I forgot how much I miss going to the theater

Yeah, the Tony Awards were over the weekend, and were up on my internet pay-for channel. I had been planning to go to Gamlitz, but it was raining cats and dogs, so why travel to gloom in gloom, you know? So will try again tomorrow. And watched the show.

Among all the awards shows this year, the Tony broadcast was smart. They gave out the boring technical awards in the commercial breaks, with notifications when they went back on air. The acceptance speeches were mercifully brief. The rest was what Broadway does best... entertainment.

The guest host was Neil Patrick Harris, who is so multi-talented, it's criminal. He used to be 'Doogie Howser', and is now on 'How I Met Your Mother', but has a lot to offer. His opening number was hilarious. He had a great interim number with Hugh Jackman mid-show. More on him in a moment.

The rest were live excerpts from this years crops of musical nominees. Strong field, I must say. And some from recent ones, and one ballad from Spiderman, Bring On The Dark, which was nice enough, but that wasn't in the running because it's been one of the most scandal ridden enterprises of the past year and still hasn't officially opened because it was such a mess, keeps being re-written, and is fairly dangerous.... lots of injuries to the cast.

The finale of 'Anything Goes' as best revival was very nice, but didn't have the spark that '42nd Street' had. Saw that in Vienna, and for tap-dancing numbers, remains one of my favorites.

One number had me riveted. The NY Philharmonic got an A-list cast together and recreated the legendary Sondheim musical 'Company', which is going to be in some big city movie theaters for four days beginning yesterday. Neil Patrick Harris played the lead. And they did the finale from that. The shock was that Stephen Creier of Two and a Half Men and Stephen Colbert were in it! The original cast was lead by Dean Jones, and Harris really fit the role. The ensemble is excellent, Colbert carries a tune and blended in with the choreography. I was surprised, to say the least.

But, of course, I was wanting to see anything that had to do with The Book of Mormon, which had fourteen nominations and won nine, including best musical. It's from the team that do South Park, and the creater of 'Avenue Q' which was a huge hit. It's about young Mormons who do their missionary year in northern Uganda, get their belief tested confronting a local warlord, and from what I hear, it is not for the very religious or faint of heart.

I hope I can imbed the excerpt they did at the Tonys with Andrew Rannells. I saw an interview with Josh Gad, who is in the show, and the part was so hard to cast, he said, but when Rannells walked in to audition, everyone knew they'd found who they were looking for.... that fresh, wide-eyed innocence that young Mormon missionaries tend to just exude... the kind where you want to shake them and yell 'Wake up!'. A couple of them here tried to get their claws into Peter, and I thought at first that Annti was behind them visiting, but of course she wasn't. They kept coming back and leaving pamphlets with 'pretty' colorful biblical illustrations, the kind a ten-year-old would draw with a full set of Crayolas. I'd be at work, come home, find them on the table, and say, 'Why do you keep letting them in?' 'They're so nice. I think one of them is gay.' 'Do you read this crap??' 'No. It's nice to have company when you're not here.'

That seems to be a recurring theme here. The creators of the show say that lots of Mormons have seen the show, and come backstage and are complimentary. 'They're so nice.'

I suppose they are, but they believe some bat-shit crazy stuff. The embed is fairly tame... there are other themes that have gotten some people's panties in a twist, but it seems to be done so skillfully, they still go with it. Still, pay attention to the lyrics... believing the Jews built boats and sailed to America, and that Eden was in Jackson Missouri? Au weh. I hope they made that up.

Can't embed, but the link is here. The moment I saw this actor, I understood what Josh Gad meant. And what is this about you getting your own planet? Read the comments. Whew.



And the opening