newmoonstar | the Tony Awards 2014

Popping back from my self-imposed exile for a moment to babble about the Tonys! Can we just have Hugh Jackman host every year? Seriously, who doesn't love this man? (But what was up with all that hopping? Am I missing some reference, because all that made exactly zero sense to me.)

I have to admit I haven't heard any of the new cast albums from this season's shows yet, but A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and The Bridges of Madison County are the only ones I'm remotely interested in. But at least this year's crop was more 'ho-hum' than truly depressing, like some recent years I can recall! But I really don't understand why they made a musical out of Rocky; their musical number wasn't even a musical number! There was no song, just some expensive staging! WTF??? Are the songs that bad? Yikes! And Aladdin just makes me sigh and shake my head as yet another beloved childhood film gets diminished by a shallow adaptation that was surprisingly rather sparse looking. You expect ginormous extravaganzas with effects and scenery in a Disney production, they have the cash to make it happen, but it was just some chorus girls & boys doing standard chorus-line choreography. They were never going to trump the masterful animation of that scene in the movie, but this is just kinda sad. Standard, run-of-the-mill choreography was the hallmark of Bullets Over Broadway as well, sadly. Singing, dancing gangsters may have seemed like a good gimmick to the show's creators, but no. Just boring. Nearly fell asleep and had to go to the kitchen for some chips just to revive myself. And I'm disappointed that Neil Patrick Harris won for Hedwig and the Angry Inch when he's SO wrong for that role, he just doesn't have a rock voice at all, and he looks terrible in drag, aside from being an actor with no depth at all, judging from everything I've ever seen him in. John Cameron Mitchell was infinitely better, and he was in the movie, so why do we need Doogie Howser on Broadway? IDK.

But let us take a moment to bow down to the glorious Audra McDonald, our beautiful Queen, and celebrate her record-breaking sixth Tony, while not forgetting the other ladies in her category, who deserve our sympathy for having to experience a nomination without tasting the thrilling possibility of winning, because when you're nominated alongside Queen Audra, you know you haven't got any chance at all. Still, it would be a pretty huge honor to lose to Audra McDonald, so maybe I don't feel so bad for them!

As for plays, I honestly don't care about theatre that doesn't involve music, so I can't comment on that beyond saying that I feel there should be some sort of ban on reviving plays by Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill, and Arthur Miller, because these seem to be the only things that get put on every year. And A Raisin in the Sun while we're at it. While I do feel it's important to have something that isn't by a white man in the repertory of 'classics', wouldn't it be nice if we could find other plays by authors who aren't old white men? There must be one out there somewhere... there must be a LOT of them out there somewhere, but look, it's 2014 and ALL the nominees for best play are still...*drum roll please*...OLD WHITE MEN! And someone actually mentioned the category's 'diversity of voices'! Yes, so diverse, we've come a long way from 100 years ago, or...wait, actually not...*headdesk*

I'm very disappointed in this year's revivals, too. Usually revivals are the bright spot, because after all, Broadway musicals used to be awesome, but they revived the worst stuff this year, and I don't actually even know how they could be called revivals in some cases, because Cabaret is literally the EXACT SAME production that ran on Broadway for years! It's even got Alan Cumming back! Like WTF we just got that thing to close, how is it back again?! Maybe it was shocking 20 years ago, but now it's just cheap, tired and irrelevant. And that goes for Les Miserables too, which was never even good to begin with. And this new cast sounded shockingly poor for a Broadway production, it was barely better than the awful movie cast of non-singers. And why do they keep casting girls with whiny voices as Eponine? Just because she's a poor girl, it doesn't mean she has to sing poorly, FFS! Lea Salonga played the role with a beautiful, well-trained voice, and the world didn't come crashing down, in fact, she's one of the most beloved Eponines of all time. So start casting good singers, please! (Or better yet, stop staging Les Mis altogether. FOREVER.)

And someone please tell Idina Menzel to stop singing through her nose, and to not sing so loud. (You're wearing a mic, girl, everyone is. No one has to sing that loud anymore!)

One thing that did make me smile was "Rock Island" from The Music Man with rappers. I always try to point out to people that the world's first rap song was in a Broadway musical way back in the 50's, and maybe now someone will finally believe me! *giggle*

I must say that half the fun of the Tonys is spotting your faves in the audience, and Rebecca Luker and Kelli O'Hara looked beautiful. Now those are leading ladies! And do they never age? (I literally think Rebecca Luker is reverse aging, she just gets more beautiful and radiant the older she gets! #immortal goddess)

Oy, I think maybe I was complaining throughout most of this post, but eh, I'm a musical theatre fan, so I have opinions! All musical theatre fans have opinions. That's part of the fun! We're critical because we care. We debate and disagree, but we always stick by it and love it, no matter what. So I'm looking forward to next year with trepidation bordering on terror, but always with the sliver of hope underneath. The next great show could be in a workshop or a regional theatre right now, just waiting for it's Broadway opening...*fingers crossed* ;D