2017 TONY Awards Performances — Page 9

I'm sorry but this is ridiculous. Bette is Bette and IMO there are other people who would play Dolly better. At this point, Id' rather see the award go to Patti or Christine for War Paint. Who not only are giving stellar and layered acting performances, but AMAZING vocal performances as well. I'm so over the exclusivity of this Hello Dolly revival

I don't know for certain, but I assume Tony producers don't want remote performances because almost every show - especially those with more elaborate staging - would prefer to be at their own theatre. Don't you think Great Comet would rather be at the Imperial? As a television viewer, I would rather they perform there instead of trying to piece together an imitation version of their own elaborate set-up at Radio City. But maybe the Tony Award producers want a better live show, or not to deal with the hassles of shuttling people around in time for the awards. I don't know.

If the Hello, Dolly folks don't think they can pull off the title number at Radio City, more power to them. But the Times story doesn't just say "no title number," it says no Bette Midler. We'll give you David Hyde Pierce singing "Penny in My Pocket." Now it's certainly possible that the Tony producers are being irrationally stubborn, insisting on the title number and refusing to compromise on any other song that Midler performs. But that suggests that the Tony Award producers are total morons, which I doubt.

Perhaps all of this is designed to juice some drama out of this. But except for people like us, who cares? CBS can either promote a performance by Bette Midler or it can't. That decision can't be made at the last minute.

This all just sounds like Scott Rudin playing games and deciding that it really doesn't matter to his bottom line whether Bette Midler performs or not. That's probably true, if his only goal is to make a profit while Midler remains with the show. But it seems awfully shortsighted, and not really good for Midler either. This will probably be her last chance to perform as the main attraction of the her own show, which has gotten rave reviews. And if the goal is to promote Broadway to the nation, why wouldn't you want a performance of the season's biggest hit for everyone to see? It's been done before, with this show.

Watching this mini-drama plays out does make me appreciate the ability of the Hamilton producers to not screw things up, which maximized their own profits while exposing more people to Broadway musical theatre.

Updated On: 5/29/17 at 08:03 PM

icecreambenjamin said: "They could literally perform Before the Parade Passes By or Sunday Clothes without having to drastically restage anything. The Dolly producers are just being assh0les."

Very true. And besides everybody has to restage numbers for the Tonys. Hell, when R&H's Cinderella was done a few years ago William Ivey Long designed a completely different transformation dress for Laura Osnes to meet the restricted time and staging requirements. It's what you do to give the rest of the country a glimpse of what you have created.

This is totally Scott Rudin feeling he has the upper hand and threatening to walk away with his star and sticking the Tonys (and the rest of the country) with David Hyde Pierce. Which the Tonys will have to take, otherwise he can blame them for not accepting a number from the show.

Forget him and Dolly and Midler. (And I mean that in the Cee Lo Green sense of the word.) Falsettos was the best revival of a musical, anyway.

Updated On: 5/29/17 at 11:24 PM

Without knowing the specifics, I'm sure that from CBS' POV, it's about cost. Allowing a remote broadcast is going to cost thousands of dollars more. And for a show that doesn't do well in the ratings, is it worth it? Obviously they aren't sure it is.

If they had allowed it, Dolly most likely would have had to pay.

Babe_Williams said: "How much does it speak to the staying power and strength of the DEH score that they are performing Waving Through a Window yet again? I was thinking about performances from last year's best musical winner, Hamilton. They performed Alexander Hamilton at the Grammy's, One Last Time at the White House, Yorktown at the Tony's and then Schuyler Sisters during the closing credits. It seems really strange that the producers of DEH aren't trying to go in a different direction. "

It's the best choice. It works the best out of context and is, arguably, the best song in the show. FUN HOME went a similar route. They chose the best song that happened to work the best out of context.

Honestly, I thought HAMILTON messed up the Tony performance. Yorktown was not remotely close to the best choice.

"Waving Through a Window" is the best and only option in my opinion for Dear Evan Hansen to perform. It's the only song that works out of context, doesn't give away any spoilers, and includes the entire company. It's also the best and catchiest song in the show, so this is definitely the "Tony song." Any other song would just not do the production any favors. Imagine if Hamilton only performed "Yorktown" at the Tonys (a miss in my opinion).

This drama between the Tonys and Hello, Dolly! is not making either side look good. The Tonys need Bette and Dolly would be tainted if they chose to represent their production with "Penny in My Pocket." I wonder who will cave.

I'm wondering if they're going to show Connor calling Evan a freak and shoving him to the ground before WTAW or if they'll just start with the opening chords of the song?

icecreambenjamin said: "They could literally perform Before the Parade Passes By or Sunday Clothes without having to drastically restage anything. The Dolly producers are just being assh0les.



"

Seriously. If those Matilda kids could dangerously ride those razor scooters down the passerelle at Radio City Music Hall and avoid colliding with one another and/or losing control and falling off, then there's no reason the adult dancers with years of training can't do re-choreographed leaps to avoid the danger of falling 25 feet (if that is the actual excuse and not a pretext Rudin came up with for some other reason).

Updated On: 5/31/17 at 06:43 PM

If the cast of Falsettos is performing my guess is that they'll sing the Baseball Song, the same song done by the original cast on the Tony Awards.

Any intel or idea of what Groundhog Day is doing? I assume they're performing?

I saw the show this week and loved it, but afterwards I was at a loss for what they might do at the Tonys. "If I Had My Time Again" and "One Day" are the crowd-pleasing production numbers, but neither really features or showcases Andy Karl (I guess One Day sort-of does)... "Hope" is perfect, but out of context (or for people who don't know the movie), it would be horribly bleak, not to mention a bit of bad taste alongside Evan Hansen. "Philanthropy" was great in the show, but so strange out of context on the Today Show. "Seeing You" is gorgeous, but it would be weird to give away the ending. Maybe a truncated "Day One"? A medley a la Matilda? I'm so curious to see what they're doing!

Updated On: 6/1/17 at 01:05 PM

Why this year’s Tony Awards may be ‘a little muted’

"Rudin offered to sweeten the deal by having a Tony viewing party at the Shubert, where 1,400 people could see Midler perform either number and then catch the rest of the awards show on giant screens. He says he was going to make the viewing party a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS."

Jimbo2 said: "If the cast of Falsettos is performing my guess is that they'll sing the Baseball Song, the same song done by the original cast on the Tony Awards."

I'm so excited for their performance, but I hope Borle is sporting a wig or something and not his bald Wonka look.