Monday, June 14, 2010
The Train Wreck Called The Tony Awards
Actors and actresses who are part of the Broadway clique had their equivalent to the Oscars last night as The Tony Awards were held at Radio City Music Hall. Stars filled the seats and people who have never gotten to see a Broadway show were excited to see the awards show that was filled with performances of some of the best play on Broadway today. However, the telecast was anything but amazing and had too many technical problems to not notice.
I'm not really sure why actors and actresses who are used to performing to packed houses 8 times a week suddenly seemed very nervous to perform on stage. So many performers were actually shaking with fear that you had to wonder WTF was going on. And what about the Broadway stars who were nominated for their performances only to lose to the A-List name they were nominated with? It seemed that any Hollywood actor who had somewhat lost their Hollywood buzz, had come to Broadway to steal the thunder away from the veteran actors.
And then we have Lea Michele. Matthew Morrison and Lea Michele were called upon to bring a little glee to the awards and while Matthew was obviously rusty with his dancing and singing at the same time, he pulled it off. Lea however seemed to try so hard to give an amazing performance that she ended up looking like a bug eyed woman who had to much to drink and was handed a microphone. Lea, we know that you have the voice and the talent, so whatever you were trying to prove to us last night was uncalled for. She let the diva out and I almost couldn't watch, which is sad. I love Lea Michele and her amazing voice, but whatever she is becoming is scary.
But even more scarier was Catherine Zeta Jones and her performance of what I can only call as a epilepsy attack. She was losing her voice, I'll give her that. But what the hell was up with the her head movements during her performance and her oh so fake surprise when she won her award? Bitch thinks she is royalty or something.
Were they handing out Vicodin and Whiskey during the commercials?
This award show has always seemed to have a lot of technical problems throughout the years, which mystifies me. I was a theater geek in school, most of us actors were. And I know that the only people that were more serious than the actors was the stage crew. So what exactly seems to be the problem that this awards show cannot get it together? Is it that the performances don't transfer well from stage to television? Or is it just because no one seems to give a damn because it is only The Tony Awards?
This is Broadway's one shot to spread the magic of Broadway across the nation to people who dream of Broadway but never get a chance to actually make it there. Broadway is sometimes the red-headed step-child that gets forgotton about too much and the fact that they cannot take one night to properly acknowledge the people who have made careers on Broadway makes me angry. Instead, they would rather fill the television screen with celebs who either have nothing to do with Broadway or D-list celebs who have "graced" Broadway with their presence. The Tony's need some re-tooling big time. If you want to show people why they need to come to NYC, you are doing a piss poor job at it.
I love Broadway, every aspect of it. It saddens me that they let it The Tonys go down in flames as it did. Just a tip for next year, drunk singing only sounds good to the singer.
I love Broadway too. The Tony Awards is my favorite summer t.v. event. That said, what a disappointment last night was. Technical problems, yes; but what was that song/epileptic fit thing of CZJ? What a mess. AND she won with it. Sad.
ReplyDeleteI love Glee, but I did not think the performances by Lea & Matthew were appropriate for the evening. They could have recreated some of their actual Broadway experiences. Matthew has a few to chose from (and Lea has Spring Awakenings). At least Lea did perform something directly from Glee, but it would have been more FUN and less grandstanding if they actually performed a number with the entire Glee cast (like in their concerts).
ReplyDeleteI agree, with all, but I do think that Sean Hayes did a good job considering the overall shaky production. The production numbers weren't too bad, but the camera work during those numbers, IMHO, were atrocious. I believe my favourite production number was from the revival of La Cage. In acceptances, you know that Scarlett Johansson will never win anything else, but did she have to take 20 minutes to thank everyone in the world?
ReplyDeleteShameless plug: I just did a YouTube video saluting Broadway. I think this is what it is all about....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq33WhoBmv0
HAHAHAHA i totally agree with everything you said!! Especially CZJ...what a messsss she sounded and looked terrible!! And it was sooooo obvious that her reaction was fake - my mom walked into the room for 2 seconds and was like "she's totally faking that right?" She chopped up every word in that song and moved her head so much she looked like a bobble head doll. I sang that song better than her when I was in 7th grade!!!
ReplyDeleteThe kiss between Sean and Kristen was HOT!! Jeeze CSZ sure sucked!
ReplyDeletePeople are not that interested in the Tony's because you have to be in or go to New York City to experience the performances as opposed to going to the local cinema. Theater geeks nonwithstanding, it's a pretty small segment of the population. Probably why the Tony's pander to falling celebrities - though that obviously didn't work too well.
ReplyDeleteDenzel Washington and ScarJo are not D-LIST GB!!!
ReplyDelete