Tonys 2025 thoughts

I don't really watch awards show very much anymore. At some point I stopped going to the movies, even watching movies at home less. And while I certainly do still watch television, a lot of what I watch isn't really in the conversation when it comes to awards. And I was never enough into music to want to watch the Grammys. But the Tonys? I will forever watch and have opinions on the Tonys. Have I seen any of the nominated shows? I have not. But I still have thoughts.

Things I loved:

• The Hamilton performance. You should all be grateful this blog was dormant when I went through my Hamilton obsession, because let me tell you, it was all-encompassing. A musical about the Founding Fathers from Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose In the Heights I loved? Yes please! The reunion of the OBC was fabulous and brought my affection right back. Lin seemed a bit nervous in his part of "My Shot," but Daveed kicking ass on "Guns and Ships" was delightful. 
• OK, pretty much all the performances. I wish the sound were better so I could've understood Operation Mincemeat a bit more (how I want to see that show!), but overall, I was very impressed all around. This really was a good season, and I know there were shows missing. 
• AUDRA. Holy crap. Was her voice on point? It was not. Was I still completely riveted, to the point that my husband was staring at me oddly? I was. 
• Cole Escola's tribute to Bernadette Peters. I don't have much interest in Oh Mary! (maybe someday), but they seem delightful and looked amazing.
• Having Brian Stokes Mitchell do the voiceovers. I love him so much. His voice is magic. It he isn't on stage singing "This Nearly Was Mine," at least we heard his dulcet tones throughout the night. 
• Sara Bareilles and Cynthia Erivo's duet for In Memoriam. Their voices together were just absolutely lovely. And Cynthia holding Sara after Gavin Creel appeared on the board...tears. Just devastating.
• Cynthia Erivo's bit about Jonathan Groff (though I didn't need the Lincoln joke told in the same segment; it was just unoriginal!).
• Natalie Venetia Belcon's win for Supporting Actress in a musical for Buena Vista Social Club. The show looks fun, and I saw her as Gary Coleman in Avenue Q! 
• Michael Arden's "If there are any queer people watching tonight..." 

Things that were meh: 

• I liked the concept of the opening number; nobody can argue with Cynthia Erivo's voice. But it just...did nothing for me. That's due, in part, to the troubles the broadcast was having with sound; part of my issue is that I don't think I picked up what she was saying. But also, I want a lot of dancing with my Tonys openers. That's just how I roll. Obligatory link to The Best Tonys Opener Ever:
• I thought I'd like the Pirates! performance more than I did. I love David Hyde Pierce and Ramin Karimloo and have heard nothing but good things about Jinx Monsoon. But it just didn't hold my attention. 
• The Death Becomes Her performance was so fun, but I was bummed I didn't get to see Jennifer Simard perform after all I've heard about her. But still...Megan Hilty.
• Cynthia Erivo's bit with Oprah and the car. 

Things I didn't like:

• Nicole Scherzinger's performance/win. And really the concept for the Sunset Blvd. revival. Nothing I've seen about that makes me want to see it; from what I've read, it's extremely polarizing. Her voice? Fab. Holding that note at the end? Impressive. Otherwise? No. Pass.
• Having to miss the first hour of the show because I don't have whatever random streamer was airing them. I want to see those awards! I want to see Harvey Fierstein and Celia Keenan-Bolger honored!
• The inconsistency of people being played off during their acceptance speeches (though I loved the song used for it). 

 

Looking for lighter fare

Naturally I watched the Emmys last night--I love award shows and I love television. It's a can't miss. And the opening was just a complete win.



And John Hodgman is also awesome. The show started off well enough; I was hoping for an NPH win, but Eric Stonestreet is great on Modern Family. Jim Parsons is fabulous in Big Bang Theory, so I was psyched for him. I'm not the biggest Sue Sylvester fan, but Jane Lynch gave a fantastic acceptance speech.

As the night went on, though, I realized something. I don't watch dramas on tv. I watched Lost, but it's done. I have the entire second season of The Mentalist on my DVR, and the second half of Flash Forward. I couldn't get into The Good Wife and don't watch House for some unknown reason (yes, I know that Hugh Laurie is fantastic). Breaking Bad? The Wire? Mad Men? Nope, nope, nope. I watched part of the first season of Mad Men, but didn't care enough to keep going.

I could probably get into some of them, but there are a lot that I just can't get motivated for. I can't cope with dark, dark, dark, and it seems like a lot of the dramas on tv these days tend to be very dark. I'm sure these are good shows with great acting, etc. I just think that right now in my life, I prefer entertainment that makes me happy.

I don't love farce THAT much

I'm not going to say much about last night's Tony Awards. The plays looked way more interesting than the musicals--I'd love to see all of the plays up for Best Play.

The low point, though, was clearly Catherine Zeta Jones's "Send in the Clowns." Weird pauses, insane head gestures, overacting...no. No no no no no. Some people are trying to say that it makes sense in the context of the show, but I've seen A Little Night Music and no, it doesn't. HERE'S how you do "Send in the Clowns":



Yeah, I still need to get the horror of CZJ's version (and her WIN! NO!) out of my head. I think I know what will help...



Mmm. Much better. (I LOVE "All I Need Is the Girl"! Hearts, Matt Morrison!)

Oh what a beautiful evening

So of course I watched the Oscars. How could I not? Even if didn't watch every year, they had Hugh Jackman host. I love him. He was awesome hosting the Tonys, he's dreamy, he can sing and dance. The Oscars didn't really need to try to get me to watch, but man. Hugh Jackman.

And he didn't disappoint. I liked the show, overall. Liked the opening number, particularly the admission of not seeing The Reader. Now, you'd think that I'd like the salute to movie musicals. I love musicals. I love production numbers. I love montages. I love Hugh Jackman. There's nothing bad here, right? Yet, as I watched, I was trying to figure out why it left me cold. It got to "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray, which I adore, and I was like, "This should be awesome. What's wrong?" I got annoyed at that point because the tempo of the song was much slower than it should've been. I just feel like it wasn't put together as well as it could've been. And then Hugh said that it was done by Baz Luhrmann. And there was my answer. His stuff just leaves me cold. I almost walked out in the middle of Romeo + Juliet and was meh on Moulin Rouge, for all that it had an adorable Ewan McGregor singing. Someone make him step away from songs I like, OK?

One thing I'm not sure about is having the past winners present the nominations. There were times when it really worked (Shirley MacLaine/Anne Hathaway), but a lot of the time, I was kind of like, "Blah blah blah." And it did prevent us from getting clips of the nominated performances. But, man, I wouldn't take that moment away from Anne Hathaway and the others for whom it was clearly very meaningful. So I don't know. Maybe make it shorter. However, I'd like to point out that since we didn't get clips from the movie, this didn't extend the show, like some people claim.

The other thing I don't know about is adding the clips from previous Oscar winners to the Best Picture clips. Again, I get why they did it. It just didn't always work. I'd put that in the "Interesting Experiment, But Let's Scrap It For Next Year" pile.

In all, though, I quite enjoyed it. Because, really, anything that involves Hugh Jackman singing can't be bad.

Priorities

The Emmys are tonight and I'm a sucker for awards shows, but tonight it's on against something I couldn't miss--the last game at Yankee Stadium. I grew up in the New York area, going to games, and love baseball. The last game at Yankee Stadium just completely trumps the Emmys, so while I'll flip over during commercials, my eyes are on the Orioles and the Yankees, and the memories.

Baseball in pop culture? Check out Pride of the Yankees and 61*. They're both most definitely worth your time. (And then be sure to check out the video of Lou Gehrig's speech. Can't help but choke up.)

Sing "This Nearly Was Mine," dammit!

So of course I watched the Tonys. Like I can resist! Some thoughts...

• I don't feel that bad for Patti LuPone getting played off the stage, even though, as she said "It's been 29 years!" since she won. Lady, you've won before. I guess I can't feel that bad for her, you know? Also, I wasn't particularly blown away by the bit from Gypsy.
• The tribute to Rent was because it's closing, right? I think I remember reading that. Because otherwise, random. And did they honestly have to tell the story behind it again? Good Lord, people, everyone watching the Tonys already knows it. I've never been a Rent-head, so the whole thing was meh, particularly since they original cast was recently brought together again for the movie. And the fact that they performed "La Vie Boheme," which really just epitomizes what I don't like about that show--there's just something that strikes me as pretentious about being all, "We're all different and that makes us superior and real and people in the suburbs are boring!" It's all pissing me off in a book I'm reading, so really, that song was the last thing I wanted to hear. Anyway. Daniel Evans was cute singing along to "Seasons of Love," though!
• It was cool seeing Max and Laura in the Grease bit. Of course I had watched Grease: You're the One That We Want (or whatever it was called) (and yes, I am watching Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods, what of it?), so it was nice seeing them. They both seemed to be doing pretty well, and I'm glad for them.
• I was a bit bummed that there wasn't a long tributed to Sondheim (who actually got a lifetime achievement award, Rent; you were all, "Blah blah, we changed theater!" Yeah, well, so did Sondheim, only he did it better). Loved the little acceptance speech he sent, though I do wonder where he is. And interesting choice for the song from Sunday in the Park With George, which I love love loved when I saw it. "Move On" is one of my favorite songs from it.
• Totally bummed that they didn't do "This Nearly Was Mine" in the South Pacific performance. Seriously, that song is awesome. It was kind of weird watching that, because the other night I was watching the Lincoln Center concert of it. What's that? You want to see Brian Stokes Mitchell performing it? Well, I can't say no to that.
• I did enjoy the snippets from older shows, though not necessarily the addition of Whoopi Goldberg to them. It might've been nice to have something for Phantom, as it was 20 years ago that it won the Tony. And what was with the highlights from previous Tonys? There were only, like, two. Seemed a bit random.
• I really liked the In the Heights song; at first I had wondered what the one guy's acceptance speech had been about (and by "wondered about" I mean "was a bit annoyed by") (I still kind of am, but at least it makes more sense now; I mean, can he not just talk normally?). If it makes it to D.C., I might have to check it out.
• It's impressuive how it consistently ends on time, even with the insanely long commercial breaks.
• I was eh on the Crybaby song, but I really liked the choreography. The license plates on the feet was awesome. And I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the selection from Xanadu.
• Passing Strange was interesting; I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I really liked it at first, then a little less when Stew started singing. I think I'd need to hear the entire thing before going to see it. And the lead guy (not Stew; Daniel Breaker) looks familiar, but I haven't seen him in anything. Mysterious.

After the show ended, I was flipping around and caught a bit of the TV Land Awards, which seems to be hosted by Vanessa Williams, who looked a bit pissed off when I saw her. I'm sure that it's prerecorded, but my theory is that she's pissed that she wasn't asked to present at the Tonys.

(And how funny was it when Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths presented? You could tell that Daniel was cracking up, all, "We were this close to no Harry Potter references!" At least he was amused, not pissed. And they were so cute together!)

You need a montage

Unlike, oh, pretty much most other people, I love the montages during awards shows. Love them. It seems like every year, people complain about the montages. And I can understand why. The show already runs so long, why just make it longer? But I can't help it. I'd rather forgo acceptance speeches than get rid of the montage.

I wish I could explain it. Maybe it's the delight at recognizing a movie I've seen, or it's that my flea-sized attention span enjoys a series of quick images. Or maybe it's that a montage shows the best moments of whatever the montage is about.

And it's not confined to awards shows. Possibly the best montage is the makeover montage in a movie. There is nothing like seeing the heroine model a bunch of different outfits and hairstyles in rapidfire succession. (That alone makes me want to see 27 Dresses). And, naturally, there's the training montage. Who wants to waste precious minutes seeing the hero train for months? A rock song and a couple of minutes, and look! He or she is ready to face evil.

(I admit I'm also a sucker for shipper montages on YouTube. I've spent many a happy hour watching Jim/Pam and Veronica/Logan videos. Yes, my life is that pathetic.) (I'm talking pathetic to the point of not being able to hear Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" without thinking of the Karen/Jim/Pam video. Because it's awesome.)

That being said, I'm meh on montages of people getting handed awards. It's kind of sweet seeing, say, an old Charlie Chaplin, but I don't really need to reminisce about last year's Oscars.