BLOGS

Just Jack 2010! Or, The Best and Worst of This Year's Tony Awards

It was a lackluster year for musicals and a great year for plays, but, alas, the gay prom must go on. Last night's televised Tonys event (yes, they still televise the Tonys) was star-studded, upset-filled and full of enormous and pretentious egos. Host Sean Hayes was funny for the most part, and overall it was a fabulous way to spend a Sunday evening. But there were lowlights, of course. Read on as I list the best and worst parts of the show.

Worst: Glee
Way to bring the kids in, guys. Schuester was boring but fine, but the Tonys audience needs another tyrannical karaoke version of "Don't Rain on My Parade" in their lives like a damn hole in the head, and Lea Michele knows it. That girl is out of control.

Best: Mark Sanchez
Let's forgive the quarterback's decidedly less-than-stellar taste in musicals (Memphis is his favorite show? Ugh) and just be thankful that he's hot, straight and a theater fan. J-E-T-S!

Worst: The Movie Stars Sweep
Yes, Broadway is very grateful for the money that employing a record number of famous actors brings in and they wanted to express that, but c'mon -- ScarJo beating Jessica Hecht? Catherine Zeta-Jones besting Sherie Renee Scott and Kate Baldwin? And though Denzel Washington was amazing in Fences, his entire category was populated by film greats, or stage actors who are also famous for big-ass movies -- Jude Law, Christopher Walken, Liev Schreiber and Alfred Molina. They were all good -- Molina in particular -- but movie stars aren't the only people working on Broadway, and it just seemed sad that actors without a prolific SAG resume were shut out by the money makers.

Best: The Celebrities Show Up
Ryan Reynolds! Ricky Martin! Harry Potter! Michael Douglas! Beyoncé! Will Smith! It was almost like watching a real awards show.

Worst: Sean Hayes and The Cheno Make Out
With tongue! With egregious tongue! The controversy over gay men not being able to play straight has been thoroughly addressed and dismissed as ridiculous. No need to watch Sean Hayes's tongue being jammed into Kristin Chenoweth's mouth on national television to further disprove the point, thanks.

Worst: American Idiot
It's Rent with strobe lights, people. It's time to stop making such a big deal about it.

Best: The Not-So-Bitterly Snubbed
Kristin Chenoweth was rightly snubbed for her miscast, disaster of a performance in Promises, Promises, and Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane were overlooked for the joke that is The Addams Family, but at least they all had a good sense of humor about it. Kristin's fake acceptance speech got laughs and Nathan Lane calling the night "Passover" while drinking from a flask on stage showed a rare bout of humility while still being pretty funny. No joke here, I just liked it.

Worst: Ragtime's Performance
No "Your Daddy's Son"? No "Wheels of a Dream"? Why choose the least memorable and least engaging song from the entire show? Is Audra McDonald's legacy that intimidating? Though I do have to say, if you've never heard Christiane Noll's version of "Just Around the Riverbend" from Pocahontas, you should. It is hilarious.

Best: Upsets!
Fela! was supposed to win everything, La Cage aux Folles wasn't supposed to win much and Memphis wasn't supposed to win anything. By the end of the night Fela! had only won one televised award (for choreography), La Cage had won three, and Memphis had taken home best musical. Looks like Jay-Z (producer of Fela!) and Beyonce came out for nothing. Delicious.

If you are also lame enough to record the premiere of True Blood just so you could watch the Tonys live, discuss your thoughts about the show below! No shame here!

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11 Comments

June 14, 2010 1:10 PM
nixxnutz
Reply

Worst for me was Catherine Zeta Jones's choppy, static, very affected performance of "Send In the Clowns" from A Little Night Music. Is that how she sings it every night in the show? What is Sondheim thinking? At age 80, maybe he doesn't care anymore.

June 14, 2010 1:37 PM
Kaitlin
Reply

I actually liked Lea singing "Don't Rain on My Parade." Mostly because I'm pretty sure she wants to be Fanny Brice in the revival of Funny Girl. And I fully support that. How she'd do that while filming Glee, being oddly close with her BFF Jonathan Groff (who I absolutely love) and basically taking over the world (though NPH did it better), I have no idea. And yes, I did actually watch the Tony's live and record True Blood.

June 14, 2010 1:42 PM
Barb
Reply

"Back to Before" is my favorite song from Ragtime; LOVED that they included it. (Also, the most logical, seeing how Christiane Noll was up for Best Actress.)

And how could you leave out the horrific "Send in the Clowns"? Clearly the low point of the show. I have no idea how CZJ won for that.

June 14, 2010 2:11 PM
Deni Dietz
Reply

Worst - by far - was "Send in the Clowns." It sounded like a really bad American Idol audition.

I love "Back to Before" but, c'mon, we're taking Ragtime. No dancing? No chorus?

Anyone else getting tired of revivals? Just me? Okay, then.

June 14, 2010 2:15 PM
Claudia
Reply

Catherine Zeta-Jones is just getting over being sick (she was out of the show for a full week) and the slow, breathy rendition of "Send in the Clowns" was Trevor Nunn's direction, not CZJ's choice. The night I saw her, she sounded much better, even if she still did the phrasing that everybody seems to hate. Also, she fully deserved the award, unlike some of the other Hollywood stars who won. Nearly everyone had her listed as the front-runner, and she won the Drama Desk Award (tied with Montego Glover).

Of course they did "Back to Before" from Ragtime. Christiane Noll was nominated for Leading Actress and the show has been closed for months. If you really expected the producers to spend more money on pulling thirty-something costumes out of storage and paying all those actors to come out and promote a dead show, you really have no idea how this works. At all.

June 14, 2010 4:35 PM
Megan
Reply

Liev Schreiber is a great actor and has a commendable performance resume far lengthier than his movie credits.

June 15, 2010 11:11 AM
angie
Reply

I'm sorry, but I attened the Tonys on Sunday and I really think you got a lot of this wrong. Most of the audience was expecting Memphis and La Cage aux Folles to win -not upsets at all. Christiane Noll in Ragtime was the only song the show really could do, and it wound up being one of the best performances (and it was the performances, not the stars, that made the evening great for any true theatre fan). Lastly, while I agree Zeta-Jones was a complete trainwreck and undeserving of her win, Johasson was fabulous in A View from the Bridge. Oh, and Morrison was very far from boring -surprsingly impressive actually.

June 15, 2010 2:26 PM
Julie
Reply

Wow, tell us how you really feel? Do you like musicals or did just get assigned to ths article and complete it begrudgingly?

I thought Lea Michele was a bit over the top for the tv audience - she was clearly auditioning and I heard from a friend who attended that she brought down the house...but Matthew Morrison was utterly charming.

June 16, 2010 4:33 PM
Dee
Reply

I liked most of the Tony's! The Green Day performance was annoying and not necessary. Sean Hayes was delightful though (minus the kiss... though the "I know what you're thinking...she's too short for me" was amusing.)
I didn't mind how CZJ sang Send in the Clowns. The thing that bothered me was that her head was erratic and she messed up the lyrics! GRRRRRR.
I loved Scarlet's performance and wanted both her and Liev to win.... I also wanted Sean Hayes to win... but oh, well.... Fela is a crap show. You cant understand any of the words. I am also annoyed at the streak that RED had.... what a boring show. And sherie is an amazing actress/vocalist, but what was up with her performance??? It was awful.... ANYWAY enough with my rant!

June 17, 2010 9:25 AM
Frank
Reply

Lea started off a little rocky but ended strong. I wish she sand something different only becasue I heard it before but it is a classic Bway hit so why not. It was the only reason I continued to watch and yes I watch every year. Beside her performance and Green Day I was unimpressed with all of the others. If Fela went on longer I would have left the room.

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