The Official TONY Awards Thread — Page 35

>> 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.

"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.

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.

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>> 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).

^

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.

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?

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.

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>> 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).

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.

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

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

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

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!

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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.