Posted: 6/8/15 at 6:50am
Loved the show- found it very entertaining- and thought Alan and Chenoweth did a great job- I hope the ratings are strong- glad Kelli finally won and her acceptance speech and dance will go down as classic. A great night all in all- and the best awards show on television this year so far- just the right tone- not overlong and interesting throughout. Bravo,
Posted: 6/8/15 at 7:33am
As others have said, the In Memoriam was rushed and the focus was all on Groban, not the people who passed. You could hear the audience trying to applaud Broadway legends like Elaine Stritch but it all went by so fast they couldn't. Why the heck couldn't they have started the images at the beginning of the song and held each one three times longer? As it was I don't think each image was up longer than maybe a second and a half. Much too short.
And BOO to whoever decided that a Lifetime Achievement award to Tommy Tune wasn't worth televising. What the heck? Tune is another legend and we didn't get to see any of his performances or hear his acceptance speech. I could have done with less comedy bits from Cumming and Chenoweth to be able to see that.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 7:57am
Last year, we didn't get the In Memoriam segment televised and then this year they do an overblown segment and focus more on the performers singing than the deceased and rushed through the names. There were times I would try to read who was on the screen but couldn't since the cameras were so far away. Maybe next year they can find a happy medium?
I'm very sad the Tony speeches for Tommy Tune and John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Schwartz were not represented on the telecast.
Didn't care for the Finding Neverland number at all.
Sad that Hand to God went home empty handed but it doesn't seem shocking and it did lose many of its awards to deserving shows/performers.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 8:04am
Biggest Disappointment: "On the Twentieth Century's" performance. Jamming 4 songs into one medley was a mistake. Showcasing Kristen's dancing rather than her comic skills did the show a disservice.
So bad it's good: Thank you Harvey for reminding us that "Finding Neverland" is truly terrible. It could have faded into obscurity. Now it's made camp flop history.
Lisa's getting a lot of deserved praise for her performance but the bland lyrics to "Somethin' Somethin'," coming right after the Neverland song, remind us that self-actualization power ballads like "Defying Gravity" are hard to write well.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 9:19am
My one complaint there is that I was really rooting for Sydney Lucas, but she's young, so she'll have many chances to win in the future.
Then she should have a chat with Daisy Eagan.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 9:36am
Josh Groban can't sing live. I've said this from day one. He always has electronic help on tour and I just don't get the appeal. You can't put someone like him up against people who sing 8 shows a week for a living. It's not gonna look pretty. Memorial was rushed.
Strike the numbers from non-nominated shows and show the damn Tommy Tune, JCM and creative awards.
Shoulda Been You and Neverland numbers were not good.
I was disappointed Fairchild lost. Cerveris is great, but its an underwritten part, and to honest he sounds like The Phantom a lot, especially his final songs on the cast recording.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 9:46am
Cerveris is great, but its an underwritten part, and to honest he sounds like The Phantom a lot, especially his final songs on the cast recording.
Haha, I never noticed that before, but you're right.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 9:49am
They seem to have adjusted Cerveris' wig and glasses so that he looks less like Austin Powers.
And what's up with GIGI? They all seemed to have discovered cocaine rather than champagne.
The need to rush everyone got annoying -- they could have spare us all those annoying pre-commercial break spots where Cumming and Kristin were being all cutesy and allow some people a chance to breathe.
Updated On: 6/8/15 at 09:49 AM
Posted: 6/8/15 at 9:53am
Was expecting to be amazed by the Something Rotten! number, but was completely turned off by it. Boring music, obvious lyrics, and riffs from old shows just randomly inserted. Cannot believe this is something people give a mid-show ovation to.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 9:55am
^I think it was because they found out they're closing and they don't have to perform that show for very long now.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 10:17am
After Eight was not included in the In Memoriam???
Posted: 6/8/15 at 10:22am
I was a little bored with the show itself, didn't love Cheno/Cumming. I was overall pleased with the actual results, sans the Featured Actress in a Musical. (Note: from what I've heard, I'm sure Miles was deserving, I was just rooting deeply for Kuhn/Lucas).
I found most the performances "fine", but thought Lucas was simply splendid. Made me cry.
I will say about Something Rotten, between listening to the "bargain" cd (Amazon for under 4 bucks), and the number on the show -- I'm not really looking forward to seeing this next month. I fear I might dislike it. Keeping hope, however.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 10:23am
"My one complaint there is that I was really rooting for Sydney Lucas, but she's young, so she'll have many chances to win in the future.
Then she should have a chat with Daisy Eagan."
I have hope that Sydney Lucas will go the Anna Kendrick route.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 10:31am
Why, she's already a better actress then Kendrick. By a long shot. Of course, we may find that this is her peak -- but I certainly hope not.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 11:32am
"Why, she's already a better actress then Kendrick. By a long shot. Of course, we may find that this is her peak -- but I certainly hope not."
Well that I couldn't disagree more with. I feel like Lucas is cute and can sing well, but she always has that deer in headlights look whenever she's on stage.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 1:35pm
I was pretty underwhelmed by the show to be honest. At first I thought it felt like a dress rehearsal with the way Alan and Kristin were in the intro and how sped up "A Musical" felt to me.
A majority of the awards went to the right people in my opinion, and none of the speeches were god awful. I guess I need to see American in Paris to get why it win sets, because from what I've seen in pictures, I don't get that award.
At first I thought there was a technical glitch when it took so long to get the names and faces video. I continued to think that for the rest of the song with how fast they were going through them.
The performances were alright. Finding Neverland may not be a great show, but I thought it was exciting. It Shoulda was the whole, I'm gonna sing as loud and high as I can and riff a lot trend I see in my school amongst musical theatre majors. It fails to impress me
I think I need to see Fun Home again I think. I liked it, but I didn't get super moved by it, and agree with the "deer in headlights" analysis of Lucas' performance. As a gay kid who grew up in a not so accepting family in the suburbs of PA with an iffy relationship with my father, maybe since that was my reality and so normal to me that I didn't get the whole "groundbreaking" reaction others have had.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 1:49pm
"Groundbreaking" as in "the first Broadway musical to do something" isn't a feeling, or as the headbland would put it, an opinion.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 1:55pm
OKLAHOMA! was "groundbreaking." HAIR was "groundbreaking." RENT was "groundbreaking." A smart and touching musical about self-discovery, sexual identity/orientation, and Lesbianism is ... IN MY OPINION ... not historic or groundbreaking. Different strokes for different folks.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 2:02pm
There has never been a Broadway musical with a lesbian protagonist, nor has there ever been a musical that features lesbian desire so centrally. It is convenient for you to lump the portrayal of queer women on the Broadway musical stage under the banner of sexual orientation, but the fact of the matter is that they have been severely underrepresented in musical theatre. Fun Home is the first show to change that, which is a pretty good justification to consider it groundbreaking.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 2:02pm
At first I thought there was a technical glitch when it took so long to get the names and faces video. I continued to think that for the rest of the song with how fast they were going through them.
I also think they had technical problems getting the names and pictures started. I had just concluded they made the (odd) decision to not include them, when they started. It was already halfway through the song so they had to rush to get all the pictures in. On the other hand, I really liked having all the performers on stage with Groban. It was an effective way of showing the Broadway community was united in respect for those who died.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 2:08pm
One poster is wonderful. One is an outdated accessory.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 2:08pm
"Why did they announce Best Play before Best Revival? Reminds me of how the Grammys announce Record of the Year early in the telecast."
I also thought it was odd that they presented Best Actor in a Play after Best Play.
Other complaints:
-Too many overblown medleys from shows. In the future, I hope shows take a page from Fun Home's book (which was the best performance of the night by far).
-Finding Neverland. Zero nominations and yet they get to perform on two separate ceremonies. I know it's all about money, but still. And that song sounded like, as my friend put it, a Mumford and Sons reject.
-The Visit. I loved the show but choosing to perform "I Would Never a Leave You" was a huge mistake. They should've done just "Love and Love Alone" and maybe also "You, You, You".
Overall I liked most of the winners (especially Fun Home taking the most important awards), but the ceremony itself was mediocre.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 2:19pm
I loved the Tonys so much this year. Many more thrilling moments that dud moments. Not complaining, but just wasn't thrilled by these moments:
- The Visit - I may be in the minority on this board that thought the show was just bizarre. And what a bizarre choice of songs to feature. Still, sorry to hear it announced their closing.
- Kristin singing a few bars of The King and I right after Kelli sang.
- Michael Cerveris - I know he was flustered, but it was so sad to hear him get Fairchild's name wrong. I thought his speech was a little messy.
- Memorandum felt rushed. And poor Josh just couldn't hit those low notes.
- Finding Neverland....
-Jennifer Lopez and her presenters - what???
-20th Century - should have done Veronique
Posted: 6/8/15 at 2:45pm
I had problems with Matthew Morrison's face in Finding Neverland's performance. It looked way to pretentious. Maybe that works in the show, but it did not work at all for me in that isolated performance. The subtext of it screamed "I bet you are sorry for not nominating us now!"
