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Tony time warp
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What year is this? Must be 1998, since the opening of the Tony Awards is beginning with a tribute to “The Lion King.” Say WHAT? I don’t care if it is the 10th anniversary of “The Lion King.”
Could this be a laurel branch for Disney, which was largely overlooked for “The Little Mermaid” this year, and roundly dissed for “Tarzan” a couple of years ago?
Wait, there’s Whoopi Goldberg in the costume of Sebastian, the bossy crab character played by Georgia’s Tituss Burgess in “Little Mermaid.” What next? (Would you believe Whoopi as Mary Poppins? Whoopi in the “Phantom of the Opera” gondola?)
OK. Now here’s a touch of class. Accepting her Tony for featured actress/play, Rondi Reed pays tribute to the late Dennis Letts, father of playwright Tracy Letts. The elder Letts was in the original Broadway cast of his son’s Pulitzer Prize winner, “August: Osage County” but passed away after the show opened.
“Happy Father’s Day,” Reed said, lifting her medallion up toward the heavens at the top of the show.
I hope that was a joke about Whoopi needing to go to the ladies room, and leaving Counting Crows band member Adam Duritz to introduce his roommate, Stew. The performance from Stew’s “Passing Strange” kicked butt. If Whoopi is hosting, why isn’t she in front of the camera more?
Three times, as they say, is the charm. Director Bartlett Sher, who runs Seattle’s Intiman Theatre, finally got his Tony, for his revival of “South Pacific.” His productions of “The Light in the Piazza” and Clifford Odets’ “Awake and Sing” were superb.
Patti LuPone is positively fab as Mama Rose, isn’t she? Oh. My. God. Will she win another Tony? (Laura Benanti, accepting for best featured actress/musical for her portrayal of Gypsy Rose Lee, was the real deal: sweet, sincere, effusive, just short of tears.)
Accepting his Tony for the score of “In the Heights,” Lin-Manuel Miranda rapped his speech. “Mr. Sondheim, look I made a hat… A Latin hat at that.” What a beautiful and moving moment. Miranda came prepared.
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Comments
By KJ
June 16, 2008 12:27 AM | Link to this
Hey, you misspelled “Benanti.”