On 20th Century last night 7/14 — Page 2

""After having seen both shows, I still believe a great performance of Lily Garland should overshadow a great performance of Anna. To me the latter is a textbook role that any Broadway caliber actress should be able to sing and perform with a nuance that makes it special.

But when it's up against a great performance like Kristin's, I would have to give the nod to Chenoweth. That role could really be flubbed if it had the wrong person cast. And Kristin nailed it. It's too bad that a few others on here saw her on what must have been an off night. Because underwhelming is the last word I would have used to describe her performance. And the audience was with the show every step of the way.

I thought KC's performance seemed more complex, and I walked out of the theater thinking that if she doesn't get the Tony I'll be shocked.

I want to thank everyone for their replies. I know that screwball comedy is not for everybody, plays like Noises Off are tough enough and then with musicals like OTTC, the energy of acting and singing really ramps it up to triple time when done correctly.

I also want to thank OlBlueEyes and ComdenGreen for their, thoughtful and detailed replies. I guess this is a show that you love or hate. (Let's face it, The Phantom Of The Opera still has haters and lovers going on for over 20 years!)

I love Kelli O'Hara but she did not deserve a Tony for KAI; I thought that production was a "paint by numbers" version of the show. Just because you add a 50+ cast, sounds nice but it was poorly staged. Lou Diamond Phillips was a wonderful King but I thought Ken W was less than average. And I know other people loved and raved.

So on to the next production theatregoers! Enjoy

Yeah, Yes! Scotty

Thank you for your post. I agree that some people don't know how or just can't appreciate all the tremendous hard work going on in OTTC. Too bad it closes tomorrow but I got to see it twice

Steve in MD

All sorts of things come into play during awards season, for better or worse. THE KING AND I and FUN HOME are shows whose books have a great deal of depth. ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY and ON THE TOWN are largely frivolous. I think this helps explain how Kelli O'Hara and Michael Cerveris won this year's musical acting Tonys. That, and the fact that O'Hara had been nominated so often in the past decade and not won.

Ironically, Kristin Chenoweth and Tony Yazbeck had far more technically challenging roles in their shows due to their musical demands, and would have had my votes even if I did prefer their rivals' shows overall.

No one undeserving actually won a Tony, obviously, but I do think the scales always tip in favor of more serious fare.

Updated On: 7/20/15 at 09:41 AM

I saw this last night, 7/18, and had a great time. I wasn't familiar with the show at all (except for what I saw on the Tonys). I agree with those who've said that it's not a "deep" show, but it was funny, moved along very quickly, and had a ton of energy. The audience was extremely engaged and enthusiastic, with lots of applause for everyone.

Kristin sounded great to me and I thought she did a fantastic job. I was much more impressed seeing her in the context of the whole show than in what I saw on the Tonys. I haven't seen Kelli in King and I yet, so obviously won't try to compare the two performances, but IMHO Kristin's performance was more than Tony worthy. I agree with the poster above who said that the role could have been a disaster in the wrong hands.

I thought Andy Karl was hilarious with all of his physical comedy. On one of his last exits from the compartment, he stuck his foot through the door last and his shoe fell off. Kristin just lost it for a minute - she hid her face in the sofa and you could see she was laughing. It was really cute. She recovered quickly and said her next line, which she adapted slightly (I assume) so she said something like "I have to get my mind off - and - and THAT SHOE." The audience loved it.

The one bit I really didn't like that much was the "Life is Like a Train" number - I thought the dancers were really talented but I found the "song" too long, annoying and not very funny.

I'm really glad I got to see Kristin in this role before the show closed. She's coming to my town (Rochester, NY) this fall and I was on the fence about seeing her, but now I'm definitely going to try to get a ticket.

I saw it last night as well- the shoe bit was quite funny. That said, I'm in the "show was dull" camp. I was just not engaged in it, the first act dragged a lot and it was never the incredibly hysterical, wild ride of a show that it should have been. I thought Kristin was great, although I do think her energy level was a little low at times, but she was overall very strong. Still, Kelli more then deserved that award over her, her performance was amazing. I thought Kristin was dragged down by the material and I don't think it will be considered her career best work. I personally was more impressed with the clips, but that's only because more of Kristin's expressions were captured there obviously. I thought Peter Gallagher was even better then she was- How was he not nominated?

"Tell that to Sutton Foster, Andrea Martin, Judy Kaye, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Billy Porter, and Norbert Leo Butz, to name a few Tony winners of the last 10-15 years."

OK, fair enough, but other things come into play here as well. Sutton won for ANYTHING GOES over Patina Miller in SISTER ACT, so it was lighthearted fare vs. lighthearted fare. Norbert won over Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad, so the same factor comes into play, and for DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, when his chief competition was his co-star and two of the stars of SPAMALOT. Billy Porter...well, a guy in a dress in a show about being a guy in a dress has the political and cultural zeitgeist on his side, as did KINKY BOOTS itself. Plus, his competition was not especially dramatic, either. Certainly not the way Michael Cerveris's and Kelli O'Hara's roles are.

Of course there are no real rules, I was generalizing, but if there are two major exceptions to the generalization I made I would say they involve SPAMALOT winning Best Musical over LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA and Harvey Fierstein in HAIRSPRAY winning Best Actor over Antonio Banderas in NINE. As for Marissa, Bernadette's performance left audiences divided, she had won two Tonys already and, although this wouldn't last, perhaps people just didn't want to award another Mama Rose at the time.

Back to ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, Gallagher was outstanding as well and would have been a worthy nominee. I enjoyed the show, but would have liked it more if it were shorter. It's fun, light stuff, it doesn't need to go on for as long as it does. The Miss Primrose stuff is a bit much, and I agree that "She's A Nut" was pointless and much too long. Ditto the "I Have Written A Play" scenes. Once was enough. But this fault is built into the show so I wouldn't blame it on this production.

Updated On: 7/20/15 at 02:45 PM

It is really quite interesting to look back at the original OTTC and see that so many of the same issues discussed here were also on everyone's mind back then. At the 1978 Tonys the original got a good amount of nominations. (The same as this year.) However, it WON for Book of a Musical for Comden and Green, Best Score for C,G, and Coleman, Best Actor/Musical John Cullum, Best Supporting Actor/Musical Kevin Kline, and several technical awards. From different/book sources I've read, the producers tried to get Madeline Kahn nominated but the Tony board said no; so Judy Kaye did get the nom, (as she should have.) But just like this year the competition was stiff. In '78 Liza Minelli was at the height of her career. Even though Kaye's roll was more technically challenging, being up against Liza was almost a no-brainer. Liza gave a great performance but was she better than Judy Kaye ?? There are clips I've seen on YouTube of the OBC, just type in OTTC or 1978 Tony Awards (Complete Awards Show) ..so Liza did win that year.

I still think this OTTC was terrific and Kristin Chenowith was spectacular into the stratosphere!

Maybe the producers tried to get Judy Kaye nominated, but the Tony committee stuck to their rules about only opening night cast members being eligible. Kahn probably did the role long enough to not invoke some sort of Dean Jones exception. Though I do wonder if it was awkward for Kahn to be there and see her replacement get applauded before the performance and then perform the number in the role Kahn was nominated for.

wow i can't believe the huge differences of opinion on both On the Town and On the 20th Century this year. I personally LOVED 20th century, and though On the Town was soooo dull and not funny, and then a lot of people feel the exact opposite

wow this is so interesting. I went in with no expectations at all honestly. I knew almost nothing about the show, and just enjoyed it. I think going into a show having high or low expectations is a bad thing.

I was at the performance on the 15th, where the side sofa came off its track and had to be manually moved by a stagehand...which was definitely humorous.

My opinion of this show was that it was always underrated and overlooked, so I was extremely happy that this revival got the exposure it did due to Kristin Chenoweth.

However, I left the production feeling a tad underwhelmed. I still stand by the material but the energy felt a little off to me....perhaps it was just an off performance. I enjoyed most of the performances, but I actually left more impressed with Peter Gallagher (though he was no John Cullum) and Andy Karl. Kristin Chenoweth was very good but I didn't view her as a revelation by any means. It was kind of strange feeling because I wasn't overly impressed with her and yet she had this star quality where I couldn't take my eyes off of her most of the time. In the end, the vibrant jolt she gave me years ago in Charlie Brown still remains one of the most exciting moments I've had in a theatre.

I am very glad I still got to see this production before it closed because various setbacks kept me from getting to see it. I was able to score a $20 ticket through TodayTix thanks to a promo code.

And now next up is seeing FUN HOME this weekend.

BTW, We were sitting next to David Rockwell. And Phyllis Newman was there too.

Updated On: 7/20/15 at 06:18 PM