Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the wonderful pianist Philippe Entremont play classic music – just had the incredible Ravel piano concerto in G and now it’s Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain, a stunning piece of music. I discovered Mr. Entreemont via a Gershwin album on Columbia with Eugene Ormandy conducting. While I obviously knew the Rhapsody in Blue, believe it or not I knew nothing of the Concerto in F, so that was my introduction to one of my favorite pieces of music ever. It was a two-LP set that also included An American in Paris and the suite from Porgy and Bess. And while I’ve heard many great performances of the Concerto in F by any number of great pianists, this remains my favorite performance, probably because it was my first. Sony released a small but invaluable Entremont box with his entire Columbia output and it comes highly recommended by the likes of me – you also get several Rachmaninov concertos, the famous Grieg, all four concertos of Saint-Saens, Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety (another must-have performance), and much more. Otherwise, I did manage to catch some of the Tony Awards act one show on Pluto, an app I’d already downloaded on the Firestick. Then, for fun, I went to Paramount Plus and they offered me a free trial week again, so I immediately grabbed it – it took about ten minutes to register and get it working so I missed the opening number, which I’m quite sure I would not have liked, but saw the rest of the three-hour broadcast. I’ll say that again – three-hour broadcast with no scripted content. I thought the show would be done in two hours at the pace they were going, but I forgot they had to allow for all the commercials they sold – once I realized that, I knew it would not be over a minute under three hours and it wasn’t. Since the scripted banter is usually not so hot, I’m sure no one missed that. I won’t waste too much time nitpicking other than to say I didn’t really care for any of the numbers and have no desire to see a single show. I would see a couple of the plays, however. The audience, mostly the ticket buyers in the three upper levels, was just what you’d think – every light bump in a number elicited whooping and hollering, every loud note, same thing, and I just find it so tiresome. It didn’t help that they seemed to be sweetening everything as it went along. The Darling Daughter texted me during the show – she grew up in the glory days of the Tonys and saw all those incredible numbers by choreographers who were brilliant. She lamented to me about how awful she thought all the choreography was and I had to agree with her. Nothing built properly and all the light bumps in the world doesn’t change that fact (I counted five or six light bumps in ONE number. They need them because the numbers don’t do what they’re supposed to do. Watch the Tommy Tune choreography in the two My One and Only numbers that were done on the Tonys and tell me how many light bumps you see. I can make it easy for you: Zero. And yet, it’s a showstopper every step of the way and the builds in the number are incredible and need no help from lighting or bumping up the sound to ear-shattering volumes. The nadir of the numbers came with A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond musical, because the world was clamoring for yet another jukebox musical. I don’t know if the fellow playing Neil couldn’t hear the music well enough, but his singing was flat, sharp, and sometimes both at the same time. I cannot see how paying what they had to pay to be on the broadcast will sell enough tickets to justify the cost.
There was a lot of self-importance on the show, but that goes with the award show territory, I suppose. But, for me, there was a little too much speechifying – a little of that goes a long way, as heartfelt as it is. And the producers didn’t cut off one of those speeches, but for the most charming and humorous speech of the evening, Patrick Marber, best director of a play winner, they began playing him off so fast it was embarrassing and shame on them for doing so. And then cutting off Jason Robert Brown before he could say think you was terrible. I wish I could get excited about the musicals, but they’re just not for me and they’re especially not for me with the American Idol-type reaction BS that has made me never want to step foot in a Broadway theater to see a musical until that changes. And today’s producers encourage it, I think. They even built in a very unnatural and completely harmful pause before Lea Michelle sings “Hey, Mr. Arnstein here I am” – she finishes the line before it and then stands there until the audience whoops and hollers and only then does she launch into the next line. And the cynic in me believes that the sound people are sweetening this stuff during performances. I began feeling that about four years ago and I think it more every day. Anyway, it was funny to read the reaction to the broadcast – no matter how good or how bad the broadcast is, everyone immediately posts best show ever.
I am glad I was able to see it and we did have a rather fun partay here at haineshisway.com, with lots of dear readers attending and posting up a storm. After the show, I had a chicken breast and a tiny thing of chicken pasta salad from California Chicken Café.
Yesterday was okay. I got about six hours of sleep, answered e-mails, and then had to get ready for my lunch meeting. We met at Mel’s and I had what I had the other day – the B-L-T-A sandwich and potato salad. It arrived and was half the size of the other day. I took a bite and realized the bacon was very undercooked – I like it halfway – not undercooked and not burnt – but this was a little gross, so I removed a couple pieces and ate the bits that were done enough. Anyway, I hated it and will never order it again. They were jammed with people so maybe that’s why. The potato salad was good, though, and the meeting was fun.
After that, I came right back home, relaxed a bit, and then I viewed the act one Tony thing and then the broadcast, ate an actual edible meal and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up by ten and out the door by ten-thirty to go to storage and find a box. After that, I’ll figure out what I want for food, then I’ll come home, eat, do some Sami stuff, go over the script for the workshop, and then rehearsals don’t start until tomorrow night, so I can just watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, we begin rehearsals for the workshop, so that will be fun. The rest of the week is just doing our best to get the word out to the TV Academy voters I know or have some connection to. It’s daunting but must be done. Our publicist is doing the same.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten, go to storage, figure out food, do Sami stuff, go over a script, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What were the highlights and lowlights of the Tonys? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a fun Tony partay.