off-stage right

I know I am a day late, but I wasn’t going to do this post because I tweeted and used status updates on Facebook throughout the show so I thought people would be sick of hearing from me, but so many people emailed me, I decided to do it anyway. Better late than never.

Thoughts on the actual awards:

 

The person most surprised at the awards was probably Bret Michaels from Poison. Seriously, I don’t think there were major upsets. It was 50/50 on Next to Normal getting the Score. And perhaps some thought Karen Olivo was a surprise.

 

When are they going to add a best ensemble award. Norman Conquests, Dividing the Estate, Joe Turners, Carnage…would have been the most difficult category.

Best parts of the show (in no particular order):

 

Opening was great except for Aaron Tviet and Stockard Channing. Would have better to let them sing separately. Everything about that pairing was at odds even their costumes.

 

Neil Patrick Harris was great, I would have like to see just a wee bit more of him. If they had cut the American Theater Wing and the touring shows they could have had more Neil and put the best book back in the show.

 

The tweeting through the rehearsals and show was the best innovation. It was a blast to follow rehearsals and then read all the tweets. Loved that most shows had designated twitter representatives. Special thumbs up to official celebrity stream by Mark Indelicato. He brought a great a wonderful “I am meeting my heroes” perspective to the stream.

 

Laura Benati and Brian Stokes Mitchell rocked the thankless job of hosting the unbroadcast portion of the show – someone find a way for more people to see it. Laura was hilarious.

 

NPH closing number – opening monologue is being eclipsed by the closing but it was great too (loved the part where he talked about watching the show when he was a kid).

 

The speeches were overall well done, emotional and dignified – Billys (I want to adopt them), Oscar Eustis (knew he would go political and he did it with heart and balance, Brian McDevitt (spoke beautifully about the collaborative process), Gregory Jbara (loved that he brought up his wife), Mathew Warchus (was hoping for a tie, call out to Norman Conquests cast and his wife), Peter Darling (people who help others to achieve their dreams), Angela Lansbury (pure class), Stephen Daltry (thanks to the crew, he was great), Karen Olivo was sweet too. Geoffrey Rush was funny. Sonia Freedman for getting her cast up front and focusing on the artists. Elton John – class act call out to Next to Normal.

 

Dolly’s entrance AMAZING.

 

Frank Langella did a great job poking fun at the Tony Committee not remembering the fall.

 

Will Ferrell pulled off a Becket joke.

 

Actually give some props to NY 1 for not asking anyone what they were wearing and for the most part asking intelligent questions – there were some slips David Carridine is Martha Plimpton’s Uncle not Father at one point asking

 

To the general public Rock of Ages, & West Side Story, Hair probably did a better job of showcasing themselves, but see below because I have questions about all of the song selections (see below).

The show was the best it had been in years, but…

 

Worst parts of the show:

 

CBS should be shot for their sound folks. Same thing happened on the Grammys. Direction was horrible right from start – how could they not pull back so you could see three Billys. It was ridiculous you heard backstage chatter in the opening, before Rock of Ages and other spots. Sound, bad camera shots during memoriam and mixing up the two amazing Mary Stuarts – UNFORGIVABLE. The cut to Dolly when she lost was just wrong but she handled it beautifully. The dead mic on Titus Burgess (and the fact that we heard the hero of the night announcing “Am I going out…I’m going out.” Annoucer – as they went into commercials an hour in “coming up performances from hair and Jersey boys” cuz misleading the audience makes them stay on the same channel. I know they were trying to speed it up, but couldn’t some more folks presented say pairing John Stamos with someone (like Alison Janney) or Susan Sarandon while they gave out TWO awards. Memorial section camera work HIDEOUS. If they had just held the camera it would have been a pretty good segment.

 

The touring shows: Mamma Mia, Jersey Boys, and Legally Blonde Proved segments didn’t work. If you are going to rehash old shows – use the best company you have and the BEST song in the show. Why in the world did that Mamma Mia company perform – It looked like a non-equity company why not use the Broadway cast who was only a few blocks away, the five Frankie Valleys were uneven and it’s placement in the evening was lame. If you are going to have 5 why not get John Lloyd Young out of the audience and on the stage. My niece asked me why the High School Musical cast meaning Legally Blonde wasn’t singing a song from High School Musical. I guess I should just be glad that a 6 year old watched the whole show (her favorite was Shrek of course but also Rock of Ages, best quote “Those people are great.” Look like my love of 80s music rubbed off on her.)

 

Too damn many people on stage for the winning shows. Jeez. I feel bad for Alice Ripley, she was saying something that had great intentions, but got lost in her “excitement.”

 

All of the post Tony articles about how many accents were on stage. Who cares. Let’s not start a Freedom Fries version of Broadway shows. National press coverage giving more play to Bret Michaels walking into scenery than awards.

 

Not crazy about the set, especially the platform behind the first few rows.

 

The play presentations are still not good. Don’t know if you can ever capture it well. The clips were also very oddly choppy, too short. Please someone figure out how to showcase the plays.

 

Some of the song choices were odd. Rock of Ages – why not Here I go again? Don’t Stop Believing didn’t feel like a smart choice considering Fox’s Glee commercials had made it the most over exposed song on Earth (and their version is ranked higher on i-Tunes). Too much dancing in West Side Story, I love it but can’t help but think America might have captured the audience at home more. I wanted Hair to sing Aquarius, but they did the best job of showcasing themselves. Next to Normal – Just Another Day would have been a little lighter and caught the charm that the show does have a bit more and not [SPOILER] given away that she “imagines” her son (that irked me the most, after all it is the biggest reveal in the show. I know the did Superboy and the Invisible Girl on Visa special maybe should have saved it. Hard to pick from it, but would have been good to get Jennifer Damiano up there too. Billy Elliot – I would have killed to see Expressing Yourself, but too risqué for CBS??

To hear more thoughts on the Tonys, yesterday, I was a guest on the BroadwayRadio Podcast hosted by James Marino of www.BroadwayStars.com, with Matthew Murray and Peter Filichia. I will post a link or more information when it is available.

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