Posted: 6/12/16 at 4:39pm
A few quick thoughts: James Cordon is terrific as the host. He's got a great sense of comic timing charm, tremendous affability, a good ability to ad lib if necessary and role with the punches. And there are some really good jokes right from the outset. I loved the opening, written by David Javerbaum. There are two excellent Trump references (and one of Hillary to "balance things out", which it didn't), though one may or may not make the final cut from what I understand. (And of course, everything is going to be reevaluated based on the horrific events in Orlando.) I thought that most of the production numbers came off very well. Cynthia Erivo killed it. Jesse Mueller and Sarah Bareilles joined forces. School of Rock was not surprisingly very entertaining. Many of the presenters actually came, e.g. Nathan Lane, Bibi Neuworth, Audra (who of course was there for Shuffle Along anyway), Sir Andrew, Oprah, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Carol King and several more, and others were not there, e.g. Meg Ryan, Clare Danes and Barbra. (In no way is this a complete list of who was and who wasn't there.) And finally, be prepared for the show to run past 11 EDT (duh.) I'll put the over/under at 11:30.
