The 65th Annual Tony Awards

I thought this year I would blog as the Tony's went along. Therefore, this is more of a collection of sporadic thoughts as it moves along...

Overall Impression:
I wasn't excited to watch tonight. I didn't know any of the shows going in and I really thought it would be a lot like last years, which really disappointed me. But the nominated numbers -especially the first hour- was so full of energy and looked great!

Opening Number
Um. I'm trying to figure out what they were going for with this...

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - "Brotherhood of Man"
Of course, you know they're going to perform this song.
I really loved the choreography for this show! So fun. Lots of energy. Great ensemble.

Commercial
What, you're really offering The Book of Mormon for only $1.99 on amazon.com for the next 24 hours? Way to go show! I may not actually take you up on that, but I wish more shows would provide opportunities like that.

Catch Me if You Can
Wowza! Energy, energy, energy! This is what I'm talking about, Broadway! New shows with old Broadway pizzazz.
I had no interest in this show before. But to see *looking up names* .... waaaait, wait, wait...that agent was Norbert Leo Butz?! That was a total knockout performance. If he doesn't win, I'm gonna be so disappointed.
I LOVE, LOVE shows that use every note of their music in the choreography and they really nailed it. Nice.

Check this out:


Surprises
Wow. I'm really excited to see War Horse take Best Direction of a Play. That was unexpected to me, but from all the clips I've seen from that show it looks incredibly well handled. I was totally expecting that to go to Normal Heart.

The Scottsboro Boys
Oh man! There are some REALLY great voices this year on Broadway! I'm really excited by what I've seen so far for this year! (And I'm kind of shocked by that.) Seriously, I can't believe this is closed. I would be really interested in hearing more from this show. That song was really nice and really nicely sung.
Hey, while I'm here, anyone know what's with Santa Fe? I mean, RENT has "Santa Fe" and the whole theme for a character in Newsies is getting to Santa Fe and now this show is referencing the idea of getting to Santa Fe.... I've never really known why that was considered a dream place for these characters.

Wait, Victoria Clark is in Sister Act? Where have I been this season?

The Book of Mormon
I've had my curiosity piqued by this show. Its composed of a team from South Park and Avenue Q which should tell you a lot up front. Again - I'm not really sure what I make of it.

Neil Patrick Harris/ Hugh Jackman Duo
I wasn't really crazy about this, honestly. They sound great together, and play off each other well, but I feel like this sort of montage has become really expected on the Tonys.

Hey, it's Bono!
"When I saw the Tony Awards on our schedule, we assume we had been, y'know, nominated."
"Seems we missed the deadline."
"Cute."
"In rock and roll, you see, deadlines are just your manager trying to get you back on the bus."
Aw, that was a really nice segment, you guys. Good job Bono & The Edge. That was really well handled.

Spiderman: Turn off the Dark
First off, I love the look of the pop-up set. And musically speaking, this song was really pretty. But lyrically, I'm a little confused. "If the world should end tomorrow, there's no need for a savior or a friend"?
As in...if the world ends tomorrow, I guess there isn't a need for friends...if we're all dead?
If the world ends tomorrow - but we haven't died yet - wouldn't you want friends more than ever?
I guess it comes down to how you define the world ending. Maybe I'm just as confusing as the lyrics.
The lyrics just remind of the title all over again. It just sounds...turned around. And confused.

Jim Parsons is in The Normal Heart?
Don't believe it, Jim Parsons. The League announces every year is the highest grossing season on Broadway.

Getting to see the facades of these theatres makes me miss New York.

Robin Williams has a beard. I mean...an intense beard.

Sister Act
Hm... I wasn't really impressed by this. The voices were great, but the song itself felt way too standard.

THE PUPPET FROM WAR HORSE. Oh my goodness, it's really beautiful. I'm torn on whether I would see that show. Honestly, I would love to see the show - but uh. After reading Will's review of the book, I don't think I could handle watching it! Such a heartbreaker.

I think it's really awesome that Memphis performed for low-income schools. I think it's even more awesome that the students learned the choreography ahead of time for the finale and surprised the performers by jumping up in their seats at the end and performing it with them. That's what theatre is all about.
But as for the song itself, I'm just still not impressed.

It's only 9:00. Why are presenting Best Play now? There's still an hour to go. I think they did this last year too. Lame, Tonys. Still lame.
While I like getting more (and longer) musical moments, plays are still just left out in the cold and that's sad. Why does Memphis get to perform again?

Anything Goes
One of the reasons I love to watch Sutton Foster is because she always looks like she's having a blast in whatever she's in. Nice to see tap represented.

So apparently the plays get a two minute segment with a few lines spoken from each one in a montage. Sigh.

Company
I'm still not crazy about Neil Patrick Harris as Bobby... But I guess I'll see. (I really wish I could have seen Raul Esparza in the role a few years ago.) I'm most excited because I really don't know too much about this show and I'll get a full experience this week.

The Tribute - In Memoriam
Arthur Laurents... Tom Bosley... Shannon Tavarez... Elizabeth Taylor... Jerry Bock... Joseph Stein...

Okay, Sutton Fosters winning speech was really cute.
....
What is THIS?! Why are they singing It's Raining Men!? Why is Paul Schafer here? What are these costumes?! WHAT IS THIS?! GO AWAY! STOP! STOP! WHY IS CHRIS ROCK GOING TO PRESENT BEST MUSICAL?! No, Tonys, YOU WERE DOING SO WELL!
Priscilla Queen of the Desert is apparently what just happened to the Tonys. Sigh. Maybe if there were more context. Instead of...just appearing...

And Best Leading Actor in a Musical is....NORBERT! YAAAAAY!

Again. Why Chris Rock? Whyyyy?
That was terrible.
Oh, Tonys. You did so well for the most part...until the last fifteen minutes.

Anyway.
On a positive note, I'm so excited to see some of the shows that appeared this year. This is really encouraging! Win me back, Broadway! Win me back!