Tony Awards 2021: Winners, Performances, and Takeaways

by Nathaniel R

The incredible Audra McDonald hosted the 74th annual Tony Awards last night

Did you watch the Tony Awards on Paramount Plus or the "Broadway's Back" concert on CBS last night? Two years and three months after the 73rd Tony Awards and 11 months after the nominations were announced the 74th "Annual" Tony Awards were finally held. Those awards were celebrating the very short very depressing theater season of 2019/2020 which ended with lots of sickness (Moulin Rouge the Musical in particular was hit very hard by COVID-19 in the spring of 2020) and lots of crushed dreams as several shows never opened and others were pushed back two years and some had to close well before they ran out of steam. Cut to September 2021 and the shows that did somehow survive the two years shutdown are reopening or will reopen by the end of the year.

Let's look at the winners, the hightlights, and what we can clean from all of this after the jump... 

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Tony Nods 2020: "Jagged Little Pill" and "Slave Play" dominate

by Nathaniel R

The controversial "Slave Play," featuring multiple interracial couples and sexual power dynamics, transferred from Off-Broadway and was huge at the Tony nominations

We're not sure what possessed the Broadway League to announced Tony nominations in mid October (and some probable virtual ceremony in December), just after announcing that Broadway will not return before next summer (thereby missing another Tony season -- the theater season runs June to May). It's especially baffling because earlier it was understood that because the shutdown happened in March while so many of the shows that were expected heavyhitters were still in previews (like revivals of Company and West Side Story) so they never got a chance to be seen by Tony voters. Curious. As are the unusual nominations. But for those who miss Broadway (or just news of it from afar) here is the list that was announced this afternoon...

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Stage Door: "Moulin Rouge!" on Broadway

Stage Door is our intermittent theater review column, which might seem odd for a movie site, but we're headquartered in NYC so...

by Nathaniel R

Do you remember the sensation of watching Moulin Rouge! (2001) for the first time? I remember exactly where I was (the much-missed Zeigfeld theater in NYC)  and exactly how it felt as it washed, no, exploded all over me. Twas a dizzying overwhelming sensory experience from the moment the red curtain appeared. Moulin Rouge! (the movie) eventually calms down… or you acclimate to it (I’ve never known definitively which). The moment I gave in fully, convinced it was something emotionally special and not just a flurry of exciting images, was Ewan McGregor’s spontaneous inspirational belting of “The hills are alive… with the sound of music”. The moment the movie belonged to me, and I to it, was the entrance of the Sparkling Diamond herself, Satine (Nicole Kidman) descending on a trapeze to sing “Diamond’s are a Girl’s Best Friend”. 

These moments are dutifully recreated for the new Broadway incarnation. The experience is not quite the same. Some cinematic bliss cannot be easily transferred to a different medium. Nevertheless there’s still green fairy dust sprinkled on this musical. It just takes a bit longer to lift off...

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Tony Winners for 2016

A lot of us needed that awards show last night - a celebration of passion, talent, and love for community - given the horrific events of the weekend.

In the opening number the musical acting nominees joined James Corden on stage (from left to right: Benanti, Corden, Krakowski, Miranda, Goldsberry, Levi, and Danielle Brooks

The Tonys were particularly defiantly joyous Sunday evening with an exuberant production, which featured a fun curveball of having each performing cast do a miniature version of a classic showtune outside the theater before or after they performed their shows number onstage inside. Other highlights included: Audra McDonald doing a high kick while pregnant; James Corden's bit with the Tony accountants; Frank Langella being more concerned with the tragedy in Orlando than his Tony; and a hilarious view of the nominees through the prism of their guest star work in the Law & Order franchise. Poor Danny Burstein! Or, rather, 'well employed Danny Burstein' who guest starred on Law & Order so many times it was like watching a man age in time lapse photography...

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Stage Door: Tony Predictions

We've already talked Tony Presenters & Performances so let's delve into predictions for the show this Sunday night on CBS.

Best Musical
Bright Star (REVIEWED) 
Hamilton
School of Rock
Shuffle Along
Waitress

Will Win: Hamilton in a cakewalk though Shuffle Along has ardent fans so it probably would have won in a year without a juggernaut like Hamilton. 

Best Play
Eclipsed by Danai Gurira -- closes June 19th
King Charles III by Mike Bartlett - already closed
The Father by Florian Zeller (REVIEWED) 
The Humans by Stephen Karam

Will Win: The Humans has been nabbing all the precursor prizes so it's got the momentum.
Possible Spoiler: ...if there's a surprise look to Eclipsed

more after the jump...

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