The 76th Annual TONY Awards! — Page 17

PianoMann said: "The part of the telecast in which the present 11 of 26 categories and the two Lifetime Achievement Awards is not a "pre-show." It isn't a red carpet with interviews about what designers the nominees are wearing. It is a part of the official ceremony, whether CBS airs it or its shunted off to Pluto TV. The attendees from Lin-Manuel Miranda down didn't show up at 8:00pm for the Tonys, they showed up for curtain at 6:30pm. I'm not sure why this is a contentious point?"

Pluto broadcasting it (or last year Paramount+) is the luckiest thing that's happened to the telecast in a long time. These awards are on a real platform controlled by Viacom where curious viewers can go back and watch if they want.

Robbie2 said: "ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "SFFrontRow said: "Joel Grey and John Kander had their pre-telecast moments and they were not brief."

In hindsight might have just been better not to bring them up a second time –– just assemble a quick clip package and an intro of "earlier tonight we presented Lifetime Achievement Awards to John Kander and Joel Grey." And then cut to them in the audience. But the Pluto segments for Grey & Kander were so good that I can't even be mad at the CBS version.

Overall I really liked the clip packages this year of the shows & folks involved talking about them (mostly)."

"

I was just surprised Grey didn't go over there and start singing "Diiddly dee dee dee - two ladies!"

Dirty Rotten Scoundrel said: "To echo other’s sentiments, and with no disrespect at all to WGA: I think this is the most enjoyable awards broadcast I’ve ever seen. It moved along smoothly, had very few cringeworthy moments, and ended on time. I hope other award shows take note for the future and utilize the writers to frame and enhance this format - rather than revert back to the former ones that would run 20+ minutes long in order to accommodate forced and often unfunny/uncomfortable bits and banter."

But does the fact that it went so well and tighter without writers not really bode well for the writers' cause?

Tony Awards 2023: The Best Of The Red Carpet

https://deadline.com/gallery/2023-tonys-red-carpet-fashion-looks/

HeyMrMusic said: "LaChanze won two Tonys as a producer tonight. The two shows she won for also did not have a mile-long list of co-producers, so she was probably instrumental in their successes. Congrats!

The lack of script helped with the pacing of the show and kept the evening focused on the task at hand. I hope going forward the Tonys and every awards show take note that it's typically the often-bad writing that bogs it down. I personally missed announcer tidbits like "This is Victoria Clark's second Tony Award," which don't factor into the length of the ceremony. But the show packages and videos of nominated performances (and designs etc. in Act One), I was a fan of those."

Yes, LaChanze you go girl! Rockin' 2 TONYS tonight and looking amazing.

O yea Myles Frost

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "The quality of tonight's ceremony shouldn't impact the WGA at all, positive or negative. It may show other awards bodies that a telecast is feasible under these conditions, IF the WGA will agree not to picket (and for something awarding film/TV like the Emmys, the WGA will want to be as disruptive as humanly possible).

What I hope the Tonys will take away is that the wordy intros are unnecessary, some things can speak for themselves, and they can trim down banter for future years.

One of the big things we didn't get is the announcer. The intro of presenters is less necessary, but things like "this is the fifth Tony Award for Tom Stoppard" or "Alex Newell is the first nonbinary performer to win a Tony" can help build narratives and keep more casual viewers engaged."

Yep, I think the Tonys can learn a lot from this for future telecasts. But some of the other award shows are an entirely different matter. The WGA should & will picket the Emmys if the strike is still going on by then. Everything they're honoring at the Emmys is WGA-affiliated unlike the Tonys, where it's usually just the telecast itself & not the work being honored.

bwayobsessed said: "Highlights for me were Arden’s speech, Shucked and ITW performances"

TheSecretArden said: "Bettyboy72 said: "Also really livid for Stephen McKinley Henderson. The man is a legendary actor. Sean Hayes, who was wonderful, doesn’t touch the mastery of SMH. That Tony was a joke. Doug Wright is a sitcom writer. He did not write a legendary play."

Which is why Good Night, Oscar wasn’t nominated for Best Play. Henderson is a legend and no one can take that from him, but Hayes is still a worthy winner. Among a stacked category he gives the most transformative performance of the group, acting the role with an incredible level of stamina. His show-stopping climactic moment deserves recognition in and of itself. Really, any of the five in that category would have been satisfying winners though in my book!"

Stephen McKinley Henderson gave a great performance, Sean Hayes gave a great performance. But Henderson gave a great performance in a great play, and the Hayes is acting in a play I'd describe as adequate.

Can you appreciate a great performance as much if it's not in the context of an equally great script? For me the answer is no and for that reason I was really surprised Henderson lost.

djoko84 said: "I just want to be negative for a second. I'm tired of the people who start predicting winners based on the Outer Critics, Drama Desks, etc... when they know Kimberly Akimbo wasn't eligible. But they still come on here and say stupid things like "the tides are turning" or "so and so has momentum." Stop giving your opinion when you don't know what you're talking about or how the Tonys work. End of rant."

Amen. The Some Like It Hot chatter was silly when KA wasn't eligible for anything SLIH was winning.

djoko84 said: "I just want to be negative for a second. I'm tired of the people who start predicting winners based on the Outer Critics, Drama Desks, etc... when they know Kimberly Akimbo wasn't eligible. But they still come on here and say stupid things like "the tides are turning" or "so and so has momentum." Stop giving your opinion when you don't know what you're talking about or how the Tonys work. End of rant."

That's part of the Oscarization of theatre awards season and the interest in prognosticating at places like GoldDerby. Some people drive themselves silly trying to make predictions instead of just enjoying the show or being surprised. There are no real precursors for the Tonys because no voting body is remotely similar to the Tonys and all cover the work in different ways. You can gauge "momentum" at the Glass House bar or on Twitter or in any number of other places, but in the way that the Tonys are structured now it really doesn't mean anything outside of the Michael Paulson method (surveying 150+ voters from different fields of work).

That being said, some of us felt there was still a chance SLIH could have won Best Musical, up until the very end of the night. At that point Kim had two writing and two acting and SLIH had 3 crafts and an acting.

Updated On: 6/12/23 at 01:17 AM

Arianna's 2 opening numbers are 2 for 2 for me. I loved "This is Your Round of Applause" and I loved this dance! The Choreo and camera work was INCREDIBLE, the dancers were PERFECT, and that stair jump gave me CHILLS!!! It fit the night so well!