Review: The Tony Awards

I mostly watch the Tonys for the performances and I was excited that they had so many shows perform this year. It made the broadcast go faster. Of course, there were a bunch of shows that, in retrospect, I could have done without. Here are some quick thoughts on the overall production.

Whoopi
She was okay. I didn't find any of her segments funny, but she didn't annoy me overly much either. I much prefer Hugh Jackman though. I think the frequent costume change bit has been overused at award shows.

Performances
My Favorites
Of the shows I was unfamiliar with, Cry Baby intrigued me the most. It seemed old school, but catchy and high energy. Plus, I think huge dance numbers are fun. I wasn't into In the Heights at the start of the song because I had a bad impression of the lead guy and I didn't like the spoken word/rapping style much. I did enjoy it more towards the end, however, especially when the Asian woman began singing over the rapping. She had a really gorgeous voice.

Pretty Good Performances
I don't know Gypsy very well, but I've never really liked the song Everything is Coming Up Roses. Patti Lupone was good obviously, but I think I would have appreciated her performance more if I had seen it in the context of the show (all I know about the plot is that she plays a crazy stage mom). It did annoy me a bit when people gave her a standing ovation. I can't say exactly why it bothered me. If it had been during a performance of Gypsy, it would have been cool. It just seemed rude to all the other performers from other shows to do it in the middle of the Tonys when no one else received a standing ovation.

The Rent tribute was decent, but nothing special. I loved the cute Idina and Taye look at the beginning. Overall, not the best rendition of not the best song from that show. Everyone really seemed to care though. Darn, that Mimi was scary looking!

Although I didn't care much for the song they sang, I enjoyed watching Sunday in the Park with George and being able to see a bit of the much talked about "modern technology" set. It was very cool. I also loved the male performer (Daniel Evans?). He exuded boyish charm and hope and had a pleasant voice. The actor just seemed like a fun and nice guy whenever they cut to him in the audience. He even sang along with Seasons of Love!

Xanadu also seemed harmlessly fun and good natured. I bet the actual show is very funny.

Performances I only half-watched
Yes, the costumes in Lion King are amazing, but, sadly, they get less amazing when you've seen Circle of Life a zillion times. I could do without Lion King for awhile.

South Pacific was well performed, but I hate most of the music. I'm don't usually like Rodgers and Hammerstein or older "classic" musicals in general. I respect that they laid the foundation for current shows, but I just don't enjoy them. South Pacific seems so dated. I know the big deal with this production was that it made it feel relevant to current events, but I didn't get that at all from this medley. Also, I felt vaguely embarrassed for the girl when she was running around giggling to herself.

Painful performances I wish I hadn't watched
Passing Strange's performance completely crushed any desire I had to learn anything more about that show. Stew (Note to Stew: if you're going to use only one name you better be really famous or extremely talented and you're not) basically just shouted one phrase over and over again for at least three minutes. How is that a musical theater song? It wasn't even a good rock song.

The rejected shows medley should have stayed rejected. All of them just looked bad. I swear that Faith Prince missed a bunch of notes.

Nothing can redeem Grease. Granted, the show is not great to begin with, but the stars need a presence to pull it off. The two leads faded into the background. I wasn't even sure who Sandy was at first. Ouch.

Speeches
Award show speeches usually annoy me by being boring, narcissistic, babbling, gimmicky, or way too long. There were plenty of all of these things. The In the Heights guy's rap speech really made me dislike him. It liked it a little better when I realized that that was the style of some of the show lyrics. Granted, the rap was clever, it just was so gimmicky and pretentious to me. He seemed so full of himself every time they showed him. His show seemed entertaining and deserving of the win, but he acted like it was this huge groundbreaking event of theater. Sondheim, yes. Rent, yes. In the Heights, not so much.

The worst was the best actor in play winner from 39 steps. I was already disappointed because I wanted Patrick Stewart to win and then this guy tells this totally nonsensical "story" that isn't funny, comprehensible, or remotely related to theater.

I like people who seem genuinely thankful. The younger women from Gypsy seemed nice for example and honestly thankful and excited and the August: Osage County winner who told the audience how she always watched the Tonys on tv and only did regional theater was sweet too.