The 75th Annual TONY Awards!- Page 22

[BobNC]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 3:31pm

ACL2006 said: "I still have ZERO desire to see SIX."

I originally did intend to see Six when it toured, but, after seeing that performance, I’ll skip it.  Looks like a retro Labelle performance from the ‘70s; those costumes are so stupid and so not edgy.

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 5:20pm

Have the speeches been posted anywhere? I can't find them on Youtube.

[RWPrincess]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 6:20pm

I thought Act One was unnecessary and I didn't like how they doubled up on the categories. I also thought it was odd that Angela Lansbury's award wasn't given during the main broadcast. I'd rather just see recaps of those awards during the main broadcast. 

Ariana was a decent host and I loved her wardrobe changes but I agree that she would have worked better with a co-host. Perhaps Andrew Garfield. She was most effective when interacting with other actors. I didn't like the opening number but I really liked the closing number and it felt too short.

Billy Crystal made me want to buy a ticket to see Mr. Saturday Night again.

I don't think The Music Man will be hurting after last night. 

While a fabulous performance, Paradise Square didn't really sell me on what that show was about. The others did.

I thought both Patti and Matt gave great speeches. I was glad Patti acknowledged the London company.

The tv directing was horrible. There also seemed to be sound issues throughout the night. Constant shots of Lin-Manuel Miranda but only a couple of Hugh Jackman all night. They just seemed really focused on the same handful of people all night. Also, too many shots of the backs of heads.  I hope they either learn from this or get a different director next year.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 6:32pm

Hugh Jackman has tested positive for COVID-19 (again). Hopefully this doesn't become a chain reaction and the awards end up as a super spreader event.

[OceansJenny]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 7:09pm

Why in gods name did The Music Man perform THE CURTAIN CALL?? They have so many rousing numbers, this just seemed lazy. Completely forgettable Tony’s performance.

[willep]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 8:27pm

HenryTDobson said: "Have the speeches been posted anywhere? I can't find them on Youtube."

I’ve been keeping an eye out for them and the rest of the performances as well. CBS was weirdly selective in the ones they uploaded.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 12:00am

BobNC said: "ACL2006 said: "I still have ZERO desire to see SIX."

I originally did intend to see Six when it toured, but, after seeing that performance, I’ll skip it. Looks like a retro Labelle performance from the ‘70s; those costumes are so stupid and so not edgy."

I think the songs from Six are quite well written, catchy, and sophisticated. Yes they are pop, but they each have a unique quality and tell a story. I think the people writing off the score aren’t giving it a fair shake.

I do agree it’s one of the cheapest looking shows I’ve ever seen. The backgrounds look like an ATARI 2600 and the costumes look like ugly as sin Jem rejects. Those poor actresses must be so uncomfortable. 
 

This show is a cash cow. No one cares who the leads are so the producers can just shred female vocalists voices and replace them with the next hungry ingenue (ala Elphaba).

The film will get cast with six heavy hitting pop stars and be a huge hit.

The creators of this show will never have to work again. 

 

[dshnookie]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 1:11am

Apologies for the late thoughts as I didn’t watch the Tony’s live due to flying back home from a London trip (where I saw 2:22 and it was AWFUL). Anyhoo.

Ariana DeBose

I’m pretty indifferent about her. I saw her in the Hamilton ensemble. And I saw the WSS film. (A friend later reminded me I saw her in Summer, which completely escaped my mind.) I don’t mean to take away from her performance but given that Anita won past Tonys and Oscars, I really think it’s the role that’s so great than the actual actresses performing it. If that makes sense. She was good in the movie but idk if it was amazing, once in a lifetime, can never forget it.

Ok so having said that I LOOOOOOOOOVED HER as host. So present, vibrant, commanding. That opening performance was a marathon. My god. And even though the songs weren’t perfect, she REALLY elevated the material by selling the hell out of them.

Patti LuPone

This will probably ruffle some feathers. I preface by saying I’m a huge Patti fan, with six signed posters on my wall, no less. BUT to have a prepared speech, written in front of you that you are reading from, and to NOT even utter Sondheim’s name…she f#cked up. Especially considering Marianne and Matt did.

Michael R. Jackson

A standing ovation for BEST BOOK??? That surely was a response to being snubbed for Best Score. Glad he took home one of the pair. 

Performances

So the best one being…A Girl from the North Country???

Everything else seemed lackluster. I’ve seen ASLoop and even thought to myself, does anyone watching this know what’s going on? Unsure if they set it up when introducing the show. But overall, nothing that made me want to buy tickets. Joaquina was great but what a repetitive song (lyric wise) that feels like a waste of her talents. And don’t get me started on how that song feels like a ripoff of Burn from Hamilton.

SIX was swallowed by that cavernous stage. They should’ve built a boxed stage and dimmed the areas around it to better reflect the size of the Nederlander for them to really pop. What usually feels like fireworks in a shoebox felt like fireworks in a giant stadium. And they still could’ve run out into the extended lip of the stage which would’ve been a nice touch visually and on brand for the show - escape, freedom, reclamation - etc.

Some favorite moments:

1. Billy Crystal’s, “If you like me I’m Billy Crystal. If you’re not so sure, I’m Hugh Jackman” + Hugh’s response.

2. The photo of Sondheim being held during Best Revival acceptance. 

Updated On: 6/14/22 at 01:11 AM

[JasonC3]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 4:26am

People of all means shop at thrift stores and among younger people, doing so often has cachet.

Presumably, Moss and Marlowe were quite comfortable in their attire and intentional about their look.

The comment about British people having no taste is itself in poor taste.

 

Updated On: 6/14/22 at 04:26 AM

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 7:50am

SIX doesn’t perform at the Nederlander, and they did run out onto the lip of the stage for the final song of their medley. 
 

I think what Toby and Lucy wore felt very on-brand for them. 

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 8:33am

I was really happy to see Hollis Resnick included in the In Memoriam. 

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 9:00am

I see a lot of “interesting” comments online about Billy Porter…when did the tide change about his popularity? It seemed like he had a meteoric rise and then people were sick of him. 

[binau]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 9:17am

So 'Best Score' doesn't get televised but 'Best Book' does? Can't really remember what has happened in the past but interesting. 

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 9:23am

binau said: "So 'Best Score' doesn't get televised but 'Best Book' does? Can't really remember what has happened in the past but interesting."

I'm not sure if it is still in effect but a few years ago the American Theatre Wing made an agreement to alternate televising either Best Book or Best Score and having the other be given off screen.

[YvanEhtNioj]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 10:18am

Is there no time to televise both? I feel like they could cut something in order to include it 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 10:46am

Give up sitting on Andrew Garfield's lap in order to present an award? Oh the horror.

[sarcasm]

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 10:56am

YvanEhtNioj said: "Is there no time to televise both? I feel like they could cut something in order to include it"

I mean they could easily cut the host shtick and include it, but I understand they think thats something people want to see, so fine. But it always surprises me that they include the Direction awards more prominently than the Book/Score. Not that Direction isnt important, but without the Book/Score there is no show. Simply WILD not to include both, live- thats the whole dang thang.

[Kad]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 10:59am

Alexander Lamar said: "I see a lot of “interesting” comments online about Billy Porter…when did the tide change about his popularity? It seemed like he had a meteoric rise and then people were sick of him."

Overexposure is a helluva thing. 

[pagereynolds]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 11:01am

Kad said: "Alexander Lamar said: "I see a lot of “interesting” comments online about Billy Porter…when did the tide change about his popularity? It seemed like he had a meteoric rise and then people were sick of him."

Overexposure is a helluva thing."

What he did to Encores! didn't help.

[David10086]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 11:05am

Alexander Lamar said: "I see a lot of “interesting” comments online about Billy Porter…when did the tide change about his popularity? It seemed like he had a meteoric rise and then people were sick of him."

As Barbra Streisand sang nearly 30 years ago from her 30 years of a show biz career:

 

" Gold statue sometimes,
Sometimes a kick-in-the-rear, but I'm here
Now one day you're hailed for blazing trails
Next you're nailed for fingernails
Either they cheer or they jeer, but I'm here


One day a Tony, Tuesday you're top of the Bill
So I'm here!
Wednesday you're phony, Thursday you're over the hill
But I'm here! "

 

Move over Porter, the new sensation is Ariana DeBose...at least for now. 

[EllieRose2]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 12:13pm

Alexander Lamar said: "I see a lot of “interesting” comments online about Billy Porter…when did the tide change about his popularity? It seemed like he had a meteoric rise and then people were sick of him."

Billy is talented and a great person, but when he's everywhere you look people are going to grow tired of him. His singing was slightly off for me but he looked gorgeous, as always. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 12:53pm

A tale as old as time, it is also a very American thing to love someone on their way up, but then to sour on them if they don't demonstrate what is perceived as sufficient humility once they've "arrived."

Rightly or wrongly, some find Porter in all his stylish grandeur as authentic and celebrate him while others perceive him as ostentatious and a self-absorbed prima donna.

This was happening long before The Life wasn't it?

[YvanEhtNioj]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 1:58pm

In person, I found Billy Crystal’s performance annoying. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 4:24pm

I thought this was an interesting video discussing the popularity of YouTube uploads of the tony award performances and how well viewed they have been.

Interestingly, Paradise Square has had the highest viewed video of all the shows(second highest if you count the opening number).

[joshdog2014]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 5:37pm

Dollypop said: "Curiosity question:

As Matt Doyle left the stage after receiving his award, he muttered something about becoming the "next bride". In the online photos, it is obvious that his significant other, Max Clayton, is wearing a wedding band. Are these two already married?"

He’s talked previously (maybe in the NYT Tony’s event? I forget where I saw it) about how it was Sondheim’s favorite line and Sondheim’s note to yell it as loud as possible (which he did to his satisfaction at the first preview), so he’s continued using that line as a tribute to Sondheim. 

He also said a little bit about it to Playbill after the ceremony:
"He loved the line ‘I'm the next bride,’ which is why I said it tonight onstage [in his acceptance speech], because, especially coming from the perspective of a gay man, now, when [marriage equality] wasn't even a right that we had in the last revival [of Company] in 2006, it was so important to him that that was joyful and celebrated. At first I was playing it in a really internal way…and walking off quietly. And he was like, ‘That is not it. You need to yell that line!’ So when we came back from the pandemic, I just remembered I have to yell that as joyfully and as big as possible—and that was something that I know he was thrilled about nightly.”

Updated On: 6/14/22 at 05:37 PM