Best in Show: 

Memphis (musical); Red (play); La Cage aux Folles (musical revival); Fences (play revival).

[FYI: I predicted the lot of them, with the exception of Memphis, which turned into the evening's musical force majeure. My heart was rooting for American Idiot, but it's a taste thing - and evidently a script thing, and American Idiot did come up short in that department. Still I do love a) Green Day's edgy oeuvre and b) the blissfully sense-altering scenic design by Christine Jones (which, thankfully, did pick up the Tony).]

Hollywood Royalty Reigned:

Catherine Zeta-Jones - Best Actress in a Musical (A Little Night Music)

Denzel Washington - Best Actor in Play (Fences)

Viola Davis - Best Actress in a Play (Fences) [okay, not quite royalty yet, but known for

film and well on her way to stardom]

Scarlett Johansson - Best Featured Actress in a Play (A View from the Bridge)

Those Best Known for Their Stage Accomplishments:

Douglas Hodges - Best Actor in a Musical (La Cage aux Folles)

Katie Finneran - Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Promises, Promises)

Eddie Redmayne - Best Featured Actor in a Play (Red)

Levi Kreis - Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Million Dollar Quartet)

Notice anything interesting here?  Well aside from Davis and Washington (the first African-American actors to take these awards in a single year), there are no duplications here...  eight actors, seven different productions. All good choices (granted Zeta-Jones did scoop favorite Montego Glover in Memphis, but in the end Memphis cleaned everybody's musical clock, Ms. Glover is young and will win a Tony  sometime in the future, and Zeta-Jones is a lovely presence who had lovely things to say about Angela Lansbury (but then, who doesn't?).

HD TV & Me                                         

So here I am hugging my laptop as Tony Night 2010 unfolds... not watching the pre-show from the expanse of empty folding chairs at Times Square (LIVE SIMULCAST!) thanks to pre-show rain that put the kibosh on all but a handful of umbrella wielding fans.... or, as Roma Torre noted, "The wettest red carpet ever," Happily, by eight, the rain abated and theatre devotees were positioning themselves to "soak up" the real deal.

Still the best aspect of the live Red Carpet portion of the pre-show -starting at 6 pm and hosted by Roma Torre and Donna Karger on Channel 1 was their back-and-forth-seize-the-celeb interviews. And, while it was choppy and predictably embarrassing in part, overall it was fun with some cool coupling and triplings of nominees - in several cases, competitors in the same category (Katie Finneran and Lillias White, e.g.). Very creative, with extra points for giving the celebs time to actually make comments.

The Creative Awards Hosted on NY1:

Karen Olivio (West Side Story) and Gregory Jbara (Billy Elliot). Karen on crutches (no explanation as to why); and some really weird (make that odious) music choices ushering winners to the stage (i.e.: Red-Award for Best Set played to stage with music from the film Meet Me in St. Louis;  Fela!'s Award for best sound played to the a tune from Man of La Mancha. I get the idea they needed pre-taped music, what I don't get is the Twilight Zone inappropriateness of the selections. Clearly, someone had spent a little too much time at the rum candy.

Highlight of the Creative Awards: Marian Seldes who, upon being presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award (Alan Ayckbourne got one, too), feigned a shocked expression (beautifully) and walked off stage without uttering a word.

The last portion of the Creative Awards also was also nicely done with its tongue-in-cheek dialogue cautioning winners not to exceed their face-time limit; reminding losers to smile benignly;  and nudging  everyone to be kind to unsung heroes of the evening: volunteer seat fillers. Nicely done....                          

Now On to the Main Event:

OPENING NUMBER: Two thumbs up for this seamless medley of numbers from the musical nominees culminating with a Green Day head-banging finale... how great is that? And kudos galore to whoever thought of having Tony Night 2010 host, Sean Hayes, kick off the evening playing a classical piano riff (FYI: Hayes is, in fact, a a classical pianist), only to morph into a piano duet with Million Dollar Quartet's Levi Kreis (as Jerry Lee Lewis).

OPENING MONOLOGUE: Deftly self referential, mildly snarky (political digs always welcome), not verbose  - and, dare I say it: funny!

Additional points for not breaking for commercial after the intro with Best Supporting Actress (Scarlett Johansson for A View from the Bridge) handed out before the break.  And, post break points for La Cage's Douglas Hodges' (in tasteful drag) decision to work the audience during "The Best if Times" [a nostalgic tip of the hat to the small 200-seat Brit houses in which he launched his cross dressing role - despite the fact that Radio City Music Hall seats 5,000.] Bonus: The Cagelles dancing down the aisles.

Also a Zip-Zip Huzzah for the back to back handing out of the awards Best Play, Red; Best Musical: La Cage au Folles. Things kept rolling along without a lull or overly verbose "thank-yous" - best ever flow and dyna-flow I can remember. Problems? Volume was low (had to really crank it up to hear the show and commercials, as a result, blared); the occasional wrong name pasted under a star or sloppy musical overlap.... But these are petty complaints.

This Year's Tony Production Should Be a Template for All Award Shows:

Minimal lowbrow presenter banter; tasteful and well-timed adieu to the theatrical departed; and a very, very interesting collection of stars in the non-nominee category.

I mean,  Helen Mirren, Racquel Welch, Daniel Radcliffe, Laura Bell Bundy, Michael Douglas --  and Jon Bon Jovi (streamed live from London, giving his "mate" David Bryan and the whole Memphis crew good-luck wishes).

And then my favorite coupling at the podium: David Hyde Pierce (coming this fall in La Bete) and Kelsey Grammer (La Cage) announcing Katie Finneran's much deserved win in Promises, Promises.

In short, I wasn't bored, wasn't annoyed and, on the whole, thoroughly entertained whether or not I agreed with the voters. And there were no embarrassing fashion statements.

Also worth noting: Heavy promoting of future Broadway productions (more than I can ever recall) from the aforementioned La Bete to the return of Time Stands Still this fall to Lea Michele reprising her Glee belt-a-thon of "Don't Rain on My Parade" (will she sign on to play Fanny Brice in the 2012 revival? good bet) to Sean Hayes appearing at different points as Spiderman (a heads-up to the mega-delayed musical Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark, now set for this fall) and Little Orphan Annie (a 2012 revival of Annie was announced this past week).

Posted on June 14, 2010 - by

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