Post-Tony Thoughts

P!nk at the Tonys.
Yes, I took the picture from my TV set.

It's been more than a week since the Tony Awards and I've been struggling to figure out what I want to say about the annual celebration of all things Broadway. It was a fairly good production. When pop music star P!nk who has no theater credits at all and whose only connection to the Main Stem is a few of her songs are in the jukebox scores of Moulin Rouge and & Juliet, was announced as the hostess, I was skeptical. Was this merely a desperate ploy to get a new demographic to watch? Also there had been calls to boycott the Tonys because of CBS' parent company Paramount being taken over by the Trump-friendly Ellison family. (Also the producer of Tony winning Best Musical Schmigadoon! is evidently a big MAGA donor.)

To my surprise, P!nk acquitted herself quite well and humbly took on the role of an enthusiastic newcomer from another media not wishes to intrude on the party but to help make it fun. I could have done without the limp comic bits with Darren Criss pretending to be scared of leaping off the balcony and Ariana DeBose offering not-funny hostess advice. The opening number about leading ladies was clever, but I couldn't understand most of the lyrics. P!nk was spectacular in the Chicago tribute and it served as a knock-out audition for her to join the company. The Chorus Line tribute was unnecessary. Once again, the show ran close to four hours (if you count the Pluto TV pre-show) and just like last year they did not mention the Pluto winners on the CBS broadcast (except for the Outstanding Theater Teacher). And the Special Tony Honors winners--entertainment lawyer Loren Plotkin, stage manager Jake Bell, 1/52 Project, creative director Kenn Lubin and the League of Resident Theaters--weren't even mentioned at all. At least on the Oscars, they show clips of the Special Awards handed out earlier in the week.

I got 20 out of 26 right in my predictions. The only real surprise was Ali Louis Bourzgui winning Featured Actor in a Musical for The Lost Boys. I think the vote was split between Andre De Shields of Cats: The Jellicle Ball and Ben Levi Ross of Ragtime who won the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. I was especially glad for Schmigadoon! winning Best Musical, Book and Score. Maybe this will lead to Schmicago (the Apple TV series's second season) making to Broadway and the third season, Into the Schmoods, getting filmed by Apple.