Posted: 11/23/17 at 2:08am
Call_me_jorge said: "hork said: "Jenn Colella. Iactually thought Rachel Bay Jones was kind of bad."
How?"
By not acting well.
Posted: 11/23/17 at 2:18am
hork said: "Call_me_jorge said: "hork said: "Jenn Colella. Iactually thought Rachel Bay Jones was kind of bad."
How?"
By not acting well."
Can you explain a little more? What about her acting did you not enjoy?
Posted: 11/23/17 at 3:38am
Being handsome =/= a good performance.
Just saying.
Also, screaming on pitch =/= a good performance.
Updated On: 11/23/17 at 03:38 AM
Posted: 11/23/17 at 11:13am
Call_me_jorge said: "hork said: "Call_me_jorge said: "hork said: "Jenn Colella. Iactually thought Rachel Bay Jones was kind of bad."
How?"
By not acting well."
Can you explain a little more? What about her acting did you not enjoy?"
Well, for instance, the night I saw her, she kept flubbing lines and failing to cover it in a way that seemed organic to the character. It was very amateurish. I couldn’t believe I was watching an actress who’d been playing the role for a year and won a Tony for it. She almost seemed drunk. More personally, I found the character annoying, and I don’t think I was supposed to. I cringed every time a “mom” scene came along.
Posted: 11/23/17 at 12:21pm
Penny Fuller in APPLAUSE, the best supporting performance I've ever seen in a musical. Saw the show out-of-town before the original "Eve" was replaced, and Fuller made all the difference in the world, nuanced, riveting, a powerhouse in her songs. Melba Moore was fine in PURLIE, stopping the show with "I Got Love" and funny in her cartoon-like performance. But Penny Fuller was astonishing.
Posted: 11/23/17 at 12:59pm
I thought that Jones deserves that Tony. She was brilliant and moving when I watched DEH. But if ever someone should win the Tony other than Jones, it would be Stephanie Block for her magnificent performance in Falsettos.
While Ruthie Anne Miles is one of my favorite performers (even with a very small role in Sunday I thought she was fabulous) I still believe Judy Khun deserved that Tony for her absolutely stunning performance in Fun Home. She should’ve won a tony by now.
and to risk facing the wrath of DEH die hard fans, I have to say that Ben Platt is so lucky that Sunday was not submitted for any recognition cause Jake Gyllenhaal gave the greatest performance of the 2017 season for playing George. I was in the fifth row from stage on the right where Jake usually sits and stands throughout the show and by God his eyes says a thousand words. You can really feel the inner struggle of George. When he utters the words Order, Design, composition... you can feel that he isn’t just mentioning these word but commanding them - as if they were living entities. Such a brilliant performance.
Updated On: 11/23/17 at 12:59 PM
Posted: 11/23/17 at 1:24pm
Ludlow29 said: "Penny Fuller in APPLAUSE, the best supporting performance I've ever seen in a musical. Saw the show out-of-town before the original "Eve" was replaced, and Fuller made all the difference in the world, nuanced, riveting, a powerhouse in her songs. Melba Moore was fine in PURLIE, stopping the show with "I Got Love" and funny in her cartoon-like performance. But Penny Fuller was astonishing."
Strongly disagree. I always liked Penny Fuller, thought she was a great Sally Bowles when she replaced Jill Haworth; but I thought she couldn't compete with Bacall and, in a made up role, Bonnie Franklin; the fact that she did not have a single good song didn't help.
Moore gave a great musical comedy performance. I Got Love is one of the most significant show stoppers in 50 years of theatergoing, and it was all because of Moore's voice. She was very funny and gave an extremely warm performance. IMO, it was one of the best supporting performances I have seen in any musical in a lifetime of theatergoing.
Posted: 11/23/17 at 3:46pm
Unfortunately, the Tonys have become too "political" (i.e., based on which 'wins' will keep a show open, or create buzz for a tour).
Posted: 11/23/17 at 9:35pm
John Adams said: "Unfortunately, the Tonys have become too "political" (i.e., based on which 'wins' will keep a show open, or create buzz for a tour)."
How? The big winners of the last two years were shows that definitely didn't need any wins to keep afloat.
Posted: 11/23/17 at 10:22pm
Posted: 11/23/17 at 10:37pm
Alfred Molina in RED.
Tim Pigott-Smith in KING CHARLES III.
Posted: 11/23/17 at 10:42pm
gypsy101 said: "highly agree with some of the stuff said here. Ruthie Ann Miles should not have won. both Sydney Lucas and Judy Kuhn were more deserving so i can only assume they split the vote. if Kelli had won for Bridges like she should have, i believe Kristin would have won for 20th Century like she should have."
as brilliant as Sydney and Judy were, I feel like Ruthie gave a game changing performance. She nearly redefined that role.
I think i have to add Beth Malone for fun home. I know Kelli and k Chen was the main competition that year and I even suggested k Chen deserved a win, but truly Beth Malone gave a defining performance on the scale of Ben Platt in DEH
Posted: 11/23/17 at 11:20pm
Jarethan said: "Ludlow29 said: "Penny Fuller in APPLAUSE, the best supporting performance I've ever seen in a musical. Saw the show out-of-town before the original "Eve" was replaced, and Fuller made all the difference in the world, nuanced, riveting, a powerhouse in her songs. Melba Moore was fine in PURLIE, stopping the show with "I Got Love" and funny in her cartoon-like performance. But Penny Fuller was astonishing."
Strongly disagree. I always liked Penny Fuller, thought she was a great Sally Bowles when she replaced Jill Haworth; but I thought she couldn't compete with Bacall and, in a made up role, Bonnie Franklin; the fact that she did not have a single good song didn't help.
Moore gave a great musical comedy performance. I Got Love is one of the most significant show stoppers in 50 years of theatergoing, and it was all because of Moore's voice. She was very funny and gave an extremely warm performance. IMO, it was one of the best supporting performances I have seen in any musical in a lifetime of theatergoing."
As they say, that's what makes horse-racing. The category was "Best Supporting Actress in a musical" not biggest show-stopper. The precise reason why Penny Fuller was brought in is that the performer who played the tryout couldn't hold her own against Bacall. Penny Fuller is foremost a great actress and not only held her own but IMO topped Bacall. Bacall was a dynamic personality, but not a standout actress—which is what Margo Channing is supposed to be. Fuller made (admittedly) problematic songs like 'Halloween" mesmerizing. Bonnie Franklin was playing Bonnie Franklin (the character was even named "Bonnie" and certainly had no acting challenge in her two numbers, "Applause" and "She's No Longer a Gypsy." Melba Moore is a dynamic singer and cartoonish actress, as evinced by her never having another role in which she was noted for her acting. "I Got Love" was written specifically for her rangy voice during previews of PURLIE; she didn't have to turn around songs that initially didn't work well—Fuller stopped the show on opening night with "Halloween" (I was there) just as Melba Moore would do with "I Got Love," a song that was delightful but had no story-telling arc. ALL ABOUT EVE is my favorite movie, and APPLAUSE (which was a disaster in its early tryout, which I also saw) was largely salvaged by Fuller. Moreover, the show was at its peak (at least for me) when Anne Baxter (another great actress) took over as Margo. During that juxtaposition, the show actually achieved one of the original intents of the movie: to make Margo and Eve two sides of the same coin (Anne Baxter was reportedly cast in ALL ABOUT EVE because she resembled Claudette Colbert, who dropped out because of an injury). And, if Jarethan is going to cite 50 years of theatergoing, I too have been a NY theatergoer for more than 50 years and have worked as a musical theatre historian for the Berkshire Theatre Festival and a head writer for the New Amsterdam Theater Company. For me, the most dazzling showstoppers are those that tell a story, like when I saw Merman singing "Some People" and "Rose's Turn," Robert Preston doing "Trouble," and Vivian Blaine singing "Adelaide's Lament" (which I saw in a Ciity Center revival). I don't mean to cite those facts as one-upmanship. Just as evidence that—like Jarethan—I have many years of experience to compare and back up what admittedly are opinions. - Michael Colby
Updated On: 11/24/17 at 11:20 PM
Posted: 11/23/17 at 11:54pm
Posted: 11/24/17 at 12:07am
Judy Kuhn SO shouldve won over Ruthie Ann Miles.
As for featured actress musical this year........Rachel Bay Jones, so so so deserved that award. In face I dont think Jenn shouldve been a frontrunner in the category, yes her performance is amazing but CFA is a ensemble effort, she happens to be in the role with a major solo song.
Now if we're talking RBJ vs SJB....its tough, I think DEH still running helped Rachel,
As for Rachel flubbing lines or covering it up....I think thats her in the role, shes a mom trying to hard to connect with her son, I dont think she was totally messing up lines, she probably began to say something that maybe she didnt want to say to Evan and then covered it up. That's how I perceive her performance. I adore Rachel as an actress and she is incredibly professional, I mean she barely uses social media, and she only majorly started when her agent probably told her too because she was becoming a "name".
Posted: 11/24/17 at 8:27am
I still can't believe that Christian Borle won the tony over Brad Oscar. Now, I love Borle, and think he is a very talented performer, but Rotten to me seemed to be a weak point for him. I felt his performance was unsculpted, and he was just going out and doing whatever he could to get an audience reaction.
However, Oscar was giving a sculpted comedic performance. I don't know how else to explain it, but he felt more grounded throughout the entire thing, like he had a clear vision in mind, and the audience responded better to him then to Borle, throughout the entire show.
Posted: 11/24/17 at 8:42am
Two of my favorite performances from the past five years came from two people that were not even nominated...
Benjamin Walker (American Psycho)
Lydia Wilson (King Chales III)
I think these two should have won Tonys.
Posted: 11/24/17 at 10:48am
ethan231h said: "Judy Kuhn SO shouldve won over Ruthie Ann Miles.
As for featured actress musical this year........Rachel Bay Jones, so so so deserved that award. In face I dont think Jenn shouldve been a frontrunner in the category, yes her performance is amazing but CFA is a ensemble effort, she happens to be in the role with a major solo song.
Now if we're talking RBJ vs SJB....its tough, I think DEH still running helped Rachel,
As for Rachel flubbing lines or covering it up....I think thats her in the role, shes a mom trying to hard to connect with her son, I dont think she was totally messing up lines, she probably began to say something that maybe she didnt want to say to Evan and then covered it up. That's how I perceive her performance. I adore Rachel as an actress and she is incredibly professional, I mean she barely uses social media, and she only majorly started when her agent probably told her too because she was becoming a "name"."
No, she was flubbing lines in an actor way, not in a way real people misspeak. That's what I meant when I said she didn't cover it, to make it sound like the character stammering. There's a very distinct difference between the two. If it was intentional, that makes it even worse, because it means she doesn't know how to stammer convincingly.
Posted: 11/24/17 at 11:23am
Ruthie Ann Miles was radiant and transformed the clunker of "Something Wonderful" into a transcendent moment of theatre. She deserved the crap out of that Tony.
I'm not a DEH fan whatsoever, but RBJ deserved the Tony this year. Colella and Block put up insanely strong competition, but Jones was profound and heartbreaking.
Posted: 11/24/17 at 11:52am
Bar none, Laura Benanti in WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN...
I will never not be salty about the girl who won in the MORMON sweep, because she honestly paled in comparison. Benanti was a perfectly sculpted and calculate kind of crazy...
Posted: 11/24/17 at 12:39pm
Bar none, Laura Benanti in WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN...
One of my favorite performances of all time. And personally, I would have thrown several other Tonys to the show. It was my favorite musical of the season.
Posted: 11/24/17 at 5:42pm
quizking101 said: "Bar none, Laura Benanti in WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN...
I will never not be salty about the girl who won in the MORMON sweep, because she honestly paled in comparison. Benanti was a perfectly sculpted and calculate kind of crazy..."
THIS.
Posted: 11/24/17 at 6:11pm
quizking101 said: "Bar none, Laura Benanti in WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN...
I will never not be salty about the girl who won in the MORMON sweep, because she honestly paled in comparison. Benanti was a perfectly sculpted and calculate kind of crazy..."
you mean tony award winner Nikki m. James? Get a life. She deserved that award fair and square. And I don’t why you would call it a sweep for Book of Mormon. That was the only acting category they won. And they won it rightfully so.
Posted: 11/24/17 at 6:24pm
