The 2009 Tony Awards Couldn't be Any Gayer if Liza was Named Mayor

Thanks for the article. I missed a few things apparently (dead animal fur - please tell me it was faux, Stockard!). I LIKED NPH'S SUIT! He looked all shiny and new, like a Christmas present. :) Did a great job too!

and I'm not big on the Tony's - I don't get to NYC that often, so they achieved their goal of making it fun for those of us that aren't that into theater. And NPH did a fun, great job. It couldn't have been any gayer - if I weren't already a Kinsey 6 I would have been by the end of the opening number - which brings a point to mind - who was the hottie on stage with Stockard Channing during the opening? WOW!

And I like to think the gods of Broadway were sending a message by whacking Bret Michaels on the head with scenery - no aging rock bands and no lip synching at the Tony's.

But I gotta disagree about the suit for NPH - I saw a few of those shiny things during the show, and I just gotta say - No! Bad designers, bad!

The Actor's Equity hearing on Jeremy Piven is today, BTW.

 

And the finale was FABULOUS: "Tonight could not be any gayer/ if Liza were made Mayor/ and Elton John took flight"

(The system wouldn't let me space out the lines of the lyrics, so I separated them with periods.)  The lyrics were written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, famous for "Hairspray," and "Prop 8: The Musical." (to the tune of "Tonight" from West Side Story) Tonight, tonight. The Tonys were tonight. And Elton's Billy was all the rage. What class, what drive. Now Angela won five. And she hooked up with Poison backstage. With heels as sore as poor Achilles. Three tutu-wearing Billys. Were such a winning sight. Tonight, all three. Won Tony plus they hit puberty. [to "Luck be a Lady Tonight" from Guys and Dolls] And Jerry won a Tony tonight. Karen won a Tony tonight. Liza at the Palace. Mr. Ripley's daughter Alice. They all won a Tony tonight. (spoken) Credits! That's not going to stop me! [to "Tonight"] Chris Sieber - please! Performing on your knees? Dude, that only works. To win Golden Globes. I hope, tonight, When they're high as a kite. To be there when the Hair cast disrobes. This show could not be any gayer. If Liza was named mayor. And Elton John took flight. The curtain falls. I'm to hit some Tony balls. Goodnight. (By the way, that Tony must be a lucky fella if NPH got to hit his  . . . never mind.)

I'd long given up watching the Tony Awards, precisely for snicks' reasoning--I know I'll never get to see any of the shows in person--but I had to watch to see NPH do his stuff--and to get a glimpse of Billy Elliot, one of my all-time favorite stories. It was better than I hoped, especially the closing number.

...was one of the best I've ever heard on an awards show. All that hoopla over Hugh Jackman's lame opening on the Oscars, and here's this little piece of brilliance humbly presented to us without any overblown fanfare.

I also loved the snarky little Angela Lansbury joke, about this being Jane Fonda's first time back on Broadway in 46 years...so we'll see her next in 2055 in "Blithe Spirit"...TFLOL (that's "Theater Fag Laughs Out Loud").

 

The blog had a few things to say about the Tonys too.

The Tonys are usaully a show that has some really great moments, but this one had few. The sound and sound mixing of the telecast was really poorly run. For people putting on a live show night after night, you'd think they would get it right. Here are my five Best and Worst moments:

Best: 5. Angela Lansbury being a pro and acting truly surprised she won. Marcia Gay Harden (I felt) was the runner up here along with a surprisingly demure Elton John who gave a great speech despite almost pushing aside the producer.

4. Rock of Ages really rocked. Even though they sang a Journey song being over used lately, it was one of the better performances of the night. If they are selling shows with performances on the Tonys, this one sold. Next To Normal was next in line.

3. Gregory Jbara of Billy Elliott bringing his wife onstage to thank her in front of everyone for being a great mom and supporter when he won Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

2. Neil Patrick Harris' final song of the night. Hysterical!

1. The best of the night was the Hair cast just showing how great and infectious this musical is. This performance sold too!

Worst

5. All the producers who accepted and barely thanked their stars who made the show great.

4. The pointless promotion of the road company shows of Legally Blonde, Jersey Boys, and Mamma Mia. Two were poorly performed and the other just plays the same song over and over when seen on TV.

3. The dismissive showing of the nominees of Best Play. The introductions were longer than the clips shown. You really didn't get to see the essence of the plays themselves.

2. The decision to see Constantine Maroulis swallow his co-star on stage with that kiss in close up. It ruined what was a killer performance.

1. The sound and sound mixing ruined most of the performances and enjoyment of the show. The opening segment was just a mishmash, the Guys And Dolls segment was marred so much that we heard the onstage manager audibly announcing he was going in with the microphone, and the crackling noise very annoyingly ruining a show that could have been better.

I skipped the Bret Michaels near decapitation since that is just gravy and the blatant crotch shots were certainly aplenty. Did anyone notice how tight Matt Cavenaugh's of West Side Story jeans were?! **sorry didn't see this big discussion here... sorry for double post.

Actually paid attention through the whole thing this year. I'm with everyone else that was a hell of a great opening number. If the show had opening numbers like this all the time then folks actually would want to watch (and go to) the Tony's. The final number by Neil was a riot. To think that someone had to write that so quickly was amazing also. For me the worst of the show was the memorial to fallen Tony stars. The awful camera work was disrespectful to them all. I could barely read some of those who had passed, and some were completely obstructed, so unless you could recognize the picture you missed it. Really really badly done. Also thought that the Billy Elliot boys were charming and though I've not been to a broadway show I'm sure they were deserving!. One of the best award show's I've seen. Ever.

I've enjoyed the Tony's for a long, long time. This year had more misses than hits.

Most of the producers of the respective musicals need to be shot for the poor choices of numbers from the shows they were advertising.

Shrek - What was the stand-up before Seiber's number? Did it make you want to see the show? Not me.  Neither did Seiber's number, frankly.  (Did they think he was going to win over Jbara?)

Guys and Dolls - Mary Testa needs to understand the song is not about Gen.Cartwright.  Everything from heavenly clouds at a prayer meeting to choreography that unimaginatively telegraphed the "meaning" of words that were endlessly repeated. Ugh! How could they do that to this show? Props to Titus B. for weathering the tech issues.

Billy - Is it just me, or is it just a little disturbing to watch a grunting, screaming and writhing teenager act out and have a tantrum...out of context? A song with lyrics might have encouraged more CD/iTunes sales. Yes I understand it's a dance show. Put yourself in the place of the uninitiated watching it.  Did they get he was frustrated about being denied a dream?  Or did they just see the creepy grunting and screaming little boy?  I'm sure many who have kids who act up without the tap shoes.  Why pay $120 a seat to watch a tantrum?  Why when they could have shown Billy learning to dance with the cute little girls in tutus to advertise a family show?  I blame the Billy producers.

WSS - Like with Billy, the dance show did a dance number. It was great if you understood the dynamic unfolding of the tension and competition between the gangs.  All that before the misplaced and anti-climactic dialogue scene between Tony/Maria. So many great songs to choose from... The cast was very good, don't get me wrong!  I blame the WSS producers.

Next to Normal - I will buy the CD. The best number of the night, even if the mom/"imaginary" son dynamic was a little creepy in a Spanking the Monkey way.  Well sung, well acted, and the tight camera shots and good sound puts it at the top.

Hair - They could have had the best number if the TV director and cameramen had attended rehearsal to make the Tribe's "choas" looked less chaotic on TV. They "reacted" to the actors more than they planned where the actors would be so they could film them there. Improv is one thing, but this chaos is rehearsed and directed.  The performances of EVERYONE in the cast were unique and focused and interesting.  Too bad we weren't allowed to watch it.

The opening number was AMAZING... despite live mics backstage (Maria's vocal warmups during "Luck be a Lady", etc.). It was clever to have "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" intercut with something from Next to Normal, but maybe the bi-polar mom should have been singing with Stockard C. instead of the cute (but not-nominated) son.  As soon as the Tribe came on, the opening was PHENOMENAL! Hundreds of performers celebrating. AWESOME!

NPH was an excellent host (except the shiny suit, and the Obama jokes).  The Piven joke was very funny.  Understated, self-depricating... like Snicks says, he's born to do this. NPH understands that the host's job is to let the nominees and performers do the performing rather than audition for their next job. Funny that he didn't turn into a human showboat (psst, Hugh Jackman, that's you!). Funny that the vehement heterosexual (Jackman, have you seen his lovely wife Debra?) acts more "gay" as a host than the out gay man.

The TV director should be shot. The sound engineers should be shot. The combination of bad camerawork and direction and sound made a live show celebrating "the pinnacle" of live theatre seem amatuerish. It made many musical numbers seem swallowed up by the auditorium.

So many great ideas for this show, it could have been the perfect commercial for Broadway if the TV elements hadn't gone to hell and dragged most of the rest of the show with it.

PS - Liza needs to retire.  Really.  Seriously.  Now.  Angela L is about 20 years older than her and is more spry and cognizant than Liza.  Hell, Jerry Herman was more spry and lucid than Liza!

PPS - Enough with Legally Blonde (OMG!...whatever) and Mamma Mia! (a leaden performance in that space).  And why did Jersey Boys need to perform, they sell to capacity nearly EVERY week?

or after Next to Normal number someone in the audience gave a thumb down and mouthed "bad"?

I do found the number quite creepy though.

I thought his suit was perfect.

It's hard to make a black suit look interesting on screen and this one was cut beautifully and the shimmer gave it a bit of pazzaz.

I think folks are being a bit old-fashioned about fashion.

NPH was a star in every way last night.

 

"That's our job today: to control the extent to which people can publicly manifest antigay sentiment." (Bayard Rustin) 

"Heterosexuality is not normal, it's just common" (Dorothy Parker)

I found it weird that there were so many noticable technical problems because the director this year was Glenn Weiss and he's been doing the Tony's for many years now.

I also liked when Hair won Best Revival of a Musical and the producer on stage spoke to the themes of the show saying "Peace, now! Freedom, now! Equality, now!" and when he said equality, he pointed at his wedding ring.

I'll be posting an updated review on the show shortly on my blog:
http://awardscentral.newsvine.com

Carrie Fisher was hysterical although badly dressed. Anne Hathaway is rocketing up my list of really cool and fun celebs! She was enthusiastic and uninhibited on the show and in the audience in a unawkward way and well spoken too. Can we give her a chance of hosting an awards show sometime? Her work at the Oscars and SNL really show her to be an easy and well dressed performer to enjoy.

Just a few comments from our watching of the Tony Awards. NPH is "the gay Bob Hope." That was said in both a good AND a bad way. If I had to sit through a "musical" about bi-polar disorder, I'd rather shoot myself. Both "Billy Elliot" numbers made me NOT want to see "Billy Elliot" -- I go to a show NOT to get a headache (see above about bi-polar disorder). Were those three the best people for a touring company of "Mamma Mia"? Casting from Karaoke Night? Same for "Legally Blonde." Feh. "Rock of Ages" -- don't they do that show at Great America's Tribute to the Eighties? Double Feh. Since when is the horrible Jounrey some "Musical Icon"? In "West Side Story" Anita, as usual, is 100% better than Maria/Tony. It always seems thus. In the future, cut the dull Maria/Tony and just focus on Anita, like the audience. The mix of bad sound and lip-sync was dreadful. No excuse for that on a show that's supposed to be about acting, words, and music. And speaking of acting -- ONE line from each of the plays? Then why bother. It just looked stupid. Truly, the only show that showed any kind of energy was "Hair." It's also the only thing that felt "original" -- and that's pretty sad for Broadway -- a forty year old show about hippies is the freshest thing around.

It's called Gypsy.

NPH was great, of course, and the show could have used more of him.

The rendition of "Sit Down You're Rocking The Boat" was HORRIBLE BEYOND BELIEF! I saw the original production of Guys and Dolls back in 1951. I was four years old. When Stubby Kaye got up to sing this classic 11 O'Clock Number, My Life Began. Doing it as a pseudo-gospel hoe-down makes no sense. It's not a tongue-in-cheek novelty item.. The gamblers go to the mission and pretend to be seriously interested in it because they're using its for their floating crap game. But "Nicely-Nicely Johnson" actually has a totally sincere "Come to Jesus" experience, and this the song. Spoofing it is a desecration of the great Frank Loesser.

Here's NPH's showstopping (literally AND figuratively) number on the 2009 Tony Awards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjSwbte3G4

Watch it before the video gets pulled.

Here's most of the opening number, which includes Poison's Bret Michaels getting knocked down by the set:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cr6h5fFEjI

Was she wearing a marriage equality ribbon? I thought she was when she presented, but now it looks like she's not in the pictures up here from the red carpet. She was great though!

I wish they had maybe let some of the non-nominated musicals currently on Broadway perform, like 9 to 5 or [title of show] (even though that one closed), or something from Off Broadway like The Toxic Avenger rather than the tours. Do we really need another performance of Dancing Queen? Mamma Mia doesn't need to sell the tickets...give some of the other shows a shot.

www.wdwsmmaos.blogspot.com

It's been bugging me all morning, but I finally figured out what the "misguided" Tony/Maria scene reminded me of on the Tony's Last Night.

Forbidden Broadway SVU. "Fiddler With No Jew" Chava and Fyedka are in love. Tevye tells her she can't marry him. "He's not like us, he's from Chelsea." etc. etc. The vocal delivery between the lovers here is about wooden and awkward as it was in the scene on last night's Tony's.

IMHO, the opening was a total train wreck! It did not feature any of the shows in a good light. To my mind, the best performances of the night (Next to the BRILLIANT NPH closing)was the Next to Normal number. Passionate, moving and original.

Who'da thunk that little Doogie Howser would grow up to be the best damn Tonys host EVER?

You only have to watch Neil Patrick Harris in his closing number to understand that this guy is truly a class act and a consummate performer. He understands who his audience is, he has more talent just in his pinky finger than any one person should be allowed, (not that I am in anyway intimately familiar with said pinky finger!), and he obviously and without a doubt adores what he is doing. (You couldn't have wiped that smile off his face last night no matter how hard you tried.)

AND he's family! To quote The Merm..."Who could ask for anything more?"

As for the show...while I enjoyed it overall, I'm appalled at the technical glitches. Yeah, I know it's live TV and all, but come on! It really, really hurt the show.

And other than NPH, the classiest moment of the night was Gregory Jbara bringing his wife on stage with him. That was just great.

alright, for one Bret Michaels does NOT lip sync, he is one of the nicest, kindest, hottest men alive. so shut the hell up. Bret loves his fans, that's why he missed his mark. if you had ANY sort of clue you'd freaking know that. bunch of clueless freaking people you are

. . .from my theatre seat, the Tony Awards was about as gay as a wedding reception where everyone gets up to sing and dance to "YMCA". . .

Angela Lansbury; class act!

Billy Elliot - The Musical for Best Musical Tony???

Not as far as those crappy numbers they presented; or as Dad would say "Oh, hell no!!!"

I was delighted with Hair as Best Musical Revival, though. . .

. . .and I want to go see Next to Normal!!!

Say "sayonara" to Mamma Mia! and Jersey Boys, Gracie; ganoog is ganoog!

 

I enjoyed the Tony's. They were not 100% fantastic, but it was a good overall night. I was interested in most of the shows prior to the telecast, but now I really was to see Next to Normal and NPH on Broadway. The other shows didn't present themselves very well. I saw Shrek the Musical in Seattle and they have couple other songs that would have been much better show stoppers (and yes, there are only a couple). Billy Elliot the Musical has better songs to choose from as well as West Side Story. Legally Blonde chose a good song to perform. Mamma Mia should have chosen one that isn't played on every commercial.

NPH was a great host, and I'm a sucker for awards shows in general. But I will say this, if the Tonys were advertisements to go see Broadways shows, the only musicals I'd want to see would be Next to Normal (looked and sounded very compelling), Hair (that performance magnificently energetic) and Rock of Ages (just for the camp 80s appeal). The Billy Elliot number was thoroughly un-enticing (it looked like a kid suffering an epileptic fit onstage) and Shrek just looked dreadful.

i have been to almost every show nominated this year and i thought this telecast did a disservice to most of them. the only exception was that amazing vocal performance from 'next to normal,' which is like an opera that those people sing eight times a week. get your tickets now!WHY did they do yet another revival of 'guys and dolls' with this awful cast? that 'sit down' number was shameful. one of the greatest musicals of all time is ruined by this cast; mary testa and oliver platt should never work in theatre again.why do we have to hear 'dancing queen' on network television? or anything from 'legally blonde'? i realize those shows are touring, but they just show how lame most americans' taste is when they embrace crap like that. even the touring company of 'wicked' was pathetic, and that will probably be around for another 50 years. 'jersey boys' does not need any additional publicity, nor does jersey itself.what the hell was gregory jbara thinking when he dragged an obviously uncomfortable wife on stage? that is bad precedent and would be the subject of much hate on talk radio if someone gay did the same thing. the boobs were amazing, however, so maybe he wanted to show off his investment. i saw him in the awful 'frankenstein: the musical' years ago. he is obviously still playing the role. liza. liza. liza. could you just go away and OD on something or other? i don't want to hear anymore about 'momma'. the voice is in tatters and so is the rest. halston's costumes have withstood the test of time better than you have.stockard channing. high def is not your friend. all those surgeries have ruined what used to be a beautiful face. and please, no more singing. you make allison janney sound good.susan sarandon was the high point of the evening for me, and looked stunning. she is 63!!! that asshole geoffrey rush didn't even thank her for rescuing a play that would never have even been produced if she hadn't been involved and guaranteed LOTS of publicity and her legions of fans to buy tickets.neil patrick harris completely stole the show in the few minutes he was on the air. i hope somebody takes notice and hires him for the emmys. what a class act. that finale will live in the youtube vault forever i hope.

I would rather have my eyes put out with red-hot pokers than go see 'Shrek: The Musical.' Disney has completely ruined Broadway and 42nd Street in particular with their awful shows. Even if I were an eight year old girl I would run kicking and screaming from 'The Little Mermaid' and 'Mary Poppins.' Bring back the hookers and porn theatres to The Great White Way!

I thought the Tonys had it's hits and misses, but all in all a great show. Better then last year for sure.

I loved the opening. As it gave you a little bit of every show. The only part I didn't like about the opening was the Pal Joey and Next to Normal part. I didn't get what those two shows had in common.

Neil Patrick Harris' jokes were making me laugh almost everytime. Smell-o-vision on Broadway? My favorite joke of the night: "If the President can turn off his phone for 2 hours, so can that guy in seat J14."

The preformances were a hit or miss with the sound. Hated they had the 3 tours casts come and preform. It didn't make me want to go out and see a tour show. Shrek the musical was good. I saw Christopher Siebert perform the song before on Regis and Kelly. I still can't believe he performs on his knees the whole show!

As for Billy Elliot. I love that show. I got to see it in London last year and listen to the song track all the time. I agree that it probably wasn't the best dance from the show to pick to perform, but I still think it was a great performance.

All in all I enjoyed the Tonys this year and I hope NPH will host it again...like maybe every year?