I could understand how one would have problems with the BILLY score but I, for one, love it. It's anything but terrible.
F*ck Rock of Ages. Musical, Direction, AND Leading Actor!? 9to5 got the shaft for this piece of sh*t!?
Billy Elliot actually has a decent score. I think most of the songs are more powerful than catchy. They have a lot more meaning in context with the show.
Featured Actor Joined: 4/28/09
Updated On: 5/5/09 at 03:15 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/25/08
I can't believe they nominated David Bolgana and not Frank Dolce, I feel horrible.
Featured Actor Joined: 4/28/09
Bundy - while that may be true, the music itself (are you a musician) is slipshod and messy. Extremely bland and lacking any real substance, with only three or four songs being an exception.
PG2 is right. It really is a bad score. Not sure I'd use the word "terrible" but it is very very bad. WickedRocks ~ if you can't see that, you must have drank Billy's kool aid. And we all know what that is. Mmmm...
MisterMatt - BE takes home 6 to 8 awards. No more than that. There's no way.
I'm a little upset that [title of show] was recognized more. I am quite happy they were recognized at all, but some aprreciation of the score and Susan's performance would have been nice.
Very surprised at all the love Billy Elliot got. I mean, I expected it to get nominated for a good deal, but not this much!
And Jbara, God love him, cannot do the accent. It's just awful.
He also can't do the role. He was a dumb oaf on stage with nothing underneath. I loved him in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, but he just didn't seem to dig at ALL for this role. It was especially disappointing after seeing Joe Caffrey do such an amazing job with the role in London.
wow. really? i think Greg should win. LOVED his take on the father in BILLY ELLIOT.
Constantine for Leading Actor? WTF? NO NO AND NO. Go Gavin!
Rock of Ages for Best Musical? Um, NO.
Can Billy Elliot be the new Producers? Hope NOT!
And it's a shame Stephanie was overlooked. Go Alice Ripley!
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/22/08
Stockard Channing REALLY? I wanted another one of the 9 to 5 women.
David Bologa REALLY? I wanted Aaron Tviet
I actually like Billy Elliot's score a lot (not as much as I like Next to Normal) but it's better than Shrek and 9 to 5, imo.
The biggest snub was for RUINED.
How do you win the Pulitzer and are not given even a NOMINATION???
Completely absurd- but then, why should we expect suburban American to care about anything related to the Congo? Let's just sit around and talk about our messed up relationships instead...
...RUINED is Off-Broadway.
I was just going to say that Ruined is off-Broadway.
Stand-by Joined: 7/15/08
Taryn, I couldn't agree with you more. I've loved Gregory Jbara in other roles, however, all he did during Billy Elliot was bellow, shout, and sing in a very affected manner. You hit the nail on the head with not digging deep. It's not difficult for any actor to play a gruff blue collar father in the one-dimensional fashion he chose. I could see any number of actors able to do the exact carbon copy one-dimensional peformance.
And the stereotypical reactions he chose in the scene when he takes Billy to the National Ballet School were uninspired and sophmoric to say the least. Maybe the production team knew they would be playing this show for every Tom, Dick, and Jane tourist that comes to NYC so they had no choice but to "dumb down" the performances to appeal to the audience.
I felt the exact same about Carole Shelley's performance. How many times have we seen the fiesty sharp tounged grandma routine? It gets old if you don't bring something fresh and new to it and she certainly did neither of those in the show. But to recognize her flat stereotypical cardboard cut out of a performance really is a shame. Especially when either of the ladies from [title of show] (not to mention other candidates in the supporting category) brought more dimension to their performances in the nail of their little pinky than Shelley did with her entire being.
While I'm still bitching (as this thread is so aptly called!) WTF were they thinking nominating the self-absorbed Jane Fonda for Best Actresss in a Leading Role? Talk about an uninspired and completely limp performance.
I'm wondering who she either paid off or threatened to get this nomination. She really needs to take a walk a couple of blocks down to 44th Street to see Desire Under the Elms and take a couple of notes from Carla Gugino on bringing passion, desperation, and inspiration to a role or she could have learned something from paying attention to Zach Grenier in her own production. Because in 33 Variations she showed up to walk on the stage, but that was about as far as it went.
Ruined won the Lucille Lortel Award for "Outstanding Play"
Me too!
Sorry I should have been more specific... it's an embarressment the show is ineligible for awards b/c of the theatre location. The awards need to be opened up to off-Broadway. Clearly.
But to recognize her flat stereotypical cardboard cut out of a performance really is a shame. Especially when either of the ladies from [title of show] (not to mention other candidates in the supporting category)
Kathy Fitzgerald....
Word srg129, word.
Having seen Billy Elliot in both London and NY, it's appalling how dumbed down the entire show is from content to performances. I think Jbara is one of the nicest guys on Broadway, and was a pisser in DRS, but I could not connect to his interpretation in the least.
And the [tos] girls deserved to be nominated, either one or both of them. The Tony committee was full of suck this round.
Umm...
The term "Off-Broadway" has nothing to do with "theatre location" but rather the size of the theatre. It has to have a certain number of seats to constitute as a "Broadway theatre" and if it doesn't then it's an "Off-Broadway Theatre" or an "Off-Off Broadway-Theatre"
Off-Broadway has their own award called the Lucille Lortel which is, effectively, their version of the Tony. "Ruined" won the Lortel for best play and it won a Pulitzer.
What more do you want?
After reading through the thread I find it intresting that those who like me are upset about the lack of TOS love, though Susan was more deserving of the nomination than Heidi. While either would have been amazing im just curious why? And now with no nomination do you think Aaron Tveit will even come back to the show once he leaves?
Isn't he doing Catch Me if You Can? Doubt he'd ever go back.
Oh, and Carla Gugino for DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS. Totally deserved a nomination.
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