thoughts on the tony awards

Every year, I look forward to the Tony Awards (for excellence on Broadway) with the glee of a six-year old waiting for Christmas. This year was no exception. This has been a great year for theatre, and in particular, a great one for women’s leading roles. Both Christine Ebersole (GREY GARDENS) and Audra McDonald (110 IN THE SHADE) gave phenomenal performances, and there was a great wave of young talent in the fabulous SPRING AWAKENING. Once again host-less, sadly, the Tony's seemed to flounder without anyone there to connect the show. Last year, there was no host, but they had a huge assortment of stars, including the then-performing Julia Roberts and a legion of other film and television stars to glam up the whole proceedings. Overall, the performances were okay. None of the performances seem to lift very strongly from their respective shows, and although I enjoyed them, I just wasn’t blown away. Actually, the strongest performance probably came from MARY POPPINS with huge dancing numbers that really captured what the *magic* of Broadway could be. Audra McDonald was fabulous doing the number “Raunchy”, but the song really loses its extra oomph when removed from the show. I mean, you can appreciate her fine singing and fun dancing, but without the first 1/3 of the play, the number doesn’t sparkle the way it can. Christine Ebersole was fabulous, but again, the number (whose name escapes me) is just weird…and anyone who was just watching the Tony's for fun was probably just scratching their head trying to figure out what the heck was going on. SPRING AWAKENING did a medley with some of the best numbers, but with the language censorship, it was mostly a bunch of teenagers jumping around on stage. The average family in Iowa was probably thinking, this is the best show on Broadway?

I know that they decided this year to not allow musicals that were not nominated for best musical or revival to perform, but I think it would have been great for LEGALLY BLONDE to get out there and do something. Oh, and there was a random little performance by the guys from JERSEY BOYS that was actually a bit of a mess.

Overall, other than some surprise wins, most notably David Hyde Pierce for leading man, the show was kind of blah. And the truth is, it really shouldn’t be. This is a great opportunity for these shows to get up and sell their shows, and other than MARY POPPINS, I wasn’t necessarily sold…and really, does a Disney show need any help to sell tickets?

Photo credit: www.nytimes.com