Tony performance 'grades'- Page 3

[justme2]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 11:44pm

I agree with bdwayfan3, all shows were constrained due to time limits.

I saw all the shows presentations, and each one (save for Spelling Bee-which wasn't really a singing presentation until the walk of shame with Sharpton) was suffering under the poor orchestrations. Each cast seemed to be attempting to either keep up or slow down to match the musical director!

I wouldn't base my "to buy or not to buy?" decisions around what was presented on stage last night.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 11:49pm

Piazza: B+
Spamalot: A
Charity: C
La Cage: B-
DRS: B
Bee: C

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 11:49pm

Elphabuff, the Lady of the Lake has many costumes. That's the costume she wears for "Find Your Grail."

And the Rev. Al Sharpton was there in place of the audience members that they are invited to take part in the spelling bee. I think to make that more clear, they should have called him up from his seat in the audience. But overall, I thought it was a great performance from Spelling Bee. It was very smart of them to include spelling and some of Jay Reiss's hilarious sentences. If they performed a full number (like the whole title song), I don't think people would have reacted as positively as they have now. Very good choice, people of Bee.

~Steven

[buffyactsing]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 1:02am

Vinny- My favorite parts are when she is singing (I presume) in an imitation style...it's (I presume) her regular voice I dont' love. I do love her scatting on the cd though!

[ShuQ]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 1:12am

DRS: A- (Good song choice...but it didn't make you feel like you do when you see the whole show...would've been hard to pick a good song to do from this show.
La Cage: B- (I thought it was SO cheesy, it was good, but after seeing that, I wouldn't want to see the show.)
Spelling Bee: A (That black guy singing was really great)
Piazza: B+ (Everyone looked and sounded great)
Spamalot: A (Gotta love Sara)
Sweet Charity: C (Seemed SO amateur, I wasn't impressed)

I'm sure it's been asked...but why was Victoria Clark holding that microphone?

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 1:13am

Piazza - B+

DRS - C

Spamalot - A-

La Cage - B

Spelling Bee - A-

Sweet Charity - B

[TGIF]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 2:01am

I'd be interested in hearing why some of you picked the grades you did. I gave my personal reasons. I want to hear yours!

[chasgoose]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 2:26am

Note I only saw Spamalot and Spelling Bee this year.

DRS (D): My vote for worst performance of the night. The song (if you could call it that as it seemed to be mostly spoken) was boring, the humor was puerile, the set was blah (I recognize it is not the best rendition of the set, but compared to some of the other nominees that tried to incorporate a set, this was ugly), and Norbert Butz's performance was too smarmy and he overacted too much for my tastes. I liked John Lithgow better in his limited contributions to the performance.

Light in the Piazza (A-): Beautiful staging and great music(This was the first song from a new musical in awhile that actually enjoyed). Both actresses gave great performances. Made me not regret allowing my sister to drag me to see this later this summer.

Sweet Charity (B-): The musical is not my cup of tea, but I found Christina Applegate's performance winning. With the exception of the mother in Light in the Piazza, I thought her acting was the best of all the male/female performances of the night. Her singing left a little to be desired, but I thought it fit my limited understanding of the character. The "Big Spender" bit was strange and off-putting though.

La Cage aux Folles (C): Boring. Not a big choreography buff so I fast-forwarded through this one. Another musical I have no interest in seeing as I can't see how this musical could ever top Mike Nichols's movie "The Birdcage."

Spelling Bee (A): Best performance of the night. I am so glad they didn't just sing the opening number and instead decided to caputure the comic verve of the spelling sequences (where the musical's heart truly lies). I actually wanted more spelling and less singing (and a different version of the Goodbye Song). Al Sharpton was the perfect sort of kooky random guest that says a lot about this show's tone and heart. Plus I loved the inclusion of the "Bully-Free Zone poster."

Spamalot (B+): Not my favorite song from the musical, but it captured the musical's spirit as well. Sara Ramirez was great considering she apparently had a cold. Not enough of the knights, but the chorus was great and I enjoyed the cheeky dancing. Definitely made its case for the Best Musical win (While I enjoyed Spelling Bee better, I find Spamalot to be a better musical. The musical aspects of Spelling Bee occasionally seem to intrude on the non-musical bits. Spamalot is much better integrated).

Overall, with the exception of the Light in the Piazza, these performances didn't make me feel like I missed much by only seeing Spamalot and Spelling Bee.

[EternalJayJay]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 5:03am

The Light in the Piazza -- A
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels -- B-
Spamalot -- B+
Spelling Bee -- B
Sweet Charity -- C+
La Cage aux Folles -- C

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 9:48am

DRS-D
Spamalot-C
Piazza-B
Spelling Bee-A
Charity-F

The Tony Show-D

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 11:10am

Well, as of tonight, Azaria's no longer in the show.
But they could have fooled people into buying some tickets, I'm sure, by showing him (and DHP) more.

~Steven

[cathyhyatt]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 11:29am

DRS: B+ (It was still great of course, but I've seen it muchh muchh better)

Ive never seen any of these shows below...my grade is simply from the performance I saw...
La Cage: B
Spelling Bee: A-
Piazza: A-
Spamalot: A
Sweet Charity: C+

[hawkeyemania]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 11:33am

Piazza: B
Spamalot:B+
Charity: C
La Cage: B-
DRS: B-
Bee: B+

[LilMiZBroADwaY23]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 12:09pm

None of the shows 'astounded' and made me stop dead in my tracks to watch if I was doing something. But Piazza, would have to be my favorite. I wanted to definitley see more of it after it was finished.

Spamalot didn't do anything for me. I haven't listened to any of the music, but when I saw the performance then saw it get the Tony, I just sat there like 'what the hell?'. I just didn't like it. I thought Sara was a pretty good singer and I know it's supposed to be comedy but what is up with the weired facial expressions? Because it's just pointless, maybe if there was a story behind it I would understand it but... alas I don't.

Christina's performance made me giggle. The announcer before the commercials when her performance came up said "Then we'll have a show stopping performance by Christina Applegate!". I've heard mixed reveiws about her, so I watched... waited... nothing. Not really that good of a dancer, okay singer, definitley not show stopping. I thought this performance was blechy.

Bee and DRS were cute. Was it 'Ass' they bleeped out in 'Great Big Stuff'? La Cage was great with Gary Beach. I'm not that really big on the whole dancing shindig but sure. It looked good none the less, good choreography which it won for, and it showcased.

I thought it was an okay year for Tony performances. Nothing compared to 2003 (Bernadette, Hairspray, my personal opinion).

Piazza: A
Spamalot:c+
Charity: c-
La Cage: B
DRS: B+
Bee: B+

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 12:25pm

DRS: B+
La Cage: A- (I think they should have done a differnt number. Originally the article on BWW said they were doing We Are What We Are/ I Am What I Am)
Spamelot: B
Spelling Bee: C+ (I didnt think it was anything special, infact it made me not want to see it at all)
Piazza: A
Charity: C (It wasnt horrible but it was really bad)

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 5:03pm

In the spirit of my wonderful new Spelling Bee OBC:

B-U-M-P
Bump.

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 5:10pm

DRS - B+
PIZZA - A-
CHARITY - D
LA CAGE - B+
SPELLING BEE - A
SPAMALOT - B

[idinarocksmysocks!510]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 5:12pm

Speeling Bee-A(laugh on the floor!)
DRS-B+ (funny song)
Charity-C (that's it?!)
Piazza-A (sounds really good!)
Spamalot-B+ (bad choice for awards, yet a good one)
La Cage-A (fun number!)

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 5:14pm

DRS: C+
La Cage: C
Spelling Bee: B-
Piazza: A
Spamalot: B+
Sweet Charity: B+

Updated On: 6/7/05 at 05:14 PM

[Kathleen2]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 5:53pm

DRS: A-
La Cage: B
Spelling Bee: A
Piazza: B+
Spamalot: missed this one! damn phone rang and had to answer it..
Sweet Charity: C

Posted: 6/7/05 at 6:04pm

mmm... Sweet Charity... Really? Give it up Applegate, go back to movies and TV. Piazza was clearly the best performance and clearly should have won for best new musical... but fine Spamalot looks alot better than i would have thought

[Lucifer]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 6:42pm

DRSB-) I love this cast recording and really want to see it... although even I have to admit Norbie's performance was a little under par, particularly with the opening I winced with the harmony
PiazzaA) Wow... it just blew me away! Strong vocals and a chance to show off their acting. Now I REALLY want to see it!
CharityC-) When the chorus started singing "Big Spender", I got really excited and then... Christina Applegate started to sing and all that energy died. I understand Charity is not a singing rol perce... but her voice was just too soft and even Gwen could have given a stronger voice
La CageB) Gary Beach of course wonderful as always... but I think the main problem was the song choice. "We are what were are" would have been SO much better! I've seen the show and those stunts are much more impressive live in person, not on a dinky television screen.
Spelling BeeA+) I just loved loved loved this so much! It made me laugh and I instantly fell in love with the little bit of the misfits I was exposed to. And Al Sharpton was a nice touch!
SpamalotA-) Opening Dialogue I thought was rather weak and frankly unnessacary. I though Sara Ramirez gave a very strong performance and that's b/c she doesn't sing with her throat, like the majority of B'way stars now do! Go her! Also, I loved the opening sketch, and tim Curry's laugh just made me smile ^_^

[Liz_Bennet]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 7:01pm

Spamalot, B: Well performed, mostly, but I don't like the number much. It doesn't have much real direction (progression, not Nichols)
La Cage, C: I probably would have liked it better live; here the camera work was poor and I would have liked to see the leads do something.
Sweet Charity, C+: Decent start with the ensemble, but Christina doesn't have the voice or dancing to convince me. You need at least one or the other.
Spelling Bee, A-: Very funny, but the music was unmemorable. It worked well on TV because it wasn't too complicated.
Piazza, A-: A lovely performance that really makes me look forward to seeing it, but it was very badly shot and came across as somewhat chaotic. A or A+ if it hadn't been for CBS's incompetence. But I think it gave a good impression of the show.
DRS, B: Not my style of show and this number did nothing to convince me otherwise. It was OK and somewhat funny, but lacked a certain energy or pizzazz or something. Maybe it's better live, but this didn't make me order tickets.

Updated On: 6/7/05 at 07:01 PM

[OrdinaryJukebox1]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 7:05pm

I did mean "melismatic," my apologies.

-Vincent

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 7:05pm

The Light in the Piazza: A
The 25th Annuanl Putnam County Spelling Bee: A-
Spamalot: B
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: B
La Cage Awful, I mean, Aux Folles: D
Sweet Charity: F