re: the Alicia Key/Jay Z performance
I feel like there are two kinds of Tony Awards--those that are looked at years down the line to get a sense of the show and those that are meant more to spark buzz in the here and now--and this was definitely the latter. I agree that it could have possibly enticed non-theater goers to check out parts of the Tonys (or at least the Hell's Kitchen performance) and it certainly ensured this Tonys ceremony would be talked about, and they did manage to showcase a little bit from the nominated performers in the show as well. If anything, I'd probably be upset about it cutting into other performances' times (like Stereophonic) since theirs was much longer than everything else. And we've had Tony Awards in the past where none of the nominated shows even performed so let's not pretend like there's some sanctity around what has to be performed on the Tonys.
Speaking of Stereophonic, I'm sure it'll be alright with the awards it's won and the general buzz, but I really don't think that performance alone would've helped sell tickets. Best case scenario someone gets intrigued by the song and looks up the full thing themselves, but overall I feel like I would've been left with a "that's it?" if I didn't know the show at all.
Overall the only award I was a little upset by was Cabaret winning over Here Lies Love for set (David Korins Tony, when?), though I understand since Cabaret is still open and they also transformed the rest of the lobby/theater etc. I thought the Danya Taymor Tony was well deserved, but did ANYONE have that in their predictions?
I'd love to see Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad host next year (especially since it seems like Andrew might not be on Broadway anymore), I thought their bit together was the best non-performance part of the show.
Also has the full version of Cody Spencer's speech been posted anywhere? I haven't watched the Pluto TV stream afterwards so not sure if they included the rest of it after the fact. I felt pretty bad for him since it was an honest mistake but it was also pretty funny.