“Not too bad, if I say so myself…” If I may take a quote from this year’s Best Musical winner as I went 20/24 with my predictions for this year’s 2015 Tony Awards. Undoubtedly, the two big winners of the night were the musical Fun Home and the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, both of which took home five awards including honors for their leading men, directors, and, of course, Best Musical/Play.
Right behind those two was the revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I, which picked up four awards, including Best Revival and for their long overdue leading lady Kelli O’Hara, who easily gave the best speech of the night (including dancing off the stage). I may predicted Tony co-host Kristin Chenoweth over her, but I am so happy to be wrong.
And what about Chenoweth and Alan Cumming? How did the two do as hosts for the show? I found them to be very charming, funny, and always managed to keep the show fun. I am sure the King and I bit they did, which included Chenoweth dressed as the King of Siam, will cause many to be Twitter-outraged for being racist, but I didn’t have a problem with it. Trust me, there has been a lot more racist things involving The King and I than that silly bit. Also, Cumming rocks a tux with shorts, and as a man who never wants to wear long pants, I applaud you, sir.
As for my missed predictions, they were all in acting categories, which I expected would happen. Along with O’Hara winning, Richard McCabe for The Audience, Ruthie Ann Miles for The King and I, and Christian Borle for Something Rotten! picked up their respective Featured acting categories. I did get Annaleigh Ashford for You Can’t Take It with You correct, so I was not a total bust there.
Many people were predicting An American in Paris to pick up a bunch of awards, and while it did not make the sweep many were thinking, it still picked up four awards in the below-the-line and technical categories. The Audience took home two awards, with the aforementioned McCabe and the easiest lock of the night, Helen Mirren for Best Actress. Wolf Hall, Parts 1 & 2 and You Can’t Take It with You nabbed one each.
Because the Tony Awards feature performances from all the nominated musicals (and some that were not nominated), we were treated to ten numbers from shows. My two favorites have to be Tony nominee Sydney Lucas belting out “Ring of Keys” form Fun Home, a song about a young Alison Bechdel realizing her sexuality for the first time. It was a beautiful performance that got a massive ovation from the audience at Radio City Music Hall. On the complete other spectrum, Tony nominee Tony Yazbeck and the company of On the Town doing a medley of “Lucky to Be Me” and “New York, New York”, showcasing exciting choreography and Yazbeck’s tremendous voice. He truly does feel like a star plucked out of the 1930s/40s and living among us.
I will update this post when (and if) the videos of those performances become available. And if you want to check out the full list of winners, you can do so on the next page. All in all, this show made me very excited to head up to the Big Apple next month and see some shows.
GO SEE LIVE THEATER!
