldn't have won who did and those who should have and didn't.
And without fail, we will always come back.
Because those negative moments don't mean half as much to us as do those great moments when you say,
"Gosh, this is why I love theatre. This is why I come back. Because, in this moment, I can't help but feel somehow proud of someone I don't even know."
It's for those moments I love this show.
And I didn't have an investment in Sweeney Todd, so there ya go.
But, oh my gosh, wasn't Kristen Bell gorgeous?
She makes everything worth it for me... lol

[Radford]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:42pm

I guess I missed something. I thought this year's ceremony was better than it's been in a while. This year, all the performances were awesome. It made Broadway look very good IMO. I wanted to see them all! I am glad that all of the shows got to perform lengthier numbers. Most of them had time to do parts of two different numbers. This board seems to find something to complain about every year. At least this year, we weren't subjected to LL Cool J, Mary J. Blige, or any other pop stars trying to create an audience. I was glad they focused on actual Broadway and celebrated the history.

[timote316]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:46pm

I couldn't see a majority of the telecast, so I can't comment, but I do have to defend Jersey Boys a bit, in regards to the Best Book/Score/Musical debate. Jersey Boys wasn't eligible for best score, so its not a fully valid arguement this year. However, I do agree that if a show wins Best Score and Book, it should win Best Musical.

[JustChillin8908]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:49pm

Molly Ringwald looked REALLY scary...

[brdwaybaby17]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:50pm

lol
Yeah... that's actually true...
However sad...

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:59pm

I thought it was the best show in years. It was efficiently paced with few dead spots, bad host monologues and very little annoying banter, no pop stars, the nods to the winners and legends of the past were well done (I liked to tributes to Wilson and Wasserstein), there was at least SOME focus on plays which doesn't happen in some years, and they spread the wealth in terms of the wins. The opening was too subdued and a few of the musical numbers could have been better, but I personally enjoyed this one more than most of the shows in the past several years.