Hello friends,
I know I’m a movie guy, and I have never been a big fan of the Tony Awards. I always felt it was a party that I was not invited to. It’s kind of like the local morning “news” shows that is a huge party of inside jokes that unless you watch every day, you’re not privy to. Everything is funny, but you’re not in on any of the jokes. I’m a movie guy, and I think once when I was a little kid, my Dad drove (yeah, drove himself) down Broadway, but I’ve never seen a Broadway show. The closest I’ve ever been was the High School stealing old Rogers and Hammerstein musicals and the drama department putting them on with 15 year old kids singing and dancing. But my DVR was absolutely empty. I’ve been struggling for weeks to catch up on shows, and suddenly there were so many “season finale” episodes and my DVR went silent, so I decided just for hoots I would record the Tony’s. After all, Doogie Howser is the guy from “How I Met Your Mother”, right? And of course there’s his appearances in the Harold and Kumar films. 🙂
Well, I have to say, I was completely blown away. Neil’s opening number was absolutely awesome! It was perhaps the best opening number I’ve ever seen, even including the Oscars from the Billy Crystal years! This number had everything. It even had a magic trick that made himself disappear.
Then there were the musical numbers from the musicals. They were also very interesting. The Best Song at the Oscars is always so awful, that I really wish they would give it up. There is no “Hard out there for a pimp” type songs here. Broadway seems to be on a bit of a revival kick this year, and we got to see scenes from Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Annie, Pippin, and even the new shows were spectacular with the effects, staging, props, and such. Everything live, and they killed it. Neil was a great host who was pretty funny (although Mike Tyson looked like he was quite a bit annoyed at all the Mike Tyson jokes!), and he knew to keep himself scarce when he wasn’t needed.
All in all, it was by far the best awards show I have seen on TV in years and years. I really enjoyed it. I hope you were able to catch it. It’s nice to see how closely related the theater and movie business really is. It’s the same people. Cyndi Lauper performed a beautiful version of True Colors in an “In Memoriam” segment that was stunning. Great job guys!
