The Tony Awards

I wasn't going to blog about the Tonys because most people I know don't watch them. I guess it's because not everyone can go up to NYC and see a bunch of shows and care. It's easier to plunk down $10 to see another movie. And a lot of folks aren't fans of characters singing and dancing for no reason at all, unless they are cartoons. But, it's usually one of the more entertaining and better produced shows, so why not.

The first number is the cast of The Book of Mormon doing their opening number "Hello" and starts with the cast ringing on the dressing rooms of celebs like Ricky Martin, Judith Light (from Who's the Boss!!), and James Earl Jones (yes, Darth Vader is a Broadway guy). I'm afraid what a musical about Southern Baptists would be like? (The Cookbook of Fried Chicken & Pie?). Neil Patrick Harris is the host again and his opening joke was funny. It's good that he loves theater and enjoys hosting and being on Broadway. His opening number is "What Is Life Were Just Like Theater". That is something to think about. I don't think my arthritis could allow me to dance like that. I'd ache. Very fun opening number. PLUS, they just cut to a shot of Emma Stone in the audience. AWESOME! Judith Light, aka Angela from Who's the Boss just won a Tony. Cool! And you thought Tony Danza was the acting talent carrying that show, wrong! Now here's the youngest Jonas, sounding sort of odd I must say, introducing the performance from Newsies. Yup, that forgotten musical with Christian Bale is now a stage musical. And WOW can they dance. I think I pulled a hamstring watching them. I'm guessing in context, the kid with a crutch makes sense.

Amanda Seyfried is here looking creepy and because she was in Mamma Mia and will be in Les Miserables. How long until they do a musical of Mean Girls? Don't steal my idea dang it! Now best revival of a musical nominee, Follies. It's very showy, but out of context it's a bit over the top. Surely this wasn't the best representation of the show. Going into work mode, it's always interesting to see which advertisers are featured in big events.

Back to the show, a performance from Ghost: The Musical. Yep, another movie turned into a musical. And they wisely kept Unchained Melody. The ghost is bathed in blue light, he kinda looks like a smurf or Violet from Willy Wonka. The allegedly evil guy had a sunken cheek. Is he a vampire or malnourished? It was a short and slightly confusing performance. What other movies would make good musicals? I'll get back with ya. Diane Sawyer's husband wins from directing Death of a Salesman with Philip Seymour Hoffman and the new Spider-Man. Now a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar. The guy singing Judas in this sounds the best of anyone so far tonight. The video screens are odd though. He's as charismatic as any TV preacher, but his backup dancers seem oddly static. SPIDER-MAN COMMERCIAL!!

Angela Lansbury came onstage telling about theater. She's almost 90 and still going. She's the Betty White of Broadway. Now the guy from Smash just beat the new Spider-Man for a Tony. Now the annoying teacher from Glee introduces the Gershwin revue (which means a musical featuring previous songs) Nice Work If You Can Get It. It has Matthew Broderick in it. They just did a montage of the year in plays. It was pretty good. Tough presenting clips from plays out of context.

Sheryl Crow is presenting the award for best score. Why her? Well, she just wrote a score for a new musical, Diner, based on the 80s classic. Cool huh? Now, a performance from the groundbreaking Porgy and Bess. Audra McDonald singing Summertime is sheer brilliance. Now, a performance of Once. I want to see this. I still haven't seen the movie, but the music from it is awesome, including the brilliant Oscar winning Falling Slowly. Now, Evita, featuring Ricky Martin. Most only know this from the Madonna movie. This is the first Broadway production to actually have an Argentine Evita. They were smart to showcase Ricky in this. He is the name. Surprised they didn't go with the best known song "Don't Cry For Me Argentina". Evita however looks like a blonde version of the Frau lady from Austin Powers. But c'mon, it's Evita, have Evita sing something. Although with Patti LuPone in the audience, that would have to be intimidating.

Now Corbin Bleu, who was in High School Musical, now looks to be in a high school production of Godspell. This is one where they go down the aisles and seem to want to get the audience involved. Most of the time, I really don't like that. I paid good money, YOU SING, I don't need to see some strangers sing. Now, a performance of Hairspray. This is an old show, why are they showing it? Well, money. It is being performed on Royal Caribbean cruise line. RC has been advertising throughout the show. It's all about money kids. Sales people will use whatever creative methods they can to get a client to sponsor and give your station money. Trust me, I know this. I deal with media sales every day. Thankfully, it wasn't too obvious and cheesy. Now the final nominated musical, Leap of Faith. This is the ONLY nomination for this musical. It has already closed or scheduled to close. It's the little seen musical based on the little seen Steve Martin movie from 1992 about a sham preacher. Yeah, I didn't think you'd remember it either.

All in all not a bad show. It's good to see what shows will be headed our way over the next few years. Hope you enjoyed it. Check out the performances on YouTube. I'm sure most of them will be there.