Tonys

The Tonys was just the anti-depressant I was needing last night.  After two days of sadness and tributes for Anthony Bourdain and then a day of watching how #45 pissed off everyone at the G7 in Canada, I was depressed all day.  Then the prevaricator-in-chief had the audacity to accuse Justin Trudeau of giving out "false information."  I felt moved to actually write a note to the Prime Minister to apologize and assure him that we weren't all behind our inglorious leader.

I actually had started this entry before dinner as a diatribe on my depression about the country, the kids being taken from parents, and #45 in general.

But then there came the Tonys, my favorite of the awards shows even though I never have watched any of the shows, but it's always such a polished show, and it helped clear my depression.  It's the awards show where 90% of the recipients can actually think on their feet and give appropriately-timed, thoughtful thank you speeches.

And I learn about shows to look for.  I had never heard of The Band Visit, which won for best musical, but was pleased to see Tony Shaloub take home the award for best actor in a musical.  I have always loved Shaloub on Monk, another show I love to watch in marathon.

Shaloub's sister is an actress locally and I always feel a bond with her when I see her perform, though I've never spoken with her.  I felt like I'd like to corner her and tell her how much I enjoyed her brother's Tony speech.

I had never heard of Once on This Island, which won the award for best revival of a musical, but the other two nominees were Carousel and My Fair Lady, so I am assuming those two will be making the rounds of community theaters in the next year or two.

But for me the highlight of the night was Robert DeNiro's unscripted comment before he read the script to announce Bruce Springsteen.

DeNiro raised his fists and said "F*** Trump!" which brought a standing ovation in Radio City Music Hall.  

It made me miss Paul.  Paul was a huge DeNiro fan, his favorite movie being Taxi Driver, where DeNiro played Travis Bickle ("you talking to me?").  In fact, when Paul's best friend Kag (whose real name is also Paul--he's the host of the annual "Paul Picnic") became a father, he wanted to name his son after Paul, but didn't want people to think that the baby was named for his father, so they named him Milo Travis.  Milo is ready to go to college this fall (he's always a reminder of how long Paul has been gone, since they weren't pregnant with him when Paul died) and Kag tells me that the one thing they have to do together before Milo goes out into the world is to watch Taxi Driver, which Milo has never seen.

So watching DeNiro bring the audience to its feet with his comment about #45 I knew how tickled Paul would have been.

When the show was over, there was a Bourdain tribute and then more of the depressing news.  

He offended all of our allies (see the difference between the two photos) and then headed off before the discussion of climate change, which he doesn't believe in, for a meeting with the North Korean dictator, whom he thinks is a nice guy and for which he doesn't believe he needs to prepare because he's so smart he will just "know" in the first minute whether he should stay or leave.

It must be nice to be king.

The Pulse of the People

When I turned on the TV this morning, at 5:30, after feeding the dogs, I learned that 20 people had been killed at The Pulse, a gay bar in Orlando.

Watching the report with the horror and watching the endless speculation about the shooter, his motives, the victims, the interviews with terrified parents and friends, etc we have become inured to, I fell back asleep until after 7, by which time the death toll had risen to 50, with an additional 53 wounded, making this the largest massacre in our nation's history.

Talking heads have been talking all day.  I have to admit that I feel sorry for them.  It's a major disaster and it must be covered 24/7 or they might miss some rapidly breaking new development.  But about 23 of those 24 hours there is NOTHING substantive to say.  They bring in the same "experts" to guess what the shooter might have been thinking and speculate about his ties to ISIS, but really it's just killing time until the next breaking news tidbit is released. I finally reach news overload and actually (oh horror!) turn the TV off.

I am heartsick, as is the rest of the country that we are counting bodies yet again.  I feel so sorry for Obama, having to make yet another speech about the tragedy and how helpless this country is about doing anything to restrict the sale of assault rifles.  And of course there is the usual round of messages by the Obama haters pointing out how much violence there has been during his administration, conveniently forgetting how many bills to try to curb all of this he has been unable to get through Congress.

I listened to a mother trying frantically to get news about her son.  Her story was so heartbreaking because I knew exactly how she was feeling...only she was feeling worse.

One of the saddest, surreal things I read was from someone who realized that the first responders were all in that club surrounded by dead bodies and listening to cell phones ring, here and there, calls from loved ones wondering if they are OK.

I read this afternoon that Canada has had 8 mass shootings in the past 20 years; we have had 5 in the past week, yet nobody on the right side of the House of Representatives sees this as an issue that even needs to be addressed.

Donald Trump, not surprisingly, was not at a loss for words today.  He congratulated himself for demonizing Syrian refugees (which shooter Omar Mateen was not), calling for increased border control (Mateen was a longtime US citizen with no criminal record), and for calling for unconstitutional surveillance of Muslim-Americans (Mateen was already on the FBI’s radar, but thanks to the Republican Party, a ban on weapon sales to terrorist suspects was defeated in Congress).

To cheer myself up, while Ned painted the shelves for my office, I went to Atria.  I hadn't been there in 3 days and had my mother's clean laundry ready to bring back.

It was the kind of day that I just hate because (a) I feel so helpless, and (b) I don't have a clue what to do.

She was kind of curled into a ball on the couch when I arrived and was asleep.  I sat in a chair and waited for her to wake up, which she did about 10 minutes after I arrived.  She felt terrible and she didn't know why.  There didn't seem to be any pain, but her body just wasn't right.  She said she hadn't eaten, but you can never know if that's true or not because she can't remember if she has eaten as soon as we walk out of the dining room.  Her shoes were near the couch, which I always take as a sign that she has at least been out of the apartment, hopefully for a meal.

She seemed sick to her stomach and tried to vomit several times while I was there, but I don't think she actually brought anything up.  She sat in her chair, looking like a limp dishrag.

I checked her kitchen and saw that she has NO food at all, which isn't surprising.  I decided to go and get food and stock the cupboards so that in case she doesn't feel like going out, she has something to eat.  I went for junk food rather than anything nutritious because I wanted things that would (a) last indefinitely and (b) be appealing to her.  (The first thing I bought was a box of Twinkies since I've heard that there are so many preservatives in Twinkies that they will outlast most humans on the planet),

I also replenished her big jar of cashews, bought the kind of potato chips she likes, the oatmeal cookies she always bought, and some goldfish crackers, and then a package of Hershey Kisses, which she used to have in the house all the time.  None of those things will go bad if she doesn't touch them for a year, but if she is hungry they are there.  Oh, I also bought two tiny cups of Haagen Dazs ice cream for her empty freezer (I am remembering when she had 12 partially eaten ice cream cones in there).

When I got back from the store, she was in worse shape and was again curled on the couch with her hands over her head and moaning.  She would try to sit up and when she put her head back would yelp and dive back to the pillow. I stayed for a long time during which time she sat up again and we started talking.  As before, the more we talked, the better she seemed to feel.

My dilemma is whether to take her to the doctor or not.  If she didn't start sitting up, I would have rushed her off (against her will) to the doctor, but it's Sunday and Kaiser in Davis is not open on Sunday and we would have to drive all the way to Sacramento.  She NEVER wants to go to the doctor and if she feels very sick tells me to wait until she's better and then she will go.  Her childhood years as a Christian Scientist really kick in these days, though she converted to Catholicism more than 50 years go.

I have to work at Sutter tomorrow and I considered not going, but either she will be fine, with no memory of today, or she will still feel bad and grudgingly agree go to the doctor and then sit in the exam room and tell the doctor that she feels fine and she doesn't know why I get so worked up.  Then she'll get back in the car and moan about it all again.

The worst part is that as bad as she does or does not feel, what compounds it exponentially is that she doesn't know what's wrong, she can't figure out what caused it, and she can't make it stop, so obviously she is stupid, stupid, stupid (I lost count of how many times I heard that) because she should be able to diagnose it and control it.  But she's just stupid, stupid, stupid.

This lady had better die in her sleep.  She has never had a serious illness in her life and should she have some sort of organ event that requires hospitalization, she is going to be the world's worst patient.

I was quite ready, at the end of the afternoon, to lose myself in the Tony Awards broadcast and that was a great tonic.  Even though (and I know it's sacrilegious to say this) I don't really much like Hamilton (at least based on everything I've seen--and I've seen a lot), it was fun watching the show win 14 of the 16 awards for which they were nominated.

I'm going to work tomorrow, but will stop by Atria on the way home at 4:30 and see how things are.  I know I will worry all day about her, but she doesn't seem to answer her phone any more and sleeps until noon, so I can't stop by on the way to work either.

Aaaarrrrrggggghhhhh!

Why Do I Do It?

Every year as the hype to the Tonys starts to build, I wonder why it is that I watch the show every year.  I haven't seen any of the nominated shows and am unlikely to until they start to tour, years from now. I don't know half (or more) of the big name Broadway stars.  So why do I watch, other than that it is usually the best/most professional of the award shows.  And I'm an award show junkie.

Usually, I am at least slightly familiar with the Big Shows thanks to Theater Talk, that wonderful weekly 30 minute show produced by Cluny-TV which our local PBS station used to run at midnight on Saturday or some ungodly hour like that (but which I dutifully recorded so Walt and I could watch it the next day, because he likes it too).  But it has disappeared from the programming schedule.

So since I'm missing Theater Talk I checked out their web site and found all the recent shows, many of which feature plays or musicals nominated for Tonys, so I watched a few of them.  My very favorite shows that Theater Talk does involves chit chatting with other critics.  This time it was Jesse Green of New York magazine, Michael Musto of “Musto! The Musical!” at Out.com, Patrick Pacheco of ArtInfo.com and Elisabeth Vincentelli of the New York Post chatting with hosts Michael Riedel of the New York Post and producer Susan Haskins.

Having now seen the Tonys, I think they were about 50% right on their predictions (just shows you what critics know!), but it's always fun to hear them dishing about the good and bad of each.

I also watched the interview with librettist/lyricist Lisa Kron and composer Jeanine Tesori, who wrote Fun Home, a musical I had never heard of.  Fascinating interview.  The show is a heart-breaking musical based on the memoir/graphic novel by Alison Bechdel about growing up in a troubled family and her relationship with her father prior to his suicide.  It ended up winning best musical.  (I was sorry, though that 11 year old Sydney Lucas, nominated for Best Featured Actress in a musical for the show did not win...she performed the featured song and was wonderful.)

But anyway, the Tony show was a success and though I saw a Facebook post that someone missed Neil Patrick Harris as host, I thought Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming were very funny and kept things moving along and entertaining.  Chenoweth must have worn every gown in her closet during the 3 hour show and when she ran out of gowns she improvised.

I have to admit, though, that her finest moment was one that I don't know if people noticed.  They were introducing Tommy Tune, who is about 8' tall to Chenoweth's 4'11".  She went to give him a big hug around his waist and then realized that she was actually hugging his genitals and repositioned herself quickly.

My own personal prediction for the show to sweep the Tonys wasn't even nominated.  It was the only one I'd seen and we had seen it in previews in Cambridge when we were visiting Jeri and Phil.  It's Finding Neverland, the musical version of the movie about the writing of "Peter Pan" and I absolutely loved it.  But the critics have not been kind and my cackle of critics (I don't know that the group name is for critics, but "cackle" seems fitting!) have always made fun of it. Again, what do critics know? But still, I was happy to see that they did a number from the show during the Tony broadcast anyway.

That's Glee's Matthew Morrison as J.M. Barrie and Kelsey Grammer as Captain Hook.  It doesn't show very well, but the projection of waves in the back was amazing.

Of course there was the usual Memorial section toward the end, paying tribute to those who have left us during the year.  Josh Groban sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" and I'm sure there were lots of tears in the audience, but I was giggling when midway through the song, a platform in back of the stage raised up from beneath the stage.  It held everyone in the show, all singing backup chorus for him.  

But it reminded me of something Judy Garland says to James Mason in A Star Is Born when describing a particularly ornate dance number she has just filmed at the studio and that was the visual I had in my mind in this otherwise somber moment.

And now another Tony show is over and I can look forward to Outlander being snubbed by the Emmys (because I love it, so obviously it's not going to get any nominations), and the Oscars, which will be a rerun of the Tonys because I wont know anybody nominated and will have seen none of the nominated films. It was so much easier when I followed Hollywood and went to the movies regularly!

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!

Blogging the Tonys

It's really silly how much I look forward to the Tonys every year. I have seen exactly one show on Broadway in my life -- Rent, many years ago (that may have been 1996, that horrible trip during which David died at home). I don't know Broadway stars, as a general rule. Not only do I not recognize them, I don't even know their names.

Yet, I love this show. I think it's one of the classiest of the big award shows, and so I was looking forward to the Tonys all week. And, as I did the Oscars, I decided to blog the Tonys. Here goes...

Loved the opening number. Not exactly tongue in cheek...more a statement of fact ("theater isn't for gays any more"). And, face it, Neil Patrick Harris can do anything.

Interesting that most of the nominees for supporting actress came from television. Ellen Barkin gave a wonderful speech. I wonder if The Normal Heart is going to sweep the awards for straight plays (harkening back to the opening number).

LOVED seeing Robert Morse and Matthew Broderick introducing Daniel Radcliffe in the number from How to Succeed.... Talk about the torch being passed! Watching "Brotherhood of Man" makes it clear that Radcliffe can certainly do more than ride a quiddich broom!

Hmmm...I don't remember seeing a stand-up routine in a Tony Show. Not that I don't like John Leguizamo, but aren't shows usually too LONG? Do they really need to pad it?

Yep. John Benjamin Hickey takes the award forThe Normal Heart. (This is a play about the early days of the AIDS epidemic, written by Larry Kramer, who founded ACT UP in 1987 and is credited for "bringing drugs to market that now make it possible for millions of HIV-positive people to live reasonably normal lives"*). With Joel Grey as one of the directors of this production, I guess it's not surprising that it's winning the awards. Hickey also gives an impassioned speech, reminding people that after all these years, "the war is not over."

Lessee...I missed a couple of things while I was getting dinner on the table, but other directors won, not the ones for The Normal Heart. I had to giggle when both forgot to thank their spouses and each did it for the other! Oh yeah--and first win for the directors of The Book of Morman. Is this hinting at a sweep for that favorite?

They say Scottsboro Boys has closed on Bdwy and is going on tour...but it's not on the schedule for our Broadway Series next seasion, darn it.

Angela Lansbury must not be able to read a teleprompter, since she read her information off of cards. And even then stumbled over some of the words.

I can't help it. I just LOVE it when young actresses like Nikki M. James get so excited and emotional about winning (The Book of Mormon).

OK...the Hugh Jackman/Neil P. Harris duet was great. I loved it. I love song parodies anyway.

Oh so glad John Larouquette won the Tony for best supporting actor in a musical. I've liked him ever since the Night Court days.

Sorry, but the song from Spiderman was a yawner. It certainly didn't make me want to pay ridiculous prices to see it (though I did love the 30 seconds of Spiderman jokes that Neil P. Harris delivered!)

Robin Williams: "the only beard here is on my face. What a nice night." LOL.

The scene from Sister Act was fun...I love that scene in the movie, but it was fun to see it with different people in the roles. The woman playing Delores was ok, but no Whoopie Goldberg.

And man...that horse in War Horse almost makes me forget the animals in Lion King. What a magnificent piece of engineering! So glad it won the award as best play (can you imagine the problems people would be having for years and years to come if the award had gone to The Motherf*cker with the Hat?)

No surprise that The Book of Mormon won for best book, or that The Normal Heart won for best revival. Larry Kramer says "To gay people, The Normal Heart is our history. I could not have written it if so many of us had not died." Very touching.

Oh I'm such a emotional person--had to sniffle when the cast of Memphis danced with the students in the aisles of the theater.

As Joel Grey ages, he looks more and more like a perfect leprechaun. Which is a good thing.

Wow...Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones--now THERE's theater royalty for you! and Christie Brinkley does her Farrah Fawcett imitation. :(

I want to know who was in the cast of that great Side by Side number. I saw several familiar faces, including John Cryer and Stephen Colbert.

Anything Goes wins best revival. Still a fun show asfter all these years. Funny thing, but I don't remember that much tap dancing in the Davis Senior High School production that David was in (or, for that matter, in the Davis Musical Theater Company production!) Nice that Sutton Foster won for Best Actress in a musical. Loved her tearful farewell to her dresser for the past 9 years.

Tyne Daly is starting to look like Bea Arthur. Not sure it's such a great idea to have someone long in the tooth introduce the "in memoriam" section, though that section never fails to elicit a few tears.

I just love that Frances McDormand wore a Levi jacket over a formal gown and, perhaps, no make-up. Seems like a very nice human being. Good on her for winning Best Actress.

Well, the Best Actor in a play was certainly a surprise. I figured it would be a toss-up between the guy in The Normal Heart and Al Pacino in Merchant of Venice. But instead it went to a guy I'd never heard of (Mark Rylance) for Jerusalem. Best actor in a musical was also a surprise. Instead of going to the guy from Book of Mormon it went to Leo Butz (another actor I'd never heard of ) for Catch Me If You Can.

Shocking that Daniel Radcliffe wasn't even nominated as best actor for musical, but this L.A. Times article explains the omissions in the nominations. (His was not the only critically acclaimed performce to be ignored by the nominating committee.)

No surprise---Book of Mormon won best musical.

So it's now over (and on TIME too!) and I can post this annual blogging of the Tonys. Now...when are the Emmys...?

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*from an entry in Steve's Living in the Bonus Round.