Thirteen random thoughts on last night's Tony Awards.
• Glenda Jackson won the Emmy and two Oscars in the 1970s but after a three decade break from acting, she returns triumphant with a Tony win, giving her the Triple Crown!
• Remember when Melissa McCarthy surprised everybody by winning the Emmy for Mike & Molly that one year? After the shock wore off everyone collectively decided that the Television Academy gave her that prize because of Bridesmaids that same season. I kinda think this is what happened with Laurie Metcalf winning a second consecutive Tony -- this time for Three Tall Women in a category people expected to go elsewhere. Not that Three Tall Women isn't brilliantly acted, but we're guessing her miracle performance in Lady Bird helped put her over the finish line. We're choosing to interpret it as Tony voters slapping Oscar's hand. Oscar deserved a slap for that one...
• Remember how when geek culture started ruling the world, hot young actresses who were probably cheerleaders in highschool were always trying to pass themselves off as nerds? Sometimes kinship is faked for cool points but I believed every single second of Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban confessing to being theater nerds when they were kids. They were good, if slightly non-pizazzy hosts for this year's festivities.
• Things got political which is no surprise. Besides the high LGBTQ visibility factor (always thus with the Tony Awards), we had Parkland kids singing Rent's "Seasons of Love", a show about Arabs & Israelis getting along practically sweeping, Tony Shalhoub's subtle reminder that we're a nation of immigrants with his tribute to his parents and grandparents. To top it all off, iconic liberal Bruce Springsteen got a showcase to sing about a struggling small town and was introduced by Robert De Niro who CBS censored by dropping the sound out but the two time Oscar winner said:
First, I wanna say, ''Fuck Trump.' It's no longer 'Down with Trump,' it's 'Fuck Trump.'
• The winners were really delivering with their speeches. My favorites were Nathan Lane, Ar'iel Stachel, and Lindsay Mendez, all clearly overwhelmed by their wins and probably upsetting any Trump supporters who were accidentally watching the Tonys. Nathan tearfully thanked his husband and talked about the need to push himself as an actor. Lindsay talked about keeping her last name when she was told to 'change it or you won't get work.' Then Stachel talked about being Middle Eastern in the arts. It was just beautiful:
Your biggest obstacle may turn into your purpose."
Another reminder that representation is so important.
• I was pissed -- this won't surprise you since we go through this every year with the Oscars -- that the lifetime achievement prize for Chita Rivera was given off the air but for a few split seconds of clips. Booooo, Tony producers, Booo!!!!
Claire Danes giving the Triple Crown to Glenda Jackson
• Claire Danes gown startled me. It looked like a leopard and python had had a baby and then that baby had swallowed Temple Grandin whole!
• As much as I love The Band's Visit, I was a bit mystified by Tony Shalhoub's win. For one, he sings only maybe 1 bar of music in an entire musical while Ethan Slater and Joshua Henry were both working their asses and bodies and pipes off for entire shows. For the other the soul is Katrina Lenk who carries the emotional lyricism of the show while Shalhoub mostly just sits in chairs and watches her. To his credit he admits he's mystified too, citing his fellow nominees with a "I will never understand what just happened."
• That Summer number looked a bit more like a cruise ship performance than something on Broadway, right?
• Which was your favorite musical performance? I was excited to see "Omar Shariff" again from The Band's Visit but of the show's I haven't seen the performance that most convinced me that I needed to get to the theater immediately was "Mama Will Provide" from Once On This Island. I keep hearing great things and that sure was an engaging spirited number. Plus a live goat!
Runner up was My Fair Lady, reminding us of that classic score and announcing that Lauren Ambrose has an awesome voice.
• I already loved Tony Kushner forever due to Angels in America and Caroline or Change but his addendum to his speech 'what kind of a homosexual would I be if I didn't mention that it's Judy Garland's birthday?' made me love him even more. Even more than infinity, that is correct.
• Early in the show Sara and Josh warned that if you went overtime on your speeches this would happen. [Cue the very impressive Angels in America Angel and her puppeteers zooming across the stage.] "It's subtle" hee hee. I had a good laugh but then the Angel never came back so there just wasn't follow through like there was with that jet ski at the Oscars.
• Best Presenter: Titus Burgess from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt who made the presentation of Featured Actress all about himself to hilarious effect.
COMPLETE LIST OF 2018 TONY WINNERS
THE BAND'S VISIT won 10 Tony Awards, nearly doing a complete sweep.
Best Musical: “The Band’s Visit”
Best Revival of a Musical “Once On This Island”
Best Play: “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”
Best Revival of a Play: “Angels in America”
Direction of a Play: John Tiffany, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child"
Direction of a Musical: David Cromer, "The Band's Visit"
Actor in a Play:Andrew Garfield, “Angels in America”
Actress in a Play: Glenda Jackson, “Three Tall Women”
Actor in a Musical: Tony Shalhoub, “The Band’s Visit”
Actress in a Musical: Katrina Lenk, “The Band’s Visit”
Actor in a Featured Role in a Play: Nathan Lane, “Angels in America”
Actress in a Featured Role in a Play: Laurie Metcalf, “Three Tall Women”
Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical: Ari’el Stachel, “The Band’s Visit”
Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical: Lindsay Mendez, “Carousel”
really happy about this choreography win!
Book of a Musical: Itamar Moses, “The Band’s Visit”
Original Score: David Yazbeck, “The Band’s Visit”
Scenic Design of a Play: Christine Jones, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”
Scenic Design of a Musical: David Zinn, “Spongebob Squarepants”
Costume Design of a Play: Katrina Lindsay “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”
Costume Design of a Musical: Catherine Zuber, “My Fair Lady”
Lighting Design of a Play: Neil Austin “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”
Lighting Design of a Musical: Tyler Micoleau “The Band’s Visit”
Sound Design of a Play: Gareth Fry, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”
Sound Design of a Musical: Kai Harada, "The Band's Visit"
Best Choreography: Justin Peck, “Carousel"
Best Orchestrations: Jamshied Sharifi, “The Band’s Visit”
NON COMPETITIVE CATEGORIES
Lifetime Achievement: Chita Rivera and Andrew Lloyd Webber
Special Award Bruce Springsteen for "Springsteen on Broadway" and John Leguizamo for his body of work
Isabelle Stevenson Award: Nick Scandalios, Executive Vice President of the Nederlander Organization
Regional Theatre: New York City's La MaMa
Excellence in Theatre: Sara Krulwich Photographer, Bessie Nelson Costume beader, Ernest Winzer Cleaners Broadway dry cleaning service