# The Tony Awards: Airing This Sunday Night **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2008, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777 "2008-06-13T06:44:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/21 "2008-06-16T03:33:32Z")
I’m so happy Mark Rylance won! Without him, BOEING BOEING would have been just another dated farce, but he brought such depth & physical comedy to the role. He reminded me of a modern day Buster Keaton. (In case anyone was wondering, he’s actually English. His speech was in the role of the character he plays in the show - a schlubby dopey nervous salesman from the midwest. Now _why_ he decided to do his speech like that, I don’t know.) I wish Daniel Evans had won (he’s such a cutie!) but I knew it’d be Paulo Szot. All in all I was pretty close with my predictions, the only major ones I missed were the Featured roles. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/22 "2008-06-16T03:41:47Z")
I just slept through the whole thing (I work nights & had trouble getting to sleep till late afternoon)- anyone know where I can watch it? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/23 "2008-06-16T03:50:16Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] I just slept through the whole thing (I work nights & had trouble getting to sleep till late afternoon)- anyone know where I can watch it? [/QUOTE] Are you someone who can get a west coast feed? They’re airing it at 8:00 PDT, as well. You’ve missed about the first hour, though. Otherwise, you may have to wait and try to find clips on YouTube. [The Tonys website](http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/about/faq/index.html#2) FAQ doesn’t mention any rebroadcasts or available tapes/DVDs other than the west coast feed. ---
**Author:** ![Southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@Southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southpaw)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/24 "2008-06-16T03:59:40Z")
I’m not up on the new Broadway productions so I have to ask, Xanadu? Xanadu? 😕 As in the craptacular movie from the '80’s? Really? Xanadu? It took me 20 years to get that POS out of my head and now someone had to go and put it on the stage. Although I have to say the dude in the cutoffs was quite dishy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/25 "2008-06-16T04:02:21Z")
[QUOTE=Southpaw] I’m not up on the new Broadway productions so I have to ask, Xanadu? Xanadu? 😕 As in the craptacular movie from the '80’s? Really? Xanadu? It took me 20 years to get that POS out of my head and now someone had to go and put it on the stage. Although I have to say the dude in the cutoffs was quite dishy. 😃 [/QUOTE] It’s kind of a snarky take on the movie, played for camp (well, deliberately played for camp, unlike the movie). And that chick does the WORST Olivia Newton-John impression in the world. I’m actually on record somewhere (either here or in real life conversation contemporary with this show being announced) as noting that the idea of making _Xanadu_ into a Broadway musical sounded like a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/26 "2008-06-16T04:42:50Z")
In reference to my last post, Mark Rylance’s speech was actually a poem by writer Lewis Jenkins called _Back Country_. “When you are in town, wearing some kind of uniform is helpful, policeman, priest, etc… Driving a tank is very impressive, or a car with official lettering on the side. If that isn’t to your taste you could join the revolution, wear an armband, carry a homemade flag tied to a broom handle, or a placard bearing an incendiary slogan. At the very least you should wear a suit and carry a briefcase and a cell phone, or wear a team jacket and a baseball cap and carry a cell phone. If you go into the woods, the back country, someplace past all human habitation, it is a good idea to wear orange and carry a gun, or, depending on the season, carry a fishing pole, or a camera with a big lens. Otherwise it might appear that you have no idea what you are doing, that you are merely wandering the earth, no particular reason for being here, no particular place to go.” When asked why he used that as his speech, Rylance said “I tried one of [Jenkins’ works] out at the Drama Desk Awards, and it went down well.” The full list of winners: Best Play August: Osage County Winner Author: Tracy Letts Best Musical In The Heights Winner Best Book of a Musical Passing Strange Stew Winner Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre In The Heights Music & Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda Winner Best Revival of a Play Boeing-Boeing Winner Best Revival of a Musical South Pacific Winner Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play Mark Rylance Winner Boeing-Boeing Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play Deanna Dunagan Winner August: Osage County Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Paulo Szot Winner South Pacific Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical Patti LuPone Winner Gypsy Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play Jim Norton Winner The Seafarer Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play Rondi Reed Winner August: Osage County Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Boyd Gaines Winner Gypsy Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical Laura Benanti Winner Gypsy Best Direction of a Play Anna D. Shapiro Winner August: Osage County Best Direction of a Musical Bartlett Sher Winner South Pacific Best Choreography Andy Blankenbuehler Winner In The Heights Best Orchestrations Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman Winner In The Heights Best Scenic Design of a Play Todd Rosenthal Winner August: Osage County Best Scenic Design of a Musical Michael Yeargan Winner South Pacific Best Costume Design of a Play Katrina Lindsay Winner Les Liaisons Dangereuses Best Costume Design of a Musical Catherine Zuber Winner South Pacific Best Lighting Design of a Play Kevin Adams Winner The 39 Steps Best Lighting Design of a Musical Donald Holder Winner South Pacific Best Sound Design of a Play Mic Pool Winner The 39 Steps Best Sound Design of a Musical Scott Lehrer Winner South Pacific ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/27 "2008-06-16T06:19:26Z")
It just finished here on the West Coast, and I have to say - one of the best Tony shows ever! Even though I thought a few of the nominations were kind of lame, the pacing on this show was excellent! They kept moving right along, almost no “dead” spots and they didn’t let the snippets of the shows run on forever. Even South Pacific was clever enough to do a medley of songs! All in all, a truly great show - and this year they didn’t beat you over the head with the fact that you are a heathen if you don’t go see theater instead of movies. Patti was fantastic. In The Heights looks like a fun show. 39 Steps looks like it would be really fun, and funny. The opening with Lion King was even a great idea…hopefully kept a few people tuned in who might have been reaching for their remote. And Whoopi did a great job, as usual, and seemed to be having a grand old time. Makes me want to get on the next plane to NYC and go see a show! ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/28 "2008-06-16T13:02:31Z")
[QUOTE=DMark] Makes me want to get on the next plane to NYC and go see a show! [/QUOTE] It almost makes me want to move back. The one thing (aside from friends) that I desperately miss about NYC is heading down to Times Square on a Sunday afternoon to get a ticket to whatever show was available. I’ve seen some real stinkers that way, but I’ve also seen just about every show on Broadway from 99-03. Luckily, I’m moving to Virginia in a few weeks with my family, and it will be a lot easier to get from VA to NYC for a weekend than it is to get from OH to VA. Time to catch up on some shows. It used to be that I’d seen every nominated show, and now, I usually hear them for the first time from the Tonys. Whoopi was a fantastic hostess. I like her anyway, but I was cracking up at all of the cameos in the different shows. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/29 "2008-06-16T13:06:56Z")
I loved Whoopi. I wish Sondheim had been there. It’s a Lifetime Achievement Award dammit! If “Xanadu” had won best musical, I would have never gone back to Broadway. I preferred “Cry Baby” to “In the Heights.” Wasn’t Patti wonderful? ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/30 "2008-06-16T13:57:50Z")
Watched part of this last night and my fiancee had a question I wasn’t sure the answer to… Do all broadway shows go dark the night of the Tony’s? I know that most shows only have matinees on Sundays, but some do have Sunday evening shows. Do the shows in the afternoon perform with the regular cast or understudies so that the stars can get ready for the awards show? How’s that all work? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/31 "2008-06-16T16:56:30Z")
[QUOTE=DMark] Makes me want to get on the next plane to NYC and go see a show! [/QUOTE] We’re going to NYC at the end of August, but the last time I checked, they hadn’t extended _A:OC_’s run that far. But now they have! Whoop!!! 🙂🆒 I’m going to pick up a couple of tix ASAP–can’t wait (this will be our first Broadway show). ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/32 "2008-06-16T17:52:44Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] We’re going to NYC at the end of August, but the last time I checked, they hadn’t extended _A:OC_’s run that far. But now they have! Whoop!!! 🙂🆒 I’m going to pick up a couple of tix ASAP–can’t wait (this will be our first Broadway show). [/QUOTE] **ArchiveGuy** , that is certainly an odd choice of show for a Broadway “virgin”. If you have the time and funds, may I suggest (also) going to a musical? Nothing inherently wrong with a straight play, but nobody does musicals like Broadway - and just to see a huge cast dancing and singing on stage with a great orchestra in the background is something you have to see while you are there! ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/33 "2008-06-16T17:59:57Z")
[QUOTE=DMark] **ArchiveGuy** , that is certainly an odd choice of show for a Broadway “virgin”. If you have the time and funds, may I suggest (also) going to a musical? Nothing inherently wrong with a straight play, but nobody does musicals like Broadway - and just to see a huge cast dancing and singing on stage with a great orchestra in the background is something you have to see while you are there! [/QUOTE] Oh, I’ve seen plenty of plays and musicals (when I lived in the UK, I saw things in the West End constantly), so the theater scene isn’t new to me–only actually seeing one on Broadway is. Similarly, we’re going to NY that weekend to see a game in Yankee stadium before it’s too late. Not my first baseball game–just my first in the House that Ruth Built. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/34 "2008-06-16T18:24:39Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] Oh, I’ve seen plenty of plays and musicals (when I lived in the UK, I saw things in the West End constantly), so the theater scene isn’t new to me–only actually seeing one on Broadway is. Similarly, we’re going to NY that weekend to see a game in Yankee stadium before it’s too late. Not my first baseball game–just my first in the House that Ruth Built. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Sorry…misunderstood. Carry on. And good you are going to Yankee stadium…I believe they are tearing down that stadium and building a new one right next to it, so it will be cool to see it before it goes. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777/35 "2008-06-17T17:15:38Z")
[QUOTE=DMark] Sorry…misunderstood. Carry on. And good you are going to Yankee stadium…I believe they are tearing down that stadium and building a new one right next to it, so it will be cool to see it before it goes. [/QUOTE] Yup, that’s why I’m going (though I wasn’t the only one with that idea; I bought the tix months ago and even then they were almost sold out for the entire summer!) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tony-awards-airing-this-sunday-night/452777.md?page=1)