Tony Award performances & acceptance speeches

[silverstarry]

Ariana DeBose in the opening number

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If you didn't watch the broadcast/livestream, here's what you missed on...Glee!

Comments

[duchello]

Oh man this performance just reminded me of how much I loved Merrily. I can't imagine what trying to get tickets to this before it closes is going to look like. I feel like I got crazy lucky buying during their first presale.

Is stereophonic good? I liked the performance and was intrigued but that's as like 90 sec long, why was it so short.

I feel bad but I didn't like the hell's kitchen music, the Alecia Keys / Jay Z cameo was funny though.

The Suffs performance was kinda whatever, didn't really inspire a show visit.

The Illinoise performance was lovely, I know some are disappointed since it's more of a choreo driven show than traditional musical but I love choreo so I loved it. I've never listened to Sufjan's music before so I'm gonna go do some catching up now.

Cabaret is one of my top theater experiences tbh, I'm surprised it got no technical or costuming awards. I've also never seen a production of it before so I don't have the context of the original and revival which I know are considered superior.

[behansu]

I loved Suffs so much and I'll sing its praises all day, any day. I feel like the subject matter might be hurting it with some people and that's unfortunate because it's a genuinely good and absolutely fun show. People don't want a history lesson or to be lectured at, but that's not the vibe of the show at all.

Give it a chance if you can. It's gotten some really great reviews that can speak to it better than I can. But I'll tell you that I laughed a lot, cried a few times and felt very moved and uplifted at the end. The entire cast is women, and I think even the orchestra pit is all women too. The audience I saw it with loved it, as did all my friends. We've been talking about it non-stop in the group chat. I can't rec it highly enough.

[wowthatisminty]

I wish they had done a different song for the show. I completely understood why they did "Keep Marching" because it included everyone (AFAIK, I haven't been able to see the show yet) but "Great American Bitch" is a delight and showcases the national treasure that is Ally Bonino

[behansu]

Yeah, "Keep Marching" was def the best choice if they wanted to feature the entire ensemble. But I totally agree with you. KM works really well in the context of the whole show. It's the culmination of everything that came before and I remember there were tears streaming down my face during it. But removed from all that and on its own, it loses a lot of impact.

I think they could have convinced more people with "Great American Bitch" because again, I totally agree with you, Ally Bonino is fucking delightful in that. She got some of the biggest laughs during that song, and just in general. Her's was my fav performance.

I hope you get a chance to see the show! It really is so worth it.

[quinnmorgendorf]

Ariana DeBose has such a strange way of speaking? She kind of sounds like Katharine Hepburn at times, like that kind of Old Hollywood affectation.

I wonder if she always talks like that or if she was just putting it on because hosting the Tony Awards engenders peak theater kid dramatics.

[squirrels_oh_no]

She's def doing a theater kid thing.

[bttrsondaughter]

someone joked that the Ariana’s (DeBose and Grande) swapped enunciation abilities lol. I was hoping she’d do great but she was really giving (future Tony nominee) Nicole Scherzinger/Rita Ora host energy last night!

[alwaysu2]

I saw a tweet refer to her as a substitute teacher and thought it was a good description.

[quinnmorgendorf]

Also the only nominee I've seen is An Enemy of the People, but I thought Jeremy Strong was outstanding and I'm glad he won.

I'm also annoyed that he seemed to be the only nominee whom they tried to play off, especially since it was while he was talking about the importance of the message of the play.

[nightwing30]

Merrily was my favorite performance, followed by Illinoise, but I sadly wasn’t drawn in by the rest. Too many awkwardly piece-together medleys, combined with bad camera work and terrible sound mixing.

This almost feels sacrilegious to say because I love the Tonys and award shows in general, but last night’s show was kinda a slog to get through. Ariana’s high point was last year’s ceremony, they desperately need a new host.

[scriptedending]

It was not a well-directed show. The camerawork was awful throughout, the sound was spotty, and yeah, Ariana's opener was a let down after last year. Some great winners and performances, for sure, but the show itself was not nearly as good as usual.

[silverstarry]

I think that the opening song was in a key that was a little bit too low for her. If they had raised it a key (or even half a key), I think she would have sounded much better. She is a good singer so it seems odd that the award shows keep giving her songs that are terrible on their own and/or not ideal for her vocal range.

[behansu]

THANK YOU for putting this whole post together OP. You made it so easy to catch up on everything.

I just realized one of the women from Stereophonic was also in that Amazon Prime tv show "The Wilds"

Eddie Redmayne is certainly making some choices in his performance lol

I'm generally happy about the winners, especially Suffs. It feels like they spread the love around, which is always nice. I like that better than one single show dominating the whole night.