Monday, June 12, 2006

The Tony Awards! JERSEY BOYS wins Best Musical -- Oh What a Night!

My family and I had a blast last night watching the Tonys! We downloaded the Tony ballot (weird note: they included a typo -- twice -- for the word "Revival", spelled "Revivial"...) and each of us had two ballots -- one for our "WISH to win" list and one for our "WILL win" list. It was really great having it all organized and right in front of us. There were many screams of delight and of agony throught the evening. I have to admit with glee that I won the evenings game with 16 right for "WILL win" and I tied with my oldest daughter Myrna at 15 for "WISH to win".

It was a fun evening, with some great musical performances, but there were some things I missed -- Hugh Jackman (is it in his X-MEN contract that he must completely disassociate himself from all things musical theatre?) wasn't hosting and wasn't even presenting. I really missed having a host. I was nonplussed by the "60 stars for 60 years" bit. I mean, they always have stars presenting the Tonys even when they have a host, so what's the big deal?

And the tribute to Hal Prince was a bit low key. I'm not sure I would have left Vegas for that either. And I love Harry Connick Jr., as much as the next gal, but his opening musical number was uber low key.

On the bright side, I thought the numbers from the nominated musicals were great and very well done -- THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, THE PAJAMA GAME, THE WEDDDING SINGER, JERSEY BOYS, THE COLOR PURPLE, THE THREEPENNY OPERA, and SWEENEY TODD.

It was great to see the DROWSY Canucks win for best book and score of a musical -- congrats, eh!

One of the most touching moments of the evening was John Lloyd Young accepting his Tony for best actor in a musical (I scored two points on that one -- WISH and WILL!) and thanking his father. Even my husband teared up.

All in all a good time was had by all. And for those who missed it, here's how it played out according to this article in Playbill:

Winners are indicated below with an asterisk and boldface type.

BEST MUSICAL
The Color Purple
The Drowsy Chaperone
*Jersey Boys
The Wedding Singer

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Sutton Foster, The Drowsy Chaperone
*La Chanze, The Color Purple
Patti LuPone, Sweeney Todd
Kelli O'Hara, The Pajama Game
Chita Rivera, Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Michael Cerveris, Sweeney Todd
Harry Connick, Jr., The Pajama Game
Stephen Lynch, The Wedding Singer
Bob Martin, The Drowsy Chaperone
*John Lloyd Young, Jersey Boys

BEST PLAY
*The History Boys
The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Rabbit Hole
Shining City

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
*The Pajama Game
Sweeney Todd
The Threepenny Opera

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Ralph Fiennes, Faith Healer
*Richard Griffiths, The History Boys
Zeljko Ivanek, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
Oliver Platt, Shining City
David Wilmot, The Lieutenant of Inishmore

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Kate Burton, The Constant Wife
Judy Kaye, Souvenir
Lisa Kron, Well
*Cynthia Nixon, Rabbit Hole
Lynn Redgrave, The Constant Wife

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Danny Burstein, The Drowsy Chaperone
Jim Dale, The Threepenny Opera
Brandon Victor Dixon, The Color Purple
Manoel Felciano, Sweeney Todd
*Christian Hoff, Jersey Boys

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Carolee Carmello, Lestat
Felicia P. Fields, The Color Purple
Megan Lawrence, The Pajama Game
*Beth Leavel, The Drowsy Chaperone
Elisabeth Withers-Mendes, The Color Purple

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
*Awake and Sing!
The Constant Wife
Edward Albee's Seascape
Faith Healer

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
*John Doyle, Sweeney Todd
Kathleen Marshall, The Pajama Game
Des McAnuff, Jersey Boys
Casey Nicholaw, The Drowsy Chaperone

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (MUSIC AND/OR LYRICS) WRITTEN FOR THE THEATRE
The Color Purple, Music & Lyrics: Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray
*The Drowsy Chaperone, Music & Lyrics: Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison
The Wedding Singer, Music: Matthew Sklar; Lyrics: Chad Beguelin
The Woman in White, Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber; Lyrics: David Zippel

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL
Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy, The Wedding Singer
Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, Jersey Boys
*Bob Martin and Don McKellar, The Drowsy Chaperone
Marsha Norman, The Color Purple

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
*Nicholas Hytner, History Boys
Wilson Milam, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Bartlett Sher, Awake and Sing!
Daniel Sullivan, Rabbit Hole

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Rob Ashford, The Wedding Singer
Donald Byrd, The Color Purple
*Kathleen Marshall, The Pajama Game
Casey Nicholaw, The Drowsy Chaperone

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Tyne Daly, Rabbit Hole
*Frances de la Tour, History Boys
Jayne Houdyshell, Well
Alison Pill, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Zoe Wanamaker, Awake and Sing!

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Samuel Barnett, The History Boys
Domhnall Gleeson, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
*Ian McDiarmid, Faith Healer
Mark Ruffalo, Awake and Sing!
Pablo Schreiber, Awake and Sing!

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
John Lee Beatty, The Color Purple
*David Gallo, The Drowsy Chaperone
Derek McLane, The Pajama Game
Klara Zieglerova, Jersey Boys

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY
John Lee Beatty, Rabbit Hole
*Bob Crowley, The History Boys
Santo Loquasto, Three Days of Rain
Michael Yeargan, Awake and Sing!

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
*Gregg Barnes, The Drowsy Chaperone
Susan Hilferty, Lestat
Martin Pakledinaz, The Pajama Game
Paul Tazewell, The Color Purple

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY
Michael Krass, The Constant Wife
Santo Loquasto, A Touch of the Poet
*Catherine Zuber, Awake and Sing!
Catherine Zuber, Seascape

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Ken Billington and Brian Monahan, The Drowsy Chaperone
*Howell Binkley, Jersey Boys
Natasha Katz, Tarzan
Brian MacDevitt, The Color Purple

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY
Christopher Akerlind, Awake and Sing!
Paul Gallo, Three Days of Rain
Mark Henderson, Faith Healer
*Mark Henderson, The History Boys

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS
Larry Blank, The Drowsy Chaperone
Dick Lieb and Danny Troob, The Pajama Game
Steve Orich, Jersey Boys
*Sarah Travis, Sweeney Todd

SPECIAL TONY AWARD
*Sarah Jones (writer and star of Bridge & Tunnel)

REGIONAL THEATRE TONY AWARD
*Intiman Theatre in Seattle, WA

SPECIAL TONY AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN THE THEATRE
*Harold Prince

The total number of awards received by each production follows:

The History Boys - 6
The Drowsy Chaperone - 5
Jersey Boys - 4
The Pajama Game - 2
Sweeney Todd - 2
Awake and Sing! - 2
Faith Healer - 1
Rabbit Hole - 1
The Color Purple - 1

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posted by Suzy Conn at 6:11 PM  

6 Comments:

Congratulations to the winners. I didn't have any major issues with any of the winners, and the musical performances were mostly good (although I thought the Jersey Boys number made it feel like a cruise ship musical, and couldn't Threepenny Opera have found a way to include Jim Dale).

However, I thought the actual production of the awards show was awful. I think the producers are trying to kill American theatre. The opening was dull and the lack of a host made the evening disjointed. The writing for the presenters was neither witty, clever, or moving. The biggest laugh of the night was a weak, cheap Republican bashing joke (how original). Fortunately, many of the presenters couldn't read the teleprompter anyway. The special segments were amateurish (particularly the segment honoring those who have died in the last year and the embarrassing segment involving the Spamalot cast). Finally, the segment "honoring" Hal Prince just made me cringe and my wife laugh out loud. Onstage tableau's of his productions followed by 30 seconds from Phantom was the best they could come up with? Disgraceful.

This was one of the worst Tony's telecasts I have seen. And it was particularly depressing being reminded of great moments from previous telecasts throughout the night. Broadway deserves better than this. Everyone knows that the actual awards are a silly pretense to allow Broadway to showcase it's talent to America. Some of that talent was able to shine through on Sunday, but much of it was overshadowed by a boring production. At best, this year's broadcast failed to generate any excitement about theatre. At worst, this may be the final appearance of the Tony's on network television.
Anonymous, at 8:58 AM  
I don't why, but my wife and I both enjoyed the Tony Awards. The production was unimaginative - but tight. The acceptance speeches were good, but weren't we promised more "Tony Moment" recollections by previous winners? What did we get - 2 or 3? Surely more could have been done with that.
I wondered at the time if the tribute to Hal Prince wasn't truncated when they discovered that he wouldn't get on a plane and come to New York for the honour.... but then, I remembered the tribute to Stephen Sondheim last year when the chose to honour him with a song from West Side Story... hardly his favourite (quite the opposite) or his best work. So, maybe the Hal Prince thing was weak from the get go.
What was Joe Pesci's connection to the Four Seasons? And were there three with Joe... but then, four when Jersey Boys won best musical?

As for Harry... he is a great piano player and a wonderful crooner. I've seen him twice in concert and would go again... but he ain't no stage singer and that was painfully obvious in the opening number.
I loved the Drowsy Chaperone number - but then I've seen it in two earlier incarnations, so I'm a fan. I also used to go to church with Don McKellar when I was a kid.... so there's my brush with greatness.
The perfect Tony Awards would be Christine Ebersole, followed by more Christine Ebersole.... a little Bebe Neuwerth and then finish up with Christine Ebersole.
Well, if the ever ask me to produce, at least I've begun my notes.
Brighterbuc, at 12:09 PM  
Oh... and the Three Penny Opera number was outstanding!
Brighterbuc, at 12:09 PM  
I believe one of the four original Four Seasons died about a couple of years ago, if memory serves, so only Franki, Bob and Nick were there. I'm not sure who the fourth guy was you saw...

As for Joe Pesci's connection, when you see the show you'll know -- I would post it, but I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise at the end. As it was protrayed in the show, he really did play a crucial role.

I saw Christine Ebersole in 42nd St. a while back and she was fabulous. I'm sorry I missed her in Grey Gardens, but I hear it is transferring so there's hope.
Suzy Conn, at 12:39 PM  
From New York Daily News: "If Harry Connick Jr. seemed a little dazed during his opening monologue, it was due to his pain medication. The "Pajama Game" star had ruptured a disk in his back, but stuck to the program and did his number anyway. "
Anonymous, at 1:54 PM  
Just came across your blog and am loving it!

I'm a Toronto girl so obviously am thrilled with the big Drowsy wins...

BTW I'm going to steal your 'wish' and 'will' ballot idea next year.
miss tracey nolan, at 9:08 PM  

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