The Tony Awards: Airing This Sunday Night

Cafe Society
#21

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.

#22

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?

#23

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 FAQ doesn’t mention any rebroadcasts or available tapes/DVDs other than the west coast feed.

#24

I’m not up on the new Broadway productions so I have to ask, Xanadu? Xanadu? :confused: 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. :smiley:

#25

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.

#26

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

#27

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!

#28

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. :smiley:

#29

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?

#30

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?

#31

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!!! :slight_smile: :cool: I’m going to pick up a couple of tix ASAP–can’t wait (this will be our first Broadway show).

#32

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!

#33

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. :slight_smile:

#34

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.

#35

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!)