New York, The Tony's, and Other Shows.

I know going in that this one is going to require two posts to cover it.

First, the Tony's: I assume that I'm that I'm the only one watching who cares equally about seeing the Tony's and the NBA Finals, which were on opposite each other.

If my bookie took action on the Tony's, I'd ignore the NBA Finals completely.

The opening number at the Tony's was great. Better than anything that followed.

Particularly when that rocker got bunked in the head by the scenery.

Broadway is pretty expensive these days, but we got to see that for free.

My usual attitude about watching the Tonys is that it acts as a stimulus for me to want to go to New York to see a lot of shows.
But if you've read me with any kind of regularity, you know that I've spent a lot of time in New York this year, and already seen most of these shows.

What it did prove to me this year is that my shit detector is still pretty accurate.
There wasn't any show that they showed a clip of that I hadn't seen that I suddenly felt compelled to see on a future trip.
And the clips that I did see only confirmed that I was right to want to see what I've seen in the first place.
With the glaring exception of "God of Carnage", which had the bad taste to win for Best Play.
That one fooled me with the ads, and would have fooled me with the Tony clip.
It just slipped under my radar.

There were two others I would have voted for over that one: "33 Variations", and "Impressionism", although the latter wasn't even nominated.

It was nice that they gave a Lifetime Achievement Award to Jerry Herman, composer and lyricist of my favorite musical of all time, "La Cage Aux Folles".
It was the answer to the musical question "What took them so long?"

I haven't wanted to see "Billy Eliot", which won for Best Musical.
It just looks so artsy-fartsy.
My shit detector has sounded a five-alarmer.

That "Next To Normal", which I saw last week, didn't win is something someone is going to have to answer for.
It is electrifying, stunning, a tour-de-force, impressive musically and lyrically, and is a musical about mental illness.
So, major points for ambition.

I also had dinner between shows last Wednesday with a couple of my readers. Janet and Lee. They are two of the primary Initials Game players on the weekend game, and we had a great time.
We have all become friends.
You can never have too many of them.

If you live in the New York area, or the Detroit area, or the Los Angeles area, and would like to share food with me, just e-mail me at macchus999@aol.com and we can try to work it out.

The other show I saw last Wednesday was "Danny and Sylvia: The Danny Kaye Musical".

Never have I had such thoroughly mixed feelings about any show I've ever seen.

It alternated between totally great and thoroughly awful, and kept shifting back and forth.

Much more about this tomorrow.


*****