Tony Awards Rehearsal Report (Spoilers Abound: Audra "the diva" Macdonald; Spring Awakening censors; etc.)

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:14pm

SPOILERS FOR TONIGHT'S TELECAST

1) Audra Macdonald performed "Rauncy" and in the middle stopped the rehearsal and said she couldn't hear the orchestra and apologized for stopping the rehearsal. She then said "god, I'm such a diva" and the audience went wild.

2) SPRING AWAKENING is doing a medley: Mama Who Bore Me into Bitch of Living into Totally F*CKed. For censoring, they just don't say the word "****" or "ass" (but do say "bitch") and the choreography is changed to cover their mouths and ears during those horrible words that the FCC has decided to censor.

3) The opening number is "One" from A CHORUS LINE and they perform it (pre-recorded) in front of Radio City Music Hall with Marvin Hamlisch on piano. It is QUITE amazing.

The Tonys in general this year are MUCH better, entertainment wise, than last year. Not having a host doesn't hurt the show at all, thank God.

4) Fantasia's performance is STUNNING. It's taken out of context of the show, so she performs it more as a "single" and more R&B, which works. She stole the entire "show" and got the only standing ovation of the rehearsal.

5) MARY POPPINS is doing "Chim Chimeree" into "Step in Time" into "Anything Can Happen." No, he does not climb the proscenium.

6) The speech about "what the American Theatre Wing does outside the Tony Awards" is different this year. Corny humor. I won't spoil the surprise.

7) They show clips of all nominated shows of the season (any award category). It was nice to see HIGH FIDELITY and GRINCH and THE TIMES again (hah!).

Christine Ebersole's performance was AWFUL. It is a cut down version. She looked sick. She wasn't into it. Not a good performance. Line readings instead of being in the moment. Either she is sick or is just conserving energy. For the rehearsal for recording a Tony clip for the telecast, she lipsynched to the musical director's vocals (pre-recorded for us in today's audience).

Any other questions, let me know.

RADIO GOLF won Best Play and GREY GARDENS won Best Musical, by the way ("for this rehearsal only.")

PS: I lied. John Kander got a standing ovation, too. Not just Fantasia.

[TapTapTapioca]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:22pm

Who else won?

Is Being Alive done without the rest of the COMPANY cast playing?

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:23pm

I wish they had Gavin tapping. That would have gotten a huge ovation! Can't wait for tonight! I love Audra so much.

The no host works? I hope they have a host or co-hosts next year, though...

[alliez92092]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:23pm

I'm so excited! Thank you for this!

And yay for High Fidelity clips! That makes me really happy.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:24pm

Esparza is performing alone. The question is still whether they're actually using Tunick's orchestrations or not.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:26pm

Does that mean LoveMusik and Legally Blonde clips?

[Dirty_Rotten_Guy]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:28pm

CapnHook, could you maybe elaborate on "the choreography is changed to cover their mouths and ears during those horrible words that the FCC has decided to censor"?
i dont know, if imagining that right, it seems like it will look ridiculous if theyre all covering theyre mouths and ears whenever they curse...

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:30pm

Were there any particularly funny fake winners?

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:31pm

It MIGHT be a ridiculous "hear/see/speak no evil" thing, but it is not. It works very well. Just watch later to see. It's hard to explain.

[DrTheatre]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:36pm

I hope Christine's performance is much better. My friend is the Associate Conductor and he said that were talks of her doing it live then it was taped and then live again and they decided to go with the taped version. He said he did not like that..he wanted to do it live since it blends so much better. Oh Well!

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:38pm

Wait, so CE isn't performing live tonight? Are they using the tape they made today at the rehearsal?

[Testing1232]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:38pm

Thanks, Capn !!! Very excited to see Fantasia and Audra, and if "Radio Golf" and/or Chisholm won, I would be a very happy camper !!

Will throw in Xanthe as well !!!

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:41pm

What are they saying instead of "f!cked"? They're just going to pause everytime that word comes up?

[Born To Reign]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:42pm

I get the Spring Awakening thing. I see it as kind of a middle finger to the FCC, saying "we're not going to CHANGE our song, just making it clear that you're making us do this"

I kinda like it... stupid censors.

[Dirty_Rotten_Guy]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:49pm

yeah, im with Walt here. so Christine isnt performing live tonight? im so confused, haha

[Born To Reign]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:53pm

Probably just for the rehearsal

"saving her voice"

[goofy108]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:53pm

i dont get it.
grey gardens won best musical?

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 1:55pm

goofy, in order to rehearse the time it takes for awards to be presented, they actually do the presentations, with the caveat that the winner is "for this rehearsal only." It's funny because they'll have stand ins for the winners (like an 80 year old man as Christine Ebersole, etc.)

[Anakela]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 2:02pm

Thanks again so much to everyone who suggested in the other thread getting there by 8am for this...we actually got in line before 8am, and we were dead center, front row, so close that I could actually read off of the laptop screen of the telepromptor guy down below.

Some SPOILER stuff I didn't see mentioned yet:



For all the talk about Fantasia/TCP being allowed to perform this year, I was very shocked to see Jersey Boys performing! True, they don't do all of "Oh What a Night," but still- for all of the complaining about how letting Legally Blonde or LoveMusik or whichever perform would be taking away from the nominated shows, as only shows nominated this year should be performing, to have not one but TWO of last year's show performing? It was odd.

Audra totally got laughs on her "I'm such a diva" line when she couldn't hear the music, but later on in the rehearsal she stood in as Usher and 'presented' an award wth Ben Vereen, and I totally missed something because the audience like gasped or hissed or something at her- did anyone else catch that, did she mispronounce Kurt Weill's name or something there?

Love Bebe Neuwirth and David Hyde Pierce presenting together, and loved David's (adlib?) of something like "yes, it worked" when his joke got a laugh.

For those who have been to the rehearsals before, are those video packages that get played during the commercial breaks actually shown on tv, or are they just to entertain the crowd at Radio City during the commercials?

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 2:05pm

It's to entertain the RCMH crowd!

[Anakela]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 2:08pm

Too bad, I liked those videos, they were one of the highlights for me. :)

The only other 'fun' win I remember is that, for this rehearsal only, Legally Blonde won for costumes, and the 'winner' said something about being so excited that he won because all he did was watch the dvd a bunch of times and then shop the sale rack at H&M. Hee.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 2:08pm

To those in attendance at the dress rehearsel-- any truth to the rumors that Ashley Brown will fly in at the begining of the telecast?

Updated On: 6/10/07 at 02:08 PM

[Anakela]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 2:14pm

If she's flying they didn't rehearse it in front of us.

[FutureAladdinOnB'Way]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 2:26pm

Legally Blonde won Best Costumes?

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 2:29pm

They are just using all of the nominations during the rehersals.

so was there Legally Blonde and LoveMusik clips?