Wow. Who would have thought you'd ever see a Tony Awards broadcast where Mike Tyson got more camera time than Nathan Lane?
I hope you tuned in if only for that opening. I'm serious when I wrote earlier it was the best production number I've ever seen on an awards show. The big problem with it was that the rest of the ceremony couldn't follow it. Host Neil Patrick Harris wore us all out in the first few minutes and thereafter, the opening of envelopes — and some of the production numbers from current shows and nominees — seemed like a letdown.
The critic for the New York Times said of the song from Matilda, "If that show's number didn't produce an instant spike in ticket sales, there's no hope for the theater." Sure didn't make me want to rush for the box office and neither did the performance from the show that won Best Musical, Kinky Boots. The revival of Pippin, maybe…and didja notice that as it picked up award after award, it wasn't until the final one that an accepter gave a proper shout-out to Bob Fosse? I kinda liked the scenes from Motown, A Christmas Story, Cinderella and Annie; didn't like the others.
I didn't much care for the idea of having songs introduced by "characters" from ongoing musicals…and I felt sorry for the actors who were not identified by their names but only by their roles. I see a few folks on the 'net complaining that too many acceptance speeches are delivered by producers and not by the people who actually wrote and created the winning shows. I agree with that. But I think my biggest kvetch was the disappearance of Mr. Harris from so much of the proceedings. He was great whenever he appeared but he didn't really host the show. Announcer Randy Thomas did and Harris popped up now and then.
Still, I enjoyed the show tremendously. There were some wonderful thank-yous…Billy Porter's and Cicely Tyson's, in particular. There was a genuine love of theater in the room. There were no dull moments. And even though I haven't seen Kinky Boots, I was delighted to see Cyndi Lauper win and be so visibly moved.
Many years ago, I co-produced a CBS special with Ms. Lauper and two other folks. The show came out okay but I didn't get along with Cyndi. I was a tremendous fan of her as a performer and I'm sure she never believed that. She was new to TV production and it fell to me to correct her mistakes and tell her that so much of what she wanted to do was technically and/or financially impossible. I've worked with people I didn't like or respect so I was unbothered by them not liking or trusting me. I liked Cyndi Lauper — liked her a lot — so I was unhappy that we argued so much and wound up not speaking. I expect she's forgotten the whole, unpleasant experience but I haven't…and I'm not the least bit surprised to see her become an important and successful composer for the Broadway stage.
Anyway, the Tony Awards were great…and one more thing about Mike Tyson: I know there are people in America who catch a little of this show and are appalled to see so many gay people on their television screens. I wonder if any of them were bothered by the violent, convicted rapist. Say what you will about Harvey Fierstein but he never bit anyone's ear off. I don't think.