The 63rd Annual Tony Awards Megathread — Page 34

Laura Benanti was hilarious! (And looked stunning, too.)

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Just got home from Radio City.

Had a great time...it was a great show. Lots of fun...I DVRed it so I'll watch it and see how it translated to TV later in the week.

But a nice (albeit predictable) end to a fantastic season on Broadway. I'm very pleased with a lot of the winners this year...thrilled for all of the winners and nominees.

Updated On: 6/8/09 at 02:28 AM

It's not too early to declare:

Worst. Tony. Broadcast. Ever.

You haven't seen many Tony telecasts, have you?

As broadcasts go, tech problems aside, this was one of the better ones. We always seem to have sound problems with our local CBS station but re-watching the 2nd show on the Seattle CBS station had the same problems.

Some numbers worked better than others. NEXT TO NORMAL came across very well. Why is it they always showcase Dance at the Gym from WSS? (They did this the year JEROME ROBBINS BROADWAY won.) The Angry Dance from BILLY was far less effective on TV than in the theatre. (Who was Billy for that sequence?)

Both segments from HAIR worked well. Whose idiotic idea was it to merge I'm Alive with Bewitched in the opening montage? God god, choose songs that at least work together if you are going to do that.

Angela - a class act every step of the way. Jerry Herman's speech was the most heartfelt. So many people on BWW bashed the idea of NPH hosting and he did a great job. The ending number was great fun but who wrote the words and how did Neil learn them so fast?

Overall, me and my guests watching here had a good time - and they hadn't seen any of the nominees.

Not perfect but far far far from being the worst Tony telecast ever.

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The lyrics for the song that mentioned winners where, I felt, the most obvious "locks" if there is such a thing, but I would imagine that there were alternate lyrics just in case.

"Whose idiotic idea was it to merge I'm Alive with Bewitched in the opening montage? God god, choose songs that at least work together if you are going to do that."

-Amen, Frontrow, Amen.

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One correction...while Joseph Leo Bwarie did open JERSEY BOYS in Toronto, he has not been in the show here since December! The Tony producers did not invite the current Toronto cast to participate.

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I wonder how N2N's performance played to the gads of folks with little knowledge of the show. I would have thought they'd have done the opening number to allow the enitre cast participate.
I thought they did a beautiful job and I loved it....but I know the show and know it's context.

I HATED the tour performances...they were lackluster and meaningless, IMHO. Granted, I wasn't looking forward to them to begin with....but still. Jersey Boys will be in boston for ELEVEN weeks....and I'm no more inclined to see it than I was before the Tony Awards.

I loved NPH...but I just wish they used him more....lots more. What a presence he has. QUESTION for those of you at the rehearsal...I was told that he sang the final song AS we heard it....so if you were REALLY paying attention you knew who won? Can anyone verify that????

Hair had the two best performances of the night (both in the opening and at the end). They were truly able to catch the spirit of the show and the audience really seemed to eat it up. I just wished the show got more recognition. They seemed so forgotten during the rest of the awards.

I thought the opening was good...except for the intertwining of WSS/G&D and Pal Joey/N2N. What was going on with THAT!!!! And again: ONLY Aaron representing N2N? (You can understand Pal Joey since they are not currently running.)


LOVED Frank Lagella! Good for him for reminding the committee that shows that came earlier in the season deserve some recognition!!!

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No, Rose. No, I won't! I'm not going to sit through a technological meltdown of a show that's supposed to feature and promote the best of commercial American theater and pretend it was just ducky and did a masterful job. Obviously I'm not the only person in this thread being honest about what actually was presented to TV viewers. Perhaps you are upset that I refuse to join in The Liza Delusion? Just count me as one of the people who won't gnash his teeth in the coming months and ask "Why don't viewers watch the Tony Awards? WHY do so many of my friends say they hate musicals??" The answer was all right there for the world to see on the Tony Award broadcast.

"It's not too early to declare:

Worst. Tony. Broadcast. Ever.

"You haven't seen many Tony telecasts, have you?

"As broadcasts go, tech problems aside, this was one of the better ones."

Um, yeah, that must be it. Perhaps you just need to know reference of the "Worst. Ever." line. How about you lecture me about the difference between a hit and flop while my eyes roll to the back of my head and then I won't be able to type anymore? That'll make Rose happy.

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Oh taz. Don't you see we're wrong? Apparently it was much better on 200 foot HD flatscreens with surround sound! Our shoddy opinions are merely the result of our shoddy viewing equipment. Oh, and the fact that we maintain the right to use our critical faculties.

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You must have had your aspect ration messed up.

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I am totally with Namo on this. I WANTED to like the show, but from the very beginning it was evident that this was a disaster. The sound problems, the camera problems, song choices, psycho acceptance speeches, dead air time (hey, Billys, plan ahead will ya?) 2-second clips from the plays (wtf?). The Jerry Herman tribute that wasn't. This was big time network TV, and the producers of this show should be ashamed. We (and NPH) deserve better.

Yup, What Namo and Sheldon said.


We must find out who was in charge of sound because they RUINED the entire show for me. Every production number had some sort of sound problem.

Union professionals? Gimme a break.

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The tech problems were kind of crazy. I mean, I can sort of get the mistake with Elton John's mic in the beginning, because sometimes you screw up in the beginning, but beyond that? The backstage mics getting into the mix, the other missed cues, the awful mixing, and that disaster with the body mic? Any one of those could have been laughed off individually, but all of them happening in the same broadcast just looks unprofessional.

I was also willing to try and love the opening number and the commonalities it tried to find between the shows, but the Pal Joey/Next to Normal thing was so utterly bizarre it totally took me out of the performance despite the best efforts of two fine actors. Seriously, what the hell was that?

But I will concede that the show numbers getting screwed up (not on the tech end, but performance-wise) is kind of a Tony tradition. Some shows manage the TV/Radio City transition better than others. Hair was great and I probably liked the Billy Elliot number more than most, but the Shrek song choice was odd (who cares about Farquad?) and Guys and Dolls somehow managed to make "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat" boring, which is quite an accomplishment.

Some of the award category presentation scripts were jaw-droppingly awful even by the standards of that sort of thing, the show ran over for the first time in years, Neil Patrick Harris was criminally underutilized...did the Tonys change directors or something? Because they could get a little boring sometimes these past few years, but they generally had their **** together on a technical level and had some faint idea of how to put on a show.

What kind of Tonys ceremony gets a fantastic singing host and doesn't let him sing until the end credits? Who thought sticking numbers from touring companies in the main ceremony was in any way a good idea? (Well, that one's got an easy answer, but this is Reason #52 we can't let tour producers control the ceremony.)

And what kind of celebration of Broadway theater attempts to shaft straight plays as much as this one did when there have been twice as many good plays as musicals opening this season? I'm glad they decided to bring the Play Revival category back into the main show, and I know that plays have always been pretty much impossible to present on TV, but I think those clips could have been a little longer at the expense of seeing the freaking Jersey Boys cast yet again.

I've seen far worse awards ceremonies, and I'm a bit of a softie for Billy Eilliot so I'm not furious at its victories, but I generally count on the Tonys to at least be competent. It's sad that they messed up so badly in such a good year of theater.