"33 Of The Greatest Tony Performances Of All Time"

[followspot]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 9:54am

From BuzzFeed. Certainly not definitive or scholarly, but a fun collection:
33

Updated On: 6/30/14 at 09:54 AM

[followspot]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 10:01am

And on the flip side — "The Weirdest Tony Performances Ever"

From DailyBeast:
Weird

[Jon]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 11:30am

The omission of Michael Jeter in Grand Hotel invalidates this list. Brilliant performance, followed by a magnificent acceptance speech.

[wonkit]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 11:32am

Also love the ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY performance on the Tonys, but no list is perfect. It is great to have so many wonderful clips in a single place - like an "all you can eat" lunch buffet.

[followspot]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 11:36am

The omission of Michael Jeter in Grand Hotel invalidates this list.

Or perhaps this: "Not bad, but any 'greatest' list should include Michael Jeter in Grand Hotel [link]"

Updated On: 6/30/14 at 11:36 AM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 11:49am

They have Cabaret there twice (original and 1998 revival), but they couldn't include Les Miz? That was a thrilling performance.

[dreaming]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 12:06pm

The original Les Miz was part of the first Tony Awards broadcast I ever saw. And I was thrilled by every second of it.

Bernadette's Rose's Turn would be my other pick. That was thrilling. (I still think she was robbed for that performance.)

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 12:35pm

Did Tim Minchin piss off someone at Buzzfeed? Matilda wasn't included in their Best Musicals of the 2000s list, and now their impossibly joyful Tony performance didn't make this list, either. Happy to see that Ragtime and Spring Awakening were remembered, though. I guess the 2009 opening doesn't really count but that was the most amazing thing I ever saw happen on the Tonys. (Just checked the weird list and saw that it was included there. The only thing I'd consider weird about that performance were the parts starring Liza and Stockard Channing.)

And I call bullsh!t on the Xanadu inclusion. I was just rewatching that performance the other day and couldn't get over how boring it was.

Updated On: 6/30/14 at 12:35 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 12:41pm

What invalidates these lists is the use of an arbitrary and large number like "33."

It's as if the person making the lst was too lazy or stupid to choose among all the possibilities and just said "F*CK it. This is Buzzweed. I'll just leave them all in."

[callitquits]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 1:29pm

I love the note under Run, Freedom, Run: "Bonus points if you can spot Sutton Foster's brother!" What a remedial Where's Waldo.

[KnewItWhenIWasInFron]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 3:09pm

Pretty great list (and, dreaming, I agree about Bernadette's thrilling "Rose's Turn," which is included on this list. Did you miss it?)

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 12:24am

I have to agree with Jon. Any list that speaks of great Tony performances and leaves off Michael Jeter is uninformed. He was the Ray Bolger of the modern era.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euCvQ4ikZZQ

I also think that it's a crime that 42nd Street is missing from the list, especially because it shows the brilliance of Jerry Orbach. Starts at 31:08

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEjbjt1hSzI

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 12:55am

42ND STREET is probably one of my favorites ever, and it's not even on the list.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/1/14 at 1:11am

I think 42nd Street was the last time you saw 10 million people on stage at one time. And it was glorious. So how the author can compare Chenoweth doing her shtick in Charlie Brown to a full chorus of dancers is beyond me.