Blogging the Tonys Again

I had not intended to blog the Tonys this year, but of course I watched.  In fact, I shut down Facebook to prevent me from accidentally finding out who won the awards, since they were being broadcast here three hours after they took place.

My friend John Fitzgerald (who used to perform with the Davis Comic Opera Company) calls them "The Gay High Holidays." I didn't really know any of the shows and the only actor I had any interest in winning was Neil Patrick Harris, but I couldnt help myself.  My "Today at Logos" vibes kicked in and I ended up taking notes after all. When the show ended, I had too many notes NOT to blog the Tonys, so here goes.  I only made notes on my favorite parts.

With NPH up for a Tony, it made more sense to have someone else host, and what better choice than to bring back Hugh Jackman, who also does a great job hosting the show.  The opening number was weird, but pretty amazing.   Jackman hopped for 4 minutes, from the street, down the steps of Radio City Music Hall onto the stage, then all through backstage, stopping to hop with actors from nominated shows, then back onto the stage again. I'm not sure whether he was celebrating kangaroos, or the musical, "Rocky."  Could have been either!

Following the bouncing Jackman came the bouncing boobs of Pattie LaBelle, Gladys Knight and Fantasia in a number from After Midnight.   One of those ladies looked like she could suffer a wardrobe malfunction at any moment, though it doesn't really show in this photo.

Jackman followed them with his opening (sung) monologue, in which I learned that WTF (Neil Patrick Harris' comment on learning that Jackman was going to host) actually means "Wow-that's fantastic."

The first number from the 3 nominated musical revivals was Les Mis, proving that it is still a wonderful, moving show.  I've seen it many times now and I'm still moved, though it seemed strange to start the Tony show with the first act finale of Les Mis.

First award to "featured actress" Lena Hall from Hedwig and the Angry Inch" who was excited in a cute way, and whose closing comment got me:  "Friendship is Magic."

Presenter Lucy Liu wore the only dress that I did a double take on and thought "Wow--that's fantastic"

I have to admit that though I like Idina Menzel, and though I hear the song she sang is popular, I didn't like it much, and the closeups of her face accentuated her "plastic mouth" (meaning that it distorts in ways that make it look like melting plastic sometimes).

The number from Aladdin, the first nominated new musical was fun--and the guy playing the genie (James Monroe Iglehart) is larger than life, literally and figuratively.  That big guy can move!

Second nomination for new musical was A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and the number they showed was a real patter song in the best possible way, complete with doors.  I remember the composer of this show doing this number on Theater Talk a couple of weeks ago and I liked it then too.

Audra McDonald made Tony history accepting her sixth award (Angela Lansbury only has 5) for playing Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill.  I remember the critics on Theater Talk were surprised this was nominated in the drama category, since McDonald sings so many songs, but I guess somebody knew what they were doing.  They showed her daughter in the audience as she was accepting the award and she was positively glowing for her Mom.

Bryan Cranston's win for playing LBJ in All the Way was no surprise.  It was pretty much expected by everyone (except maybe the other nominees).  I haven't quite gotten over Walter White, though, so it's strange to see him with hair.

Rue Paul came on to introduce the number from Hedwig.   I'd never seen Paul out of drag, though it might be argued that his shocking pink jacket was coming close.  Still, who knew he was bald?

NPH as Hedwig was NPH as I'd never seen him before.  I knew he could sing, dance and act, but this was over the top and he nails it.  

It was fun watching the stars taking selfies at a big machine backstage (kind of like the old machines at carnivals, without the curtains)

Alan Cummin came on briefly to explain something about the history of the Tonys and the American Theater Wing.  I only mention it because his suit looked like a Rhorschach test (or an audio line standing vertically)

Best play Tony went to All the Way, the LBJ show.   The producer who accepted it looked like he was wearing a bright red Christmas bow. 

 

Best play revival went to Raisin in the Sun.   When they were on Theater Talk, the critics almost unanimously predicted a win for Twelfth Night.

Nice tribute to Wicked, now in its 10th season on Broadway.  I was glad they did the duet I like ("For Good")

Hugh Jackman came out to talk about his start in theater, in a high school production of Music Man.  He said he was so gung ho he memorized everybody's parts in the opening scene of the traveling salesmen on a train.   He sang a bit of it and then said that, really, it was a rap song before rap was invented.  Then he invited LL Cool Jay and TI to join him on stage and re-do the original Meredith Wilson version and turn it into a modern day rap.  It was great and the youngsters in the audience loved it.  The Music Man gets new life on the Tonys! I got a little teary, wishing I could talk with Paul about it.

Award announced for best actor in revival of a musical, and it is, indeed, Neil Patrick Harris.  Lovely speech, and nice acknowledgement of his husband and their twins.  I worry about him, though.  He looks drawn and somehow older than he should.  Or maybe I'm just watching too many reruns of How I Met Your Mother from several years ago. And he is doing a grueling schedule these days. (UPDATE:  I heard someone today say he had lost 15 lbs to do this role, so that must be it)

The musical Beauty is about Carol King and her music.  Jessie Mueller, who plays King, did a nice song and then finished it in a duet with Carol King herself.  Nice moment and a highlight of the evening.  Got the longest applause.  Mueller also won the award for actress in a musical.  (It was cute Jackman singing and dancing the nominations with each nominee...he sang the nominations for the men, too, but didn't dance with them)

Nice bit, presenting a number from an upcoming musical, Neverland, which tells the story of the writing of Peter Pan.  It was sung by Jennifer Hudson and I couldn't help but think how far she has come, professionally, physically, and every way since her loss on American Idol!

Rosie O'Donnell presented the award for best new musical to Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder and then Jackman got all the award winners on stage, got the audience to stand up, and the show ended with everyone jumping as he did during the opening.

Another satisfying Tony award broadcast. All these great shows make me wish I lived in New York, if I didn't dislike being in New York so much!

Let the Sunshine In

Apparently while we were stuck in traffic yesterday, trying to make it home from San Francisco, I was nominated for an award, by l'empress, who is a frequent commenter on this blog.  I am touched by her nomination. Thank you!

I love it when bloggers award each other things like this because it shows that someone reads and appreciates what you try to do each day.  Of course, each award comes with its sets of rules...because the whole purpose of these is to inrease traffic to your blog.

These are the rules:

* Link the award to the person who gave it to me.

* Answer questions about myself.

* Nominate up to 10 bloggers for this award, and link my nominees to the post and comment on their blog, letting them know about the award.

I've accomplished the first requirement by linking to her blog in the first paragraph. 

Here are the questions I'm supposed to answer (kind of a mini meme!).

The Questions:

Favorite number:  7.  I don't know why and it has no significance whatsoever, but it's always been my favorite number.  (I should choose something more esoteric like 42 or 109 or something like that, but it's always been 7)

Favorite non-alcoholic drink: Water.  The colder the better.

Favorite animal: Favorite domestic animal is a dog; favorite wild animal is the elephant, whose society fascinates me.  I want to hang out with an elephant. 

Facebook or Twitter:  I've tried and tried to make Twitter relevant to my life, but I suspect it's better for those still in the work force who are "networking."  For me, Facebook works just fine.

My passion: Oh lord.  Which to choose?  I guess the one consistent passion throughout my life has been reading.  Others may come and go, or be unavailable for a period of time, but reading has sustained me throughout my life.

Favorite day of the week:  Wednesday.  That's the day I work in the book store.

Favorite flower:  I love yellow roses, and I love tulips.  I have never gone in for the exotic flowers.  Don't much like orchids, and gardenias remind me of funerals.

OK.  Now comes the place where I nominate 10 other bloggers for this award.  I follow a lot of blogs and read them through Google Reader, so I will just go to that list and choose the ones I read most, in no particular order. There are a couple I read that I would add to this list, but they are password protected (You Know Who You Are) and so I will not include them)

1.  Life on a Small Island is written by my real-time friend Sian, who lives on a small island in Orkney.   I love her tales of life on her island, her cat Button, her chickens and I do believe there is something somewhere about a lighthouse...

2. What if this is as good as it gets is by Kwizgiver, from whom I get most of the memes that I answer. I have a feeling that if we were ever to meet, we would get along very well, since we seem to have a lot in common.

3. Blogging from the Boonies is written by Michelle, who is one of the Compassion families I discovered when I first started sponsoring children with Compassion.  She is all heart and it inspires me to read her entries.

4. Life Philosophy 101 for the Squirrelly Senior Citizens is written by a guy who calls himself Jonathan Hemlock which may or may not be his real name.  He's married to "the French lady" and has an off the wall sense of the absurd that appeals to me.

5. I guess I have to mention Living in the Bonus Round, 'cause Steve would get his feelings hurt if I didn't. But I have to anyway because getting to know Steve changed my life, but don't tell him, OK?

6. Keeping with old folks, I need to add Nonagenarian Surfer, my new friend Bill ("Willy"), whose 98th birthday I just helped celebrate. Bill's blog is a bit different than most but is fun to read, and he is helped to publish it by...

7. ...Wilma of Wilma's Word, whose latest entry with pictures of her grandson is just adorable.

8. Though she doesn't write much any more, I always feel compelled to award one of these to Marn of Marn's Big Adventures, just for the joy she has given me over the years.  If it weren't for Marn, I wouldn't have a clue what a "hostia" is.

9. Jenconsin is Jennifer's blog.  Jen is dealing with more than most of us have to deal with, but she has the cutest son in the world...I've been watching her gorgeous photos of him since he was 2 or 3.

10. I'll end with Mary, another one I always include in things like this.  Mary is another face to face friend who writes a blog called Red Nose, because she used to be a clown, though now she seems to spend all of her spare time watching hockey, her passion.

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Finally, as a PS, but no less significant, June 26th marks our 47th anniversary.   FORTY-seven years.  It seems so long.  We usually go out to dinner to celebrate, but since I have to review Grease on our anniversary, we decided to go out for breakfast instead.  There was some talk about crab eggs benedict, and I hope they are available on Tuesday and not just on the weekend. 

The Bevies, Year 1

My friend, the multi-talented Alec Clayton, is not only a wonderful author and artist, but he is also a theatre critic in the Olympia (Washington) area. He recently gave out his own awards for excellence in theatre in his area. I thought I'd do the same thing. So far this year, I have seen 42 stage shows, some touring production, some equity shows, some community theatre, some university productions, some young people's productions. I'm leaving out professional productions (Music Circus and the touring Broadway Series), but leaving in Equity houses. This amounts to eight different theatre companies from which I considered awards.

Next year I'll take better notes at the time because it may be difficult to remember clearly shows I saw earlier this year, but let's see where this goes.

(It should be pointed out that these awards hold absolutely no prestige whatsoever and most of the recipients won't even know that they've been awarded! )

(Award courtesy of Photo Shop)

Best actor in a musical (male): Joseph Boyette as Bobby Child in Davis Musical Theatre's production of Crazy for You.

Best actor in a musical (female): A tie between Crystal Fox in in the title role of Sacramento Theatre Company's production of Black Pearl and Deborah Hammond as Mama Rose in Davis Musical Theatre Company's production of Gypsy.

Best Supporting actor in a musical (male): Joseph Boyette as Carman Ghia in The Producers at Davis Musical Theatre Comany.

Best Supporting actor in a musical (female): Danette Vasser in DMTC's Crazy for You.

Best Direction of a Musical: Steve Isaacson for The Producers at Davis Musical Theatre company

Best Choreography for a Musical: Ron Cisneros for The Producers at Davis Musical Theatare Company.

Best Musical: The Producers at DMTC.

Best Dramatic Actor (male): Matt K. Miller in Someone Who'll Watch Over Me at Capital Stage.

Best Dramatic Actor (female): Katie Rubin in Capital Stage's Hunter Gatherers

Best Direction of a Drama: Stephanie Gularte for Someone Who'll Watch Over Me at Capital Stage.

Best Drama: Someone Who'll Watch Over Me at Capital Stage.

Best Comic Actor (male): Matt K. Miller, Fully Committed, Sacramento Theatre Company. (This also qualifies as best solo performance, as Miller plays some 40 different roles)

Best Comic Actor (female): Martha Omiyo Knight as Dotty Otley in Noises Off at Woodland Opera House.

Best Direction of a Comedy: Bob Cooner for Noises Off at the Woodland Opera Co.

Best Comedy: Noises off at Woodland Opera House.

Best Set Design: Jeff Kean for Noises Off, Woodland Opera House.

Best Lighting Design: Greg Wershing for Kiss Me Kate for Davis Musical Theatre Company

Best Costumes: Jean Henderson for Kiss Me Kate for Davis Musical Theatre Company.

That's it for this year, kiddies.