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There were gasps when Avenue Q, the underdog musical because that's what you call a musical that started off-Broadway and features puppets, won best musical last night at the Tony Awards, but considering that the show won best book and best score earlier on in the night, it seemed clear that it would be a night on Avenue Q, and Gothamist couldn't be happier. Avenue Q could be called a kinder, feltier variation on the "living in the big city" theme that other musicals like Guys and Dolls, Rent, and Wonderful Town visit, but Avenue Q has songs like "It Sucks To Be Me" and "Schadenfreude" plus the Bad Idea Bears. And Gothamist loves what co-creater Robert Lopez said in his acceptance speech: "When we started writing 'Avenue Q,' Jeff was an intern and I was a temp. Our lives kinda sucked, so we came up with an idea for a show about people like us whose lives all kinda suck."
And as reader Brian Van points out, since favored musical Wicked did not win, we'd like Times public editor Daniel Okrent to make good on his claim that "if [Wicked] loses the Tony I'll eat my black satin jacket from the road company of Jekyll and Hyde." You name the venue, Daniel!
Other thoughts: Yay for Phylicia Rashad (best actress in a play, for Raisin in the Sun), Jefferson Mays (best actor in a play, I Am My Own Wife) and Idina Menzel (best actress in a musical, for Wicked) winning. The "is talent genetic" question comes up because, little sister of musical and screen director Rob, Kathleen Marshall won for choreography of Assassins! Wonderful Town. And what was Carol Channing on? Tony Awards coverage from the Times and the Post (including Michael Riedel's hypothesis on why Avenue Q upset). And the full list of winners from the Tonys.
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the ap had a nice little feature on rashad as the first black woman to win a dramatic lead award.
Actually, Kathleen Marshall was the choreographer for Wonderful Town.
I was ecstatic about Avenue Q's win, but I wasn't confident in its inevitability even after the wins for Score and Book. Just a couple years ago, Urinetown managed to win Best Book, Best Score AND Best Director, yet it still lost the big prize to Thoroughly Modern Millie. I was sort of expecting something similar to happen, but was very happy that it didn't and that the puppets came out on top.
Carol Channing was really scary, actually. I'm still not sure what any of that was.
a well-deserved win. i'm not really into broadway, but i loved this show and laughed my head off... i can't wait to see it again.
I thought it was a pretty interesting awards show. Certainly Hugh Jackman had some great ad libs, or was channeling Peter Allen during his big number. I wonder if Avenue Q's win had something to do with the fact that the Tony voter turnout is so low? There was an article in the Post about this last week.
Grace
Good night for some good shows, for a change! And a bad night for my cynical nature, which is probably not a bad thing. I haven't gasped at a Tony award show since I was clued in why the guys thank their friends and not their wives...
Speaking of which, did you like those bastards at CBS bringing up the orchestra the first time the word "marriage" was mentioned in the gay context? (See producer of "I Am My Own Wife"...)
Congratulations to all the Tony winners.
Broadway could make a greater effort to promote original works, though. Muppet puppets and Sesame Street (still a great show for kids) have been around more than 36 years. The Wizard of Oz, without which Wicked would have no life, has been around even longer.
I think you're doing a disservice to both shows by trying to insinuate that just because they took other ideas as a starting point that their shows are any less "original." The novel on which Wicked is based is a fantastic reimagination of the world created in L. Frank Baum's story, and while The Muppets and Sesame Street have been around for years, that doesn't lessen what the creators of Avenue Q accomplished at all. Not to use an old argument, but if you want to get theoretical, aren't there only something like 7 stories anyway? By the standard you seem to describe as far as promoting original works, everything by Shakespeare was less valuable since he was essentially only adapting other stories.
Broadway could make a greater effort to promote a lot of things, especially "new" work that is interesting and creative rather than revived, revue or simple spectacle. But calling either Avenue Q or Wicked (and I'm no huge fan of the latter) less than something original simply because they owe some debt to an idea that came before is a bit unfair.
Congratulations to Anika Noni Rose, who graduated from American Conservatory Theater's MFA program while I was the graphic designer at the theater. I had the pleasure of working on her class's showcase book as the graduates made their debuts before New York casting directors and agents. She was an exceptionally talented actor and singer even then -- and a lovely person as well -- and it's wonderful to see that she's done so well.
A friend got me into the music of Avenue Q, so when I was told that it won a Tony for Score, as well as Book and Musical, I was excited. Now all I have to do is get my butt to Broadway and see it for myself.