Theatre Port

You may have missed it but we posted something about it a month ago,
Tony Article

But Thanks for posting a Reminder-
:TY|:

Well, Bernie, you've not exactly gone out on a limb with your picks! Those are all the heavily favored choices to win their respective awards and I expect that most will predictably emerge victorious tonight. Personally, however, I'm picking Michael Mayer (over John Doyle) for his sheer, audaciously original direction of SPRING AWAKENING and Eve Best (over Julie White) for redefining the role of Jo Hogan in MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN. Julie White's role in LITTLE DOG is practically actor-proof, and she was fantastically funny in it, but Eugene O'Neill is always rife with pitfalls and traps for an actor and Eve Best made it look easy as she hit it out of the park.

Yes, Bernie, I understood the concept of predicting the winners, rather than choosing your favorites or "most deserving." That's what I based my two dissenting opinions upon--I was predicting them to win, not choosing them as my favorites. As I said, your choices were generally considered the heavy favorites in a year that was expected not to offer many surprises. Even Everett Evans offered up his Tony predictions and they were very much the same as yours across the board because, by and large, those nominees who were expected to win a trophy seemed to end up winning one last night, with few exceptions. Pierce's win was probably the only jaw-dropping surprise, but that's not because he wasn't worthy of winning (he certainly was, as were all the nominees) but rather because the NY theatre press, and the Sondheim groupies, have elevated Esparza's performance to some level of transcendent superiority over his fellow nominees. I saw COMPANY, Esparaza was great (I thought the production itself was an even greater achievment than any single performance in it), and so was Gavin Lee and probably so was Michael Cerveris. My choice of Eve Best was NOT based on my opinion of o'Neill's plays (I usually find them interminable) but, rather, on the fresh take that Eve Best gave to a character that already won a Tony for Colleen Dewhurst in the 1970's. Julie White's performance in LITTLE DOG (which I saw before its Broadway transfer) was very funny but you basically saw the crux of her entire performance in her Tony acceptance speech. Her performance in LITTLE DOG is a brilliant technical exercise and I'm not displeased that a purely comic performance got some recognition from a distinguished awards show. When all is said and done, the awards don't mean much to anyone except the winners and their families, but I've been watching the Tonys telecast since 1974 and, as a young teenager, it gave me a rare opportunity to see Broadway musical performances before I ever actually made my first trip to a Broadway show in 1977. Broadway is something of a relic now, an amusement park ride of sorts, and it really exists largely for the entertainment of tourists. Off-Broadway is where the really exciting and innovative NY theatre is happening, and that's where I tend to spend my time on a visit to NYC. (I feel sorry for anyone who missed licketysplit in SLAVA'S SNOW SHOW, or plays like RED LIGHT WINTER, because they decided to see THE LION KING or JERSEY BOYS on Broadway) In the past two years, I've seen a lot of shows on Broadway that I wouldn't normally even consider seeing if it weren't for the fact that I had friends in them (THE WEDDING SINGER, CURTAINS, AIDA, MARY POPPINS, THE BOY FROM OZ, and the upcoming GREASE revival, to name a few).

I agree -- award shows today have lost all of its meaning -- they are predictable and sometimes you wonder if they are honoring the best or the most popular at the time.

With regard to Off-Broadway v Broadway -- some people may not like the stuff that is put on Off-Broadway (subject matter, etc) and may like to see mainstream Broadway shows.

B