Worst Tony Performance?

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 5:42pm

OK, so copied abit from suttonfoster's idea.

Zero Mostel on the 1971 awards hamming up Comedy Tonight and If I Were A Rich Man.

Elton John wailing Electricity on the 2009 awards.

[taximom]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 5:46pm

Mamma Mia last year.

[Paul Bland4]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 5:51pm

A CLASS ACT
STARMITES
CAROLINE, OR CHANGE
SPRING AWAKENING
HOW NOW, DOW JONES

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 5:56pm

I love Step to the Rear from the How Now, Dow Jones Tony performance! It's one of my faves. Agree with A Class Act and would add Grand Night for Singing, A Catered Affair, the head-scratching Tony Bennett appearance and Carol Channing's "rap".

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 5:56pm

The year Liza Minelli and Lorna Luft did a medley of songs including "If Momma Was Married".

[Paul Bland4]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 6:04pm

I recently re-watched "Step to the Rear." Stupidest number ever put on television. Old bags who could neither sing or dance, Tony Roberts out of breath for half the song, and a selection that probably did the show in.

You have my respect, Mr. Matt, but I must respectfully disagree about HOW NOW.

The funny thing about A CLASS ACT is that I LOVE the show. I thought the selections presented on the Tony telecast did the show no favors.

STARMITES? The less said the better. I was embarrassed for all involved.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 6:10pm

"I thought the selections presented on the Tony telecast did the show no favors."

That's what happened with Once On This Island. They took a terrific show and made it look like a selection from The Muppets Take The Caribbean.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 6:20pm

Don't we do this thread every year?

The strangest has to be the segment shown from AIN'T SUPPOSED TO DIE A NATURAL DEATH in 1972. (This show and JC SUPERSTAR got numbers on the air but not a bit of FOLLIES was telecast, nor a scene from that year's Best Musical winner TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.)

I doubt that the scene from SARAFINA! sold many tickets, and the montage of scenes from MISS SAIGON was hardly effective although redeemed by Pryce's "American Dream."

I thought SHREK's performance on last year's telecast was beyond terrible.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 6:24pm

I didn't like A Class Act mainly because I can't stand the show and the Tony performance did nothing to make it look any more appealing. As for Once on This Island, Mama Will Provide is a great number, but there was NO WAY they could have made it look better for television. You really need the preceding material to be invested in the show's concept to truly appreciate the staging of that number and the brief clips weren't enough to get you there. They should have used a medley of We Dance and Waiting for Life and perhaps Rain, if they wanted a bit more representation of the show's visual concept.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 6:28pm

Starmites was so very terrible.

[bandit964]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 7:45pm

although i just said Passing Strange was my favorite flop that i've seen, it also had a terrible Tony performance. It did not do the show justice. After telling my friends how much I enjoyed the show, they saw the Tony performance and were all like....WTF?

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 7:48pm

Re: A Class Act. I did the show, and I can think of no better numbers for the Tonys than the three they did. What do you think they should've done instead?

Meanwhile, I think the worst Tony performance since I've been watching it was "Angry Dance" from Billy Elliot. I loved that number in the theatre, but it obviously played horribly on tv. I spent a ton of time explaining to people who think the show is bad based on that performance that it is actually much better than what they saw on tv.

Updated On: 5/21/10 at 07:48 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:14pm

Sharon McKnight made the Starmites performance watchable, but it's a shame they didn't perform Reach Right Down. I have no idea what the Broadway production was like on the whole, but I admit I enjoy the CD.

[Elphaba3]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:15pm

Wicked's was pretty bad.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:20pm

Cry-Baby. A Catered Affair.

[ABB2357]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:23pm

A few come to mind, but none as glaringly as "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" from last year's GUYS & DOLLS revival.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 5/22/10 at 5:02am

Also, Angela Lansbury singing The Worst Pies in London.

Just because it was lip-synched so badly xD