Tony Awards 2012 (Part V: Other Tony Moments)

Almost done.  I've done a complete wrap-up of the shows of the year, but there are some Tony-specific instances that I have not yet pointed out.  When I did the Tony series last year I intended to write a post for these extra moments, but never got around to it.  Lucky for you, this year I did.  So this is my fifth and final Tony Award post of the year:

Other Performances

Deja Vu

I want to hate it.  I do.  As happy as I am that Broadway is getting some Christian influence with Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell, I'm a bit dissapointed that they loose their audiences to the far more provocative The Book of Mormon (not because it's about Mormons and not Christians, but because it's a "R-rated" musical).  A lot of what is in this musical is extremely offensive, and therefore, I want to hate it.  Unfortunately, isolated parts of it are REALLY good!  Their performance last year was possibly the highlight of the night, and proved to the world that they probably did deserve best musical.  But winning once wasn't enough, they were brought back again to open the Tony Awards this year.  And, like last year, I wanted to hate them.  BUT THEY ARE JUST SO FUNNY!  The song is hilarious, their timing is perfect, and everything about it is just really....well.....clean.  And then adding stars to it?  GENIUS!  See for yourself:

That is SO true!!!
I'm not going to lie, I liked the medleys.   Back in the day they used to begin the Tony's with a medley from some of the most nominated shows.  However, when they discovered how well audiences were reacting to Neil Patrick Harris, they decided to let him sing an opening number written specifically for the occasion.  Last year's took some warming up to, but ended up being pretty funny.  This year's I loved from the start because it just defines my life!  Including guest star performances by Amanda Seyfried (Known for playing Sophie in the movie version of Mamma Mia and co-staring as Cosett in the upcoming Les Miz movie), Patti LuPone (A ledgend known for originating roles such as Eva Peron [Evita] and Reeno Sweeney [Anything Goes]), Jesse Tyler Fergurson (Original Leaf Conneybear ["Spelling Bee"] and co-staring as Leopold Bloom in the upcoming Hollywood Bowl production of The Producers), Lilla Crawford (Annie in the upcoming Broadway revival of Annie), and Mary Poppins herself (I couldn't figure out which actress).  Put all of these superstars in the same song as Neil Patrick Harris, and AMAZING things begin to happen!!!!!!! Trust me:

Now You See It, Now It's In Blue Light....

One of my favorite things about this years Tony Awards is that they let shows from THIS YEAR that weren't nominted for best Musical or Revival to perform at the Tony's.  THIS IS SUCH A GREAT IDEA!!!!!  I don't know why they never did it before, but I loved getting to see these shows perform.  One of my favorite performance of the entire night went to one of these "under-nominated" shows: Ghost.  If you read my previous posts, then you'll know that I like Ghost; not a lot, but some.  However, they did get on my good side by performing my favorite song from the show on the Tony Awards.  I'd like to draw special attention to how impressive the lighting is, and how evil the bad guy looks (his voice was better on the soundtrack...I don't know what happened there):

The Nicest Kids In To-.......The Ocean?

Ok, I only went on one cruise and didn't have that great a time (long story), but I've never had much desire to go on another one, until now.  Because now cruise lines have repaired the damage done by Titanic: The Musical by having full Broadway shows perform on their ships.  At the risk of sounding repetitive: THIS IS SUCH A GREAT IDEA!!!!!!!!  I love the fact that more people will be exposed to Broadway everywhere they turn.  To advertise this new venue, one of these sailing shows sent a video stream to the Tony Awards.  Unfortunately, that show was Hairspray.  Just kidding.  Although Hairspray isn't my favorite show, it is popular for a reason, and the fact that it's pioneering this new medium has moved it up on my list a bit.  However, their performance was....mediocre (compared to the rest).  In a poll I took part of, it was voted the worst performance of the night.  Do you agree?:

They Are The Light Of The World
Now, this might come as a surprise to some of you, because I don't advertise it much but I LOVE GODSPELL!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was crushed when they weren't nominated but thrilled when I learned they were going to get to perform anyway.  As expected, they did a medley of some of their more popular songs ("Day By Day" and "Light of the World") and performed with their usual energy and gusto.  Unfortunately, this cast wasn't given as much time as they should've been.  The whole thing had come and gone really fast when I could've watched them all night.  That being said, this wasn't their best performance I had seen.  Two of their strongest cast members (Lindesey Mendez and Hunter Parrish) were out of the cast and the songs they chose weren't my favorites.  Don't get me wrong, it was one of the better performance of the night, but I just don't feel like it sufficiently captured the awesomeness of Godspell.  See what you think:

Something Was Missing.....
Did you catch it?  I didn't even notice until a few days later when I was watching videos from old Tony Awards, but something was missing this year.  Something was cut.  Still don't remember?  I'll give you a hint. The finale song of The Fantasticks. The iconic ballad from CATS. Christine's solo in The Phantom of the Opera directly preceding "Stranger Than You Dreamt it".  Still nothing?  Fine I'll tell you.  This year there was no "in Memoriam" video.  Every year they have one (like at the Oscars) to honor the Broadway vets who died this year, and this year they didn't.  This is really a shame because although it wasn't as exciting as some of the other performances, it's a nice way of honoring people.  And I was excited because I finally knew a few of the names this year: Peter Falk (who I know as the Grandfather in The Princess Bride movie, but had an accomplished stage career as well) and Thomas Aldredge (who the world knows for his work in 12 Angry Men but I know as the Narrator/Mysterious Old Man in Into the Woods).  Well, at least here, on this blog, I pay homage to you Mr. Falk, Mr. Aldredge, and all of the other people even remotely associated with the amazing Broadway stages who aren't with us today.

52 shows in 120 seconds?  No Problem!
Ok, This was actually one of my favorite parts of the night.  It was a chance to hear Neil sing, and feel vindicated as a Broadway geek in one fell stroke.  In honor of all of the Award for Best Score, they composed a medley of songs from each show to ever win.  I'm proud to say that I caught almost all of them (missed maybe 5-6) .  See how many you can get:

.........TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As always, the show ended with Neil singing a song written during the broadcast about the events of the night (I found a video of them writing last year's which I thought was pretty fun to watch).  This year was no different, but it had an exciting twist.  They pulled a "Title of Show" and wrote a song about how they couldn't write the song.  This, coupled with Neils already expert timing", made it for one of the best closing numbers they've ever done (even beating the "Tonight Spoof" of 2009).  However, the ending was a bit....well....polarizing (and will explain this title).  Check it out:

Notable Speeches

Historically, the acceptance speeches make up the boring part of the evening.  Some people are funny to watch, but the vast majority of them are just boring lists of thanking people.  There are always one or two a year though (usually delivered by the performers) that are somewhat amusing, and some that are down right amazing *cough Mark Rylance cough* and this year had it's moments.

Hanging Out With Angella Lansbury

You Only Get A Mother ONCE

Hilights Include Doing Drugs, Getting Abused, And Having A Daughter

"She's My Baby Mama!"

Nina's First Crush

Conclusion

And thus another Tony season has come and gone.  It was a good one, and certainly the one I've been most involved in.  It's been really great!  I hope you've enjoyed these posts as much as I have.  If you have any questions about any shows or anything else vaguely Tony related shoot me a comment and I'd be happy to answer them.  Thank you so much for reading.  Stay tuned for a Jimmy Award post as soon as Youtube catches up with the times (they're not quite as prompt in posting the videos as the Tony Awards).