Diva Reacts: 2024 Tony Award Performances

 I'm getting caught up on the latest musicals, and you get to watch--and freak out about Eddie Redmayne's Emcee.

Know the Score: Top 5 Best Tony NON-Winners (plus more crossover fun! Yay!)

Sometimes, being a great show just isn't enough. This month "Know the Score" focuses on the musicals that, despite being awesome, didn't win the Tony award for Best New Musical.


And guess what, I've been pimping out my talents to other reviewers for your education and entertainment once again! This time I join Steve of Judge of Character to add my somewhat obsessive perspective on The Phantom of the Opera! Enjoy!

Tony Performance Report Card

It's pretty much a given that you can't judge a musical by it's five-minute Tony performance anymore thank you can judge a book by its cover. However, a book with an eye-catching cover is more likely to get read, and a show with a good Tony performance is more likely to draw an audience. So, how well did last night's shows succeed at making me want to see them? Let's find out!

Newsies: Pleasantly amusing, but not spectacular—which, come to think of it, was pretty much my reaction to the movie. Got a little giggle every time the “crippled” newsie obviously put weight on his gimp leg (take some movement tips from Norm Lewis in Porgy and Bess, please!). Grade: C+

Jesus Christ Superstar: The title song for this musical asks a question that has plagued Christians and non-Christians alike—just who is this Jesus guy, anyway?--but Josh Young doesn't convey the confrontational, challenging subtext to what he's singing. He could be performing a number for a Vegas revue for all the depth he provides. The sight of Jesus delivering the “love your enemies” speech on the big screen is a nice touch, but otherwise there's no there there. Grade: D

Follies: I'm not a Follies fan, and this number isn't doing a whole lot to convert me. The patter is as crisp and clever as you might expect from Stephen Sondheim, but it's pretty much a one-joke song--”I love you when you don't love me, I don't love you when you do”--that doesn't take me anywhere special. Grade: C-

Ghost: *sigh* If there's one thing that bothers me in music theater scores, it's when you can't understand what anybody is singing, let alone why (it pretty much killed the American Idiot cast recording for me). This trio is a good example why—it just degenerates into random pop wailing; how am I supposed to care about the characters like that? Grade: D+

Nice Work If You Can Get It: Liked this one more than I expected to. Matthew Broderick phones it in, but an energetic chorus and the amusing image of Kelli O'Hara crooning “Someone to Watch Over Me” while packing a rifle more than make up for it. Grade: B+

Porgy and Bess: It was a good evening for Gershwin, I guess. The cast performs a solid medley of the score's highlights, creating a nice sampler platter of a presentation. Grade: A

Once: I've watched this a few times, and I love it more each time I see it. It has the simple, stirring quality of folk music at its best. Other musicals have done the “actors-are-the-orchestra” thing before, but never this effectively. Easily my favorite performance of the evening. Grade: A

Evita: I'd seen this performance on YouTube before and it didn't to much for me, but this time it worked much better. Ricky Martin is charming and sexy while still tapping into the cynicism behind the song. Grade: B

Hairspray: Pretty much an ad for Royal Caribbean, and they need to find a Tracy who is actually fat rather than curvy. Still, the music is fun as always, and it's nice to see a cruise ship doing something beyond a bunch of Up With People graduates dancing along to "YMCA." Grade: C

Godspell: Not a whole lot to recommend it, unfortunately. The cast tries its darndest with the old dancing-in-the-aisles-with-the-audience trick, but it doesn't do a thing for me. Grade: D-

Leap of Faith: I was impressed with the cast's energy and enthusiasm—you'd never know this was a show that had already closed from watching them Still, like a lot of musicals-from-movies, the score never rises up above servicable. Grade: C

Quick and Messy Random Crap

So I haven't compiled much Random Crap this week, mostly because I've been obsessing over the Les Miserables trailer. You can read what I think about it here.

The Tonys are days away, and Neil Patrick Harris continues to make me crush on him desperately by looking for a way to give the plays some decent screentime. Amen, brother! That I adore musicals kind of goes without saying, and yes they're easier to market to us poor yokels who don't get to go to New York all that often, but let's give the straight plays their due, huh? (On another note, can anybody say “straight plays” anymore without giggling over what that makes musicals by default?) 

I'm rather curious to see how the perennially development-Helled Rebecca does once it finally does get to Broadway. Daphne duMaurier's novel has always struck me as something that would musicalize well, and I have a soft spot for the big dramatic period romance shows (even if there hasn't been a really good one in years). If this highlight reel is any indication, it looks like it might be good cheesy fun, if nothing else.

Ten Things I'd Like to See at This Year's Tony Awards

1.) Neil Patrick Harris dressed in a Spider-Man costume. Yes, Spider-Man jokes are so last year. I just want to see him in red spandex.

2.) The onstage bar from Once in operation for the entire ceremony. Having a few drunk acceptance speeches would enliven the evening.

3.) Speaking of Once, I'd like to see them perform a song that isn't “Falling Slowly.” I know this won't happen, since “Falling Slowly” is the best-known song from the film and a pretty darn good piece, but there's something to be said for variety.

4.) A performance by Peter and the Starcatchers. Something. Anything. Plays always tend to get shortchanged on the live performance score, but I'd hate to see this one relegated to a short film clip while the stage gets reset.

5.) The revelation that Carol Channing has been portrayed by an android for the last five years.

6.) A group of Frank Wildhorn fans storming the stage and holding the ceremony hostage until Bonnie and Clyde is given the Best Score award (because the only reason Wildhorn's never won a Tony is because of bias among the voters, and not because he's been up against much better composers).

7.) Followed by a group of Sondheim fans storming the stage and holding the ceremony hostage until Follies is given the Best Musical Revival award (because the only reason it hasn't won a best musical Tony is because it's an underappreciated show, not because it's an overrated one).

8.) Andrew Lloyd Webber suffering a minor apoplexy as he tries to declare that Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita are simultaneously both his absolute best score, and that their current revivals are the best production of any of his works that he's ever seen.

9.) Joel Grey cluing us in on the medications, diet, ancient Chinese remedies, and/or pacts with demonic forces that keep him going strong at his age.

10.) Someone breaking into immature giggles over the title of the play Cock.

Special All-Tony Edition of Random Crap

I look forward to the Tony Awards every year, mostly because it's one of the few chances I get to see what's happening on Broadway. Theater is an unfortunately expensive habit, and with barely enough funds to see a few choice touring productions every year—never mind actually flying out to New York for the real thing—so the Tonys help me figure out which shows and cast recordings might be worth my time and money.

This year Once landed the most nominations and looks like the favorite to win Best Musical. I'm still on the fence about it. I watched the movie a few years back, when I gave it a verdict of “I'm glad I saw it, but don't really feel any urge to see it again.” But the down-to-earth production values and haunting songs look like they play very well onstage. I think I'm going to have to give this music another listen—it's kind of growing on me.



The other musicals nominated are Newsies (based on another “good, but not great” movie), Nice Work If You Can Get It (a show I've paid exactly no attention to so far), and, strangely enough, Leap of Faith, which was almost universally reviled at its opening last week. I suspect one of the reasons this show got the nod was because a lot of voters balked at the phrase “Tony-nominated musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.” I actually thought Spider-Man might get the fourth nomination—not because it's good (I still can't get through the cast recording without being bored to tears) but because it's something that the general public has heard of and it managed to pull itself out of a messy preview period and find its feet (after a fashion), which is an accomplishment in and of itself. Pity—I was looking forward to seeing the Dancing Spider-Man Chorus again.



The top nomination earner among plays was Peter and the Starcatchers, which is based on an enchanting prequel to Peter Pan by Dave Barry (yes, that Dave Barry) and Ridley Pearson. Among its nominated categories was Best Original Score (along with another play, One Man, Two Gunvors). This is the first time I can recall any plays being nominated in that category, let alone two--doesn't really speak well for the musicals that came out this season. Anyway, I hope it gets a performance slot at the awards (plays tend to get shortchanged on this score) because the highlights reel makes it look like a lot of fun. It also stars Christopher Borle of Smash, but we won't hold that against it.



So let the race begin! I'm probably not lucky enough to get another Neil Patrick Harris/Hugh Jackman duet this year, but a gal can dream...