You Take The Good With The Bad

Sorry for the long absence, bloggies.  Momma's been busy.  But now I am here, squishing you to my bosom, happy to see you all again.

And she's got some beef.

First off - The Tonys.  I did not even watch the Tonys this year because I had a feeling, a premonition if you will, that the show was going to make me gnash my teeth.  And from what I understand and was forced to watch on youtube, I was right.

Can someone please explain to me why it was some sort of solo-performance workshop?  This isn't American Idol, and I didn't want to tune in to see 32-bar cuts, especially of Christiane Noll singing "Back To Before."  That woman should have been allowed to stand there and sing the whole song twice.  She's freakin' Christiane Noll and she was playing MOTHER in RAGTIME.

And if you are going to give her a 32-Bar of "Back To Before," then have some other pieces from the show to pair it with.  It was the whole cast that got nominated for the show, not just Noll and her personal nomination. Do a bit of the opening number and then finish it off with BtB.  I'm not a brain surgeon, nor am I related to Hal Prince, but I figured that one out all on my own.

Speaking of whole casts, "Everyday Rapture?" They did a minute of one song too!  That had no depth, gave you no real concept of what the show was about, I wanted to scream!  That is SHERIE RENE SCOTT, people.  Do you have ANY idea how brilliant she is?  And one of the chicks singing with her was curvy!  The more strong, sexy, curvy women on the television the better.

But no, no we had to cut Christiane and Sherie short.  They aren't names, don't you understand?  We know why people even turn their televisions on these days.  It's to see celebrities.  It's to see movie stars.  So no, we aren't going to do "A Weekend In The Country," from "A Little Night Music."  We aren't going to even do "Perpetual Anticipation," which is short as hell but at least is a group number.  No, we're going to let Catherine Zeta-Jones sing a song that when not done properly sinks to a dirge, and slowly sends everyone watching into a coma or out to find some Draino to drink.

I refuse to judge Catherine for the performance.  Who knows why her head was whipping from left to right, who knows who chose to do a complete version of a very simple and stark ballad when her other contenders only got cuts.  But it was a simply appalling truth that most of the people who gave their blood, sweat and tears to get these shows up and running and nominated on Broadway were refused the chance to present and celebrate their wares.  "A Little Night Music" is my favorite Sondheim and it kills me how many people now won't even get it a fighting chance because of what they saw at the Tonys.

Urgh, I knew that was bugging me but I didn't know how much until I looked at all I typed here.  I guess I will save the "Good" from the title above for next time.  Until then, my sweet bloggies.

~ Steph, The Vengeance Demon Of Broadway