65^th Annual Tony’s: Religious wars on Broadway, Animals, Queens, Sailors…”not just for gays anymore”

 

 

Photos: Kevin Kane

 

There were moments when the Tony’s this year lost their glam, their dignity and, at moments, their coherence.  It started with the jaw dropping opener by openly gay host Neil Patrick Harris in his number proclaiming Broadway,  with its con artists, religion - Mormons and nuns -  this season,  is “not just for gays anymore” – extolling the attributes of straight actors who suddenly seemed a minority (or were they always?) and of course disproving the point as he revealed a sequined pantsuit under his formal tuxedo for the final moments, then roaming through the audience pointing out “straights” with a most iconoclastic (and of questionable taste)  comment to none other than 85 year old, beloved Angela Lansbury “you’re super hot — are those things real?” (Everyone loves Neil Patrick Harris this year, new father of twins; it seems he can do no wrong).

This theme, focus on the gay community, was reflected in the sudden sweep of The Normal Heart giving the evening’s first award, Best Supporting Actress in a Play, to Ellen Barkin, in her Broadway debut, for the late entry revival of the 1985 Off Broadway controversial hit, which seemed strident and off putting then when AIDS, with the help of angry playwright Larry Kramer, first burned itself into American consciousness. It later won Best Play Revival (over the very straight Shakespearian Merchant of Venice, Stoppard’s intellectual Arcadia, and Wilde’s maybe not so straight Importance of Being Ernest), and John Benjamin Hickey, who plays a gay man with AIDS for Best Supporting Actor.  Continuing his mission Kramer announced, when receiving his award, “I could not have written it had not so many of us so needlessly died…Learn from it, and carry on the fight. Let them know that we are a very special people, an exceptional people. And that our day will come.”    

Photo by Joan Marcus   Frances McDormand

And then there was the estimable but anti-glam Frances McDormand, who appeared on stage for her Tony for Best Actress in a Play in a denim jean jacket, over a checkered shapeless dress, glasses and no makeup or obvious effort at hair style – illustrating my belief that performers, screen and stage alike, when not dressed by a costumer, hair and makeup people, are totally clueless. Just watch them on talk shows. But perhaps, obviously tense, she was still in her character, Margie — a working-class, financially desperate mother from South Boston, in the play Good People. As she had done that at several previous awards galas I would assume (hope) that was her motivation.

Mark Rylance’s bizarre and totally unrelated speech for Best Actor, a recitation of an obscure poem by Minnesotan poet Louis Jenkins, and in an American accent (Rylance was born in Ashford, Kent, a further snub?) was clumsily explained by Ian Rickson, in another article, who directed Rylance in the original production of Jerusalem at the Royal Court. "His shield at Sunday's Tony awards was gnomic poetry….Rylance doesn't enjoy the attention and trappings of fame: He mistrusts it,"

Joe Mantello in The Normal Heart.
photo by Joan Marcus

If Mr. Rylance has such trouble and is so embarrassed at accepting awards lets just give it to those who are not. He deprived the theater world of what  might have been memorable comments by actors in that category: AL Pacino for his stunning role as Shylock in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, or his other competitors: Joe Mantello considered the most deserving by many fans for his heart wrenching role in the revival of The Normal Heart, bringing him back to the stage after years as a successful director (nice story there), or the vitality of newcomer Bobby Cannavale in The Motherf**ker with the Hat, (with current heart throb Sutton Foster making a delicious Broadway back story) or the gravitas of veteran sage Brian Bedford, for his internationally  lauded performance as Lady Bracknell

And speaking of plays the best new play was not even nominated. Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo had the same brutal honesty and bravery that Normal Heart had for its time. Guess, like the quickly stifled Enron, the public resists education and insight into contemporary issues.

Winning for Best Musical, the exuberantly irreverent, profanity laced and most untraditional musical hit, Book of Mormon, was introduced by Chris Rock, obviously liberated from his admirably suppressed persona in the equally profane  The Motherf**ker with the Hat with the comment “This is such a waste of time... It’s like taking a hooker to dinner.”  Already hyped by the time it opened, it has a momentum that is seemingly unstoppable (next day advance sale doubled and producers already raised ticket prices). I remember the thrill tinged with apprehension when Eric Idle challenged Broadway standards with Spamalot, a show I never expected to enjoy and about which I couldn’t stop raving. But next to Book of Mormon it seems positively elegant.

South Park’s irreverent tale of missionaries in Uganda (instead of Orlando, Florida, the desired assignment for the main Mormon Elder, award nominee Andrew Renells) is an odd mixture of sincerity and innocence married to utmost profanity and almost blasphemy. Its shock value produces laughs, some knee jerk, some self conscious. If you take that away the show, by Southpark’s gang: Trey Parker, Matt Stone & Robert Lopez for score and Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker direction/choreography, seems somewhat amateurish, occasionally heavy handed with unmemorable music and choreography. My friend, Broadway maestro Donald Pippin always said “if you have to use profanity you didn’t trust the material” (hear that Mother ---With the Hat?) Sorry! Just look around at the other musicals if you can pull yourself away…

Sutton Foster and company

Photo by Joan Marcus

 

When they sing “You’re the Top” in 1934’s Anything Goes it is indisputable… sheer perfection all around. OK, you want something more current?

Why Sister Act got practically shut out is a mystery. The lead Patina Miller carried the show on very capable shoulders, its choreography and costuming had more glitz and energy than Priscilla (oh, please, those queens looked positively tacky). Winner Norbert Leo Butz, (who lamented at the Drama Desk awards that he was depressed about his career and about to abandon it) is the best reason to see Catch Me If You Can.

Patina Miller in Sister Act.
photo by Joan Marcus

Photo: Anita

In a brilliant theatrical moment former stars Robert Morse (left) and Matthew Broderick introduced a number from the newest revival of How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying

But for all around achievement in a new category Scottsboro Boys had it all: Poignant true story (David Thompson), inventive staging and choreography (Susan Stroman)  a clever concept delivered by a brilliant cast and Kander & Ebb’s multi faceted Broadway score exuded confidence, maturity and guts, elements hinted at in all the above but not all in one package. Hired protesters in front of the show, who had not even seen it, put a strain on both potential audiences and the performers inside that killed it. Good luck in its tour. It will comeback when we are ready for it.

The Tony’s ceremony was held at the 3,000-seat Beacon Theater a movie house originally without a deep stage or wings of any import, after its usual home, the double sized Radio City Music Hall, booked a new Cirque du Soleil show.

Which meant that production numbers from some musicals had to be taped. While that did not really impact in either those viewing at home or those in house it goes against the essential quality of theater - that it is live – and that excitement can never be replicated. The guest list had to be similarly abbreviated: less producers invited (not nice) – hence less people onstage (nice).

Harris gave an exemplary performance, especially in the dance-off between himself and theater matinee idol Hugh Jackman, which was the high spot of the evening for many. And was part of the Herculean task of reassembling the cast of Company, which even for such a short number was a great treat (and can be seen in theaters they were quick to remind us). It makes one wonder why this theater treasure is still not on the boards.

 

However, he couldn’t resist the low road but contained himself to 30 seconds of Spider Man jokes after a long unprecedented press attack over its $70 million budget (why do we care? It’s not our money!), tech disasters, injuries and endless opening-night delays. “No audience members were harmed in the making of this musical — yet,” he said.

Lets just get real for a moment – you cannot buy all the press Spider Man got – albeit negative – and its box office proved immune and impervious to the attacks – and no matter what the critics say about this revised one – people will still come in droves out of curiosity to see how it has changed (see NYTime article on Bono & the Edge’s expose of their history with the show and Julie Taymor whom they threw under the bus all the while extolling her virtues as a true theater “genius”). 

 

The stellar evening ended with a quickly assimilated final rap song by Lin Manuel poem covering the evening’s events

*If anyone asks you what happened at the Tonys you can say this:
We straightened things out in the opening number; Ellen Barkin and John
Benjamin Hickey took home awards for their hilarious performances in *The
Normal Heart*.
Daniel Radcliffe kicked some butt and we were so elated
Even Vodemort was sad he wasn't nominated
Norbert Leo Butz sang and danced and tried to catch you, comin' atchu
Chasing Trey and Casey cause they nabbed a Tony statue
Commencing in the Chattanooga station
from the grand imagination
of the Kander-Ebb collaboration
It takes a lot for a recipient to humble me
But everybody cried for gorgeous Nikki James, the bumblebee
Andrew Rannells sang "I Believe" and he landed it
So well now he's Mitt Romney's VP candidate
All across the country from the North and to the South
Are saying "Brooke's a hottie with a crazy potty mouth"
John Larroquette brought an elegant mood to the room
I'm still imagining him at home in his Fruit of the Looms
Spider-man and Mary-Jane gave us perspective here
They sang a ballad; we didn't need our protective gear
Patina Miller's nuns sang "Raise Your Voice" with cheer
And *Memphis* is relentless, they're performing every year
*The Normal Heart* won, Larry Kramer made us weep
And *War Horse* dazzled us with a theatrical sweep
Sutton Foster never lost her knack for talking smack and tapping a full-on
assault attack,
I'm awesome, Hugh Jackman take that
Go ahead and roll the credits if you need to,
I'm out of control, I'm on a roll, this is my Tonys speed through
*Anything Goes* took the best revival prize in stride
We didn't see it, we were singing "Side by Side by Side"
McDormand loves her job, Sutton Foster won again
Paul Schaffer sang and suddenly it started raining men
Mark Rylance runs at fences, he's won the Tony twice
That guy can do it all, his follow-up is Fanny Bryce
Norbert Butz and *Mormon* swept the floor, won even more awards than *War
Horse*
Par for the course, someone get a car for the horse
And in the final analysis what survives tonight?
Theater, because it's what we live
We're changing some lives tonight
And theater thrives because we live to give it, so to speak
This isn't reality TV, this is eight shows a week
Every chorus member that you saw tonight tappin'
Had to make miracles happen
For a chance to see you clappin'
And applauding in the audience
What's next? Who knows
Anything goes
Now go see a motherfucking-ing Broadway show*
*

 

 

I thought it was a terrific Tony production, and, carping aside, how can you resist an organization that gave War Horse, essentially a child’s story, the award for Best Play….even though it wasn’t. “Ya Gotta Have Heart”  as they sing – and it did.

 

                                          

                                           War Horse, photo by Paul Kolnik