If you're wondering why I'm not offering commentary on the Tony awards/telecast, that's because I've been rendered deaf, dumb, and blind by the travesty that was Aretha Franklin singing Bernstein, the camera's slight of Jerry Orbach in the Memoriam section, the embarassing high school quality that was Christina ("not a great singer/performer, but she's so spunky"...) Applegate's performance, and those horrible off-key versions of "Somewhere" in the TIAA Cref commercials.
Oh how I miss Broadway, real awe-inspiring Broadway. And oh, how old I sound saying that.
Posted by rightmoon at June 5, 2005 11:44 PMI haven't watched the Tony Awards in years, but it did seem more plastic and silly than I remember it.
Also ... you can always count me a big fan of the Queen of Soul. But ... Ms. Franklin's rendition of 'Somewhere' went nowhere. She looked so labored in her breathing, often trailing Hugh Jackman in an off-key wail.
Maybe next year, as they say.
The New York theatre community is comprised of the most singularly talented people in the nation. Every day I get to see this amazing community at work in auditions, rehearsal rooms, readings, benefit concerts, regional and touring shows, Broadway productions, and everything else. Day after day, I see the artistry of the community and get to experience the beauty and power of live theatre.
Why is it that on the one night a year we get a national audience and three hours of prime-time television on a major network, we manage to look like a bunch of amateurish, second-rate, elitist, inconsequential f**kwits who can't, despite the overwhelming talent of the community, manage to produce a live television broadcast with a tenth of the professionalism and pure visceral excitement of your average episode of "American Idol." And they do that with people who, by and large, have NO TALENT WHATSOEVER!
Surely there is someone in the panapoly of gifted people connected with this industry who is competent in both the medium of theatre AND the medium of television who can create something that won't embarass us in front of the nation once a year.
I mean, come on. What was that?
Posted by: svejc at June 6, 2005 08:53 PMOK,so has anyone made a video/DVD of Spamalot?Aunt Teddy wants to see it real bad.
Posted by: genghis-jon at June 9, 2005 08:39 AMOK,let's make "Napoleon Dynamite" into a musical!In the meantime,lets build a cake.
Posted by: genghis-jon at June 9, 2005 08:41 AM"and we speak of things that matter..in words that must be said: can analysis be worthwhile? is the theatre really dead?" i didn't see the show, but i'd have to say that if svejc says it sucked, it sucked. just off-hand i'd say the producers went with names that have received the most attention in the tabloids--not the post, but the national pulp. wait patiently, your day will arrive.
Posted by: mom at June 10, 2005 01:22 AM