I haven’t for the last few years, but I plan to this year because I’ve actually seen one of the nominated shows (Hairspray which I adored and which I hope sweeps). Anyone else going to watch?
I watch every year - currently watching right now:). I also play a game with two close friends - we pick who we think will win (not who we think should win), and whoever gets the most right gets a theatre ticket paid for by the losers. So far, I’ve never won, but I’m doing quite well this evening - I might actually be in the running this time.
Plus, it gives me the chance to bitch and moan about shows, and cry when my favorites don’t win, and scream really loud when my favorites do win:).
Ava
Me! It’s pretty good, although I wish Hugh Jackman wasn’t going to be in a movie that insists on that hairstyle.
Yeah, that hair on Mister Jackman was prety heinous. He could have at least pulled it back. Congrats to Hairspray on a near-total sweep.
I think the one disappointment of the night for me was Bernadette losing. I actually called Melissa’s win - I got it right in the contest;), but after seeing Bernadette’s performance - she was just plain brilliant. I know she has other Tonys, and she’ll have other chances, but it just seemed like this one should have been hers.
I’m still trying to figure out how Nine beat Gypsy and Man of La Mancha for Best Revival. When Antonio Banderas beats Bernadette Peters and Brian Stokes Mitchell, there’s something out of alignment.
Ava
Hey, I have a question -
Does anyone know why there was no live performance from “Amour?” You would think, given that it was nominated for Best Musical, and both of its principal performers for Best Actor and Actress, respectively, that they’d give us a least a taste of what the show was like. Instead we got five seconds of clips, a toekn shot of Gets and Errico, and two performances from “Def Poetry Jam.” Odd. I guess you could say that it was because the show had closed, but there’s precedent… some years ago, they did a number from “Parade” even after that had shut down.
Otherwise, I enjoyed it. I don’t really like when shows sweep the way “Hairspray” did, though; it has the feel of a rush to judgment rather than any kind of real consideration of how good the various performances were. Was this show really so far ahead of all the other shows that opened this year that it deserved three of the four musical acting awards? Really?
- Frank
No.
It’s a fun show, but there’s not a lot of depth to it. And I loved Harvey Fierstein in it, but to be pointedly honest…he pretty much got the award because he was a guy in a dress. Brian Stokes Mitchell is head and shoulders above Fierstein in terms of musical theatre talent. Melissa Jaret Winokur is cute and adorable and all those good things, but does she have the power to out-act and out-sing Bernadette Peters? Nope. And she didn’t - their performances last night proved that.
Ava
I didn’t see Gypsy or any of BP’s performance beyond last night, but I don’t think it’s particularly fair to judge an actor’s performance in an entire show by a partial performance in an ensemble piece. Maybe if MJW had performed “Good Morning Baltimore” your mind might have been changed. But as long as we’re unfairly judging partial performances, BP’s Mama didn’t strike me as all that distinguished from Tyne Daly’s or Roz Russell’s or Bette Midler’s. As for HF, he made me forget that he was a man in a dress (except when forcibly reminded by the book which is not his fault) and there was nothing IMHO undeserved about either of their awards.
Yeah, but I’ve seen Hairspray and I’ve seen Bernadette live several times and have seen her more than enough to know what kind of a stage performer is - so I’m not basing this on partial performances. She was amazing last night. Melissa Jaret Winokur is a Broadway performer - in my opinion, that means one is able to at least stay on key in a performance - any performance - if they can’t do that, then they shouldn’t be on that stage. I like MJW, don’t get me wrong. I think she’s cute and she’s a fun actress and she makes Hairspray a fun show. But she’s not a Tony winner. Just MO.
Ava
Argh. Part of my post got cut out. I meant to add to: “She was amazing last night, and she has a stage presence that usually awes anyone that’s in the theatre with her.”
Ava