Thoughts on the Tonys

I just finished watching the Tony Awards and thought I'd share some quick thoughts before heading to bed.

I liked the opening number, a medley of several songs from various shows, and I completely loved Neil Patrick Harris' closing number! It was very funny and what was most impressive is that they had to have come up with all of the lyrics during the show itself.

Seriously, I think Neil must be the world's most perfect man. He's funny, he sings beautifully, he's incredibly talented as an actor, and he's so handsome. He was a great host and when it was all winding down I was only sorry he hadn't done a musical number- and then he did!

As for all the songs performed from the nominated shows, I have to say that I enjoyed the performance from Hair the most. Where has Gavin Creel been all my life?! Okay, I'd heard of him, I knew he was openly gay and I'd seen his picture and thought him attractive, but having finally seen him perform- wow. I think I love him!

I also have to reiterate my love for Anne Hathaway! I loved her reaction when Gavin Creel was dancing with/at her during the number. With her amazing performance in Rachel Getting Married, her song at the Oscars, and now this, I really just adore her.

The performances from Guys and Dolls, Rock of Ages, and Billy Elliot were all enjoyable. I didn't find myself particularly impressed by the West Side Story performance or the number from Shrek, though, I have to say.

Alice Ripley completely blew me away with her performance from Next to Normal. She was so amazing. I really would like to see to her live. I was very glad when she ended up winning her Tony tonight, as much as I love both Stockard Channing and Allison Janney and was sorry to see them lose.

I was disappointed that Jane Fonda's name wasn't called for Leading Actress in a play. The little clip they showed (I wish there had been time to see more from the nominated plays than just a few seconds!) of her onstage made me long to have seen the play. I caught her on Letterman a week or two ago, though, and she said there is a chance she may tour with 33 Variations at some point, so maybe I'll be able to see it then.

I was also really glad to see Angela Lansbury win her first Tony in 30 years and her fifth overall. She's pretty much amazing.

One thing that kept driving me crazy was that they'd show this really good looking guy sitting in the audience. He was sitting next to nominee Jennifer Damiano and was clearly her date for the night. I knew I'd seen him in something very recently and it was driving me mad trying to place him.

It finally hit me, though: Beefy Guy from Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist! I'd just watched that again last weekend, too. He's probably better known as actor Jonathan B. Wright, who was in Spring Awakening a few years ago. I would love to hear him sing.

All right, I have to be up early tomorrow, so I'm off to bed, hopefully to dream of Gavin or Neil Patrick, or, if I'm really lucky, both.

Tony Nominations

Until a few years ago, the Tonys were the one major televised award show that I paid no attention to, probably because it felt like there was no way to really root for any of the nominees when I hadn't seen the work. As my love of musicals has slowly been developing over the past couple of years, though, I've started tuning in and this year I'm especially looking forward to doing so because several of my favorite people are nominated.

Jane Fonda received a nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, while Allison Janney and Stockard Channing are nominated against each other for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical. Angela Lansbury is nominated for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play and Dolly Parton is nominated for Best Original Score for writing the music to the musical 9 to 5. Those are five women I really admire, so I'm excited for them all.

Here's the list of the major nominations:

BEST PLAY:
"Dividing the Estate"
"God of Carnage"
"reasons to be pretty"
"33 Variations"

BEST MUSICAL:
"Billy Elliot, The Musical"
"Next to Normal"
"Rock of Ages"
"Shrek The Musical"

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL:
"Billy Elliot, The Musical"
"Next to Normal"
"Shrek The Musical"
"(Title of Show)"

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (MUSIC AND/OR LYRICS) WRITTEN FOR THE THEATRE:
"Billy Elliot, The Musical"
"Next to Normal"
"9 to 5: The Musical"
"Shrek The Musical"

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY:
"Joe Turner's Come and Gone"
"Mary Stuart"
"The Norman Conquests"
"Waiting for Godot"

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL:
"Guys and Dolls"
"Hair"
"Pal Joey"
"West Side Story"

BEST SPECIAL THEATRICAL EVENT:
"Liza's at The Palace"
"Slava's Snowshow"
"Soul of Shaolin"
"You're Welcome America. A Final Night With George W. Bush"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY:
Jeff Daniels,"God of Carnage"
Raul Esparza, "Speed-the-Plow"
James Gandolfini, "God of Carnage"
Geoffrey Rush, "Exit the King"
Thomas Sadoski, "Reasons to Be Pretty"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY:
Hope Davis, "God of Carnage"
Jane Fonda, "33 Variations"
Marcia Gay Harden, "God of Carnage"
Janet McTeer, "Mary Stuart"
Harriet Walter, "Mary Stuart"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL:
David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish, "Billy Elliot, The Musical"
Gavin Creel, "Hair"
Brian d'Arcy James, "Shrek The Musical"
Constantine Maroulis, "Rock of Ages"
J. Robert Spencer, "Next to Normal"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL:
Stockard Channing, "Pal Joey"
Sutton Foster, "Shrek The Musical";
Allison Janney, "9 to 5: The Musical"
Alice Ripley, "Next to Normal"
Josefina Scaglione, "West Side Story"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY:
John Glover, "Waiting for Godot"
Zach Grenier, "33 Variations"
Stephen Mangan, "The Norman Conquests"
Paul Ritter, "The Norman Conquests"
Roger Robinson, "Joe Turner's Come and Gone"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY:
Hallie Foote, "Dividing the Estate"
Jessica Hynes, "The Norman Conquests"
Marin Ireland, "reasons to be pretty"
Angela Lansbury, "Blithe Spirit"
Amanda Root, "The Norman Conquests"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL:
David Bologna, "Billy Elliot, The Musical"
Gregory Jbara, "Billy Elliot, The Musical"
Marc Kudisch, "9 to 5: The Musical"
Christopher Sieber, "Shrek The Musical"
Will Swenson, "Hair"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL:
Jennifer Damiano, "Next to Normal"
Haydn Gwynne, "Billy Elliot, The Musical"
Karen Olivo, "West Side Story"
Martha Plimpton, "Pal Joey"
Carole Shelley, "Billy Elliot, The Musical"

Broadway On Lambert

I just came across this Broadway.com article on Adam Lambert, in which several of his former stage co-stars talk about the Adam they know. I just thought I'd share it because as you all know by now, I'm totally enthralled by all things Adam and feel that everyone else should be as well!

Megan Hilty, who was in Wicked with Adam and is currently on Broadway in the new musical 9 to 5 as Doralee, the Dolly Parton character, was one of Adam's co-stars who spoke about him:

How did you meet?
We met on tour with Wicked, and then worked together again in the L.A. company [of the show]. Since he was the Fiyero understudy we got to have our little moments together onstage, whenever I was lucky enough.

What did you think the first time you heard him sing?
The first time he went on as Fiyero, I couldn’t believe it. I was warned before how amazing he was, but you can only be prepared for so much. It’s funny because we’d go out and do karaoke for fun, and the whole party would stop when he got up to sing. It was kind of, like, ‘He’s too good, I can’t go after that!’ He’s a joy to be around, so they’re very lucky to be around him out there in Hollywood.

Favorite performance of his?
It was always during karaoke. There’s a DVD of it somewhere. Oh, God. It was some rock song I’ll never remember the name of, but the whole bar—people we didn’t even know—just stopped. No one could believe what they were hearing. His voice is in a different stratosphere.

Favorite memory?
Oh, gosh. We were always doing silly things. What I can say is he’s an excellent board game player, and we always wanted him on our team. He always won everything.

What kind of artist do you see him as?
One of the great things about Adam is I can’t say he’s the next so-and-so. He’s so unique, and has such a special talent that I think he’s going to be the next Adam Lambert.

What do you think when people say he is too “theatrical” for Idol?
I think saying someone’s too musical theater is b.s.! Frankly, that’s offensive. It’s the easy way out to try and find something wrong with him when there’s nothing wrong. It also gives a stigma about who “Broadway” people are. I mean, we’re not people that overly indicate and put on a show wherever we go. I’m tired of people putting the “Broadway label” on someone as if it were a bad thing.

Personal Song Request: He’s done so much rock stuff, I’d love him to show off any slow tunes in general. People think they’ve seen what he can do, but you haven’t seen anything yet. I think he’ll show it off. He’s a smart cookie!

Check out the whole article if you're interested in Adam at all, there is some really cool stuff about him.

Speaking of 9 to 5, by the way, this is another show I really wish I could see, not only because I love the film version and think Dolly Parton (who wrote the songs for the musical) is amazing, but because one of my favorite actresses, Allison Janney, is starring in it as Violet, the Lily Tomlin character.

I really need to just plan a trip to New York, but I don't think I'll be able to afford it any time soon!

By the way, I was reading online that next week is going to be Grand Ole Opry week on American Idol. I can't quite picture any of these 11 contestants singing country music, so that's going to be interesting, to say the least.