Let's Talk About The TONY Awards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                             Darlings, it was a bitter and sweet night.  I think the sweetness outweighed the bitterness, but let's start with the worst aspects, and get them out of the way.

                             First, get Ariana De Bose off the TONYS.  I had no idea she had done these three years in a row; I thought it was her second.  Whatever, too much is too much.  Get off the stage, Ariana, you are no longer the flavor of the month, and how long do you think you can coast on your role as Anita?  You ae not Rita Moreno or Chita Rivera.  So, there!

                              The opening number, which extended to the stairs leading up to the David H, Koch Theatre at Lincoln Center, was garish and ugly.  Unimaginatively staged and looking like something out of the last season of "American Horror Story."  I was no fan of "Hell's Kitchen," but when that started to perform is when I felt the show was finally coming to life.    What were they thinking?  And Ariana, you are gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                   Three people were robbed Sunday night.  The first was Maria Friedman, who solved the 42-year-old 'Merrily ' problem. She should have won for "Best Director Of A Musical."  I mean, Danya Taymor for "The Outsiders?"  Just because she is Julie's niece??????????  And "The Outsiders" as "Best Musical?"  You could hear gasps and jaws dropping when that mistake was announced.  If you think I am going to see it, you are crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       The divine Celia Keenan-Bolger was robbed, too.  Her achingly honest portrayal of Martha in "Mother Play" was the only honest thing about the piece.  Her movements and expressions conveyed a world of pain, difficulty and hurt in a play that deals with hardly the best of mothers.    But then, mothers often get a bum rap in plays.  Celia transcended the material to make this something of her own.  She deserved her second TONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                        And so did Lindsay Mendez.  How can one NOT award the third of the 'Merrily' trio?  To dismiss her is to dismiss the chemistry each bought to the characters and the performance, which helped the show immensely.  I am not sure 'Merrily' would have succeeded half as well without this extraordinary cast.

                                           All right, those are my grievances.  Now for my favorites.

                                                                            

                         Jeremy Strong in "An Enemy Of The People--" The production should have won "Best Revival Of A Play."  But Jeremy Strong's performance was too perfect to be ignored--impassioned, heated, and HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yes, Michael Imperioli should have been nominated too, and seeing them go at each other was a theatrical delight, but it was Mr. Strong's  superb emotional delineation that made the evening for anyone who saw this production.

                        As far as I am concerned the evening was a triumph for 'Merrily We Roll Along."  Having seen the original 1981 production, and recognizing, with its beautiful score, the potential to be something more than what it was paid off, and I am glad I lived long enough to see it.  Of course, "Old Friends" was preformed--pity a sound problem almost ruined it--but then I did say it was the most upbeat song of the show.  And when the show won "Best Revival Of A Musical," it gave Maria a chance to address the audience, delivering the speech she should have for winning "Best Director Of A Musical." It was sweet vindication for "Merrily We Roll Along."  And it did not stop there.

                                                                   

                          Jonathan Groff deservedly won the TONY for "Best Leading Actor In A Musical," for his superb humanization of the flawed Franklin Shepard, in "Merrily We Roll Along.  He was touching and adorable, and his speech had me in tears.  Heartfelt, and giving, just as gives his all to the show each night.  How I would have loved to have seen the performance the first night after the TONYS.  It must have been so UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                                        

                      If anyone ran off with the evening, it was Daniel Radcliffe.  I loved when Ben Platt called out "Charley Kringas himself," because for this generation Radcliffe will define the role.  Adorable in his own right, the chemistry between he and Jonathan Groff was just so precious and real; it made their wins an inevitability.  And Radcliffe's rendition of "Good Thing Going" was the best I have heard, so haunting and heartbreaking.  I think the entire community was cheering for Daniel Radcliffe, and I am so happy he won.

                        As for the rest, only three shows I thought had potential--"Illinoise," "Water For Elephants," and "SUFFS."  But who knows how long they will play?

                         I was so happy the revival of "Cabaret" got shut out.  Of course, now it is called "Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club," but it should really be the "Clit Kat Club," as lesbians are thronging to it.  But when that group has run its course, will it still be running?  No.  Eddie Redmayne's performance is so overdone; this is a show about understatement, which the production lacks altogether.  The best thing that could have been done was to place Bebe Neuwirth center, and have her sing the show's most heartbreaking song, "What Would You Do?"  It would have been more impacting than the tried and true "Wilkommen."

                              There you have my wrap on The 2024 TONY Awards.  Who knows what we are in for next year?  Will Audra win a seventh TONY for "Gypsy."  We shall see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                               But does she have the voice to pull it off?

                               Happy theatergoing, darlings!  Dig deep into those pockets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!