This morning was TONY Nomination morning, and while we were all eager to hear the news, I was surprised and shocked by what was omitted.
Jessie Mueller got nominated as Best Actress In A Musical, for her engaging performance in "Waitress." As well she should!!!!!!!!!!!!
But--no AUDRA, no BRIAN STOKES-MITCHELL, no ANDREW KEENAN-BOLGER, no CAROLEE CARMELLO, no SAOIRISE RONAN, no "Tuck Everlasting??????????" What the hell is going on?
So, what is left? Nothing but "Hamilton," "Hamilton," "Hamilton!!!!!!!!"
This show, if believed is the hottest juggernaut to hit Broadway with audiences cheering and clamouring for tickets. It reminds me of the furor when "A Chorus Line" first hit the Rialto, back in 1975. That was a good show, and has stood the test of time. Whether "Hamilton" will remains to be seen. Personally, I think it will go the way of "RENT," becoming acting fodder only for those who want to perform it, because how timely is it, anymore? Was it, even at the time?????????????
I am happy for Reed Birney, Chris Fitzgerald, Laura Benanti, Jane Krakowski, Gabriel Byrne, Jessica Lange, and Michael Shannon. Al l are doing first rate work in their shows, and I would love to see "She Loves Me" get Best Revival. But no Gavin Creel???????
Come on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let me just say I am one who is not going to bend down on my knees, and kiss the ass of "Hamilton." I loved "In The Heights," but the adulation for this show has gone beyond the pall of anything reasonable I have seen in my years of theater.
"Runaways" was better than this. And that will proven this Summer at ENCORES! Although they won't have that legendary cast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope some genuinely deserving people take home some awards.
Otherwise, they will become the PHONY Awards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Hamilton", God help us, is a juggernaut for one simple reason: its the first "rap" Broadway musical. That is sufficient to make the mass media swoon in embarrassing spasms of fake solidarity with the "underclasses", and cause a stampede of clueless white suburbanites clamoring to be part of the buzz. The adulation has reached such a state of feverish delirium, if even a fraction is accurate the show must have some redeeming value beyond novelty.
ReplyDeleteBut I don't see it, and think you're right: it's the "Rent" of the current generation (like that show, years too late to make its point, and way too of-the-moment to have any relevance as a revival for future generations). Unfortunately, once that "rap on Bway" factor wears off, it will likely become a cliche show in constant regional revival- precisely because any idiot without stage fright can rap. We'll never be rid of it: the combination of putative American history and easy-to-perform rap score means every dinner theater in the world will be doing it for decades. Rap: the long-passe art form that refuses to die or evolve, but keeps poisoning the well of youthful creativity.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that! Really, I feel obligated to see it,
but neither of us will break our piggy banks for it.
I have heard some cuts, and am not impressed.