Tony Award Recap

The big question of the night is "How long has it been since Patti LuPone has won a Tony?" I can't remember! The announcement said 1980 (for Evita), and then Patti went on to say 28 years, - which mathematically makes sense - then went on to say 29 years! It's amazing how time flies! Time also flew last night! Three hours went by pretty fast as we got to watch the best (mostly ...) of this year's Broadway season.

The night opened with a scene from The Lion King. This was the first of many Disney references of the night. Why does Disney give us so many oportunties to remember that their show was not nominated? To quote one of the nominated shows, "move on!" Not only was the performance inappropriate, but it was really bad! When did the score change notes to screams?

While Best Musical is usually the big race of the year, it seemed as if the Best Revival of a Musical category was the one most anticipated of the year. Though the Best Musical category seemed to be the biggest upset. Was anyone really surprised that South Pacific won (other than Patti LuPone)? In the words of my friend, Jeff Simno, everyone is just "gaga" over South Pacific. As said before, the upset of the night was In The Heights beating Passing Strange. Though I have not seen either show, the performances seemed interesting. I was more entertained by In the Heights performance, though I saw great potential in Passing Strange.

Acting categories had few surprises. In fact, I don't think there was the typical shocker of the evening. Patti got her glory (can she quit now?), newcomer Paulo Szot won for his performance in South Pacific (his performance was one of the nicest), and, as predicted, Deanna Dunegan and Mark Rylance won for their respective roles in August: Osage County and Boeing-Boeing.

Best Featured Actor and Actress in a Musical also went to Boyd Gaines and Laura Benanti, both from the revival of Gypsy, giving actor awards to the three stars of the Musical, but still not helping it win the overall award for Best Revival.

Now for the performances ... My vote for the best performance of the night would have to go to Jenna Russell and Daniel Evans for their rendition of "Move On" from the Revival of Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George. It was so nice to hear the female part sung and not screamed (sorry to any of you Bernadette Peters fans out there). However, I do think the only thing that might have made the performance stronger would have been ending it with a bit of "Sunday," one of Mr. Sondheim's greatest achievements. Since we were awarding him with a Lifetime Achievement, which he reluctantly accepted through Mandy Patankin, the least we could have done was show off his most beautiful combination of music and lyrics.

Also on the top of my list was Xanadu, which surprised me. I felt Cheyenne Jackson gave a hell of a performance, causing me to wonder why he was not amongst the other Best Actor nominees. Kerry Butler, who rarely impresses me, did well, though it was obvious she was trying a bit too hard.

Though I do not like her, Patti LuPone did not do a terrible job. I only counted four flat notes throughout the entire performance, which is still a considerable amount less than Ms. Peters' "Roses' Turn" in the 2003 Tony Ceremony. I did like seeing the scene before the number. It built up the momentum and helped her get through it - though I did get a little nervous towards the end. Would she make, would she not?

While on Ms. LuPone, did she really need to remind us three (or four?) times that she has not won since 1980? Let's face it! She hasn't deserved it since 1980. Her constant reminder of the time span only welcomes invitations for us to laugh and remind ourselves that she has not been worthy since Evita. No, Patti, your Mrs. Lovett was good, but not worth a Tony.

The night took an awkward turn when the non-nominated musicals (one more bitter than the next) performed in a window of two minutes (not each - all in two minutes). Poor Sierra Boggess had about 30 seconds to get to her favorite moment of the show (and ours, let's face it) the end of "Part of Your World: Reprise." The editing of the song was very rushed and quite transparent to the main goal. Poor Faith Prince had to tell a whole story of a wedding in about 40 seconds. Couldn't we give the veteran (not to mention Tony-Award nominated) actress a little more time? Then the finale was Megan Mullally's "Deep Love" from - let me get this whole title right - The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein. First of all, if the point of this segment was to advertise these shows, this was a terrible number to pick. Its a one-joke song (where the joke is not that funny) and shows off the actress who is in the show the least. Now, Mel, by now you should know exactly what America wants to see: "Putin' on the Ritz." Would the make-up and work be worth the 30-second slot? Hell, Yeah!

One of my favorite moments of the entire night was the Rent performance. I was one of those high school students who had memorized every lyric and fell in love with every character. It was a very nice (and short) tribute to a terrific, groundbreaking show and to its writer. I must compliment the original cast for their performance. They truly put the latest cast to shame. It was pretty evident as to why the show is closing. It has nothing to do with being dated, but more with the fact that a cast that can live up to the original just has not been found.

Finally, let's talk about Whoopi Goldberg. If we needed a reminder that Disney owns ABC, our newest "View" host reminded us last night. Disney's shameless plugs were endless throughout the night. At least the costumes she wore in those segments saved us from having to see her in her puffy, clown/pirate shirt. Ms. Goldberg, I understand if Barbara Walters does not require you to look nice on "The View," but you should have enough respect to wear a gown to the Tony Awards. At the risk of disagreeing with one of my favorite theater columnists, Michael Riedel, Whoopi should never be allowed to go near the Tony Awards again. I would rather see David Letterman host!

Overall, it was a nice night to finish out an interesting year! I am looking forward to next year when a whole new group of shows enters the arena. Anyone else excited about Billy Elliot?