Posted: 6/8/15 at 12:35pm
I never really think the performances on the Tonys are great if you're watching on TV because they are meant to be seen live on stage. I just saw Something Rotten a few days ago, and the performance on the Tonys vs performance in the show...Night and Day difference!!
Posted: 6/8/15 at 12:45pm
The stage of Radio City is like a train station . I was on it once on a tour & it is huge. It and any other number on it will be swallowed up on it. An intimate show like Fun really gets lost on it. The only time I ever attended the Tonys was in 1968 I believe and it was at the Shubert. Great place to see the awards - in an actual theater. Something like the Beacon is a great alternative . It is bigger than a normal theater but not as huge as Radio City.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 12:58pm
"An intimate show like Fun really gets lost on it."
Except it didn't. It didn't get lost and it was performed by AN 11 YEAR OLD!
Here's some non-usual suspect take on it from Rolling Stone:
Alison Bechdel's graphic novel about a suicidal parent and lesbian sexual awakening may seem like unlikely song-and-dance fodder, but Fun Home's richly deserved quintuple win (including Best Musical and Direction) proved that Broadway has come a long way. Eleven-year-old Featured Actress nominee Sydney Lucas brought the house down with her performance of "Ring of Keys," the show's ode to the beauty of female butchness. It was a rare bird of a Tony performance: tons of heart and zero bombast. Best Actor winner Michael Cerveris, who portrays the play's troubled dad, delivered a sweet speech while clutching a necktie owned by the real Bruce Bechdel in his hand. But perhaps most significantly, playwright-lyricist Lisa Kron and composer Jeanine Tesori busted through the Tonys glass ceiling when they became the first female writing team to nab double awards for Best Book and Score.
Tons of heart and zero bombast.
No wonder it didn't grab the Roxys.
Updated On: 6/8/15 at 12:58 PM
Posted: 6/8/15 at 1:06pm
I'm baffled how Ring of Keys could be seen as anything but a highlight. All around terrific- song, performance, camera work. It was stunning and an absolute highlight of the evening.
Awards outcomes aside, I do wish we could have actually seen the faces of the people during the In Memoriam segment. And it felt so tacky to cut off the last speech of the night with a lifeless number from a show no one cares about. I'm stealing from Mara Wilson on Twitter, but you don't cut off the mention of Alison Bechdel with the freaking Jersey Boys. Come on.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 1:07pm
Anti-lesbian bias specifically. There I wrote it.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 1:16pm
I'm surprised there hasn't been any words from the usual suspects about how "wrong" that number was to show on live TV. But good thing the audience didn't have to deal with the praise of a butch lesbian author for too long, right? There's old songs to sing for the millionth time!
Posted: 6/8/15 at 2:09pm
there was much to rant about:
The lukewarm opening. Two Tony winner standouts and you start out with poorly crafted famous song re-writes? If that's what you wanted, stick with NPH.
Alan Cumming is too old to play cutie dress up boy. So handsome in a classic tux.
Kristin can't dance.
Kelli performs and then Kristin sings the song again backstage with crappy rewrite lyrics. How rude.
Not enough representation from plays. Why would you not put Bradley Cooper on stage in his elephant underwear if you want that key demographic watching.
Too much Harvey worship.
American in Paris didn't get enough practice time. No way I'd see the show now. 20th production was a hot mess. No way would I see it now, either.
Good job, Neverland. I might see the show now.
Josh Groban blew the opening on that song but recovered. Why would you not have Brian Stokes Mitchell sing it?
The Visit needed a better intro so you understood more about the story. How nice if Chita and Tommy Tune did a number together instead. Half the show is about revivals, so why not let them do any revival number that truly showcases their talents?
Thank you Neil Patrick for reminding me how bad you were on the Oscars.
Ending with Jersey Boys was a show low point. New York, New York from On the Town would have been better.
all for now.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 2:14pm
#teamwonderfulwizard
Posted: 6/8/15 at 2:58pm
Updated On: 6/8/15 at 02:58 PM
Posted: 6/8/15 at 3:03pm
"I'm surprised there hasn't been any words from the usual suspects about how "wrong" that number was to show on live TV."
Has that usual suspect been around recently? Maybe I've just managed to naturally avoid threads where he posts without realizing it, but I feel as if I haven't seen anything from him in the past couple of weeks or so. Do we need to start a Sondheim thread to make sure he's ok?
Posted: 6/8/15 at 3:05pm
That usual suspect hasn't posted lately, but I meant your standard right-wing talking heads who will find places gays are tearing American apart at every turn.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 4:18pm
Why would you not have Brian Stokes Mitchell sing it?
Because Brian Stokes Mitchell never sang on Ally McBeal or sold a zillion albums from an infomercial. Personally, I've always liked Josh Groban and I've never thought having one non-Broadway celebrity sing one Broadway tune was a deadly sin in the Gospel According to Tony. So, did Hunter and Jenn rant about Mirren winning a Tony yet?
Updated On: 6/9/15 at 04:18 PM
Posted: 6/8/15 at 4:29pm
Careful, don't invoke you-know-who.
I think he won't show up on a thread inviting rants. He likes to hi-jack unexpectedly.
And probably changed I.D. again anyway.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 4:41pm
"I never really think the performances on the Tonys are great if you're watching on TV because they are meant to be seen live on stage. I just saw Something Rotten a few days ago, and the performance on the Tonys vs performance in the show...Night and Day difference!!"
The same could be said for the Finding Neverland number. The actual scene at ART in Cambridge was mind boggling. On the stage of the RCMH and with television close ups, the whole effect of the scene was lost. There were so many other scenes that might have showcased the show better.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 5:04pm
The Finding Neverland performance was the worst performance I've ever seen on the Tony Awards.
Kristen seemed tired in Babette. She wasn't as energetic as she was in other performances of that song.
The Fun Home girls were robbed. Miles was great, but Sydney Lucas still had the best performance in her category. It's a shame that the vote was split.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 5:38pm
Matt, it's The Gospel According to Tony 's because there are more than one and they possess the Gospels
Posted: 6/8/15 at 5:54pm
The Gospel's Accordian to Tonys's
Fixed it.
All this negativity has made me feel bleu. I could use a little symphony right now.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 6:44pm
I agree with those dissenting about the selection from FUN HOME. It was a very weak choice. If you can only do a slice from that show it was the wrong slice.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 6:54pm
"Scotty
Lighten up. The sidecar remark is funny considering all the innuendos on the board. People need to get thicker skin instead of getting their knickers in a twist over the slightest thing."
Says the man who has everyone on block for the slightest discretion.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 7:09pm
I think people have covered most topics so I will add one that disappointed me personally. The teacher (Corey Mitchell) who won the "Excellence in Theater Education" teaches at the school my daughter's attended from grade 6-12 years ago. He is a wonderful man and great teacher. I was disappointed that during the broadcast they did not even allow him to say the name of the school and where it was located. Really, did we need to know the teacher that influenced Darren Criss the most. It would have been nice to give Mr. Mitchell a couple of seconds to promote his school and students.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 7:11pm
I accidentally laughed during the Finding Neverland performance.
The On the Twentieth Century performance made me REALLY sad. I've seen the show twice and those bits didn't do it justice what-so-ever and since that I've seen a ton of Facebook people saying that it validates their reasoning not to see it. I wish they would have just stuck with one scene like Veronique or Babbette and not jump all around.
Ending with the Jersey Boys weirded me out and confused me.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 7:13pm
So, when are ISBY & GIGI closing?
OTT will probably close some point during the summer after the 4th of July week?
Posted: 6/8/15 at 7:17pm
"I'm baffled how Ring of Keys could be seen as anything but a highlight. All around terrific- song, performance, camera work. It was stunning and an absolute highlight of the evening.
Awards outcomes aside, I do wish we could have actually seen the faces of the people during the In Memoriam segment. And it felt so tacky to cut off the last speech of the night with a lifeless number from a show no one cares about. I'm stealing from Mara Wilson on Twitter, but you don't cut off the mention of Alison Bechdel with the freaking Jersey Boys. Come on."
Anti-lesbian bias specifically. There I wrote it.
Oh please. Get over yourself.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 8:03pm
"The Finding Neverland performance was the worst performance I've ever seen on the Tony Awards.
Kristen seemed tired in Babette. She wasn't as energetic as she was in other performances of that song.
The Fun Home girls were robbed. Miles was great, but Sydney Lucas still had the best performance in her category. It's a shame that the vote was split."
Well, icecreambenjamin, you apparently missed the Ghost performance (which actually is ok to start before you begin thinking "wha? Huh? I'm never going to buy a ticket to this")
Updated On: 6/8/15 at 08:03 PM
Posted: 6/8/15 at 9:34pm
Huge Alan Cumming fan, but not as the host. And NOT with Kristen, sigh. I didn't find any of it funny, and it's a shame. I loved Alan at Cafe Carlyle last week, but not here. I found myself zoning out during their bits and missing the heck out of NPH.
So happy for Kelli O'Hara. She deserved it for TKAI, and she's a lovely, gracious, nice lady. I saw TKAI and OT20thC on the same day, and TKAI blew the other out of the water. Much as Kelli did to Kristen.
Ruthie was lovely, but nowhere near the massive power that is Sydney Lucas, so sad she and the other Alison's cancelled each other out.
Cheers to Dog in the Night Time, what a powerful play and ridiculously killer performance by Alex Sharp.
Ring of Keys was the best part of the telecast. And for those who don't get it, and "why wasn't there a huge musical number where everyone sang?" I'm pretty sure you've never seen Fun Home. It's not that kind of show.
