The Official TONY Awards Thread- Page 35

[John Adams]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 7:36am

>> Grace and dignity.

That's what the awards used to have in the pre-nationally-televised days.

I wouldn't disagree with you about that. Grace and dignity are always a good thing, but I'm OK with being entertained as well. Otherwise it's too much like the Oscars. Unlike the Oscars, there's a packed houseful of people who can sing, dance and be funny as well, so why not utilize their talents.

Grace and dignity gets a little stale as the two-hour mark approaches.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 7:45am

John Adams, You should have heard the comments Ferguson and Krakowski were making before the telecast! At point they were explaining the commercial rules and Krakowski said, "Please don't fornicate in the aisles- I mean please don't CONGREGATE in the aisles!" Ferguson quickly said, "Don't fornicate either- too sticky!"

When they had to wrap things up Ferguson said, "Alright, I'm done. Now it's time for another gay TV guy to take over, but don't worry- I hear he's very good."

Everything that came out of his mouth seemed to be comedy-gold.

When an award show is four hours long it's important to make your audience laugh and entertain them.

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 7:47am

"Grace and dignity are always a good thing, but I'm OK with being entertained as well. "

They're not mutually exclusive. Watching Mike Tyson trying to perform in a musical number is not an example of grace, dignity, or entertainment.

[John Adams]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 7:53am

>> John Adams, You should have heard the comments Ferguson and Krakowski were making before the telecast!

I wish I could have! (I'm jealous of you!) I'm still a little ticked off by how poorly executed the "Second Screen" webcast was from Tonyawards.com. Lots of promises in the PR, particularly regarding webcast of the Creative Arts awards, but actual output was nowhere near the content that was implied by the PR.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 7:54am

Tyson was very funny in the opening number. NPH did seem obsessed with making Tyson jokes throughout the night, but him attempting to bite NPH's ear was great and showed he could laugh at himself.

Tyson also gave us the best Special Event this year, and if that category was still around he would have won. I'm glad he got some airtime as a consolation prize.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 7:55am

No it wasn't, but I don't judge my entire meal because one carrot was undercooked.

[John Adams]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 7:58am

>> Watching Mike Tyson trying to perform in a musical number is not an example of grace, dignity, or entertainment.

But (IMO), watching how NPH handled the challenge of working with such a lump of disaster, on live TV, was very rewarding (in a good way).

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 7:59am

JA- I assume the webcast of the creative awards was messed up because they only were able to give out three of them before the show. It was a mad scramble trying to hand them out during the commercial breaks. I think they were trying to cram 2 awards per break, but that wasn't working and it turned out mostly being 1 award per break.

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 8:00am

^

All the "special material" was one big plate of unpalatable glop.

The only entertainment one needs are the numbers from the actual shows. They offer entertainment aplenty.

And scenes from plays would be good, too.

Or tributes to past composers. Done by singers who can sing.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 8:07am

LaChiusa's TV medley was the best thing on the Tony Awards in YEARS. They gave Megan center stage to sing about Smash (the most important event of the past year by far). There isn't much more I could hope for from a Tony telecast.

We also had one of the best In Memoriams that I can recall.

[dkellergrl]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 8:08am

I remember watching those televised segments of the nominated plays one year and it was horrible. How can you get the "meat" of the play, in a 4 to 5 minute (being generous with the time) segment?

[John Adams]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 8:09am

>> And scenes from plays would be good, too.

I miss that a LOT.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 8:12am

It's much easier to excerpt a song from a musical than a scene or monologue from a play. It's just too difficult to set up the action and make an effective impression on audience members who aren't familiar with plays at all.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 8:19am

While personally I would also LOVE a play segment,it really doesnt translate well for most of the watching audience.

As already mentioned, it's really hard to pick a scene that wouldn't need a gad of set-up or would give enough flavor to keep our interest.

Even on the Oscars, it is more like a trailer, being able to sample highlights.

Could I do without the nasty jabs? Yes, I don't like them at all, but I don't like the audition process of "talent" shows where they show the delusional.

[John Adams]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 8:23am

>> LaChiusa's TV medley was the best thing on the Tony Awards in YEARS.

I appreciated how, just by including it, it addressed how "the old days" are gone; the days when actors appeared in a medium and more or less stayed there (stage actors on Broadway, movie actors in movies, and TV actors on TV).

I like how the number spoke "out loud" regarding how career goals have changed. Although I'm happy for their successes, I always feel a little let down when actors who have such great talents for musical theater move to TV, and those talents are never seen again (or even known that they exist).

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 8:23am

Whizzer - I am sorry you missed the entertainment that was planned for commercial breaks - I was there at the dress rehearsal and there were some funny bits.

My favorite....Interviewing regular people on Times Square if they knew what Kinky Boots, Scandalous, Lucky Guy, etc were all about. (The answers were hilarious)....also a rendition of Girls Just Want to have fun sung by various celebs, from both off and on Broadway- you can find that on the web). Too bad.

Also the creative award presenters had much more to say this morning in the run through. I guess the lateness of the start of the production made them cut things that they were already scheduled to say.

But I agree, they got a standing ovation for the opening number at the rehearsal. But I seem to remember confetti or streamers at the end. So either my mind is playing tricks on me or they decided it wasn't a good choice.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 8:30am

There is no host category at the Emmys, at least not when it concerns the Tony Awards. NPH will win an Emmy as host if the show itself wins the Emmy, which I'm sure it will.

Thanks, HeyMrMusic. I get the Daytime and Primetime Emmy structure confused. The host is a separate award for daytime, rather than a "package" deal.

Updated On: 6/10/13 at 08:30 AM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 8:31am

Thanks for the info Kathy! They did play a brief bit of asking people what Kinky Boots was about- but it was cut short.

They didn't play the Girls Just Wanna Fun at all.

The opening number was just so damn thrilling. When they've tried to throw all the shows together in the past it's generally a mess (remember Aaron Tveit dueting with Stockard Channing), but they really got it right last night.

[mamaleh]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 8:36am

So I wasn't dreaming--I kept thinking last night after the well-executed opening number: What happened to the gold confetti and streamers? They really put a nice shiny button on a fabulous opening. Really sorry they decided not to go with it.

And I haven't read the multitude of pages here, but did anyone who attended the dress this morning notice that in the interim Harris changed the verb in the line "Berry Gordy loved Diana Ross" to a coarser one on the actual telecast? I'd have thought it would be the other way around. I guess Harris felt emboldened. It was funnier, I must admit.

But while it was a good show, I am so tired of Harris. Bring back Hugh for a change of tone and gravitas.



Updated On: 6/10/13 at 08:36 AM

[John Adams]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 8:38am

>> It's just too difficult to set up the action and make an effective impression on audience members who aren't familiar with plays at all.

I can't speak for everyone, but for myself, I've always understood that, and it's something I've been willing to live with. I've always been glad to have a taste of the show, rather than an effective advertizement for ticket sales.

I also enjoyed seeing the sets for the plays, and even the blocking. I liked seeing the clip from Lucky Guy on the "Second Screen" webcast (Wow - something that was actually good about that mess - even if they just pulled the clip from YouTube).

I liked the clip because I thought the blocking was interesting - having the two leads seated at the table, facing and addressing the audience, with the other cast members standing behind, and to the sides. If this were a movie, they would probably all be seated at that table, and the camera would move to shoot from varying perspectives.

The element that's "gone" for me (as compared to 'the old days') is that as a kid, I watched and learned a LOT about little things like that. The Tonys weren't so much in need of selling tickets and advertizing a show.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 9:44am

Random thoughts on the Tony awards

1) Enjoyed opening number and NPH was better this year but still think it is time to change hosts before it gets real stale, like Billy Crystal did at Oscars

2) I know there is a 75 second time limit but wish sometimes producers should use their judgment and let someone like Cicely Tyson finish her speech.

3) Tracy Letts winning was the biggest surprise to me all night, thought sure Tom Hanks or Nathan Lane would win.

4) It was great seeing Megan Hilty in that spoof musical number about being in TV series

5) Wish the audience would wait until all the names in the "Memorian" were flashed on screen before they applauded. Cyndi Lauper did nice job on "True Colors".

6) Don't know who the young boy was who did the tap solo in the "Christmas Story" segment was but he was fantastic.

7) After seeing "Matilda" I left theatre thinking it should/would win "Best Musical" and the small sampling of "Kinky Boots" I saw last night did not change my mind.

I know POTO celebrated it's 25th anniversary this year but did we really need to see a "performance" from it last night.

9) Amazing that CBS is so worried about running over a couple of minutes during Tony Awards broadcast but would not worry a bit if it was a major sporting event.

10)For people who are in live theatre, I was really surprised how many people needed to read part of speech from a piece of paper. Actors remember incredible amount of lines so a 75 second or less speech should not be that hard. Producers and other non performers make presentations and I am sure attended other awards ceremonies (Drama Desk for exp.)so making a speech is not something totally new. IMO - they know they have a chance to win so why not prepare something and if you think you can't remember the names of everyone just generically thank entire cast producers etc.







Updated On: 6/10/13 at 09:44 AM

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 10:01am

I didn't know this, but apparently AV Club reviews the Tonys broadcast:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-67th-annual-tony-awards,98591/

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 10:06am

Just watched all the musical numbers, most come off very well, oy vey Motown, they had me up to the Jackson 5 and than it came off as bad dinner theatre!

[Wynbish]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 10:09am

Actors remember incredible amount of lines so a 75 second or less speech should not be that hard.

It's an emotional, hectic moment that probably feels like you only get a second, and people will sometimes pick apart if you neglect to name a co-star or loved one. Hilary Swank forgot her husband. Norbert forgot to mention Aaron Tveit specifically when he won for Catch Me if You Can and didn't get to remedy that until the curtain call of their next performance. Granted, saying "Thanks to the cast and crew" covers multitudes, but to me, it's special when specifics are called.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 6/10/13 at 10:15am

Wynbish - I understand your point but personally I would not give someone a hard time if they forgot a name, like you said emotional moment. I just feel it comes off better when you just speak from the "heart" without reading from a piece of paper.