"And Then To Get The Tchotchke!": 5 Stinky Thoughts on The 2007 Tony Awards

Thought #1: Maybe They Can Call Them The Angelas.
The Tony bug burrowed into StinkyLulu's soul during the big bad 80s, the decade abutting one of the best Tony broadcasts ever (1984) against one of the absolute worst (1985) and during which Angela Lansbury (at the crest of her Murder, She Wrote fame) became the first of a series of hosts brought in to "save" the Tonys' always beleaguered ratings (just like Rosie O'Donnell did a decade later, and Hugh Jackman did a few years after that). Indeed, LaLansbury will, in some ways, forever be the true host of The Tonys in StinkyLulu's Tony-lovin' heart. So, at the outset of Sunday's broadcast, 'twas truly a thrill to hear Miss Angela's resonant proclamation: "Welcome to the 61st Annual Tony Awards!" 'Tis a blend of old-school Broadway verve and my own particular nostalgia, & 'twill likely ever be one of Lu's favorite line-readings ever.

Thought #2: Audra McDonald Can Do Anything.
Jeepers.
This woman.
So sweet.
So accessible.
So versatile.
So talented.
Betcha she could even make Starlight Express emotionally compelling...

Thought #3: Yo, Tony Voters! Sometimes...
...I Just Hate You ...For Not Only Were Kiki & Herb Robbed... But So Were We! What oh what would it have been to witness Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman give an acceptance speech on national broadcast television? While David Hyde Pierce's coming out was sweet and elegantly accomplished, I would've must preferred the freaktastic queerness that would have inevitably snuck into the proceedings with Justin Bond on that stage. Ah well. At least you know that the devastating humiliation will provide Kiki excellent fodder for banter and repartee for, oh, forever. (Losing to a wooden puppet? Puh-leez.) But still. StinkyLulu officially registers hate for the Tony voters' insipid predisposition to convention on this one.

Thought #4: What?! I want to see The Color Purple?! How'd that happen?!
Ya gotta hand it to whoever it was who thought to cast American Idol's Fantasia in The Color Purple. LaChanze's "upset" win last year seemed an important reminder that, as sprawling a piece as it is, the story is really all about Celie and, as such, the musical provides an extraordinary star showcase for a youngish black woman with good pipes and lots of charisma. Fantasia's reviews have been solidly complimentary and her performance last night (somehow "in character" even though she was wearing a gothic wedding cake of a dress) gave an exciting enticement to see the show (even more than last year's LaChanze charmfest). Hey, put Melinda Doolittle in the touring production, why dontcha!

Thought #5: Spring Awakening's Rent Impression: False Advertising?
For perhaps the very first time ever, StinkyLulu actually had seen one of the best musical nominees prior to the broadcast. (Not only did StinkyLulu see Spring Awakening on a late January trip to NYC, but Lu subsequently rearranged a lecture course this past semester to incorporate a full day's attention to the new musical and the Wedekind original.) In the intervening months, StinkyLu's been rooting for Spring Awakening's success, while committing the original cast recording to memory. All of which made the medley/montage performed at Sunday's broadcast all the more treatsy. 'Twas excellent to see the female ensemble featured, as much of the media has been fascinated by the boys. 'Twas also nifty to be given a glimpse of three separate (and totally different) numbers, melded into a crowd-rousing commercial for Spring Awakening as RENT-redux. (Though 'tis false advertising of sorts. Because, while there is much leaping and some dancing on tables, Spring Awakening has no "La Vie Boheme" -- indeed, there's not a clearly celebratory song in the show. Indeed, while the show matches RENT's power of ensemble feeling, Spring Awakening's intelligence, complexity and emotional sophistication really stomps new circles in the "rock" musical as a form.) But the niftiest aspect of the curiously frankensteined number? The way they "adapted" the profanities to CBS standards and practices -- with some lyrics adapted, with other deleted lyrics created some of the night's most interesting theatre. The startling but evocative "gaps" in "Totally F*****" were amplified by additional choreography -- arms crossing in an "x" before the performer's mouth, index finger raised and shushing the lips, hands clasped across mouths -- gestures that both acknowledged the censorious nature of the adjustments while also elaborating upon them in ways totally in tune with the musical's style, tone and message. 'Twas one of those rare occasions in which a performance adapted cruelly for television adeptly communicated the original spirit of the piece, adding surprising elements rather than merely removing the offensive bits...

Who Knew? (AKA The Miracle of YouTube)

For a week, StinkyLulu's been thinking about Sheila. Sheila who, you might ask? Well. The only Sheila Lulu's ever loved...

See, ever since ModFab posted on the upcoming Broadway revival, and revealed that the character of Sheila is being played by (A) a black woman who happens to be (B) the extraordinary Deidre Goodwin, and (C) when MrStinky said he saw the promos while in San Francisco for (D) the very out-of-town tryout that The SceneStealer just saw... Well, it's been a romp through that special place in Lulu's heart on permanent lease to A Chorus Line.

Now, randomly perusing YouTube, StinkyLulu just happens to stumble across footage of the original Sheila's Tony acceptance speech.

That's Kelly Bishop? The mom from Dirty Dancing? The grandma on The Gilmore Girls? And any number of variously snotty, silly and bitchy dames through the years? Wowie. Kazowie. Lulu did not know that. So, not only does Lulu have a new favorite Tony acceptance speech, but also a fresh appreciation for the casting people on Dirty Dancing: Jerry Orbach & Kelly Bishop as Baby's parents? Now, that's genius...

The 2006 Tony Awards -- StinkyLulu's Recap

Ahh. The Morning after the Tonys.
Totally amazing, totally appalling.
The perfect Tony blend.
All that plus some actual surprises. And some genuinely good entertainment to boot. And though it always makes StinkyLulu unjustifiably sad when "Best Musical" awards a show with no new music (especially when the twirly disc goes to what Lulu's bud Sheepdog years ago termed a "popsical") & when "Best Play" goes to a British import, the evening did have its share of moments to savor... (Now all Lulu has to do is find someone with a VHS recording of the awards to recover the 30 minutes smackdab in the middle where Lulu's vcr recorded something on VH1...)

Something’s always a touch tragic when the Tony broadcast exposes just how anxious the broadcast’s producers/network executives are about the “stars” of the Tony’s (not) being recognized by “The Average CBS Viewer.” Typically, the roster of presenters -- TV/Movie folk with Broadway pasts or big Broadway dreams – assuages this producerly anxiety. Occasionally, the host really solves this problem (ie. Lansbury in the ‘80s, O’Donnell in the ‘90s & Jackman in the ‘00s). But the 2006 broadcast indulged Tony’s self-esteem anxiety at a whole new level – transforming The Tony Awards into “The Name Dropper” Show. Exploiting the theme (“60 Years of Tony”), it seemed like every award got a laundry list intro of past winners. Just exhausting. And sorta sad.

Oh Harry.
Even Patti Lupone was yanking to find your "distinctive" rhythm. And how do you get your hair to make such a plump poof.






StinkyLulu just loves/loved Michael Jeter. Starting with seeing his performance in 1990's Grand Hotel and on and on. Just thinking of him makes Lulu so so happy & so soo sad. And while Lulu's forever loathe to endorse anything involving Jane Krakowski, Jeter's is perhaps the most heart-stomping speeches in Lulu's Tony memory.

Those kooky Canadians.
Always reliable for arcanely personal detail.








Genius. Truly excellent little montage, excerpting from at least three numbers while also giving an excellent vibe for the production. So so sorry not to be able to see this one... (Just love the little clarinet lady off to stage left.)



StinkyLulu loves the "draw-muh" too, Rosie.







Poor Molly Ringwald. Guess being trapped for time-everlasting in the gordian knot of '80s nostalgia would make one go a little cross-eyed.





The aforementioned Sheepdog commented -- after seeing the the recent revival/thud, The Threepenny Opera -- that Lulu's beloved Cyndi "just looked out of place and lost" in it. Seeing her on the teevee, though, made Lulu think that Cyndi'd just rock a tv/movie musical. (Daresay it'd be better than even Björk.) A Lu can dream...

Ok. Happy for ya & all. Really. But that "baby in her belly" line. Ew. Sounds like that nastyfat character in the Austin Powers movies... And then the god stuff? Oh jeepers. Yes, your name is Christian but...do ya have to rub it in?




Ostensibly in tribute to Hal Prince's lifetime of achievement on Broadway, assorted Broadway Babies got to dress up in scenes from Cabaret, Sweeney Todd and (as here) West Side Story, etcetera etcetera -- sort of like a "living mannequin" exhibit at an all-Broadway department store. Woulda been nice if they had sung a little or danced a little but, as 'twas, the whole thang sorta gave Lulu the creeps, like one of those old Vincent Price wax museum movies...

Now that's the way to work a Leslie Uggams moment: really, totally, insanely BIG hair. Cute too (better than that copper helmet you got going now, Les). Had to love the way La Uggams talked about Groucho Marx & all his "comedy schticks"...




Strike 2 for Jersey Boys doing really trippy family values speeches. While squinting. Happy for ya. Really. But by the end of that elliptical speech about dead & not-dead mothers & father-son struggles & 2 people alone in a room of 6000: well, let's just say -- Lulu'd starting to want to go all Sweeney on your ass, kid.


From this distance, it's hard to tell what's NOT to just love about LaChanze...







Broadway producer types always look a little scary but everytime this guy trots up to snag a trophy -- it makes Lu giggle, in a half snarky, half skeeved way. He's like your friendly neighborhood Harley guy, the one with the guest room that's also a shrine to Ethel Merman. (Is this what big gay Uncle Tony actually looks like?)

Well. See ya next June.

The Tony Awards & the "Leslie Uggams Moment"

Another cross-post from ModFab...

There's always at least one moment in each Tony Award broadcast where some extraordinary confabulation of factors arrives to the stage & even StinkyLulu's left wondering: "Who but an unrepentant theatre freak would find this thrilling?" These moments, of course, become StinkyLulu's favorites but -- in a strange way -- they also stir Lulu's internalized Tony-phobia. "Does it have to be so...soo...sooo cheesy?!? People are watching!" (One great recent example came in 2004 with Hugh Jackman's fronting the Dreamgirls number, "One Night Only" (youtube video here) with 3 sets of 3 back-up singers. So divalicious, so gay, so wierd: surely the number itself flipped any number of baby divas/queens stuck in the provinces from latent to blatant in the space of 6 minutes.)

Not all of the heart-cloggingly cheese-tastic bits are such extravaganzas, however. Consider the case of Leslie Uggams, a fixture on Tony broadcasts for most of the 1980s. Every year the producers would trot her out to sing fragments of soaring Broadway songs, usually by Jerry Herman. Inevitably, about 3/4 the way through, there would be what Lulu's cohort of Tony watchers came to call the "Leslie Uggams Mist" -- where Uggams' eyes would sorta mist over with transcendent, anthemic emotion, whether or not the song needed/justified it or not. (One time, 1984, La Uggams did this no fewer than 4 times in a single broadcast. Really quite extraordinary. The YouTube capture below has a Leslie Uggams mist -- somewhere between the 26th & 29th secon -- hard to see in this capture but it's there.)



Over time, Lulu's come to call any appallingly, fabulously, absurdly over-the-top musical moment on the Tony Awards a "Leslie Uggams Moment" -- and, lovely ModFab reader, be sure to watch for your favorite such moment tonight!

StinkyLulu's Hope for the 60th Annual Tony Awards

Once again: a crosspost from ModFab...

StinkyLulu’s been watching the Tony Awards broadcast religiously for nigh on 25 years. And ever since the announcement of this year’s theme (“60th Annual Celebration of Excellence on Broadway”), Lulu’s been crossing relevant digits that the broadcast’s producers might revive one of the greatest Tony Award set-pieces ever: the 1986 tribute to “40 Years of Tony Award Winning Plays.”

The broadcast's producers assembled upwards of 30 actors to read one line from each of 39 plays awarded the “Best Play” Tony Award since 1946. (The 40th recipient was announced immediately following.) Some actors delivered the very lines they spoke in the original production – starting at the beginning with Jose Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac (1947-not sure how this counted but hey), moving on to Maureen Stapleton in The Rose Tattoo (1951), carrying all the way to Matthew Broderick in Biloxi Blues (1985). Other actors offered electrifying new interpretations – theatrical magic in miniature – like Colleen Dewhurst’s reading of the “She Knows!” line from The Miracle Worker (1960)

But of course, in the best teevee variety show tradition, other moments lapsed – in a genius way – toward the absurd: Stefanie Powers doing a line from The Cocktail Hour, Marlo Thomas doing a bit from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and Lulu’s favorite of all -- Sandy Duncan delivering the signature line from the 1956 Best Play:

“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

Sandy Duncan. As Anne Frank. Only on the Tony Awards.

Hopefully, the producers trot out something just as brainsprainingly fabulous for Tony's 60th.

On the Tony Awards: A View from the Provinces...

This week, StinkyLulu's helping out over at the amazing ModFab. While over there, Lulu'll be offering thoughts about the Tony broadcast. The first post is reproduced below:

The first Sunday evening in June has always been a nearly sacred time for StinkyLulu. Why? Well, traditionally, the first Sunday's the night of the Tony Awards broadcast. The one night every year that everyone's big gay uncle Tony would arrive -- bestowing gifts of songs, spectaculars & sequins to keep the wee sissies & big voiced girls in fabulousness for another year.

Yes, the first Sunday night in June has historically been that one night when BroadWAYYYY -- thanks to Uncle Tony -- would let it all hang out on national teevee. ('Member when CBS usedta have that clickety swirling "Special Presentation" graphic -- that thing gave little Lulu the piddly pants chills.) And, in the high desert adobe abode of little Lulu, uncle Tony's visits have always been much more exciting than Santa's. (Even more, being two parts Ginger & three parts MaryAnn, Lulu's adulthood has been split between being a country mouse and a city mouse -- & big gay Uncle Tony has remained Lulu's most reliable annual connection to the experience of Broadway.)

As you can see, lovely ModFab readers, the weekend of Uncle Tony's visit is something of a special occasion, 'specially out here in the provinces. And over the next coupla days, StinkyLulu's gonna celebrate some memories -- good & bad, the best & the worst -- of Uncle Tony's visits via broadcast. So, check back -- & start stirring that memory pot of your'n to share your favorite visits from Uncle Tony...

*ps: Anyone out there in internetland got the poop on why the "1st Sunday in June" tradition was defiled this year?