The least watched Tony Awards, ever!- Page 3

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 9:54pm

"I really loved the energy of the Spring Awakening performance."

Yeah, me too. But that's all.

It was a nice smokescreen. I guess it worked.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:04pm

I disagree, jumping around the stage for no apparent reason covering your mouth when you're going to say a curse word is not energy.
Energy is what Audra McDonald had when she was raising the roof, singing, acting, and making the stage her own. I feel with SPRING AWAKENING they are singing rock music and so people immediately want to call the performance "energetic," "ground-breaking," etc.
CURTAINS is an old-fashioned Broadway show and it makes no apologies for it, I don't think it should be blamed for it, I thought the performance was great and David Hyde Pierce's kicks are genius.

[tazber]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:09pm

hey now! that "jumping around the stage for no apparent reason"
just won a Tony for choreography!


Audra was amazing I agree. Her and Ebersole were the absolute highlights for me!
And Julie White.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:12pm

Julie White was a highlight for everyone. I was thrilled she won, and I never saw her performance.

Despite the engergy, Spring's performance didn't do it for me. The Totally *cover your mouth* section was ridiculous.


Audra's performance was the best of the night.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:15pm

Tazber, I'm sure the choreography for SPRING AWAKENING makes more sense within the context of the show but I thought that as a Tony performance the whole number was rather unsuccessful and chaotic. Julie White made the night for me though every second of her speech I spent regretting not seeing LITTLE DOG LAUGHED (I decided to see FOLLIES a second time instead).

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:18pm

"I feel with SPRING AWAKENING they are singing rock music and so people immediately want to call the performance "energetic," "ground-breaking," etc."

Well, they had energy. It's a prerequisite of rock music to be able to "bounce around" to it. But I didn't find it "boundless" or "infectious" or even appealing. Any kid at a party can do it. ANY kid.

Certainly NOT ground-breaking. And not even that interesting.

Their energy didn't resonate, or amount to anything. Or SAY anything.

And that "Mama Who Bore Me" song is SO derivative and BORING. It's SO thirty years ago. If you want to talk about stale (and point to Curtains), I would say look and Spring Awakening, and I'll show you stale leftovers.

I would think that anyone who REALLY was a rocker would look at this and think it was limp, lame and nerdy. Not anywhere close to the cutting edge of anything.

But for "theatre folk" it's hip and cool and new... I guess.

[ExpressThis]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:23pm

was there even a host??

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:25pm

Nope. Which, in my opinion, made the show less enjoyable. I would have loved to see Angela Lansbury to just keep going after her introduction.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:40pm

Maybe because I have a crush on her, but I would have loved to see Jane Krakowski host after that funny impersonation she did in the middle of the show.
I agree with Best12 regarding SPRING AWAKENING's performance, any kid can do it. I'm gonna try seeing the show next week but honestly so far, I don't get the whole "ground-breaking" argument that I keep hearing everyone (from Broadway stars to talk show hosts to BWWers) attach to this show.
I think GREY GARDENS is far more "ground-breaking" without fearing to stay in a conventional territory at times. Oh well.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 11:25pm

Oh please, b12b, I know you're being hyperbolic, but my tinnitus is as strong as any other "rocker's" on this board, if not stronger, and I know what rock and roll is. While I feel as if the Spring Awakening song indeed rocked, I am not under the illusion that it was rock and roll.

I did think it was the only thing that seemed well and truly alive (of the things I saw that aired not during The Sopranos) and, if as so many people have lamented about the show in general, the clips are supposed to "promote theater" to audiences who may not otherwise go, THAT'S the one show that's likely to have done so last night.

That's all.

ETA As per Playbill: "Spring Awakening producers have reason to celebrate. Not only did the acclaimed musical win eight Tony Awards, but the box office has seen a tremendous spike in business since the June 10 Tony telecast began."

Who knows if Niles Crane will inspire old people to go out and buy tickets to that Curtains simulacrum?

Updated On: 6/11/07 at 11:25 PM

[rgaywrites]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 11:42pm

The most surprising aspect of the dull Tonys telecast (year after year... after year) is that theatre is so vibrant and filled with great writers, performers and producers. How is it that these talents are never applied to the Tonys?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 11:47pm

The problem is that theater is theater and TV is TV and you can't apply the language of TV (swooping cameras around the dancing chorus of Curtains, nightmarish close-ups of Deb Munk's face) without destroying the magic of something that is designed to be seen from a distance inside a proscenium.

As audiences became more familiar with the language of visual media to the point nopw that so many people in the population CREATE their own short films and the like, they have also become less familiar with the conventions of theater. So you rip the theater out of its context and plop it on TV and it comes out not quite right. In the '50s, when TV was new, audiences were familiar with theatrical conventions. So they could deal with excerpts on TV with no problems.

Those days are gone.

Updated On: 6/11/07 at 11:47 PM

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 11:49pm

I'm late to this thread, (as I am to most threads apparently. Sorry, I'm working two jobs and going to school. Internet message boards rank fairly low on my priorities right now. If only I could have said that two years ago), but I do not feel that last night's Tony telecast was the worst ever. It was head and shoulders above the 2006 Tony telecast. That was a confusing misdirected piece of schlock which led to the single liveliest night I've ever witnessed on BWW. I'm happy that the telecast went so smoothly, but felt a little cheated that nothing happened last night to cause the pandemonium from last year. I'm sure Rob and Craig are heaving sighs of relief.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 9:08am

Before I sound like "I hate everything"... I should clarify. I like the music to Spring Awakening quite a bit. I have the CD and I play it. But I don't think it is: new, revolutionary, "landmark" in any way, or of a higher quality than all the rest this season. The songs are solid musically, nicely orchestrated, and performed well. The lyrics are vapid, ordinary and in many cases simplistic, phony and forced.

But I can see why the show is appealing, and it's mostly due to raw, youthful energy. This show is flying on that, above all else.

Curtains was "okay" when I saw it here in L.A. I enjoyed it enough, and promptly forgot it. It's not memorable, just enjoyable. The score is forgettable too. I enjoyed Pierce and Monk, and thought the rest of the cast was underused and the characters underwritten. And there was nothing compelling about the "mystery" plot. On the Tonys, however, I thought they picked a number that put their best foot forward, and showed them off quite nicely. It was entertaining and appealing to the people who DO watch the Tonys each year, not the MTV crowd (who can't even spell "Tony"). They weren't watching this "Theatre 101 Night" anyway, so I'm not concerned about them or their preferential "taste" or prejudices in music. And I wish they would stop being pandered to.

I'm far less concerned with the Tony telecasts trying to reach out and find new audiences (which is futile and usually embarrassing in its outcome) than I am with them trying to hold onto the theatre-loving audience they already have. They should do what they do BEST, in other words.

But with a TV show that is increasingly more about self-congratulating, and lists of unknown thank-you names, than it is about singing, entertaining and celebrating theatre... they're starting to lose US now, too.

Updated On: 6/12/07 at 09:08 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 9:49am

"them trying to hold onto the theatre-loving audience they already have."

And that wouldn't be pandering? Look, the Tonys do worse in the ratings almost every year and yet Broadway box office seems to do better every year (yes, yes, I know, rising ticket prices), so those who revel in the increasingly antiquated vernacular of musical theater aren't vanishing because they aren't "kept" by the Tony awards.

There are so many damn awards shows now that they are all increasingly irrelevant, there used to be just the big three, with the Tonys being the third in the annual triple crown. But tastes and times have changed.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 10:05am

Namo, I'm certainly not implying, "The theatre is dying because the Tony Awards suck."

I just want this TV show to be more entertaining for the people who actually want to tune in and enjoy it.

Nothing more profound than that.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 10:39am

I loved the frenetic energy of the Spring Awakening performance, which gave the evening the jolt of caffeine it desperately needed. But the performance did not succeed in staying with me or enticing me so much to run out and get tickets (nor has the CD, I'm afraid). It was sad and angry, but I had no idea why or what any of the songs had to do with each other or that they tell a story. Or even that the characters had much individuality amongst them other than the boys had different crazy hairstyles, which was mildly interesting. But I will see the show, and I might love it. I don't know yet.

At least with Rent, when I saw it for the first time on the Tonys (this was before the CD was released, mind you), I got a sense of characterization and personality, and when they sang La Vie Boheme, I got a glimpse of story and I was definitely inspired to see the show, which I did three times over the following two months (mostly to remember as much of the score as possible).

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 10:45am

I thought the Spring Awakening perf. was a mess and very disjointed. It was a terrible representation of the show.

I loved this piece and was frustrated that many will judge it on this alone. I was hoping that they would do "Purple Summer" which features the whole company. Cramming 3 songs (actually 4 counting both Mama...s) into their alotted time was stupid, imo.

Another mini commercial.

[robbiej]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 11:20am

Namo's post on theatre being plunked down on TV looking ridiculous is pretty much right on. And I wonder if they couldn't do something to fix that.

I know it's probably a heresy to suggest this, but why do the performances have to be live? I saw a bit of Spring Awakening footage that was shot like the Rent footage from a decade ago. The camera work was thoughtful...it had a slight music video feel to it and yet still retained its theatricality. That made me far more interested in seeing the show than the performance from the Tonys (though even the Tony performance piqued my interest).

Would it really be THAT much more expensive to hire someone who knows how to film a musical number (Rob Marshall, perhaps) and create a mini-movie out of it? The pacing and cuts for all the performances just make everything seem so rushed and frantic. Film editing would remove that freneticism and let the number breathe.

And then, the Tony nominees can just sit back and relax and, ya know, drink and smoke and rip lines of coke and leave their 'wives' in their seats as they go get blown in the men's room.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 11:22am

Excellent suggestion, robbie.

[robbiej]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 11:30am

Thank you!

Once upon a time I was giving an award for a performance I did. I wasn't nominated...I didn't have to sit through the night wondering if my name would be called or not. I just was given the award. And was asked to perform. And I was TERRIFIED. Maybe it was because I wa 23 and it was for my first show in NY. Maybe it was because of the 'celebrities' in the crowd. I don't know. But it was a nerve-wracking experience. I can't even BEGIN to imagine sitting through a nationally televised show, waiting for your category and then having to perform. Ugh. It's ludicrous. No one can give their best under those conditions (as evidenced this year).

Professionally film and edit them (hopefully by someone who can film a number well) and let the night be a f*cking party.

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 11:38am

The Cheno would have loved for that to have happened Robbie when she had to perform the cast number and then change (six people stripping her naked and dressing her in the wings in thirty seconds) to accept her Tony for YAGMCB. Just insane!

[robbiej]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 11:45am

Please...Janelle White could have accomplished that in 26 seconds with only two dressers and a gay monkey.

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 11:47am

She should have done that as her talent instead of singing.

[robbiej]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 11:54am

As if we never said good bye?

Believe me. I said it. Good bye.

Updated On: 6/12/07 at 11:54 AM