The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

For discussions of subjects relating to literature and theater.
Jefforey Smith
Graduate
Posts: 117
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 12:13 pm
Location: Lexington, Kentucky

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by Jefforey Smith »

Mister Tee wrote: Proof I’ve been watching the Tonys too long: I’ve heard that “But I’ll keep it at my house” joke multiple times. (The first to use it, I believe, was Kelly Bishop for A Chorus Line)

I remember that. Similarly, the opening of Judith Light's acceptance speech this year directly mimics word-for-word Cady Huffman's opening lines when she won for The Producers: "There are so many of you."

Was this a blatant rip-off? A purposely borrowed line?
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by Big Magilla »

In the South Jersey "active adult communities" in my current neck of the woods the only Broadway shows people here will venture out to see are Phantom of the Opera for the staging and Jersey Boys for the songs, both for the umpteenth time. The only shows we get around here are local theatre stagings of fifty plus year-old musicals such as The Music Man and Gypsy. But then most of these people think everything culturally worthwhile went to hell after the Reagan presidency, some even before that. There are those who won't watch a movie made after 1970.
Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8637
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by Mister Tee »

The Original BJ wrote:Oh, and I guess it's worth adding that, after 25 years on Broadway and god knows how many national tours...somehow I still have never seen a stage production of The Phantom of the Opera.
Well, no wonder you dislike the show so much. The primary attraction for me was Hal Prince's staging; he's one of that small group of musical theatre auteurs with a poet's soul, and he created such beautiful pictures I was able to glide by the show's shortcomings. (Honestly, when I saw the movie, I was shocked at how stupid the story was; the stagecraft had distracted me utterly)

A few other thoughts about the show:

It was pretty blatant celebrity-trawling, that Book of a Musical was held off-screen, but Score had to be given prime-time exposure. I'm as fond of Cyndi Lauper as anyone, but come on.

On the other hand, the further attempt at creating a pop culture moment fell through when Sally Field had to announce a winner that wasn't her Forrest. (Reminiscent of Harrison Ford biting his tongue as he ad to read "Shakespeare in Love")

Oh, and the treatment of best play was pretty shabby, giving it out barely past the halfway point. A friend of mine said she wouldn't be surprised if they bumped it to the pre-show.
The Original BJ
Emeritus
Posts: 4312
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 8:49 pm

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by The Original BJ »

Greg wrote:
The Original BJ wrote:Oh...and my Tony-winning frenemy from last year is poised to win his second consecutive Tony this year. I wish I could win annual awards for basically doing nothing!
I take it he is one of a multitude of "producers."
Emphasis on the quotation marks.
Greg
Tenured
Posts: 3285
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 1:12 pm
Location: Greg
Contact:

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by Greg »

The Original BJ wrote:Oh...and my Tony-winning frenemy from last year is poised to win his second consecutive Tony this year. I wish I could win annual awards for basically doing nothing!
I take it he is one of a multitude of "producers."
The Original BJ
Emeritus
Posts: 4312
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 8:49 pm

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by The Original BJ »

Big Magilla wrote:I don't know what the guy who won does in the show, but he appears to be a minor character a la Tony Azito who won in that category for The Pirates of Penzance when they bumped George Rose to lead.
If Bertie Carvel had been nominated in Featured, he certainly would have won. But Mr. Wormwood, Matilda's father -- the role played by Gabe Ebert -- isn't a minor character. To tag on to what Mister Tee wrote, this is a perfect example of a cast album not giving a clear picture of an actor's role, because Mr. Wormwood only really has one song, but he has a lot to do in the book scenes, and is consistently funny throughout. (Plus, in this case, you REALLY can't get a clear picture of the performance, because the London cast album to Matilda features a different actor.)

Oh, and I guess it's worth adding that, after 25 years on Broadway and god knows how many national tours...somehow I still have never seen a stage production of The Phantom of the Opera.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by Big Magilla »

You're right about Azito. It was the Drama Desk Award he won.

Those musical introductions by cast members of other shows did seem a bit disingenuous, especially the one from those Rock of Ages guys. I hope t's something they put an end to right away.

I thought the Tom Hooper joke fell flat. Nothing in Hooper's film was as off-putting as that extreme sustained close-up of NPT.

The optimal way of judging performances is, of course, to see them in context, but lacking that ability in most instances, listening to cast recordings does give one a good sense of why certain performances were nominated and/or won.

I did see Into the Woods and thought Joanna Gleason was just fine in what was to me a supporting role. I thought she and Chip Zien should have both won in the featured categories. I also saw Donna McKechnie in A Chorus Line and thought the win was ridiculous. If the Best Actress award shouldn't be for Best Singing, then it shouldn't be for Best Dancing either, although I always thought she won because of a vote split between Gwen Verdon and Chita River in Chicago and/or because she was Mrs. Michael Bennett at the time.

I've never understood James Naughton's appeal, but Jerry Orbach had a lot more going for him than his dry delivery. Kevin Kline's exuberance comes across in his singing, although it's his clowning that I remember best about his Pirates performance.
Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8637
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by Mister Tee »

Big Magilla wrote: I don't know what the guy who won does in the show, but he appears to be a minor character a la Tony Azito who won in that category for The Pirates of Penzance when they bumped George Rose to lead.
For the record, Tony Azito didn't win -- he lost to the first of Hinton Battle's three supporting Tonys. And Azito was nominated because he had Pirates' most famous second-act song, With Cat-like Tread (better known as A Policeman's Lot Is Not a Happy One).

I'm not sure just listening to cast albums is an adequate way of judging performances in musicals. Both times James Naughton won, there were far better singers nominated opposite him; it was his dry, Jerry Orbach-like delivery that carried the day, and that wouldn't make the album. Similarly, I loved Joanna Gleason in Into the Woods, but I can't remember a single outstanding musical number she had. Donna McKechnie's Chorus Line win was for a fabulous dance number, and both Kevin Kline's wins were as much for his deft physical comedy as for his vocal achievements.

Something I forgot to mention last night: the intros given by "characters" to current nominees were often bizarre; I'd hate to have been the writer who tried to link up Rock of Ages and Cinderella (it certainly required more than one degree of separation).

And I'm guessing alot of us here really enjoyed the Tom Hooper joke.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by Big Magilla »

I have not seen any of the current shows but I have the cast albums for all the musical shows except for the revivals of Pippin and Annie. This is the first time since I can't remember when, when so many cast recordings have been available prior to the Tonys. The musical highlights are generally well represented on the theatre websites like Theatermania and Playbill.com as well, so I had favorites going in and I'm happy to say, my favorites won!

The revival of Pippin appears to truly be a wow, ten times more stupendous than the original which was recorded for TV ten years after the original and is available on DVD. The original was good, the revival appears to be fantastic.

The revival of Cinderella appears to be a small miracle. They took the best element of the original, Rodgers & Hammerstein's score, combined it with great scenic and costume design, a wittier script and actors with glorious voices. Laura Osnes may not be Julie Andrews, or even Lesley Ann Warren, but she is awfully good.

The revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood was engaging but nowhere near as good as either Pippin or Cinderella. I've never been a big fan of Annie, though this production seems to be decent enough.

I guess the big to-do over Matilda is its book and production values, but I didn't think the score was all that great. Still, Bertie Carvel is my only should have won out of the pack. He should have been nominated and won for Featured Actor, not lead. I don't know what the guy who won does in the show, but he appears to be a minor character a la Tony Azito who won in that category for The Pirates of Penzance when they bumped George Rose to lead.

I thought Cyndi Lauper's score for Kinky Boots started off sounding too much like the 80s pop hits she was known for, but then it took wing and by the time they got to "Not My Father's Son" I thought it was the best original score I'd heard in some time.

I found the score for A Christmas Story to be a lot better than I expected, having never understood the popularity of the film which I've always found sort of dumb. The song they chose to highlight on stage was not the best one they could have picked.

I don't think I got through the entire score for Bring It On, or if I did, I've already forgotten it.

I can't comment on the plays as I've not seen them.

As for the show, the opening was strong and it moved along at a decent pace even if it did go slightly overtime. If I'm not mistaken this was the first time the Tonys have done an In Memoriam segment. The applause for some performers, none for others, was as appalling as it is at other awards shows, but otherwise I think they did a better job of inclusion than the Oscars in that they at least seemed to remember anyone who was ever nominated for a Tony, Virginia Gibson and long ago winner John Kerr included.

The one thing I didn't like was the introduction of performers in current shows by their characters' names rather than the actors'. I actually thought the woman currently playing Velma Kelly was somebody I knew until I looked the current cast up on Playbill.com. She's somebody named Amra-Faye Wright who has apparently been filling in between the bigger names since 2006.
The Original BJ
Emeritus
Posts: 4312
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 8:49 pm

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by The Original BJ »

As I said, I preferred the more ambitious Matilda in Best Musical (and I think it has a better score, too) but I didn't have a problem with Kinky Boots winning the top prize. Matilda still managed to win a pretty healthy number of trophies, and when two pretty evenly matched candidates split down the line like this, it's hard to argue that anyone got ROBBED. Plus, Matilda is sold out for months and is guaranteed to have a hit tour on the way -- it's hard to feel sorry for anyone lucky enough to be involved with a show that's done so well.

I loved the Rannells-Hilty-Benanti number about cancelled tv shows, mainly because I think all three of those performers are stupendous. But the writing was pretty clever too. Neil Patrick Harris, as usual, had a lot of laughs.

Mister Tee, you're right that numbers which work really well on stage don't always transfer to these broadcasts. Pippin's "Magic to Do," especially, is breathtaking in a theater -- you just don't know where to look, there are dazzling sights in every direction -- but here, the camera pretty much focused on what it wanted to, so a lot of the spectacle was lost.

"Everybody Say Yeah" -- the Kinky Boots act one closer -- was far more exciting in a theater, mainly because you can really see all of the cool action on those conveyor belts. (I get why the producers chose this number for the telecast, as it involves the whole cast and strongly features both leads, but I don't think it's one of the best pieces of music in the show. And, of course, choosing one of the few numbers with Billy Porter OUT of drag is a bit like concealing your trump card.)

I thought the mash-up of Matilda numbers and moments was about the best way to showcase everybody in the ensemble, but it definitely didn't showcase the sense of theater magic that envelops the show. "When I Grow Up," for instance is one of the loveliest songs in the show, but it mainly works because Miss Honey's verse comes AFTER the kids singing about what THEY wish for when they grow up, and the contrast taps beautifully into ideas of childhood innocence and adult regret. But Miss Honey's verse alone, out of context, doesn't convey as much.

I don't know why they chose the number they did from Bring It On. The raison d'etre for that show is the truly jaw-dropping stunt choreography, and this number didn't especially show that off all that well. Maybe the demands of this stage -- and the fact that the performers had to be brought back together just for this, because the show closed months ago -- influenced the decision, but it wasn't particularly representative of the best elements of that musical.

Audra McDonald's voice is just a gift from God, isn't it?
anonymous1980
Laureate
Posts: 6377
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 10:03 pm
Location: Manila
Contact:

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by anonymous1980 »

The Tonys did not air in the Philippines but I did check the winners as they happened and watched the highlights on Youtube. A couple of thoughts:

- The Tonys are probably the most progressive of all the big 4 awards shows, at least more progressive than the Oscars. Not only did women won both Directing categories, 3 out of the 4 Leading Actor Tony winners are African-American.

- That little boy tap dancer during the A Christmas Story number was really impressive! He'll probably get cast in Step Up 6 or something.

I'd love to be able to see Pippin and Matilda.
Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8637
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by Mister Tee »

Well, the suspense over best musical did maintain till the end, with both shows picking up key victories (including a surprising – to me – supporting actor for Matilda). I have to wonder if the ultimate Kinky Boots triumph will be seen by history (if there’s such a thing, at the Tonys) as in the Shakespeare in Love/Saving Private Ryan g category: a lighter effort snatching the prize away from the critical favorite thanks to a lot of electioneering (in each case, by an overweight guy named Harvey).

GREAT opening number, which I guess was obvious from the applause – even indulgent Broadway audiences don’t usually go that wild. I thought the rest of the show was more hit-and-miss – though the “my TV series was cancelled” number was funny as well, and the finale was amusing.

Can’t say I was wowed by any of the show numbers, though, staged as they are for theatre, I don’t think they ever come off all that well. (I’ve watched numbers on the Tonys that did nothing for me, then seen the shows and been bowled over – Sunday in the Park with George I recall in particular falling into that category.

There were enough surprising wins to keep the evening lively. Vanya & Sonia for play and Judith Light for featured actress were the only ones I’d seen/had strong feeling about, but there were no winners I begrudged .

Did anyone else, after the Letts and MacKinnon wins, wonder if maybe Amy Morton had a shot at best actress?

Oddish stat: it’s the second time women have won both directing slots in one night. The first time was in 1998; that was also the first time a woman had won either. In the years since, one another woman (Susan Stroman) won for a musical, and there’ve been three others on the play side (for Metamorphoses, August: Osage County and War Horse). But this is the first time any woman has won for a revival, and it was true in both cases.

Proof I’ve been watching the Tonys too long: I’ve heard that “But I’ll keep it at my house” joke multiple times. (The first to use it, I believe, was Kelly Bishop for A Chorus Line)

Speaking of speeches: when Cicely Tyson started out, I was reminded of how ostentatious her Emmy speech was in the 70s, for Miss Jane Pittman. But she did recover nicely when they tried to play her off.

David Hyde-Pierce smashing the cell phone is a lot funnier if you’ve seen Vanya.

It was certainly easy to see why Cinderella won for costumes.

Alan Cumming and Liam Neeson were both pretty funny presenting.
The Original BJ
Emeritus
Posts: 4312
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 8:49 pm

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by The Original BJ »

Some last minute thoughts on the Best Musical race:

A lot of people have pointed toward Kinky Boots's fairly aggressive awards campaign as something that might help it upset long-favored Matilda. And it HAS been aggressive -- relatives of mine went to a show where Harvey Fierstein showed up, went on stage during the curtain call, and invited the entire audience to party with him and the cast at the Brooklyn Diner, where he was having a hot dog named after him. Needless to say, this event got plenty of positive press coverage. (Of course, I had gone to the show the night before, so I missed out on the fun!)

Some have suggested that campaign strength helped another underdog -- Avenue Q -- upset to win Best Musical a decade ago. I don't think the situation is quite the same. Avenue Q had been substantially better reviewed than presumed favorite Wicked, whereas this year, Matilda is BOTH the critical darling AND the family show with the blockbuster tour on the way. In other words, it's Ragtime AND The Lion King, and I find it hard to bet against a show with that pedigree.

But, as I said before, Kinky Boots is well within winner range, so it wouldn't be any kind of shock to me were it to prevail. What's really exciting, as Mister Tee said, is that it's pretty likely this race will stay competitive until the opening of the final envelope, assuming neither show sweeps Actor, Book, & Score. Most people seem to be betting on Matilda for Book but Kinky Boots for Score, but I could honestly see an outcome in reverse as well -- Harvey Fierstein is beloved by the Broadway community and scripted his second hit musical in two years, and Tim Minchin's score to Matilda has a lot of clever numbers in it. (Director, to me, seems less likely for either show -- I'd be floored if Pippin didn't win it for Diane Paulus.)

Of course, if I were smart, I'd probably bet against MY choice, as too many times, the darker, more complex musical I favored (i.e. Ragtime, Parade, Urinetown, The Light in the Piazza, Next to Normal) has lost the Tony to more crowdpleasing fare. So we'll see if sticking by the thornier Matilda was the right prediction in the face of a total audience pleaser like Kinky Boots.

Oh...and my Tony-winning frenemy from last year is poised to win his second consecutive Tony this year. I wish I could win annual awards for basically doing nothing!
Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8637
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by Mister Tee »

From all discussion I’ve heard, tomorrow night’s Tonys look to offer what we’ve been craving for the Oscars for years: competitive races up and down the line. Not to say there aren’t some categories where certain candidate are more favored than others…but the only spots where Daniel Day-Lewis/Anne Hathaway levels of consensus prevail are best play (Vanya), musical revival (Pippin) and musical supporting actress (Martin). The rest offer at worst some hedging of bets.

The biggest mystery of all is in best musical, where season-long presumed favorite Matilda is being heavily challenged by Kinky Boots. The critics have sided pretty heavily with Matilda, and, generally, Tony voters have followed such guidance. But this year there seems to be a vibe of “Yeah, Matilda’s great, but it kind of came in acting like it owned the place, and it’s kind of stuck-up, and that Kinky Boots is a lot more fun to party with” (shades of Al Gore/George Bush). Predictors seem to be right down the middle on this one – and the early awards aren’t likely to be that helpful in forecasting, since many think Matilda will win book while Kinky wins score (and Diane Paulus takes best director). I’m going with Matilda in the end, but, as I say, for once it should be worth staying tuned to the finish. (It’s really uncommon for this top category to be so tight – most recent winners have seemed to be by acclamation, and, if they’re not, it’s generally a sign no one particularly liked ANY of the nominees, as in the Memphis year. You have to go back to Jersey Boys/Drowsy Chaperone, or maybe Ragtime/Lion King, to find two generally praised shows in as fierce a contest).

The lean in best musical actor right now seems to be Billy Porter in Kinky Boots, largely on the premise that chief competitor Bertie Carvel has a borderline supporting role. Of course, there’s the possibility co-nominee Stark Sands could drain off votes from Porter, though probably not many (about as many as Jennifer Tilly took from Dianne Wiest). A Carvel win might indicate a bigger Matilda trend than imagined. Over at musical actress, I’ve heard knowledgeable theatre folk declare both Laura Osnes and Patina Miller “a lock”. If anyone has show-momentum it’s clearly Miller, but it’s kind of an apples-and-oranges choice, and will swing on whether voters prefer sweet or sour. A lot of folks seem to think the voters will reward Tom Hanks for coming to Broadway (also as a way of paying courtesy to Nora Ephron). But I think the competition for best actor is beastly, and anyone but Tom Sturridge could slip through. I’m going to gamble on a Nathan Lane win – Lane’s been coasting on what he does effortlessly for some time, but finally returns to real acting , and I think that’ll be rewarded. The best play actress category is similarly packed with talent – though she doesn’t seem to have a chance, I’ve heard Laurie Metcalf was sensational – but it seems to have been whittled down to Cicely Tyson and Kristine Nielsen. As I’ve said, I’m a bit partial to Nielsen, since she’s the old girlfriend of a friend of mine, but I acknowledge give-it-to-the old-lady sentiment gives Tyson’s apparently quite impressive performance a leg up. Probably Tyson, but a Vanya push could carry Nielsen ahead of her. (In line with that, I’ll pick Vanya to win for directing as well, though George C. Wolfe could win on conceptual points)

The supporting folk are a lot less familiar to me, except that I hope Judith Light wins for her exceptional work in The Assembled Parties. (I deeply hope it’s not Shalita Grant, whose mugging was the only thing I truly disliked about Vanya) Play supporting actor could go to guys more familiar from other media (Richard Kind, Courtney B. Vance), or a theatre guy like Danny Burstein. All sight unseen, I’ll pick the latter. Andrea Martin, as I said, is a shoo-in, but the male side musical prize might go any which way – sentiment of course argues for Terrence Mann, who’s been around since a friend of mine did a show with him in the late 70s.

The design/sound/orchestration categories are so foreign to me, I’d be throwing darts if I made any picks.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: The 2012-2013 Tony Awards

Post by Big Magilla »

The Original BJ wrote:On the play side, The Trip to Bountiful is a very solid revival. I'm not a huge fan of the material -- Horton Foote's country folk milieu isn't my favorite -- but it has its touching elements, and this production is solidly performed by the cast. I think I like Geraldine Page in the film version overall better than Cicely Tyson, but one advantage Tyson has is that, at eighty-eight, she gives the material quite a bit more urgency. It's hard not to feel like Carrie's trip to Bountiful will certainly be her last. And Featured nominee Condola Rashad gives a kind, sensitive performance as the girl who joins her on the bus, though this doesn't seem flashy enough a role to win prizes. I'd also give a shout-out to Vanessa Williams, who I thought played her role, as Tyson's daughter-in-law, with far more nuance than the actress from the movie, who mostly turned Jessie Mae into a shrill harpy. Williams, in contrast, manages to make her character more sympathetic, so that you understand why she's so frustrated by her mother-in-law even as she behaves dismissively toward her. The production, overall, probably isn't the Play/Revival winner, but I expect Tyson to be a strong candidate.
The actress from the movie was Tony winner Carlin Glynn (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas), whose husband, Peter Masterson, directed the film. She's probably better known today as Mary Stuart Masterson's mother.
Post Reply

Return to “The Cam Dagg Memorial Theatre and Literature Forum”