Anybody else watching the Tony Awards? Yikes. I had just settled in with some fried zucchini (my husband could be Giada) and said, “Boy, it sure is a lot more relaxing to sit here on the couch and watch the awards than to be a sleep-deprived production assistant.” Flashback to running around, wiggling behind chorus girls to deliver Starbucks and pacing the production trailer, watching the allotted time for the show dwindle in the overly dramatic hands of long speech givers.
I am especially glad to not be backstage tonight, because they are having a sound nightmare. It started in the opening number when the Westside Story gangs were inaudible. Then, it sounded like aliens were descending upon Radio City Hall in the midst of Neil Patrick Harris’s monologue. Several numbers later, when they were just about to start rocking the boat, a stagehand had to run on stage to give the soloist a handheld mic. Outside of sound issues, names were mixed up and tech crew could be seen upstage of a presenter.
In spite of it all, I can’t help feeling that same excitement I did as a kid, watching this show. And those three boys accepting their award for Best Actor in a Musical for “Billy Elliot” is pretty unbeatable. How could the RNC attack the President for taking his wife to August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” on Broadway in today’s economy? Theatre needs support now more than ever.
P.S. Doogie vs. Wolverine in a comic sing-off, I’m afraid Doogie wins.
Tags: Billy Elliot, Next to Normal, Tony Awards