Great Speeches - Seeking Input for a Class

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 1:55pm

Hello, Theater Lovers!

For a Public Speaking class I have to take for Culinary school (don't ask), we have an assignment to bring in a clip of a "famous" speech for the class to analyze and score.

The ones I'm considering include Fred Rogers' Lifetime Achievement award speech from 1997, the clip of Marian Seldes's Lifetime Achievement Award (the non-speech) if I can find it, and Alice Ripley's TONY acceptance for "next to normal." What I love about these is that they don't follow a format of "I'd like to thank this long list of people, wow I'm so overwhelmed with gratitude, here's an inspirational story, and oh my gosh the time is up thank you thank you" that we've come to expect.

What are some great TONY or other award acceptance speeches that spring to your minds? (I'm especially asking those ladies and gentlemen of the board who were around for, say, Michael Bennett's "A Chorus Line" TONY and other "classic" or "vintage" speeches.)

[jnb9872]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 2:17pm

If you're specifically looking at Award Acceptance Speeches (and that's a pretty narrow scope to look at), for my money one of the most affecting of all time was Jim Valvano's ESPY Awards speech at their inaugural ceremony.

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 2:22pm

I picked Award Acceptance speeches because I have a feeling most of my classmates will go for very well-known historical or political speeches. (Two of my classmates were fighting on the way out about which one of them would get to show Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech.) I wanted to show something different, that also exposed some people to some pretty stunning theater folk whom I love so much.

It also gives me an excuse to browse Youtube for TONY moments and call it "studying."

I'll check out the speech you mentioned. Thanks!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 2:38pm

No offense but Alice Ripley's speech was a hamper full of crazy with a bucket of drunk on the side.

[Queen of the Night]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 3:00pm

Alice Ripley? I thought that description belonged to Jodie Foster for that off-the-wall rambling speech she gave recently at the Golden Globes. At this years Tonys I liked Cicely Tyson, Patina Miller and Cyndi Lauper. Their speeches were good, especially Cyndi's humorous lines about answering the phone after finishing the dishes.

Updated On: 7/8/13 at 03:00 PM

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 3:00pm

I know. That's one of the reasons I like it so much: it'll be a great relief from the litany of "I Have a Dream" and "We Will Go to the Moon" and "From Stetin in the Baltic"that we'll probably have to sit through on Wednesday. :)

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 3:02pm

Yeah, Jodie's really wasn't on my list, Queen of the Night. I love her and admire her for what she wanted to do, but that speech made Alice Ripley's look like the Gettysburg Address.

[ggersten]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 3:37pm

Michael Jeter? The performance is thrilling - the speech is touching and remembered.

Stephen Sondheim's acceptance of his second Tony award. Short, sweet and to the point.




Performance + Speech Updated On: 7/8/13 at 03:37 PM

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 4:33pm

Ooh, great ideas! Thanks!!!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 4:52pm

I think it makes perfect sense to take a PS class, not only will it help with job interviews, but if you become a head chef, you will need to communicate to your entire staff, the waitstaff and be called upon to talk to customers. In fact, I think there a few professions that couldn't use that class.

I took one in college. The largest group of majors in the class? Mortuary Science Students. They were hysterical. (And actually freakishly cute, if I remember correctly.) There were a lot of hookups between them and the theater majors. Oh, and the rest of the class hated the theater majors because we made them all look bad. (It was in a very friendly manner. They voted that we could only present last, as it wasn't fair for them to have to go after us!)

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 5:02pm

I absolutely agree that taking a speaking class is great for chefs. I majored in English in college, though, am a classically-trained singer, and hold a Master's in Psych, so I've definitely covered everything on this class's curriculum (and even the teacher agrees that it's ridiculous that the school is making me take this class when it allowed me to transfer credits for every other one of the GenEds).

I figured as long as I'm taking the class, I may as well have fun with it! Hence trying to get ideas for TONY or other theater-related speeches that are new to me).

It sounds like your PS class was great fun!

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 5:11pm

To clarify: it's not that I mind taking the class, because there's always more to learn; I just don't like having to PAY for an Associate's-level PS class when I hold a more advanced degree in the field already.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 6:33pm

If you want other Awards speeches, Dustin Hoffman's first Oscar speech was extremely classy and memorable. All of Christoph Waltz's speeches for awards he won for Inglorious Basterds are wonderful extended metaphors and kind of amazingly written amongst this kind of speech. Ty Burrell's Emmy speech (and tribute to his father) is a wonderful bit of storytelling that also managed to thank all the relevant people in the process and all under the time limitations.

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 8:42pm

I'll definitely look those up! Thanks so much!

[PTOPhan]

Posted: 7/9/13 at 11:02pm

If you're looking for an unintentionally humorous one, Sally Fields' "you like me" Oscar speech has to be up there. For that matter, Jim Stockdale's (Ross Perot's running mate) "Why am I here?" riff in the VP debate from whatever year that was (1992?) would also be a break from "I Have a Dream" and "Four-Score and Seven Years Ago..." If you decide to go with something political, Nixon's "Checkers" speech is pretty out there as well.

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Posted: 7/10/13 at 2:23am

Stritch: "None of them won!"

[mordav]

Posted: 7/10/13 at 8:35am

Or if you're looking for something truly inspirational - Winston Churchill in the House of Commons, or Belushi in Animal House

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 7/10/13 at 8:43am

Haha, "Animal House" was on yesterday and I was half-seriously considering bringing that speech in.

Thanks for the great ideas, everyone!