Theatre Lover's Journal for June 8, 2003
The 2003 Tony Awards:
Boys Night Out!
by John Kenrick
Has there ever been a gayer Tony Awards broadcast? Darn near every major award celebrated gay talents and/or works with a gay sensibility. All that, and Hugh Jackman too? What theatre queen could ask for anything more? Some highlights and lowlights –
- Biggest mistake of the night – Hugh Jackman's hair. Second biggest mistake – his opening parody. Just think . . someone got paid for writing that incoherent bilge.
- A single-network, three hour format made this the smoothest, most enjoyable broadcast in years. But the rock concert lighting effects were a bit much.
- Memo to the audience at Radio City Music Hall – this was the Tonys, not the State of the Union address. What's with all the standing ovations?
- Memo to Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker – thanks for proving that theatre geeks can have glamour.
- Memo to the two men who composed the score for Hairspray – loved the on air proposal, guys! Where do we send the wedding gifts?
- Three cheers to so many wonderful talents who finally got recognition after years of being egregiously overlooked! Love and cheers to Joe Mantello, Michelle Pawk, Dick Latessa, Jane Krakowski, Jack O'Brien and Denis O'Hare.
- The producers of the broadcast ordered the orchestra to cut short the acceptance speeches, but they wasted precious minutes following the stars of The Play What I Wrote as they mucked about backstage. Who slept with who to make that happen?
- Memo to Frank Langella – take Isabelle Stevens. Please!
- Kudos to Def Poetry Jam for winning Best Special Theatrical Event – weren't you lucky that the nominating committee pretended La Boheme was a revival? You were even luckier to get two performance segments – hope they reached the non-traditional audience they were aimed at.
- Speaking of La Boheme, that was a great way of getting all the casts on the air, but anyone who hasn't seen this stunning production got no clue as to what it really looks like in performance.
- Jack O'Brien's heartfelt tribute to choreographer Jerry Mitchell was precisely the kind of classy touch you would expect from this wonderful musical theatre veteran.
- The simple, affectionate tribute to those who passed away should become an annual event – Al Hirschfeld, Adolph Green and Peter Stone will all be greatly missed.
- It was great to see Bernadette Peters fill her abbreviated rendition of "Rose's Turn" with all the energy that was missing on the night I saw Gypsy. (Yeah, I know I shouldn't complain – at least she showed up the night I was there.)
- Lynn Redgrave's tearful joy for sister Vanessa was easily the most warm n' fuzzy moment of the night.
- I don't know if Nine really is the Best Revival . . . it certainly is the wettest.
- Marissa Janet Winokur and Harvey Fierstein's Tonys made my night! You go, girls!
- The whole mizpocha that came up on stage to accept Hairspray's award for Best Musical was a reminder of what a group effort it takes to make a new musical a reality.
- And here's a salute to all the theatre queens – er, I mean geeks in the Radio City balcony, who energized Hugh Jackman's closing sing-along of "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'." All that piano bar training paid off, kids!
For the record, the nominees and winners (marked by asterisks) were –
BEST PLAY
Enchanted April
Say Goodnight, Gracie
Take Me Out*
Vincent in Brixton
BEST MUSICAL
Amour
Hairspray*
Movin' Out
A Year With Frog and Toad
BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
Gypsy
La Bohème
Man of La Mancha
Nine*
BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
Dinner at Eight
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Long Day's Journey Into Night*
BEST LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Brian Bedford, Tartuffe
Brian Dennehy, Long Day's Journey Into Night*
Eddie Izzard, Joe Egg
Paul Newman, Our Town
Stanley Tucci, Frankie and Johnny
BEST LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Jayne Atkinson, Enchanted April
Victoria Hamilton, Joe Egg
Clare Higgins, Vincent in Brixton
Vanessa Redgrave, Long Day's Journey Into Night*
Fiona Shaw, Medea
BEST LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Antonio Banderas, Nine
Harvey Fierstein, Hairspray*
Malcolm Gets, Amour
John Selya, Movin' Out
Brian Stokes Mitchell, Man of La Mancha
BEST LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Melissa Errico, Amour
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Man of La Mancha
Elizabeth Parkinson, Movin' Out
Bernadette Peters, Gypsy
Marissa Jaret Winokur, Hairspray*
BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Robert Sean Leonard, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Denis O'Hare, Take Me Out*
Daniel Sunjata, Take Me Out
BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Christine Ebersole, Dinner at Eight
Linda Emond, Life x 3
Kathryn Meisle, Tartuffe
Michele Pawk, Hollywood Arms*
Marian Seldes, Dinner at Eight
BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Michael Cavanaugh, Movin' Out
John Dossett, Gypsy
Dick Latessa, Hairspray*
Corey Reynolds, Hairspray
Keith Roberts, Movin' Out
BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Tammy Blanchard, Gypsy
Jane Krakowski, Nine*
Mary Stuart Masterson, Nine
Chita Rivera, Nine
Ashley Tuttle, Movin' Out
BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Laurence Boswell, Joe Egg
Robert Falls, Long Day's Journey
Joe Mantello, Take Me Out*
Deborah Warner, Medea
BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
David Leveaux, Nine
Baz Luhrmann, La Bohème
Jack O'Brien, Hairspray*
Twyla Tharp, Movin' Out
BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL
Jeremy Sams, Amour
Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, Hairspray*
Willie Reale, A Year with Frog and Toad
David Henry Hwang, Flower Drum Song
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Michel Legrand, Amour
Willie and Robert Reale, A Year with Frog and Toad
Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Hairspray*
Various composers, Urban Cowboy
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Robert Longbottom, Flower Drum Song
Jerry Mitchell, Hairspray
Melinda Roy, Urban Cowboy
Twyla Tharp, Movin' Out*
BEST SCENIC DESIGN
John Lee Beatty, Dinner at Eight
Santo Loquasto, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Catherine Martin, La Bohème*
David Rockwell, Hairspray
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Gregg Barnes, Flower Drum Song
William Ivey Long, Hairspray*
Catherine Martin, Angus Strathie, La Bohème
Catherine Zuber, Dinner at Eight
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN
Donald Holder, Movin' Out
Nigel Levings, La Bohème*
Brian MacDevitt, Nine
Kenneth Posner, Hairspray
BEST ORCHESTRATIONS
Billy Joel and Stuart Malina, Movin' Out*
Nicholas Kitsopoulos, La Bohème
Jonathan Tunick, Nine
Harold Wheeler, Hairspray
SPECIAL THEATRICAL EVENT
The Play What I Wrote
Prune Danish
Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam*
Bill Maher's Victory Begins at Home
SPECIAL TONY AWARDS:
(Seen on the broadcast)
Cy Feuer - Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
The Children's Theatre Company (Minneapolis, MN) - Regional Theatre Award