Thoughts on the Tony Awards

I just finished watching my favorite of all award shows, the Tony Awards, and I thought I'd share some thoughts about the show.

I like Sean Hayes and he had a couple of amusing moments tonight while he was hosting the show, but I honestly wasn't very impressed overall by the job he did, especially during his opening monologue. In fairness to Sean, though, I have to say that Neil Patrick Harris, who hosted the Tonys brilliantly last year, is a very tough act to follow.

I had to wonder why they hadn't asked his Promises, Promises co-star, Kristin Chenoweth, to host the show, or at the very least to co-host with Sean. Her bit tonight about not having been nominated was great, as was her appearance at the beginning to make out with Sean and demonstrate that they had plenty of on stage chemistry.

The show opened with a medley of performances from this year's new musicals, which I liked, but there were sound problems which really disappointed me, especially since the same thing happened last year, too, and you'd think that they would have learned from that!

The highlight of the medley for me was Kristen Chenoweth's song from Promises, Promises and the song from American Idiot, followed by a performance from Green Day.

I wasn't really rooting for anyone in particular tonight, so I don't have a lot to say about who won or didn't win, except in one instance: after watching all the performances from the nominated shows, I found myself hoping that American Idiot would win for Best Musical. Then again, I was probably already a bit biased since I've always loved the source material for that show.

Still, of everything I sampled tonight that is probably the show I'd be most likely to see if I had to pick just one.

In addition to loving the performance from American Idiot (and what a trio of hotties the leads are, by the way!) I liked what I saw from the casts of Million Dollar Quartet, La Cage Aux Folles, and Memphis (though there were some sound problems in that last one) and I thought Catherine Zeta Jones' rendition of 'Send in the Clowns' from A Little Night Music was incredibly beautiful.

My education in all things Musical Theater, which began early last year, has continued steadily ever since.While I still have a lot to learn and to experience, I have familiarized myself with most things Sondheim. I really love the original cast album of A Little Night Music and I've been wanting to check out the revival's cast album, with Zeta Jones and the incomparable Angela Lansbury, and tonight just gave me even more reason to do so.

I was just reading yesterday that Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch are taking over for Zeta Jones and Lansbury in the show this summer and I'd love to be able to hear their version, too! I haven't really experienced any of Bernadette's work yet, but Company is one of my favorite cast albums thus far and Elaine's 'The Ladies Who Lunch' is my favorite song from that show.

But back to tonight. The performances from Ragtime and Fela were the only two that I just couldn't get that into. That's not to say I thought they were bad, of course. I just didn't really connect with either of them.

What I did connect with were the special performances by Matthew Morrison and Lea Michele. I was a bit disappointed in one sense, I admit: I thought they'd be singing together, when in actuality they gave back to back solo performances.

That's a minor quibble, though, because they were both incredible. Matthew did 'All I Need is the Girl' from Gypsy and not only did he sound amazing, but he was as hot as I've ever seen him, and that's really saying something!

I felt a tiny bit let down when the music for Lea's number began and it was 'Don't Rain on My Parade'. I absolutely loved her rendition of the song on Glee, but my first thought tonight was that she should have sung something we all hadn't heard her do so recently.

That went right out the window, though, when she started singing. Hearing her do the song live, with so much more intensity than she brought to it as her character on Glee, was a totally different experience. She was phenomenal, there is no other word to describe it. What a voice, what a star!

I also loved when she sat on Jonathan Groff's armrest on the way up the aisle! The two of them, best friends in real life, are so adorable together! I was hoping that Jonathan, whom I kept catching glimpses of in the audience, would at least get to present an award, but no such luck.

By the way, Jonathan (whom if you hadn't already guessed is someone I've been crushing on in a major way since his time on Glee) is going to be starring in the revival of the play Deathtrap in London starting in August. It's bad enough that I'm forever longing to go to New York to see all of these shows, but now I'm wishing I could afford a trip to London, too!

Speaking of plays, I really want to see Next Fall! The little bit we got to see from it in the play montage looked pretty good, but it was the banter of the stars, Patrick Heusinger and Patrick Breen, as they described their nominated show that really caught my attention. Honestly, though, I thought all of the plays sounded very good.

I know the award show is already long, of course, but I do wish we could see more from the nominated plays, too. I guess seeing a full scene acted out from each one would be too much to ask for, but it really feels like they get the short end of the stick.

Last year, I really enjoyed Neil Patrick Harris' closing number at the end of the show, so I was hoping for something similar tonight. Instead, they had the cast of Memphis, who'd just won Best Musical, perform again. It just felt like it was all thrown together at the last minute and not really a great way to end the night. Maybe Neil Patrick Harris was just so good last year that he ruined all future Tony Awards for me?

All in all, though, I loved getting my annual taste of Broadway.