The Tony's Were Hairazing

I'll update this later with a few post-Tony Award thoughts (NPH. Awesome. Sound and camera people. Fired.) but this is about the only thing you really need to see (in case you missed it):



Well, and maybe Brett Michael's spectacular exit:



In the meantime, RJ actually has a pretty good rundown, especially for someone who didn't really know Aaron Tveit before or that the WSS Tony is Matt Cavanaugh, who if he showed a little more of his abs, might have gotten himself a Tony nomination this year.

Chris G. has a pretty great recap as well.

While I would have loved to see Gavin Creel win, I've sort of relegated to accepting the three Billy's winning, because damn if that nervous no-you-speak aw shucks acceptance speech between Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish and David Alvarez (yay! the CDN winner! seen below too) weren't totally adorable. Plus, they DO work hard on the stage the whole time. In 1/3 to 1/4 of the week's shows.

Karen Olivo is soooooooooooo beautiful. And she sounds soooooooooo grounded and eloquent. She could be a raging bitch for all I know (though since a friend of mine is a friend of hers, apparently she really IS the nicest person, though of course a friend would say that) but for a nondancer, I thought she was fierce as Anita and I don't care what the naysayers say, she was a GREAT Anita.

Josefina Scaglione and Matt Cavenaugh are SOOOOO pretty. And thank goodness they showcased a dance number from West Side Story.

And how awesome was Hair in both the opening and its own number? LOVE!

I thought the opener was a little jumbled though and while Aaron Tveit seems to have piqued a lot of people's interests (he's hot! he can sing! wasn't he on Gossip Girl?. I know this because have been googling him all day and landing on my crushworthy page of him from last year), his duet with Stockard Channing was very odd. Nice attempt at mixing the two, but odd. (Guys and Dolls and WSS seemed to work slightly better).



And wasn't Mary Testa's part bigger in the actual show? Or did it just seem bigger and a breath of fresh air after watching most of what was a pedestrian version of Guys and Dolls? Well, that's closing soon I'm sure.

I won't even get into the poor direction, camerawork or sound. I'm sure people were fired today.

I actually didn't mind the Rock of Ages performance since they did "Don't Stop Believin'" but yes, that IS the best part of the show. As was Shrek, and that looked even sillier (in a bad way) on camera.

Next to Normal made Aaron Tveit look great, but now that everyone will be rushing to see this show to check him out, he's already gone from the show to go be the lead in Catch Me If You Can and won't be back until late summer. Suckers. And no, still can't stand Alice Ripley's voice. I still don't get it. And is it odd that Brian d'Arcy James was nominated alongside Robert J. Spencer for a role James himself created Off-Broadway?

And Neil. We want more Neil. We want the Neil that did magic tricks to those in Radio City during commercials!

Also, he should act out the scenes from the best plays himself (or with Kristin Chenowith!) instead of the super duper short clips that give you no sense of the play whatsoever.

Love:



Vance at http://tapeworthy.blogspot.com