Random Thoughts on the Tony Awards

Last night I was very fortunate to be watching the Tony Awards at SarahB‘s annual Tony party (which I lovingly call “Lady Iris’ Annual Moon Lady Extravaganza”). We were in a different suite this year, but the company was the same. While it rained on the NY, up inside 1820, the moon was the full, the gin was in the bathtub and a glorious time was had by all. There was a Twitter corner for those who wished to tweet during the ceremony, but we all had such a marvelous time with one another that no one left the couch!

The greatest acceptance speech of the night belonged to Marian Seldes. The beloved actress was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award which was presented on the pre-show telecast on NY1. There had been some conjecture wondering how long Ms. Seldes’ speech would run. However, she trumped all by merely walking to the microphone, taking several glances at the house and merely put her hand to her cheek in astonishment as she walked offstage. I think it will go down as one of the greatest Tony moments ever (and is that now officially the shortest acceptance speech on record…)

I’ve seen some speculation on web boards and twitter that Ms. Seldes’ speech was either disingenuous or indicative of failing health. But the truth of the matter that it is neither. Marian is an animal of the theatre, one who has a unique quality of eccentricity about her. But this eccentricity is pure sincerity. I don’t know that there is another person alive or dead who genuinely loves theatre like Marian Seldes, who recently sat through a three hour performance of A Little Night Music, backstage visit and dinner with a smashed shoulder (which would require surgery). She is wholly dedicated to her profession, and I for one say “Brava!”

Last July, the Tony Management Committee released a statement to the press to inform the world that members of the press were to lose their voting privileges in the awards. There was a huge backlash at the time because of the hypocritical statement that removing the press would make the awards more balanced and fair. Bullshit. It was a choice that removed the most impartial members (approx. 100 folks, accounting for 1/8 of the voters). The results of last night’s awards were indicative of that choice.

Producers were given far more influence in the voting results, which were reflective of the trends of this weary, underwhelming theatre season where the great financial successes were star driven limited engagements. Stars were given preference; not necessarily saying that their performances weren’t meritorious, but it seemed more like a plea on the producers’ part to entice other stars to come to Broadway. While I welcome any and all to give it a try onstage… I am weary at the unhealthy trend this could set as more and more producers look to shy away from artistic risks and pander to middling tastes.

There weren’t as many sound gaffes as last year, but that didn’t help much when it came to Tony performances. Once again they felt rushed and were at extremes. There was no balanced excerpt. Green Day was given two songs while Christiane Noll was given the bridge of “Back to Before.” Nominated revival, and the best reviewed show of the season Finian’s Rainbow wasn’t even represented in song. The television direction once again proved entirely incongruous, giving the audience very little feel for the shows in contention. Matthew Morrison needs to do another musical, but I’m not sold that Lea Michelle is ready for a revival of Funny Girl.

The trouble remains the need for CBS to draw ratings (which it always fails to do) so they limit the performance time for shows and make it impossible to get a sense of the shows currently playing. Also with the show being held in Radio City Music Hall, a cavernous barn fit only for a revival of Jumbo, much intimacy is lost. Radio City Music Hall is not Broadway, nor will it ever be. It’s unlikely to change unless the awards are given the boot from network television (and the way it’s going, it would probably be better off on PBS), but I wish the tradition of going to a different Broadway house each year would return.

Then there is the legend of Catherine Zeta-Jones. While I am not a big fan of the stage revival currently playing the Walter Kerr, I did think that the star could have been exceptional Desiree Armfeldt with a more nuanced director, such as Bartlett Sher. The performance of “Send in the Clowns” ranks as one of the worst renditions of the song I have ever seen/heard, whether it was the choice to remove Alexander Hanson (who should have been nominated for his exceptional Fredrik Egerman) from the moment so she would have someone to play to or nerves, or projecting to the house at Radio City Music Hall. It heightened what was problematic about her performance to me – the need to oversell, oversing and the overall lack of nuance and balance in her performance. Even folks I know who liked the performance found themselves screaming at the pregnant pauses, jerky head movements and crazy eyes. What seemed mediocre at the Kerr was downright terrifying in HD closeup. Barbara Cook introduced the number, but truth be told I think she should have been the one singing the Sondheim classic last night.

The Best Musical Tony should be renamed “Best Vehicle for Marketing on Tour.” It was a weak year for original musicals, very few properties were represented and there were only two eligible nominees for score (with Fences and Enron filling out the rest). Memphis won because it was the most wholly original and traditional musical in the bunch, a diluted and derivative hybrid of Dreamgirls and Hairspray. (I’d have voted for Fela!, one of the great experiences of the year).

Sean Hayes was an exceptional host. Funny, affable, self-deprecating. He was genuinely funny and his one liners and shtick worked very well. His quips as well as his numerous costume bits were very amusing and as the night progressed further and further into tedium, I looked forward to seeing what the Promises, Promises star would come up with next. Also, props on the classical piano skills – I was sort of hoping that he and David Hyde Pierce would engage in a round of dueling pianos.

Angela Lansbury did not break the record for most acting Tony wins last night, but she was still the epitome of class and grace as she was announced the first ever Honorary Chairman of the American Theatre Wing, an announcement which brought the entire crowd at Radio City Music Hall to its feet.

Oh – and one more thing. NY Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez was on hand to present the Best Musical performance of Memphis. In his introduction he was touted as a theatre aficionado, to which I said, “That doesn’t look like me.” It was unexpected, but I think it’s nice to see someone from the world of sports taking an interest in Broadway.

Lily Tomlin’s Special Tony Acceptance Speech

It’s the eve of the Tony Awards. By this time tomorrow, we’ll know what the voters decided on and we will Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning, afternoon and evening quarterback (and possibly still further… Two Gentlemen of Verona over Follies anyone…?). Twitter, facebook and the blogosphere will be a jumbled mess of opinions, arguments, commentary and 20/20 hindsight. But for now I want to share one of my favorite Tony acceptance speeches -and one of the more unique -in Tony history.

Lily Tomlin has appeared in two solo shows on Broadway, both solo works and has won Tonys for both. The more famous is her 1985 vehicle The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, which she revived in 2001. But in 1977, Tomlin made her Broadway debut in a special limited engagement Appearing Nitely, which she directed and cowrote with her partner Jane Wagner. She received a special Tony award for her acclaimed appearance and in turn they made her work for it. Happy Tony watching and may you all win your Tony party pool. In the meanwhile, here’s Lily. Enjoy:

Dorothy Loudon sings "Vodka"

On the night of the 1983 Tony Awards, the Uris Theatre (where the ceremony was taking place) was renamed for George Gershwin. Throughout the evening performers sang the composer’s material, including Dorothy Loudon’s fearless, showstopping performance of “Vodka!” from the 1925 musical Song of the Flame. Gershwin and Herbert Stothart (who won an Oscar for his underscoring in The Wizard of Oz) shared duties as composer; Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II cowrote the book and lyrics. The show was an operetta spectacle set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution. A film adaptation was released in 1930 and is now believed to be lost.

Loudon mines comic gold with the material, a performance that many still recall fondly from the telecast. It never fails to make me laugh (especially her outrageous ad libs). Enjoy:

The Awkward Rings Out Like Freedom

Last week the theatre community was abuzz with talk about the Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations, celebrating those who were honored and shaking their fists for those who were overlooked. To the surprise of many, the short-lived revival of Ragtime received a lot of love from both nominating committees, with eleven and seven nominations, respectively. There was much rejoicing, especially for the ardent fans of the revival (myself included).

Well, that was last week. In the last two days, both organizations rescinded nominations for the revival. First it was the Tony committee who revoked the Costume Design nomination since designer Santo Loquasto had reused much of his work from the 1998 production. Then today, the Drama Desk honchos withdrew two nominations: Loquasto’s and one for William David Brohn’s orchestrations.

The Tony Awards Productions had the following to say:

“Yesterday, it was affirmed to Tony Award Productions that Santo Loquasto’s designs for the revival of Ragtime are predominantly those from the original 1998 production, and therefore do not meet the Tony rule which states, work that ‘substantially duplicate(s)’ work from a prior production is ineligible. We learned this too late to remove the costumes from consideration by the nominators, but feel that we cannot allow the designs to remain in contention this year, and we must regretfully withdraw them from consideration as a nominee in the Best Costume Design of a Musical category.”

Following on the heels of that decision, the Drama Desk Awards released the following statement:

“The Drama Desk makes its own decisions. But when the Tony Awards withdrew its nomination for the Ragtime revival’s costumes because they were not sufficiently different from the original production and when the lead producer and nominated costume designer Santo Loquasto did not disagree with the decision, we revisited the issue. The Drama Desk concurs that the excellent costuming was not sufficiently new to make it eligible. Therefore, the nomination will be removed from the ballot in the Outstanding Costume Design category.

“We have also determined that the nomination for Ragtime for Outstanding Orchestration [William David Brohn] should not be on the ballot because the highly regarded orchestration was not different enough from that of the original production to be eligible.”

I understand that there are a lot of shows to be considered when doling out nominations at season’s end. But I cannot understand how both nominating committees let these gaffes slip. I’m surprised there aren’t any interns or research assistants on hand to help the ladies and gentlemen in charge make informed decisions.

The information has been well established since the regional production played at the Kennedy Center last spring. I recall reading last summer that the production was using the costume design of Santo Loquasto (who was always open about what was new and old in this production from the get-go) and the press release also cited “original orchestrations by William David Brohn.” Revisions were made to both for this more intimate revival, but the work from both artists remained fundamentally the same. For the record, Loquasto remains nominated for his work on the revival of Fences.

The one that really surprises me here though is the Drama Desk nomination for Best Orchestrations, which I admit I missed when the nominations came out last Monday (or I would have already called them out on this). Brohn actually won the 1998 Drama Desk (and Tony) for his Ragtime orchestrations. How that nugget slipped by is beyond me. The fact of the matter remains that the nominations should never have been given, and never made public.

The producers, Mr. Loquasto and Mr. Brohn have put up no disagreement in regards to the decision, but putting these esteemed gentlemen in this spotlight, especially since they had nothing to do with these decisions. I only hope that next year they take this a bit more seriously and save all involved parties from the inherent embarrassment.

Tony Awards 2010 – And they’re off…

There are many things about this year’s award nominations with which I am pleased. There is love for the long closed Ragtime, Finian’s Rainbow and The Royal Family. The estimable Jan Maxwell is a double nominee for two superlative comic turns. Christiane Noll and Bobby Steggert, the heart and soul of Ragtime are in contention. It’s also nice to see that Jon Michael Hill’s supporting turn in Superior Donuts, the talk of Broadway this fall, was not overlooked. And of course, there is Lansbury’s 7th nomination as she sets her sights on a record sixth award (if she doesn’t get it, you can be assured that Julie Harris Harriet-Waltered her). But the one nomination that makes me truly smile is the one for the lovely, incandescent Kate Baldwin, who is next in the line of our great leading ladies. She’s also the first Tony nominee that I’ve known personally, so I am just thrilled for her – she is as lovely, gracious and exceptional as she seems. Team Kate!

Here is the full list of this year’s Tony nominees:

Continue reading Tony Awards 2010 – And they’re off…

Last Fall

Broadway is heading down the finish line of yet another season. There is a glut of shows opening this month before the Tony cut-off on April 29 (the tally is eleven for the month). However, as the Tony committee and voters get lost in this whirling dervish of new productions, I figure it’s time to give some love to a superlative fall season which can often be easily forgotten. So… for the consideration of the Tony committee – as well as the Drama Desk, Outer Critics’ Circle, etc. (and to jog their fickle memories), here are some of the shows that came and went this fall:

Finian’s RainbowThe unfortunate casualty of a star-driven fall season and the desire to import American Idiot as soon as possible, this seemingly ill-advised revival of a seemingly unrevivable classic took the critics and audiences by storm and is one of, if not the, best reviewed productions of the entire season. From its lovely direction and spirited choreography by Warren Carlyle, to the enchanting breakthrough performance of leading lady Kate Baldwin, this one was a winner from start to finish, a genuine crowd pleaser. Also worth mentioning: Jim Norton and Christopher Fitzgerald’s impish comic charms as, respectively, Finian and Og. There’s also the divine Terri White, who took “Necessity” and belted it into oblivion (and whose overall presence was more of a supporting role here than the cameo it was at Encores).

OleannaThis David Mamet revival was volatile, divisive and short-lived. However, it was a spirited thought-provoking production that got the audience talking. For those fortunate enough to have seen the show during previews, the post-show talk backs offered release for the explosive tension that builds in the mere 80 minutes of play time. It also was interesting to me personally because my beloved SarahB and I found ourselves at odds with each other afterward; the conversation was vibrant, spirited and very involving. It raised many questions about ourselves, the filters through which we see the world and the overall idea of gender roles in society.

Ragtime – A sublime, intimate revival that closed far too soon for my liking, and seemingly a similar response for many in the theatre community. Moving away from the epic nature of the original production, director and choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge emphasized the humanity of its characters, especially in Christiane Noll’s fully realized portrait of emerging feminism as Mother as well as in Bobby Steggart’s thrilling turn as Mother’s Younger Brother. I know that critically, reviews were divided, but I don’t think I’ve ever been part of such vociferous audiences – the reactions were overwhelming and spontaneous in the three times I saw the show.

The Royal FamilyMTC gave us this sublime revival of the classic Kaufman & Ferber comedy about an eccentric acting dynasty a la the Barrymores. Doug Hughes’ direction was superb and succinct, managing to introduce the show to an entire generation of younger theatregoers, and a lovely revisit for those who recall the last revival directed by Ellis Rabb starring Rosemary Harris. Harris was on board as the matriarch this time around, offering one of the most haunting moments of the entire year. Jan Maxwell, now tearing it up in Lend Me a Tenor was nothing short of breathtaking, particularly in that showstopping second act monologue, culminating in a face plant on the lip of the stage.

Superior DonutsIt would have been lovely to see Tracy Letts replicated the success of August: Osage County, but ’twas not to be. His second play, a decidedly lighter and less scathing look at an awkward but warm father-son relationship between a jaded hippie and his young, idealistic black assistant was a charmer. Michael McKean was excellent and anchored the production, but it was Broadway newcomer Jon Michael Hill who walked away with the show and the audiences’ hearts in his pocket.

It appears that due to its fast closure, Brighton Beach Memoirs is ineligible, depriving its heart and soul – Laurie Metcalf – of deserved consideration. (Even more criminal is the brilliant tour de force that was never to be in Broadway Bound, where Metcalf would have taken center stage). There were a couple of limited runs I didn’t get into – A Steady Rain, In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play) and After Miss Julie so I can’t comment there.

Since the Tony committee foolishly eliminated the Best Theatrical Event award (they say “retired”; I say they’re “stupid”) it forces unique presentations such as Burn the Floor, Wishful Drinking, All About Me, and Come Fly Away into competition with more traditional plays and musicals (and the actors involved).

Oh, and remember Bye Bye Birdie? By all means, don’t.

Quote of the Day: Tony Party Edition

It’s rather late to put these out here, but here are some of the choicest quotes from the Lady Iris’ Annual Moon Lady Extravaganza, (SarahB’s annual Tony party, which is more fun than being in attendance as far as I’m concerned). These were all part of my live-twittering during the summer. There were a lot of other amazing things said, but you’ll have to ask the others to remember those…

“If he plays Unskinny Bop’ I’ll come unglued.” – Sarah, on seeing Brett Michaels in the Tony opening number

“Oh that’s me! And we’re both wearing sparkles!” – Sarah, on seeing her party namesake on the telecast (we were each assigned a Broadway favorite and had to drink upon seeing him or her, or in Kari’s case, them)

“I saw Lauren Graham in the ladies room!” – Christine
“I peed next to her!!!” – Roxie

“They had a song off Broadway was that basically all the fuck word.” – SarahB on Next to Normal

Whew, that was too much acting for me.” -Roxie, on Next to Normal’s Tony performance

“There’s a gay smackdown coming.” – Kari, on Steve and RivB’s differing POVs of Legally Blonde

“Harriet Walter broke our table!” – The Gathered Ensemble, but specifically Sarah & Kari

“I see this role wasn’t a stretch for Ripley.” – Me, on Alice Ripley geting all JFK on us

“Chandra Wilson? I thought it was Aretha without a hat.” – Christine

“What happened to the guy originated this part?” – Me, on Jersey Boys and John Lloyd Young
“He became a mute.” – Sarah

“Those boys are underage, Elton… don’t try it!” – Sarah, while Billy Elliot collected Best Musical

Quote of the Day

‘Others feel the outbreak in recent years of bloggers who disregard established professional etiquette by weighing in before a show’s official opening has damaged the reputation of the entire critical community. “Anyone in a position to make editorial comment is now regarded as the enemy,” one pundit said.’

Variety, covering the press response to losing Tony voting privileges

So dear reader, have I ever violated so-called professional etiquette…?