2007-2008 Tony Awards

[Big Magilla]

Ha! My first thought was Dickey Lee's classic country tune "9,999,999 Tears"....

Which, in turn, for us old-timers, brings back ? and the Mysterians' legendary 96 Tears.

Damon and the Mysterians?

[Mister Tee]

Ha! My first thought was Dickey Lee's classic country tune "9,999,999 Tears"....

Which, in turn, for us old-timers, brings back ? and the Mysterians' legendary 96 Tears.

[Penelope]

"96,000" is catchy but I thought it was derivative of "Seasons of Love" from Rent.

Just glancing past -- and not being familiar with In the Heights -- I thought someone had mis-referenced the title of the Rent song.

Ha! My first thought was Dickey Lee's classic country tune "9,999,999 Tears"....

[Mister Tee]

"96,000" is catchy but I thought it was derivative of "Seasons of Love" from Rent.

Just glancing past -- and not being familiar with In the Heights -- I thought someone had mis-referenced the title of the Rent song.

Let's not forget other unimpressive musical seasons -- the year Fosse won best musical, and mediocre revivals of Little Me and Annie Get Your Gun took the top acting awards. '96-'97 was no bargain either, with a critically-lmabasted Titanic winning more or less by default. (I realize, the latter season had the legendary Chicago revival, but I'd say any season whose prime achievements are in the revival category is a pathetic one) And '88-'89 was dominated by Jerome Robbins' Broadway, a big-money version of the Broadway revue at your local Holiday Inn. At least this year there are two, maybe three, new shows that were well-received. (Magilla's original point about '84-'85 does, however, stand: it's the only year they actually deleted the best actor and actress awards for musicals)

I haven't seen the Sunday in the Park revival -- not about to spend $150 on something rehashed -- but I'll speak in defense of the original production. I think the show is deeply problematic, particularly as the second act drags on, but Patinkin and Peters were glorious, and that four song run that ended the first act -- Finishing the Hat, We Do Not Belong Together, Beautiful and Sunday -- was as great a stretch as I've seen in any musical of recent decades.

[Big Magilla]

1994-1995 was pretty bad but it had one bonafide new hit (Sunset Boulevard) and two major revivals (Show Boat, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) whereas all 1984-1985 really had was Big River.

I don't know, I guess In the Heights wins by default (I'm still not familiar with Passing Strange). "96,000" is catchy but I thought it was derivative of "Seasons of Love" from Rent.

I tried to watch those YouTube clips of Patti LuPone from Gypsy but they strike me as grotesque.

[Okri]

I've become addicted to that score. "96,000" may be one of my favourite songs of recent years, forget Broadway. It's so invigorating. I love the confusion of salsa/rap/rock/hip-hop/Broadway that mixes under it's sway.

And I think you're forgetting the 1994-1995 season, which was notoriously bad for musicals.

[Big Magilla]

Listened to the cast recording of In the Heights.

Once you get past the opening number there are are some bright spots - Mandy Gonzalez, Christopher Jackson, Karen Olivo, Olga Merediz and, of course, Priscilla Lopez all have strong voices. Thier various solos and duets are fine, but compsoer-star Lin-Manuel Miranda is only sproadically interesting and the songs assigned to "the company" are mostly just a lot of noise.

This has to have been the lousiest Broadway season since 1984-1985.

[Damien]

In listening to the London Cast Recording of the revival of Sunday in the Park With George, I am convinced that artfully speaking this is the show that should win Best Revival as well as Best Actor (Daniel Evans) and Actress (Jenna Russell).

While the original was never one of my favortie Sondheim musicals, the new production is a vast improvement over the Mandy Patinkin-Bernadette Peters production in every way IMO.

If you had actually had to sit through the damn thing, Big, I think you'd change your mind. And, boy, is Bernadette Peters sorely missed!

Another well-received revival which I couldn't stand is Boeing-Boeing.

Most of the essential elements are off here. For the first half of Act One, director Matthew Warchus's pacing is flat -- its deliberateness in conflict with the frenetic nature of the writing. As the show goes on, Warchus's handling of the actors (in terms of movement and scope of performance) becomes more in line with the material, but by this point the show gets to be exhausting.

The cast is mostly admirable. Bradley Whitford is endearing as a not necessarily likable character (even if he doesn't look anything like a 60s swinger, he's more of a 90s dot.com entreprenauer), Christine Baranski's timing is impeccable, and Gina Gershon, Kathryn Hahn and Mary McCormack handle their broadly-written roles admirably.

But Mark Rylance is bereft of charm, and he made the disastrous decision for him to mimic Joe Lieberman's awful voice. It doesn't take long for Rylance's character to become as loathsome as the senator from Connecticut.

All in all, Boeing-Boeing is at best fitfully amusing, but at 2-and-a-half hours the thinness of the material makes for a very long slough.

Oh and one other thing, Rob Howell's set may be the worst Scenic Design I've ever seen in a major Broadway production. The apartment in which the action takes place looks in no way like Paris homes, and even worse, the non-decorated space in no way suggests a 60s bachelor pad. The set is dreary and dismal and off-putting -- it doesn't put you in the mood for a farce, but seems more ready for a kitchen sink drama.



Edited By Damien on 1213157133

[cam]

It will not be Xanadu, IMO.

[HarryGoldfarb]

II caught the opening number of In the Heights on The View this morning but was underwhelmed. Maybe the rest of the score is better, I couldn't tell from the clip. Passing Strange looks better, but both look like they belong in an intiamte off-Broadway theatre, not on a huge Broadway stage.

I'm not so sure about it... Look at the clips below... It looks actually it's between In the Heights (the one ot beat in my opinion) and Passing Strange...

Nominees for Best Musical
- Cry Baby: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3aephKPdiw and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSwEx62YVUg
- In the Heights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0keVvQT004&feature=related
- Passing Strange: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K8CLq5DpnY
- Xanadu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh-VicEJrDo&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfQRJgATwlM&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laBCqiKXsuo&feature=related

[Okri]

I didn't believe that was possible. But SITPWG is my favourite musical ever. I recall the first time I saw the video of the production. The moment in the finale when the characters in the painting bowed to George was just heartbreaking. I was sobbing.

[Big Magilla]

In listening to the London Cast Recording of the revival of Sunday in the Park With George, I am convinced that artfully speaking this is the show that should win Best Revival as well as Best Actor (Daniel Evans) and Actress (Jenna Russell).

While the original was never one of my favortie Sondheim musicals, the new production is a vast improvement over the Mandy Patinkin-Bernadette Peters production in every way IMO.

[Big Magilla]

I checked out the clips at Broadwayworld.com but all I got was a headache.

I caught the opening number of In the Heights on The View this morning but was underwhelmed. Maybe the rest of the score is better, I couldn't tell from the clip. Passing Strange looks better, but both look like they belong in an intimate off-Broadway theatre, not on a huge Broadway stage.

I listened to the cast recordings of South Pacific and A Catered Affair and was once again diappointed. I had to listen to the bouyant Title of show (which is tranferring to Broadway next season) as an antidote.

I must confess that I was somewhat taken aback by Damien's review of South Pacific. I thought maybe he was having a bad day or something, but this is a faifly mudnane production. Kelly O'Hara is hugley disappointing as Nellie Forbush, her voice soundign way too thin for the character. Granted it's askign somethign for her to compete with Mary Martin, Mitzi Gaynor, Florence Henderson and Reba McIntire, but for most of the show she doesn't even try. Paulo Szot is also a bit of a disappointment, too, at least until his 11th hour rendition of This Nearly was Mine which is probably the best version of the song I've ever heard.

The one bright spot is Matthew Morrison who sings Lt. Cable's songs as though they were being sung for the first time. His Younger Than Springtime and its reprise are in addtiion to Szot's This Nearly was Mine, the show's highlights.

I didn't expect A Catered Affair to be a groundbreaking new musical. It's old-fashioned, but not in a good way. It doesn't come close to the great musicals of the era in which its set - teh 1950s, but it's not bad, either, and it feautres one really good song, Tom Wopat's I Stayed. Noen of Faith Prince's songs are as good, but she she signs them brilliantly.

Prince has become something of a chamelion. She evoked Vivian Blaine in Guys and Dolls and Judy Holliday in Bells Are Ringing to strong effect. Here she sounds like the Shirley Booth of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, so much so that I kept evisioning her in a revival of that great 1951 musical.

The sour note here is Harvey Fierstein who croaks his way through way too many songs for such a minor charater. If you remember the 1956 film with Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine and Debbie Reynolds, the part of the uncle played by Barry Fitzgerlad was kind of small. No so the musical, the book of which was written by Fierstein to give Fierstein the actor the opportunity to steal the thunder from the other actors.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1212950523

[cam]

For those of you who are interested, there are vdieo presentations of the Tony nominees at this site:

http://www.broadwayworld.com/tonyawards.cfm

[HarryGoldfarb]

I mentioned the exact opposite of this in the Drama Desk discussion...

Kerry Butler but no Cheyenne Jackson??