Tone Deaf Tonys

I believe I am the only straight man in North America that every year watches the Tony awards instead of the NBA playoffs. For the first time since I have become a Raging Broadway Queen™, I haven’t had a dog in the fight come Tony time. The shows I saw this year, which included The Odd Couple, The Woman in White, and Three Days Of Rain, were pretty much snubbed in extreme prejudice. So this year, the point was to watch the production numbers and decide if there was anything worth catching up on when we go to New York on our fall pilgrimage.

We once saw a touring company of The Mystery of Edwin Drood and nearly half of the audience left at intermission. I asked a theater buff friend (also the World’s Biggest Cher Fan) how a Tony-winning show could be so bad. He just said that some years are better than others and they have to give the award to something. By all accounts, this was that type of lackluster year on Broadway. The big showdown was between Jersey Boys, a jukebox musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and The Drowsy Chaperone, a tongue-in-cheek tribute to bad musicals from the 1920s. Drowsy Chaperone won more awards, but Jersey Boys took home the big prizes including Best Musical, which sort of surprised me. When was the last time, if ever, a show without an original score won best musical?

I like my comedy on the dark side and my wife runs from anything described as a black comedy. I called my son in during the Sweeney Todd clip to see if he was interested in a show about a cannibalistic barber. He was game. My wife said, “Go ahead, just get me tickets to Jersey Boys instead.” I’m taking that as a “no” to Sweeney. Jersey Boys has gotten good reviews and since they won two acting awards I would prefer to see it with the original cast, but I’m still not sold on seeing a show of sappy doo-wop songs from my dad’s era.

The Drowsy Chaperone looked too much like Thoroughly Modern Millie (which has been called the worst Best Musical ever) for my wife. The Wedding Singer looked cute, especially since it’s set in the 80s and I was married in 1986. I’m just not sure that it will be still playing by the time I get around to seeing it and it's starting a tour next year, so I may just wait for it to come to me. And if Sweeney Todd looked dark, Threepenny Opera was pitch black. The Color Purple got a surprise win in the Best Actress category, but that isn’t going to make we want to see it anymore than I have already, which is not at all.

All-in-all, nothing I saw at the Tonys made me grab the laptop to order tickets. I think I’ll wait for the next round of shows to open and take my chances with them. Because that sure beats getting stuck watching this year’s version of Edwin Drood.

Update (6/14/06): For a way cattier and more comprehensive review of the Tonys, check out the hilarity at the Bloody Red Carpet. They have a picture of Julia Roberts much better than my poor paparazzi shot. In an act of humility, Julia called the huddled starving masses that don't make 20 million a movie "insanely talented". And just so I get a few GeekGoogle®Hits, I had forgotten that in addition to turning Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side, Emperor Palpatine won a Tony for Best Featured Actor In A Play.