Steve Kazee in Once
(© Joan Marcus)
Talkin’
Tonys – REALLY?
By Jeannie Lieberman
At
last! Its over, the results are in. What have we learned by this largely
populated race which, like the Belmont, had no favorites.
This
is the only race in which entrants try to finish LAST! Just before the
deadline! The concept is that voters, who are on cerebral overload, can only
remember the last show they see. It didn’t help Ghosts and Leap of
Faith whi.ch came in last.
Siobhan
Dillon and Mark Evans
(Photo by Matt Crockett)
Shows
that opened earlier in the season invited voters back: Porgy & Bess, End
of the Rainbow, The Best Man which is a smart move by producers but only
helped Porgy & Bess which copped the sought after Best Revival
of a Musical prize over Sondheim’s Follies, one of the night’s
surprises.
Revenge?
Many believe its win was a backlash by the theater community after the unprecedented
scathing indictment by Stephen Sondheim, questioning its legitimacy, before it
opened and had producers scrambling for money. Interesting note: Follies continued
its losing streak; it failed as Original Musical and twice as a Revival before
this.
Linda Lavin in The
Lyons
(© Carol
First
casualty of the Tony’s: The Lyons, the starring role for which Linda
Lavin left Other Desert Cities, is closing July 1st. Wonder
how Lavin feels with Judith Light, her replacement in that show, winning Best Featured
Actress.
James Corden in a scene from One Man, Two Guvnors
(Photo credit: Joan Marcus)
Kids/Comedy
Take Over
Slap
in the face to traditional Broadway standards and veterans: – Once, an
oddball one set, mini show with all newcomers, won over the favored, big scale,
Broadway’s top of its craft Newsies, winning for Best Musical (really?),
Best Direction, Book, Sets (Over Spider Man, Follies? Really?), Lighting
design (over Ghosts? Really?). Similarly incredulous Peter won
for best sets!!! Amazing what a bit of rope can do and a tattered T shirt –
clever but a winner/???!!! Imagine the seamstresses and carpenters who create
REAL sets cringing in their cubby holes and benches this time. Think of the
intricate set of that crackpot One Man Two Guvs where fast pacing in
slapstick pratfalls and those ever slamming doors is tantamount to near
impossible without a hitch which could be disastrous.
Matt D’Amico, Rick Holmes, Isaiah Johnson, Adam Chanler-Berat and
Christian Borle in a scene from Peter and the Starcatcher
(Photo credit: Courtesy of O&MCo.)
Youthful Christian Borle (having
a banner year as one of the leads in TV’s Smash), won Best Featured
actor in Peter and the Starcatcher. Another youthful
winner, Nina Arianda in Venus in Fur, beat out veterans Linda Lavin, Stockard
Channing and Cynthia Nixon.
Jeremy Jordan and the cast of Newsies, The Musicial
(Photo credit: Deen van Meer)
Once over Newsies,
Newbie Steve Kazee won Best Actor in a Musical in a wooden performance over
fave Jeremy Jordan and veterans Danny Burstein Ron Raines, Norm Lewis. 20 something
James Corden won Best Actor in a Play; this is not only a triumph of youth
over veterans, legends Philip Seymour Hoffman, James Earl Jones, Frank Langella
and John Lithgow but comedy over gravity.
The cast of Nice Work If You Can Get It
(Photo credit: Joan Marcus)
Comedy
ruled again as Michael McGrath won for Best Featured Actor in Nice Work if
You Can Get It over a rapist (the serious P&B’s Philip Boykin) a
drug pusher (David Allen Grier) a dictator (Michael Cerveris, Evita) and
even Jesus Christ (super star).
To
balance things Judith Light was the only veteran in Best Feature Actress in
Play, and Judy Kaye in a pack of newbies
Kids
influenced Newsies, a male Annie. Alan Menkin (winning his first Tony,
for Best Score, can you believe it?), said he owes its success to generations
of kids who wouldn’t let the movie die.
A
another note of youth vs. experience – just think of the charm of Jimmy
Stewart as the foil for Harvey and think of this guy – whose name and
face I keep trying to forget – and succeeding (Jim Parson’s?) Just like the
rabbit Harvey his charisma is invisible…….unless you are 19 years old,
Thank
goodness for 80 year old Mike Nichols and Christopher Plummer, who received the
dubious compliment after presenting to Ariadna that he was her first crush in
Sound of Music (a role he notoriously hated)
Random
thoughts:
All four nominated plays Clybourne Park, Venus in Fur, Peter &… , Other
Desert Cities, came from Off Bway which is encouraging to the myriads of
Off Bway plays climbing over each other for recognition.
Once and Newsies
were based on failed movies and relatively low budgets to produce.
Death
stalked the winners in an oddly unexpected theme as Steve Kazee, Judith Kaye and
Judith Light, thanked a recently lost parent.
Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis as Bess and Porgy
(Photo credit: Michael J. Lutch)
Audra
McDonald, winning her fifth Tony for Porgy & Bess, shed nary a tear
when she won Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League awards, proving
to all what a great actor she is.
In a specific time when religion rears its ugly head everywhere –
politics/morals -and after last year’s first ever Mormon inspired musical,
Christianity has become a cause celebre on Byway –JC Super star, Leap of faith and Godspell (why
did give them a spot on the show, having closed under a brief run…or is it on
tour somewhere by the powerful voting block from the regionals).
And
speaking of nothing why was Godspell given a prized spot on the show
unless its touring somewhere and the greedy brokers want to squeeze more juice
into it – but don’t worry – no one outside of NYC watches the show I hear.
And
the cruise ship version of Hairspray – no wonder Feirstein had to camp
it up in a swimming tube and phony palm tree to distance himself from the
shameless capitulation to a sponsor – in the world of theater, performance on a
cruise ship is considered the bottom if the ladder!
…
and how dare they exclude such prestigious awards as Producer Manny Azenberg’s
Lifetime Achievement Award along with a slew of categories integral to
any production: choreography (thank goodness for Christopher Gattelli whose
life will be irrevocably changed and deservedly so), the much ballyhoo-ed
orchestrations ( the magnificent string laden score of P&B reduced to
tinny, brassy Bway orchestrations). If you want to know how Gershwin should
sound listen to Nice Work if You Can Get It by Bill Elliot.
And
isn’t it a testimony to his genius that not only does Gershwin have two shows
running concurrently on Bway so long after his death, but one a tragedy and
one a comic gem (though manufactured by Joe DiPietro from existing music)
And
other special Tony’s were given to actress Bernadette Peters, actor Hugh
Jackman
But
practically excluded on telecast
Meet
The Voters!
Note When queried about how nominators/voters were chosen the late Antoinette
Perry stated “it must be someone who sees every show and is not personally
connected to any” – which is the exact makeup of the other awards
organizations, though unfortunately lesser in impact: The Drama Desk and Outer
Critics Circle voters all of whom are reporters, editors – which is exactly the
requirement she stated – just before disqualifying the few critics on the
nominating/voter panels!!!
:
A little while before her death Isabel Stevenson decided to make critics
ineligible as nominators – saying she only wanted those who had no vested
interest in the shows, no agenda or bias – so who nominates and votes: Directors,
Stagehands, Producers, Actors, and Designers, ALL of whom have vested interests
in the nominees o AND tour bookers (the most powerful and courted by
productions for that award which automatically makes them commercially viable).
It
is a well known fact that only 70% of 851 vote, and that’s like pulling teeth.
And of those only a minimal few have seen all the shows.
Therefore
we have a few voters, all voting for their vested interests, deciding the Tony’s!!
Critics should be the only voters that’s why critics awards like DD OCC are the
most valid.
Oh,
well! It will never change.
But
to theater devotees who have dedicated so much of their time seeing Broadway
shows – its still the best night of the year!
Photo
by Joan Marcus
With
the opening of Harvey this week – the next race to the Tony’s is on!
The
2012 Tony Awards were presented at the Beacon Theater Sunday night. Neil
Patrick Harris hosted the event, which was broadcast live on CBS.
