I remember Matthew Bourne when he won- "Best Director of a Musical and its not even a musical!"
Another one that comes to mind as being rather...bizarre, and snarky was when Brian Dennehy won for "Long Day's Journey into Night" (which I thought he was brilliant in). I don't remember the exact speech, but I remember it being strange and wondering if he was drunk at the time.
In terms of presenters, I remember Nathan Lane being visibly shocked the two times he's presented the Best Musical Tony- when he announced Lion King's upset victory over Ragtime, and Avenue Q's upset of Wicked.
Finally, I know I'm going to be crucified for this, but someone has to mention it. When Elaine Stritch won her special event Tony for Live at Liberty, she seemed to think she was entitled to all this extra time. Who can forget her shouts of, "Don't do this to me!" as the orchestra cut her off.
"Finally, I know I'm going to be crucified for this, but someone has to mention it. When Elaine Stritch won her special event Tony for Live at Liberty, she seemed to think she was entitled to all this extra time. Who can forget her shouts of, "Don't do this to me!" as the orchestra cut her off."
I won't crucify you. I've never thought her 'I'm a rude old lady who has survived the biz' routine was cute, and I've never understood her "talent." I clapped, laughed and cheered when she was cut off, as did the rest of my family.
I agree that the Tony's probably should have gone to Sondhiem for Sunday. However, Herman's speech was not snarky in any way. It has already been stated several times that it was like a rebirth for Herman, who many thought was dead [metaphorically]. Ten or so years earlier, Mack and Mabel's score had not even been nominated when almost everything else about the show was, and the score category had The Wiz, Shenandoah, and two I haven't even heard of. It was NOT, in my opinion, anywhere close to the greatest blunder made by the Tony committee [That one involves puppets]. Sondheim already had 5 or 6 Tonys, and La Cage Aux Folles was a good viable piece of Musical Theatre [As opposed to certain pieces having to with spam]. I'm not saying they shouldn't have gone to Sondheim, but in hindsight, its all ok in the long run. Both composers and both shows have entered the Musical Theatre lexicon, nothing has been lost by giving Herman that award, but what was gained was giving some long needed recognition to a man whoes songs have never given me anything but joy. It should have gone to Sondheim, nothing in the end was lost by it not. The speech was not a jab at Sondheim, it was not snarky. [Its called a misunderstanding ]
I have several names, one is Julian2. I am also The Opps Girl. But cross me, and I become Bitch Dooku!
I was also going to post about Crowley, it was just awkward.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird
Hugh Jackman's 2004 Tony Speech...it wasn't what he said, it was how he said it. You could tell he had it memorized, and his delivery was so insincere.
How to properly use its/it's:
Its is the possessive. It's is the contraction for it is...
I was going to say something about that acceptance speech of Bob Crowley's.
"I should've won for the other one."
Do you mean that theme park show you mounted? Dude, get over it, you've designed some of the greatest shows ever. And The Capeman (just commenting on its short run, have not made a judgement about the score. Waiting to get an iPod so I can download it off of iTunes). Get over it!!!!! And that's not even a set. It's just a bunch of vines.
Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you.
--Cartman: South Park
ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."
Not accepting, but presenting...my favorite has to be Whoopi Goldberg at the 1997 Tony Awards. When she came onstage, she waved and brightly said "hi, honey, wish you were here!" At the time, she was with Frank Langella, and he had been snubbed by the Tonys that year...he was in (I think) "Present Laughter" and wasn't nominated.
Yes Mel Brooks did say see you in five minutes, but it was very funny because he had already won five awards and you just knew he was going to win more. My favorite line of it was after he won for best score, "Thank you Sondheim for not writing a musical this year." Classic
It's similar to what the Oscar winning composer for best score said the year that the movie Amadeus, which was about Mozart and with Mozart's music as score, won for best film. He said something like "I guess i should be greatful that Mozart wasn't eligible this year".
"It was NOT, in my opinion, anywhere close to the greatest blunder made by the Tony committee [That one involves puppets]. Sondheim already had 5 or 6 Tonys, and La Cage Aux Folles was a good viable piece of Musical Theatre [As opposed to certain pieces having to with spam]."
and the award for snarkiest speech goes to: Julian2 :)
The Broadway documentary series that PBS did in 2004 perpetrates the myth about the Jerry Herman speech being a slam against Sondheim. They placed it immediately after they showed the finale for Sunday in the Park, and then showed Sondheim's face immediately before the speech. They might as well have posted a banner saying JERRY HATES STEVE. It was absolutely inferred, unfortunately. (Julie Andrews' delivery didn't help, either.)