Tony Awards 2011

You said it. Unforgivable omission.

Book of Mormon is must-see, but it's NOT the best musical of the 21st century . . . not even close.
Audiences are preconditioned to go tilt over it. Think Stone and Parker have an all-world Broadway musical in them . . . but this isn't it, though the female lead is outstanding, and wholly deserved her Tony.

The Normal Heart has its adherents, but for many, it represents more "the cause" than anything else. It's beyond
strident. Always thought Larry Kramer was obnoxious, and haven't changed my mind.

Unless it gets utterly bombed by the NYT, Spiderman will run a long time and make boatloads of money. Doesn't make it great, or anywhere near it, but the market has demonstrated it adores it, warts and all.

This was the best Tony show in forever. Harris was terrific, and the Harris/Jackman duet -- and Harris' final summation -- were dead-on.

 

He wasn't nominated for HOS, and didn't deserve to be, but he works hard. His work during Grand Old Ivy is one of the highlights of the current production.

 

As noted here months ago, I saw the original Taymor Spider-Man, and while it wasn't "My Fair Lady," it didn't suck. I didn't feel ripped off, and at the prices paid, that's a reasonably strong endorsement.

 

Morning Joe just played a clip of the Chris Rock intro.

Here it is for those who missed it:

 

They'll go back in mid- to late-July, so you've got about another month, max.

 

Stoopid question time: Does Broadway go dark for the Tony Awards, or do the shows go on with the understudy's understudy in the lead?

 

The Tonys are held on Sunday night because all the theatres are dark then. Sunday is a matinee only (usually) and Monday is everyone's only complete day off.

 

Not quite. F'r instance, I saw BOM at 7 PM on a Sunday, three weeks after the open . . . and there are
scattered Monday evening performances of other shows, though Monday is certainly the lightest day of the week.

 

Even tougher, now, since they shifted from RCMH. Was blessed with tickets to the Sunday-morning dress rehearsal for years, but not in the past few seasons.

 

Guess I've been lucky. The only shows I've been aware of with Sunday night performances have all been touring companies. I can't imagine not having Sunday nights off. Yikes.

 

Maybe its just that the performers are more accustomed to being live on stage, but the Tonys are almost always more entertaining than the Oscars - never would have thought the Tonys would have been bleeped as much as they were.
Sutton Foster is pretty amazing.