Tony Time: 2012

Well, it’s been a few days since I’ve posted anything. The primary reason being that life is too mundane for its own good. However, this past Sunday was a big evening for fine connoisseurs of theatre like myself, as it was the evening of the American Theatre Wing’s 66th-annual Tony Awards.

And hot damn wasn’t it disappointing.

Neil Patrick Harris is a god. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind. However, he and an entire damn army of angels couldn’t save the evening from the unfortunate tug of what I can only describe as lackluster productions. I have been an avid Tony viewer for several years now; and I must say, this is easily one of the most forgettable years for theatre.

Well… one of the most forgettable years for musical theatre. But I’ll get to that later. In case you missed it, here’s a recap:Oncekicked everyone’s ass. You know, because there was competition.

And I do not say that with any particular affinity for Once. But it barely takes a glance at the nominee list to see what I mean. In fact, it reads more like an Academy Awards list than anything. Cudos to Nice Work If You Can Get It for… you know… not being based off of a film. And yet A) A Gershwin score does not an “original musical” make and B) I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t like Mathew Broderick. Perhaps his Inspector Gadget phase left a bitter taste in my mouth. But there it is.

But the plays! What a great year for plays! And what a great summer reading list! However, I was disappointed to see that Athol Fugard’s Road to Mecca did not receive the recognition I thought it would. I do love Rosemary Harris, and her performance (as well as the production as a whole) looked stunning. But I digress…

Perhaps I am becoming a picky-ass blob of a snob. Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me. At any rate, here are some shows that got my attention, or at least made me think something witty.

ONCE

I have a personal vendetta against film-based movies, but I might make an exception for Once. It is amazing to me how far we’ve come in musical theatreland.  We used to spend so much time and effort making film based on theatre. Now we spend more time and effort and an even greater sum of money to do the reverse. I feel as though “original musical” is a stretch for shows like these. Although, I respect Once for taking its source material and actually attempting to do something with it. It left a very Spring Awakening taste in my mouth, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But given the recent string of Spring Awakening and American Idiot type shows, I can’t help but feel we’ve seen this before. But whatever. If it ain’t broke, keep repeating it until people get tired of it. And people apparently aren’t tired of it. Congratulations on the Tony. (I can’t say too much about about Once, I’ll be working with its playwright/ screenwriter, Enda Walsh, this year in college. And as I’ve come to understand it, he is a dear. Congratulations on the Tony, Mr. Walsh)

Oh. And Steve Kazee seems great. He won a Tony too. Best featured actor.

And best direction. John Tiffany. Can’t forget him.

…. here’s a list.

• Best Musical
• Best Book of a Musical
• Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
• Best Direction of a Musical
• Best Orchestrations
• Best Scenic Design
• Best Lighting Design
• Best Sound Design

Damn.

NEWSIES

I am not saying that Alan Menkin and Harvey Fierstein are not legends. I mean, Fierstein has La Cage aux Folles and Torch Song Trilogy under his belt (and he’s a damn good actor to boot); and Menkin is a veritable Disney god. But… Newsies? Yes, because a somewhat obscure Disney flop is excellent source material for a musical. I don’t have much more to say about it than… Meh. It’s just a hot, steaming pile of meh.

LEAP of FAITH

It closed after 20 performances, and lost all $14,000,000.00 it cost to produce. Quality over quantity guys. That and… was the film Leap of Faith worth musical adaptation? Raul Esparza is such a force, we just need to get him another solid role. See him in the 2006 Broadway revival of Company to see what I mean.

NICE WORK if YOU CAN GET IT

I dislike Mathew Broderick for inexplicable reasons, and this wasn’t an original musical.

Keili O’Hara is great though. Loved her in South Pacific. Now THAT was a good revival.

PORGY and BESS

I’m going to go ahead and admit to being one of those people who hates to see the blatant broadwayification of a show like Porgy and Bess. I remember one comment during the evening being something to the effect of  “…they allowed us to bring Porgy and Bess into the 21st century.” I fail to see the irrelevance of the opera as it was, but if we must turn Porgy and Bess into Porgy and Bess: A New Musical, then so be it. Congrats on the Tony.

And Audra McDonald is stunning. She deserved every bit of her Tony.

FOLLIES

When you have Elaine Paige at your disposal, WHY DON’T YOU USE HER? I would’ve loved to see her perform “I’m still here”. But no… we can’t be too different now, can we? What a waste of perfectly good Sondheim.

EVITA

Andrew Lloyd Webber didn’t get much love this season… God forbid they perform the ONE NUMBER anyone actually remembers from this show. Another over-hyped production? I think yes.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

Uninspired, uninteresting, and why the hell are those women wearing fitted sheets?(I can’t take credit for that last one.)

———

If you’re still reading, I’ll take a brief moment to say that there were some outstanding plays produced this year. Athol Fugard had several productions that I would love to see, Peter and the Starcatcher looks endlessly interesting (and it’s always nice to see substantial family-fare), Clybourne Park, Other Desert Cities, Stick-Fly, The Best Man, Masterclass, The Columnist, End of the Rainbow, Wit, and the list goes on. One Man, Two Guvners doesn’t count. The United Kingdom lays claim to that one. Anyway, it’s sad that none of them get much recognition. THANK GOD we had time to fit in a performance by the cruise ship cast of Hairspray (seriously, who were those skinny-ass people?). Instead, here’s a five minute montage of the season’s plays.

———–

I could go on about this over-hyped season. But there it is. It was over-hyped. I’ve written too much already. In a nutshell, revivals and movie-musicals have got to go. I’m sick of them. Anyone with enough sense to be sick of them is sick of them. Get it together Broadway.

In conclusion: here’s a NY Times article about last night’s ceremony, and perhaps the most aptly titled article I’ve read in a while.

-Isaac Y.

P.S.- Feel free to comment with your own opinions about the show, this year’s season, etc. I’m curious to know what you thought.

P.P.S.- Here are the nominees and winners, for those who missed it.

Best Play	Best Musical
Clybourne Park Other Desert Cities Peter and the Starcatcher Venus in Fur	Once Leap of Faith Newsies Nice Work If You Can Get It
Best Revival of a Play	Best Revival of a Musical
Death of a Salesman The Best Man Master Class Wit	Porgy and Bess Evita Follies Jesus Christ Superstar
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play	Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
James Corden, One Man, Two Guvnors as Francis Henshall Philip Seymour Hoffman, Death of a Salesman as Willy Loman James Earl Jones, The Best Man as Art Hockstader Frank Langella, Man and Boy as Gregor Antonescu John Lithgow, The Columnist as Joseph Alsop	Nina Arianda, Venus in Fur as Vanda Tracie Bennett, End of the Rainbow as Judy Garland Stockard Channing, Other Desert Cities as Polly Wyeth Linda Lavin, The Lyons as Rita Lyons Cynthia Nixon, Wit as Vivian Bearing
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical	Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Steve Kazee, Once as Guy Danny Burstein, Follies as Buddy Plummer Jeremy Jordan, Newsies as Jack Kelly Norm Lewis, Porgy and Bess as Porgy Ron Raines, Follies as Ben Stone	Audra McDonald, Porgy and Bess as Bess Jan Maxwell, Follies as Phyllis Rogers Stone Cristin Milioti, Once as Girl Kelli O’Hara, Nice Work If You Can Get It as Billie Bendix Laura Osnes, Bonnie & Clyde as Bonnie Parker
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play	Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Christian Borle, Peter and the Starcatcher as The Black Stache Michael Cumpsty, End of the Rainbow as Anthony Tom Edden, One Man, Two Guvnors as Alfie Andrew Garfield, Death of a Salesman as Biff Loman Jeremy Shamos, Clybourne Park as Karl/Steve	Judith Light, Other Desert Cities as Silda Grauman Linda Emond, Death of a Salesman as Linda Loman Spencer Kayden, Don’t Dress for Dinner as Suzette Celia Keenan-Bolger, Peter and the Starcatcher as Molly Condola Rashad, Stick Fly as Cheryl
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical	Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Michael McGrath, Nice Work If You Can Get It as Cookie McGee Phillip Boykin, Porgy and Bess as Crown Michael Cerveris, Evita as Juan Peron David Alan Grier, Porgy and Bess as Sporting Life Josh Young, Jesus Christ Superstar as Judas	Judy Kaye, Nice Work If You Can Get It as Duchess Estonia Dulworth Elizabeth A. Davis, Once as Réza Jayne Houdyshell, Follies as Hattie Walker Jessie Mueller, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever as Melinda Wells Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Ghost the Musical as Oda Mae Brown
Best Book of a Musical	Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Enda Walsh, Once Douglas Carter Beane, Lysistrata Jones Joe DiPietro, Nice Work If You Can Get It Harvey Fierstein, Newsies	Newsies, Music: Alan Menken, Lyrics: Jack Feldman Bonnie & Clyde, Music: Frank Wildhorn, Lyrics: Don Black One Man, Two Guvnors, Music & Lyrics Grant Olding Peter and the Starcatcher, Music: Wayne Barker, Lyrics: Rick Elice
Best Scenic Design of a Play	Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Donyale Werle, Peter and the Starcatcher John Lee Beatty, Other Desert Cities Daniel Ostling, Clybourne Park Mark Thompson, One Man, Two Guvnors	Bob Crowley, Once Rob Howell and Jon Driscoll, Ghost the Musical Tobin Ost and Sven Ortel, Newsies George Tsypin, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Best Costume Design of a Play	Best Costume Design of a Musical
Paloma Young, Peter and the Starcatcher William Ivey Long, Don’t Dress for Dinner Paul Tazewell, A Streetcar Named Desire Mark Thompson, One Man, Two Guvnors	Gregg Barnes, Follies ESosa, Porgy and Bess Eiko Ishioka, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark Martin Pakledinaz, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Best Lighting Design of a Play	Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Jeff Croiter, Peter and the Starcatcher Peter Kaczorowski, The Road to Mecca Brian MacDevitt, Death of a Salesman Kenneth Posner, Other Desert Cities	Natasha Katz, Once Christopher Akerlind, Porgy and Bess Natasha Katz, Follies Hugh Vanstone, Ghost the Musical
Best Sound Design of a Play	Best Sound Design of a Musical
Darron L. West, Peter and the Starcatcher Paul Arditti, One Man, Two Guvnors Scott Lehrer, Death of a Salesman Gareth Owen, End of the Rainbow	Clive Goodwin, Once Acme Sound Partners, Porgy and Bess Kai Harada, Follies Brian Ronan, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Best Direction of a Play	Best Direction of a Musical
Mike Nichols, Death of a Salesman Nicholas Hytner, One Man, Two Guvnors Pam MacKinnon, Clybourne Park Roger Rees and Alex Timbers, Peter and the Starcatcher	John Tiffany, Once Jeff Calhoun, Newsies Kathleen Marshall, Nice Work If You Can Get It Diane Paulus, Porgy and Bess
Best Choreography	Best Orchestrations
Christopher Gattelli, Newsies Rob Ashford, Evita Steven Hoggett, Once Kathleen Marshall, Nice Work If You Can Get It	Martin Lowe, Once William David Brohn and Christopher Jahnke, Porgy and Bess Bill Elliott, Nice Work If You Can Get It Danny Troob, Newsies