Tony Disappointment

You honestly didn't think I'd forget about the Tony awards, did you?

Too bad the Tony awards forgot about honoring great work and only looked at your star billing.
Thankfully, with a few exceptions.

Honestly, if it weren't for Katie Finneran's win and exceptional speech and Levi Kreis's piano skills, I might be convinced it's time to quit the business, since there wouldn't be much future left for someone like me.

When the dazzling effervescene of Sherie Rene Scott's hilariously heartbreaking journey, Kate Baldwin's sublime soprano meltings of the Harburg/Lane score, Christiane Noll's riveting interpretation of a changing woman, and Montego Glover's powerhouse physicality and vocals are sidelined by a sub-par, whiplash-inducing, needs-to-go-back-to-the-fermata-of-focus-in-Body-Movement performance because it was delivered by a movie star, things are rotten in the state of Antoinette Perry.

I'm not denying CZJ her Oscar, but any of the other 4 ladies truly deserved that Tony.

Apparently the only way to win a Tony is if you're British or famous.  Though that's not to say I'm not supremely delighted that SPD's British-import show received so much attention and he'll have a job for quite some time!

Don't get me started on the fact that Finian's Rainbow didn't even get represented in performance despite being deservedly nominated for Best Revival as well as Leading Actress and Featured Actor.  While much of that is probably due to Kate's cross-Atlantic scheduling nightmare, it's a snub nonetheless.  That sublime revival deserved more than a screen capture.

Especially when Green Day got 5 songs, Promises x2 got several features, and even Addams Family got special attention because (not even despite!) it was snubbed from nominations (deservedly so).

ScarJo stealing Jan Maxwell's award in Supporting started the evening off all wrong for me.  Even the presence of fave Ryan Reynolds on her arm could not sway the tide of discontent.

And sound issues?  AGAIN?

I'm glad Memphis won Best Musical over Fela.  At least they supported the original material concept, if only because that show is more bankable on the road.  And they shouted out to great regional theatres (HOLLA NORTH SHORE!).  I'll still never understand that awkward "re-perform" ending, though.  And I wish since it was gonna win that anyway, they'd have given Book to the super-deserving team for Everyday Rapture.  That show seriously blew me out of the water.

I am supremely happy that Barbara Cook and Angela Lansbury did not overshadow Ms. Finneran's brilliance, in part because I did not care much at all for Barbara's performance, and Angela got her older-age Tony for a much better appearance in Blithe Spirit.  For once, true scene-stealing was rewarded.

And finally, I have to fight back against all the Glee hatred.  While yes, there seemed to be a lot of Glee faces, and yes, there were two extra performances from Glee cast members, let's truly dissect this.

The five Glee faces have bankable appeal, but unlike many of the presenters tonight (Paula Abdul, weird Jets guy), they also actually have Bway street cred.  The 3 guest stars have all won Tony's, and would have been there had they not appeared on Glee.  Kristin is also starring on the Bway next to the nominated host of the evening.  Matthew Morrison has been nominated before, and Lea Michele has been performing since we were 8.  And was in a Best Musical original cast.  They have legitimate NY theatre credits.

Better yet, the numbers they performed were classics and better than much of the poorly-produced out-of-context sampler we saw this evening.  Oh, that and the fact that Lea was clearly auditioning for the 2012 revival of Funny Girl.

At least she got a full song.  Which apparently is too much to ask for Christiane Noll.

Forcing her to reaudition her exceptional talents with a 32-bar from-the-bridge cut of "Back to Before" from her already shuttered revival?  Shameless.  What's next, making her go to an ECC and wait in line on the street at 6 AM?  Guessing Catherine never had to do that.
Not allowing the Cagelles to perform their numbers since previous telecasts (from 25 years ago) have shown them?  Also shameless.
But those Cagelles still got a box office boost.

Cuz it's all about money and numbers and a glorified 3-hour commercial.

They should think next time before putting Daniel Radcliffe, in all his amazing humility, next to Katie Holmes's ridiculously clothed bust.
Green Day should just let the OBC sing their album, cuz I kinda hope a set piece Bret Michaels-es them.
Making actors read from moving teleprompters is evil.

I just have to remember: "our work is the greatest passport".  Congrats, Miss Finneran.  You deserve it!