The 63rd Annual Tony Awards Megathread- Page 35

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 1:27pm

Huh. Well. What else is there to say?

Tech: I have nothing to add that hasn't been said by pretty much everyone.

Opening: Didn't hate it, but it certainly had its weak moments. Nice concept, poorly executed. Came off as last-minute and lazy.

Best Musical/Revival performances: Hair, Next to Normal and Rock of Ages fared well. The rest were poor choices and/or poorly performed. Billy Elliot should have performed Solidarity or Expressing Yourself. Shrek should have chosen practically anything else. West Side Story should have gone with a medley of hits with maybe Jet Song, Tonight, Cool, America, and Officer Krupke. Any combination of those would have been better than Dance at the Gym. Guys and Dolls probably picked the best number to showcase, but it only confirmed how lacklustre the production is.

Tour performances: I really had no objection to the concept. They want to promote theatre attendance on a national scale using the tour productions of Broadway musicals. Great way to promote theatre for all those out there watching the show who may not have the luxury of flying to NYC, paying too much for a hotel, and spending $75-120 per ticket on the shows they want to see. Good intentions. But like the opening number, poorly executed. Why were Mamma Mia and Jersey Boys performing numbers staged and performed so poorly that didn't even resemble scenes from the show? At least Legally Blonde made an attempt at presenting something with a likeness to what you see on stage, but the others just made no sense.

Liza: So here's my take on Liza. She's a gay icon because...well, I never really understood why, but I'm told I must love her because I am a gay man. I think she probably performed to the best of her ability at this stage in her life. But that does not mean it was a good performance. It wasn't good. It was charming and vivacious, but it was not sung well.

Question: When did they announce Best Costume Design of a Play? I was watching the show with my parents and we never saw it announced. We rewound several portions of the broadcast searching for it, and we saw the clump of other technical awards given out, but we never found that one. I had to look it up online. Did I miss it and if so, when did it occur? I read this entire thread and never saw it mentioned, so I assume it's me.

[rwlevin]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 1:35pm

I'm not going to say how stupid the production was because in my opinion almost every awards telecast adds pointless crap that could easily be scrapped for stuff that's actually relevant for the show season like, I don't know, the technical awards. Does anybody remember the live horse and horse montage of the Oscar awards several years ago?

As far as I'm concerned, my favorite Tony awards telecast was the year of Beauty and the Beast and Sunset Boulevard. Not because I liked either of those shows (never saw either) but because it was such a sparse season the hosts just went crazy with their own shticks. I think the Nathan Lane/Gregory Hines women-only song duet was pure comic gold, as was the opening monologue of how Gregory Hines and Glenn close were so famous as theatre and movie stars and Nathan Lane-who was just starting his career-not only was overlooked for Love, Valour, Compassion but was also only known at the time as "the rat thing in the lion king."

The producers of the Tonys are trying to make the show into The Oscars and it's not. I miss the technical awards. I miss the behind-the-scenes when the technical awards are being presented. I miss learning about how plays are produced and directed. I miss the joy of theatre in this show when it was more than just a commercial for touring companies and tourist attractions. And most of all I miss Gregory Hines.

I love you, CC, but unless you plan on headlining the next revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, please stick with showing the current reality trainwrecks how it's done on VH1.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 1:42pm

I don't have time to read this whole thread so I don't know if this was brought up before but it really was absurd that we had to sit through entire numbers from Mamma Mia and Legally Blonde, and we got literally one line from each nominated play. Really? Not even two lines? A dramatic exchange? Nope. One line.

[Colle]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 4:43pm

Overall I did enjoy the show, though I wish the sound system was better. I have heard about "Shrek's" broadway show references, I did notice the "Les Miserables" reference during "Freak Flag,"though the flag they were waving was green.

As for the "Mamma Mia," I will say that Michelle Dawson(Donna) and Kittra Wynn Coomer(Rosie) were much better in person, though Michelle was playing Tanya when I saw the show.

Neil was a great host, probably my favorite along with Hugh Jackman.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 6/8/09 at 6:01pm

I loved how the only time I saw James Gandolfini smile was when Gavin Creel came dancing in front of his face and holding his hand. How could you not smile?