This is the seventh entry posted since Saturday, if you don't come round on the weekend. There is this one from the week I had no phone line, and the rest start here.

Well, here I am, finally watching the Tonys! I haven't had a second, but I figured that I really cannot spend the rest of my life putting my fingers in my ears whenever the Broadway fan at my job wants to tell me about how many awards The Producers won! And besides, I want to know how many awards The Producers won!

So here we go.

I remember last year or the years before or whatever, when Nathan Lane hosted and he was like this booby prize because Rosie wasn't available, and now he's first choice!

Ha, very funny beginning, Nathan and Matthew Broderick in wing chairs drinking tea, saying "Welcome to the PBS portion of the 2001 Tony Awards, the classy, dignified portion of the telecast, before we move over to CBS and start voting people off the island! Say, Matthew, what's an immunity challenge? We don't know, we're in the THEA-TAH!!"

I really love the PBS bit, as it's for the real theatre geeks, before they have to pander to the rest of the country. Who isn't watching anyway, so I don't know why they bother!

I think it's going a bit far, showing this composer writing in the tub. I'm trying to figure out how they came to that decision. "Um, we're trying to get some excitement into the early section of the Tonys, I don't suppose you compose, well, naked but for a fedora, do you?" "Well, not really, but put enough bubbles in the bath and I'll give it a go..."

I love the way, after showing Andre Gregory dancing his ass off, the choreographer for "The Full Monty" said that he didn't want professional dancers, but real guys." I believe he should have said, "A bunch of non-dancers and Andre Gregory."

They are showing alot more of The Producers than they did of The Full Monty or Follies. Can they tell the future?

O, I like that they have gypsies presenting for Best Choreography. That's fitting. And The Producers won! I guess here we go down that Producers slide, where it wins everything but Best Actress in a Play. I think that this year it was definitely safer to stay in the straight theatre if you want to win anything.

The other thing that I like about the PBS portion is, that they can have presenters like Heather Headley, real Broadway stars rather than slumming TV stars.

Well, there's Mel, collecting his Best Book of a Musical award. "I'm going to have to do the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, act humble!" I'll bet they don't play Mel off like they did the guy who won Best Orchestrations. No, they did! Don't worry, Mel, you'll probably get to come back!

The nominees are beginning to look less and less happy, sitting in their seats, knowing that they have already lost to The Producers. The composer/lyricist for Jane Eyre looks particularly grim.

"This is Mr. Brooks' second Tony award, he won just moments ago for The Producers." No, really?

"My apologies to the late Ed Kleban, to David Yazbek, Paul Gordan and John Caird, in any other year you guys would have won, I assure you, but this is a phenomenon, so forgive us for that. I want to thank Stephen Sondheim for not writing a show this year, thanks Steve!"

They are trying to play Mel off and he is refusing to go. That's great. Few could get away with that! "Anyway, I love you all, it's been wonderful being here, I'll see you in a couple of minutes!"

Man, they aren't giving the Best Scenic Design guy very long! Of course, he's boring as hell, that's why he works in scenery, but honestly, give the poor dear longer than 10 seconds before bringing up "Lullaby of Broadway".

I'd really like to see Jane Eyre if it hasn't closed yet. Which it probably has, everything closes after the Tonys if they didn't win. Of course, they may have won Best Actress, as I don't think that there are any actresses in The Producers, but acting awards didn't help You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown a couple of years ago, so who knows?

I love that they have the time to go into all of the details of the different awards. It's much more interesting to see who wins Best Lighting Design when it isn't just an award, but you see what lighting really is and how it changed the show in question.

Well, The Producers won again! Am I dreaming, or have they won every single award so far? They may have...o, here's Best Direction of a Play, it will be definitely be a different show. Go Stones in His Pockets! But it will probably be Proof. Yep, it was Proof. Someday I'll finish my vacation entries, where I talk about seeing Stones in His Pockets in London. I must see it here in New York. Ha, the director of Proof said, "There must be a mistake, I had nothing to do with The Producers!"

Okay, off to CBS! And here come Matthew and Nathan in their serious, network, people are actually watching personas. "I am Zeus, Jupiter and Oprah combined!" Matthew got all of the great lines in this opening sequence. "Even the moon fears me!"

I just sang "Lullaby of Broadway" while making myself a little lunch as a commercial played, and I sang "C'mon along and listen to the lullaby of Broadway, the hip-hooray and ballyhoo, the lullaby of Broadway, and in the centre of it all is the Milford Plaza..." Man, fifteen years of a commercial, and it's in your head forever.

There's Bernadette Peters! You can barely see her jaw clenching at all of the great reviews that Reba McEntire got for Annie Get Your Gun!

Well, they just showed numbers for Best Revival right off the bat. 42nd Street opened the show, lots of tapping and stuff, Follies, "I'm Still Here", a good song, but shouldn't have been chosen to represent the show, Bells Are Ringing some appalling number of Faith Prince's, then Rocky Horror, which, though badly staged for the cameras and the sound person didn't have a clue who to bring up when, absolutely kicked out the jams. 42nd Street will win, but wow, that made me want to see Rocky Horror. If it didn't close.

Gina Gershon! How many times have I said that we went to school together? Hey, The Producers lost an awards! But that is because there were three featured actors from the show nominated, and only one could win, and that one is Gary Beach. It's so much more fun to see someone win their first Tony than their fifth, and he's cute as hell up there. Actors are pretty good at showing absolute joy.

I love that they show scenes from the plays. They didn't for years, but they're no worse out of context than songs from musicals, and besides, the only people watching this is the people who want to see the scenes!

Robert Sean Leonard won Featured Actor in a play. He really could have been making bad movies like Ethan Hawke, but I really like that he chose the stage in the way that young men don't these days.

They just did the finale for The Full Monty, which was so great!! And they did really go the full monty, though the lights came up and nothing dangly showed on the TV. Man, did that ever sell the show. And was that Annie Golden? I was just listening to my favourite musical in the wide world, Assassins, wondering what ever happened to her, I'm so glad she's in a hit!

Hey, there's Randy's "I'm Different" commercial! Hi, Rand!

There's a scene from Proof. An odd choice, but I haven't seen the show, so maybe it's representative. I can't stand Mary Louise Parker, though, I really don't know why, there is just something about her that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and not in a good way. I'm sure she's a very nice person, and I'm sure she's very talented (if you ever see this, Mary Louise, realize that this isn't personal!) but it's like she has anti-pheromones.

Why do I feel like A Class Act was nominated to fill out the category? Probably because I'm right.

Hmm, I don't know about that scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Am I supposed to be on Nurse Ratchet's side? Because Gary Sinese, whom I normally love, seems to be a real pain in the ass as McMurphy, and not the amusing kind, but the lobotomize his as soon as possible so that he will shut the hell up kind.

A song from Jane Eyre. A fairly unimpressive song from Jane Eyre, but they sure sang the hell out of it. That Rochester is a real cutie pie, and has the voice of an angel. I'd sure like to hear him sing something good.

And Cuckoo's Nest just won Best Revival of a Play. Maybe the rest of the show is better than that...or maybe not.

And there, Mary Louise Parker won Best Actress in a Play. Figures.

O, and there's Reba McEntire! Did they have to sneak her into the theatre after Bernadette left? O, I'll bet everything is swell between them, I've always loved Bernadette, but had I seen the reviews that my replacement got, I'd be biting huge chunks out of my pillow.

Christine Ebersol won for Best Actress in a Musical! I remember her from Fridays so many years ago. Is she wearing the same dress as the girl who on Featured Actress? It's the same cleavage, if nothing else.

Heavens, out of all the people to win Best Actor in a Play, Richard Easton is the last one that I'd expect to win. Which means that he must have really been the best!

Okay, this number from The Producers is great. Who but Mel Brooks would have a chorus line of old ladies and their walkers! And Nathan wins for Best Actor in a Musical! He dragged Matthew up with him, which is only to be expected. And he mentioned Zero. I had my fingers crossed that he would, and because he is the man that I thought he was, that I heard he was, a good man who wouldn't take credit for what isn't entirely his, he did.

Proof won Best Play. No shock there, it's supposed to be wonderful, and only the Mary Louise Parker factor has kept me away.

Next is Best Musical. I wonder what it could possibly be? My money's on A Class Act! Poor Full Monty, the favourite all damn season long, and then it was swept away by all these old ladies and their walkers. Mel Brooks just thanked Hitler, pretty ballsy!

My God, how did Anthony Quinn die a whole week ago and I hadn't heard! All this comes from flying off to Boston at a moment's notice, you miss stuff. You find the Dan Tyminski Band, though, and there are trade-offs in life.

I'm getting silly...

Lenten entries missed:

Jenn, well, Jenn had a baby! Unfortunately, he was in ICU for awhile after birth. Kevin wrote a lovely guest entry, even if it is about a book that I loathe, and then, and then he came home. He's a grumpy baby, but he's home.

Today's horoscope:
Careful, conscientious and thorough, today you do a really GOOD job. Discipline and concentration come easily.

One year ago today:
We blocked, and will someone please tell me how three hours isn't long enough to block a fifteen minute show?

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Last Updated Sun 10 June 22:22:09 2001