Tonys 2012

Neil Patrick Harris has risen even further in my estimation after his fabulous hosting job of this year's Tonys.  I watched it this year with J who has all sort of dance and theatre expertise. It was awesome. She noted that the Newsies choreography with the splitting newspapers underfoot was a homage to Gene Kelly and she filled me in on the Porgy and Bess controversy (the new production shortens the show by about an hour).

The highlights:

- The opening Book of Mormon number makes me really want to see the musical now.  I'll have to take The Serene One when it hits San Francisco.  In the clip, look for James Earl Jones autographing Darth Vader photos.

- Neil Patrick Harris' Spiderman routine and his musical homage.

- The excerpt from Newsies was really fun.  Alex Wong is prominent as well as other So You Think You Can Dance alums like Evan Kasprzak. Sis and I already have tickets to see this when we're in town for BlogHer.

- The Evita sequence was "The Money Kept Rolling In." The result? Evita herself only got one phrase and the rest was Ricky Martin and the chorus.  I found Evita to be pretty creepy.  I always imagined her character as being this woman who was conniving but also who genuinely loved the people and was hungry for attention and adoration.  The actress played her as a schemer and kinda cold. 

Ricky Martin did a credible job, but I pulled out Mandy Patinkin's version of the song and whew.  Patinkin is a master--his annunciation alone says so much about what his character is thinking.  The way he says the second T in "ticket" in that song just adds this layer of disgust to the lyrics.

All of this being said, I still want to see it. One of the strongest memories I have of watching musicals as a kid was seeing Evita.

- Great little ditty by Mandy and Patti LuPone introducing best revival of a musical.  Click here to see the clip.

- Judas (Josh Young) from Jesus Christ Superstar has an amazing voice.  I would go to that show just to hear him sing. The poor guy playing Jesus didn't get to sing at all. He just shone beatifically at the end. 

- Hugh Jackman was presented with a special achievement Tony by his wife: actress Deborra Lee Furness.  She delivered this line with humor, but it certainly opened a window into being married to a superstar.  She said [not a direct quote] "there's nothing like seeing your husband for the first time in four months [he was filming Les Miserables] with 12 million other people at the Tonys."  Unfortunately, I can't find a clip of this on-line.  Here's his acceptance speech.  Great tip of the hat to his wife at the end.  He's on my permanent "Celebrity Crush" List.

-  The gem of the evening?  I had never heard of One Man, Two Guvnors before, but now that I've seen this excerpt, it's on the top of the list. The actor, James Corden, won a Tony for his role and he was up against James Earl Jones and other luminaries.  Corden is going to be playing Paul Potts in a movie about how Potts went from cellular phone salesman to winner of Britain's Got Talent.

 

Go to 2:45

Overall, A+ for a great award show production. The blurring of lines between the arts is fascinating.  Newsies came from a movie, Peter and the Starcatcher came from a book co-written by Dave Barry (the newspaper columnist) and there are so many movie and television stars crossing over to spend time on Broadway.  Jim Parsons (Sheldon from Big Bang Theory) is spending the summer as Harvey.  Sutton Foster, a Broadway superstar, is trying her hand at television in Bunheads (produced by Amy Sherman-Palladino of Gilmore Girls fame).  I look forward to next year!