Setting The Tone At The Tonys

The last thing the Tonys needed was a horrendous 11-minute (not a typo) opening number that had all the nominated musicals cacophonously bumping up against each other. Few enough people watch the show as it is. This probably scared away any curiosity-seekers. (Bret Michaels almost got his head taken off by some flying scenery which, I admit, was interesting. It was the first of several techical mishaps.)



After that was over, though, Neil Patrick Harris was an amiable host, and the performances from the musicals--actual numbers from shows--were fun to watch. They also showed bits from the nominated dramas that I wish were longer (which they could have been if they cut that opening piece). There were also a fair amount of big names on hand, and none of the speeches were too obnoxious.

The Tonys is a special show, because we can see movies and TV any time, but this is the one night a year Broadway can shine. Not having seen any of the productions, I didn't have much rooting interest. My only hope was Billy Elliot (which I have no interest in seeing) didn't sweep all the awards. It pretty much did, though.

There were a few minor surprises (as far as I could tell--didn't expect Hair to beat West Side Story, for instance) and a lot of complete non-surprises (was there any chance Angela Lansbury wouldn't win?). The biggest wattage category was best actor in a play, with James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels and Raul Esparza losing to Geoffrey Rush. (I guess that was an upset.)

If you subtracted the first 11 minutes, it was a pretty good show.