The 70th annual Tony Awards were record breaking and history making and I just made that internal rhyme all by myself without Lin Manuel Miranda’s help. The ceremony was a beautiful celebration of an amazing year in the theatre (and the highest grossing one yet!) The current Broadway community is one of unparalleled talent, diversity, and as proved by the winner’s wonderful speeches, refreshing humility. Just hours after another terrible tragedy in America, the award ceremony went on, but paused respectfully to shed light on what happened in Florida and to stress the importance of the arts and live theatre in trying times. All in all, it was an inspiring and uplifting evening. If you tuned in, or in case you missed it, here are some of the thoughts we had during the show:
1. "James Corden for president!"
Late night talk show host and actor James Corden led an awesome medley of Broadway hits culminating in the nominees joining him onstage. It was a phenomenal opening number and I personally really enjoyed the rhyme of “Corden” and “awardin'.”
2. “Is that Cate Blanchett playing the kid playing the bass in ‘School of Rock?'”
The talented instrumentalist children in “School of Rock” rocked it out live. Immediately after their impressive performance, the camera panned to Cate Blanchett who (I’m convinced) just ran back to her seat and changed outfits in a matter of nanoseconds because she was probably playing the kid playing the bass. I can’t think of any other reason why they showed her first after the song ended. Talk about a quick change! All I’m saying is she played Bob Dylan, you guys; anything is possible.
3. “Andrew Lloyd Webber is playing the tambourine on my television screen right now.”
The 'Ham4Ham' inspired marquis concert was a fun new idea to add to the ceremony this year. It made the awards more accessible to the public outside of the theatre and we got to see famous musicians of all genres have a jam session. This also brought us the invaluable gift of seeing Andrew Lloyd Webber play the tambourine.
4. “I just want to hug Renée Elise Goldsberry.”
Ms. Goldsberry won for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (“Hamilton”), wore the heck out of that yellow gown and made a heartfelt speech that left us all feeling “Satisfied.”
5. "Welp, Audra McDonald just made a tapping entrance while pregnant, thus continuing to fulfill her prophecy of showing us all up.”
The six-time Tony winner then proceeded to kick her leg up impressively high and we thought for a second the baby might come flying out holding its own Tony.
6. “Wait, did Lin Manuel Miranda just give his acceptance speech in a well-composed sonnet?”
“Hamilton” is so good it’s borderline frustrating, but this is just downright unacceptable. How did he write something as beautiful and as inspiring as the musical he won the award for compacted into 14 lines and iambic pentameter?
7. “Jane Krakowski should get an honorary Tony for that split cross.”
That is all.
8. “Will the real Michael Arden please step forward?”
During the presenting of the Best Direction of a Musical award, the camera mistakenly panned to Christopher Fitzgerald while announcing Michael Arden’s name as a nominee for the category. When he realized the camera was pointed straight at him, the hilarious Mr. Fitzgerald shrugged, looked into the lens and said, “No.”
9. “Stephen Karam is probably feeling some pressure right now.”
Best Featured Actor in a Play Winner Reed Birney gave a humble and entertaining speech for his win in “The Humans,” which ended with a lot of compliments to the award-winning playwright, Stephen Karam. He said things along the lines of “Stephen Karam is young, so there will be many more plays and they will all be amazing.” The camera didn’t show Mr. Karam, but I’d like to imagine he was sitting there making this face. Pressure’s on, Stephen! Don't let Reed Birney down!
10. “Where can I go to buy Carmen Cusack’s voice?"
Her voice has the pristine upper register of Julie Andrews, the smoky, folky grit of Patty Griffin and the powerful high belt of Patti LuPone. If there is, in fact, a store that sells Carmen Cusack voices, they are surely sold out after this evening's Tony telecast. During the clip performance of "Bright Star," the cameras circled her onstage making for a cool 360 degree shot. Even though Ms. Cusack didn’t win Best Actress, she did win some great footage for her demo reel!
11. “James Corden is an amazing driver.”
How does he reach those high notes sitting and also not get distracted by the guests on his ‘Carpool Karaoke’ segment? Driving in New York is difficult enoughwithout the added pressure of knowing that Audra McDonald is riding in the backseat.
12. “Well, Cynthia Erivo is in good voice this evening. And all of the evenings.”
This is something I said aloud while watching the snippet of her performance in “The Color Purple.” The subtext of this base remark was, “Where does this woman come from? And I don’t mean from what city or family, I mean from which mystical land does she hail? I know she’s singing live, but like, is she singing… live?”
13. “Did Andrew Lloyd Webber know he donated all that money… ?”
Maybe this one is just me, but it seemed like James Earl Jones and Angela Lansbury were live-pranking Andrew Lloyd Webber and he had no idea that he donated to the American Theatre Wing for arts education in public schools. Watch this part again: every time they cut to Andrew Lloyd Webber he looks blindsided and almost slightly miffed. (It’s probably just his modesty and not wanting to be singled out as the magnanimous person he is, but in my brain it seriously looked like he did not see this one coming and Mr. Jones and Ms. Lansbury were holding back their laughter.) I like to think the two legendary presenters delighted in their prank as much as we delighted in seeing Mr. Lloyd Webber playing the tambourine earlier.
14. “The two girls playing Wendla in 'Spring Awakening' are absolutely transcendent.”
The fact that this season showcased hearing-impaired leads and the first wheelchair-bound actress on Broadway is truly inspiring. “Mama Who Bore Me” as a duet of singer and signer was a moving and captivating moment which proved theatre is constantly evolving, adapting and growing. This moment reminded us there are many ways to tell stories in a compelling, effective way and that these stories need not be spoken in order to be heard.
15. “I want to be a third wheel in Sara Bareilles and Jessie Mueller’s friendship.”
Sara Bareilles and Jessie Mueller (composer and star of “Waitress,” respectively) singing “She Used to Be Mine” brought the house down. What a heart-wrenching performance of an awesome song!
16. “Bebe Neuwirth is an amazing dancer even when she's standing still.”
If we didn’t know before, now we know for sure that Bebe Neuwirth can stand there in a restrictive gown and dance very subtly with her fingers and shoulders in a very Fosse way and it’s just as captivating as all of the other choreography from the whole night. At first I saw her floor length gown and was disappointed that she wasn't going to dance. I was wrong.
17. “Cynthia Erivo is the coolest person ever.”
It’s official. She’s simply the coolest person ever: she has the coolest dress, hair, voice, soul, everything. Also, I heard she recently ran a half marathon and then did a two-show day...
18. “Kelli O’Hara wins for ‘Bridges of Madison County’!”*
It was so nice of the American Theatre Wing to give her an honorary Tony for her work in a musical from two seasons ago!
*I pretended this happened during a commercial break.
19. “Did Barbra Streisand knock Lin Manuel out backstage in order to steal his 'Hamiton' costume?”
This is 80 percent a joke and 20 percent a genuinely serious question.
20.) “Wait, 'Hamilton' won?!”
Just kidding. Everyone knew Hamilton was going to win (it actually looked like Barbra Streisand didn’t even bother to open the envelope). The theatre community in New York is constantly pushing the boundaries of what's possible, striving for greatness and truth, and giving everyone's voice a chance to be heard. Ending this year’s Tony celebration with a song about New York and making history was very apropos!
