The most shocking Tony performance of all time....

That is the genius of Melvin Van Peebles and the wonder of authentic urban theater. Back then, even though I wasn't alive at the time, I can tell that it had great meaning, and today it clearly still has impact.

Given what happened in the 1980s through today, one who is conspiracy-minded wonders if maybe that voodoo curse worked. "Young daughters giving rich dudes head in limousines" certainly calls to mind (to this observer) celebutantes like the Hiltons who became famous for nothing less than sexual acts that made it to a public arena, and one need only look at Reagan's publicity-grabbing giant sucking sound known as the War on Drugs to see that there was a perception that "all of our children ended up junkies."

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Wow. I think it's actually pretty great that it got included, but yeah--did its inclusion in the telecast play a part in Verona and Follies not being included? I know the performances of the early 70s often seemed to, sadly, miss major musicals (from a Sondheim perspective we didn't get anything from Company, Follies or Night Music which is too bad--a performance of the original cast doing Side by Side by Side or something would be wonderful to have now), though I know at least one year it was because they devoted the time to past stars singing from past shows.

i thought in the article there was a mention of an intentional producer decision to include this but not the other shows...however, it was not sourced.

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One wonders if similar urban material (like, say, a certain adaptation of Godspell -- hi Namo, I haven't forgotten you) might have had the same or more impact in a Tony presentation.

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