JERRY HERMAN-why no musical tribute?

[mntwister]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:03am

Did anyone else feel that they could have found a way to make room for a great showstopping number before they gave the award to Jerry Herman? They could have started with the fox-hunters from Mame in the red and black tuxes singing Mame, and then gone into the title tune of Hello Dolly and maybe even something from La Cage. I think they really could have brought the house down with this, and considering Angela Lansbury and Jerry Herman were both there, it would have been special. There really wasn't anything "old fashioned Broadway" except for Guys and Dolls and West Side Story. I think it was a missed opportunity for something that might have been spectacular!

[JasonM12480]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:04am

Time. Money. Producers with no artistic vision. I'm just sayin'...yet, we can squeeze in time for 3 national tour numbers. Really? REALLY, Tony committee?

[mntwister]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:05am

I agree with you. The touring thing was OK but could have been shortened to make room for some real showstoppers of Herman!

[Trish2]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:07am

I agree with all three reasons: money, artistic vision and time. But more importantly, there is NO ONE working today ( or who was represented on the telecast tonight) that could have staged it and given it justice. I mean, you saw that horrible opening number. Gone are the maestros of yesteryear.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:08am

I thought they planned something that was cut. No?

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:09am

According to Jim Hill, so not necessarily true, the amazing WALL-E animatronic was supposed to make an appearance. Obviously, he didn't. I was looking forward to it.

[mntwister]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:09am

I guess you are right. Although there was some good staging. My point is, here is really the last of the "old fashioned showtune" masters getting a special award, it would have been SOOOOO good to do MAME and Hello Dolly titles tunes...and added a little traditional Broadway to the telecast. What a shame.
Updated On: 6/8/09 at 12:09 AM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:10am

I am sure the producers of the tours paid BIG BUCKS to have those musical numbers on a Prime Time Award Show... It is all about the money folks.
A musical tribute to Jerry would not sell tickets.

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:13am

And no Dear World at all.... **sniffle**

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:14am

I am just crushed over the cancellation of Wall-E. I'm sure it would have brought dollar signs to Elton's eyeballs.

[mntwister]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:18am

Yeah that too! This has nothing to do with Broadway, but I think 20th Century Fox has made a big mistake not releasing a 40th anniversary edition on DVD and especially Blu-ray of Hello Dolly (this is the 40th anniversary of the film this year). Considering it was featured in Wall-E!

[alterego]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:18am

I was disappointed that Carol Channing wasn't there to co-present with Angela Lansbury the award to Jerry Herman.

[mntwister]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:18am

Ditto on Carol Channing! Maybe she isn't well.

[Trish2]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:18am

"I am sure the producers of the tours paid BIG BUCKS to have those musical numbers on a Prime Time Award Show... It is all about the money folks."

Yes, and they all wasted it with the mediocre stuff they put up tonight.

[defyingravity07]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:22am

Didn't Dollypop say that it was Jerry's idea to do the video?

[chiuptown]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:24am

i thought the touring number was lame and out of place, and such a marketing tool. it really messed up the entire program. finally, i don't see what everyone sees in n2n. it seems like alot of psycho babble screaming. it drives me crazy. not impressed, and I wanted to be bowled over by it.

[alterego]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 2:18am

Well at least we did get to see a little of the HELLO, DOLLY! White House clip. Possible the most "spirited" version I've ever seen.

[A Director]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 2:46am

I thought the clips were great. A live number(s) would have been awful. It was nice to hear his comments.

The movie versions of Hello, Dolly and Mame are awful and should be forgotten.

[singtopher]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 7:15am

Lord knows I'm not a fan of Herman's music overall, but it's ridiculous that a man who has written some of the most iconic musicals even doesn't warrant a musical number.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 7:38am

I had lunch with Jerry just the other day. The topic of Wall-E never came up, but I got the sense that it was Jerry's idea to use film clips of his actual productions. He wanted viewers to get a better feel of what the original shows were like. I just wish that there was better existing footage from the original DOLLY. The White House stage was cramped.

[AnythingGoes2]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 7:46am

Totally agree with Jerry when he was talking about Nederlanders hoped for revival of Hello, Dolly and Mame saying that they don't train actresses like the ones needed to pull off his shows - its so true and such a shame.

I'd love to see Mame back in full glory - not a stripped down version transfer, which are great, but I want Mame done big!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 7:51am

they don't train actresses like the ones needed to pull off his shows

What utter twaddle.

[Jennifer Lynn]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:43am

As I said in another thread, scuttlebutt (from a Disney news site) is that both the dancers and the animatronic programmers had put tons of work into preparing--only to be told, sorry, we're just doing film clips. Which screwed over all their hard work. I feel especially bad for the dancers...that rehearsal isn't child's play.

(And I was looking forward to seeing Wall-E. I love that little robot.)

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 10:40am

Going back to my conversation with Jerry, the topic of dancers never came up. All he talked about was a medley of his songs being done by two singers. Possibly there were to be dancers while the couple was singing, but it never came up in the conversation.

Actually we didn't dwell on this topic very long. He was more interested in hearing about Mufti's recent GRAND TOUR.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:23pm

When you are one of the pillars of Broadway, no musical tribute is necessary. Nobody needs be reminded what he has accomplished.