Thursday, June 16, 2016

Top Five Performances: 2016 Tony Awards



For the sake of keeping it down to the top five, I’m only counting the nominated musicals’ main performances.  In other words, no Hamilton opener, no James Corden opener, and no Hamilton closer – but have all three, anyway, as a bonus.  Now, on with the show!



I was really impressed by how much I enjoyed this.  Tony-nominated lead actor Alex Brightman does a great job of bringing the character across without just doing a straight-up Jack Black impression, the song by Andrew Lloyd-Webber (I had not previously known he wrote the score for this show) is catchy, and all the kids are fun.  Top marks!



Come on – is it conceivable to go wrong with Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald?  In gorgeous 1920s costumes.  Doing fabulous choreography.  Backed up by a talented company.  No way, no how.



Heather Headley, Danielle Brooks (Taystee!), and Tony-winning lead actress Cynthia Erivo.  These ladies blew the roof off that theatre.  The first half of this performance is crazy-fun and upbeat, and the second half, when Erivo comes in, is jaw-dropping.  Absolute stunner.  I’d been thinking for a while that I need to remedy not owning a cast recording for this show, but I figured I’d get the original cast with LaChanze.  Now, though, I’m not sure if I can pass these glorious women up.



Really hoping to see the touring company of this Deaf West production when it comes to town.  Some great singing voices, beautiful signing from the Deaf actors, and great synchronicity in the double-cast parts.  My only complaint is the stupid camera, which sometimes cuts away while an actor is still signing their lines.  Come on, people!



…And the big one.  I wouldn’t have thought of “History Has Its Eyes on You” / “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)” as a go-to number for an award-show performance, but it really works.  It shows off the ensemble to good effect, it has memorable parts for Washington, Lafayette (“Immigrants:  we get the job done” – I love it!), and Mulligan, and I love seeing Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton in action, particularly in the “take the bullets out yo’ gun” verse.  I’ll freely admit to flailing with excitement; I’m not ashamed.

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