NYTW Rocks the Tony Awards

If anyone had any lingering doubts that the real theatrical action is Off-Broadway, the New York Theatre Workshop's well-deserved 13 wins last night (eight for Once and five for Peter and the Starcatcher) should put them to rest.

Other Thoughts on the Tony Awards [updated in red]

• I wish Neil Patrick Harris hadn't started with a gay joke. Enough already.
• In general, though, Harris was a charming host.
• The opening number about "what if life was like theatre" was almost good--there was just a spark of some sort missing.
• For me the most surpising award of the evening was Judith Light over Linda Emond. I would have bet money on Emond. Glad I didn't.
• The camera work on the Newsies number managed to suck much of the energy away by interrupting any chance for the dance to build.
• I found many of the jokes throughout the evening lame, although I did like the idea of a musical called My Left Footloose.
• It was nice to see the old pros Michael McGrath and Judy Kaye win. They are two of the most reliably excellent people in theatre.
  
• Of all of the songs in Follies, "Buddy's Blues" was the one I'd least like to see. Burstein was fine, but the two women managed to overdo two roles that require overdoing.
• The song from Ghost  was boring.
• The song from Jesus Christ Superstar was unimpressive.
• I was thrilled that Christian Borle won.
• I guess Matthew Broderick is a star, and I guess he brings in audiences, but I have no idea what anyone sees in him.
• The End of the Rainbow number was horrible. Ick. Double ick.
• The Porgy & Bess excerpt tried to accomplish too much, I think.
• I loved "Walking on Moonbeams" from Once. I wonder, tho, how many tickets it sold, if any. I wish there were a way to judge. Here it is: according to this article, Once's ticket sales went up 500% today!
• The scene from Evita reminded me yet again that Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin are stars. Ricky Martin was okay. I guess.
• Godspell number: eh.
• The Leap of Faith number was pretty entertaining, I thought.
• All Audra McDonald needs is a Best-Actress-in-a-Play Tony and she will have won in all four acting categories. I find her ability to win in both plays and musicals to be even more impressive than the fact that she already has five Tony awards (which is in itself pretty damn impressive).
• The closing song was funny, and I am glad CBS let it run.
• It would be fine with me if Harris continues to host the show indefinitely.
• All in all, not a bad show. It moved along pretty quickly, and there were some lovely moments.