Rank the Tony performances

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 12:16am

1. Once
2. Porgy & Bess
3. The Book of Mormon
4. Leap of Faith
5. Nice Work If You Can Get It
6. Ghost
7. Newsies
8. Evita
9. Follies
10. Hairspray
11. Godspell
12. Jesus Christ Superstar

[kidbroadway2]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 12:20am

1. Porgy and Bess
----
2. Book of Mormon
3. Newsies
4. Leap of Faith
----
5. Ghost
6. Follies
7. Godspell
8. Once
----
9. Jesus Christ Superstar
10. Evita
----
11. Nice Work If You Can Get It




12. Hairspray

[binau]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 12:22am

I know it's relentless and such counter-factual thinking but the FOLLIES performance would have been amazing if Bernadette sung "In Buddy's Eyes" or Jan Maxwell went all out in "Could I Leave You?" and made Audra look like she actually had some competition.

[jv92]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 12:23am

1. Newsies (B+; It did its job.)
2. Porgy & Bess (B+; It, too, did its job, despite that awful Kittiwah dancing)
3. Hairspray (B-; It, TOO, did its job.)
4. Follies (B-; Not the best, not the worst. If they wanted to showcase Burstein, they should have done "The Right Girl")
5. Leap of Faith (C; This was the worst musical of the season?)
6. Once (C; I'm not a fan, sorry. Still not buying it.)
7. Ghost (C-; ...)
8. Jesus Christ Superstar (C-; Quite awful, but it gets worse, friends...)
9. Mormon (C-; Been there, done that)
10. Nice Work (D+; Is it me, or did Matthew Broderick look really bored?)
11. Evita (D; No comment.)
12. Godspell (F; To quote Joe Gideon, "Stop smiling. This isn't the high school play." Or is it?)

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 12:51am

While I thought the Porgy and Bess number was good, it actually seems like a strong argument against medleys.

[sklabam]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 12:52am

1) EVITA (cast size, dancing, costumes, love it) / A "B+"
2) NEWSIES (gutsy to do half the number as dance sans singing) / A "B"
3) PORGY (don't love her voice - too operatic for my tastes) / A "B"
4) NICE WORK (cute, dated, Matthew looks awful) / A "B"

4) ONCE (but why the flip did they not rearrange the cast so their backs were to the TV cameras? Dumb) / A "C"

5) LEAP OF FAITH (awful, awful, awful) / A "D"
6) FOLLIES (awful number on this broadcast - didn't do anything on TV) / A "D"

[RUkiddingme]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 12:53am

1. Once
2. nothing else will be remembered after tonight.

[bdn223]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 12:55am

:
1.Leap of Faith (A- it sold a show that didn't sell)
2. Newsies/Once
4.Evita
5.Follies
6.Godspell
7.Ghost
8.Nice Work
9. Porgy and Bess
10.Jesus Christ Superstar
11. Royal Caribean Cruise Lines

[Those who can't,post]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 1:05am

1. Porgy & Bess (stellar singing and great connection considering the weight of the plot being broken up by a medley)
2. Evita (Excellent Ensemble; Martin sounded great)
3.Leap of Faith (A very polite, big finger to those who didn't give it a chance)
4. Newsies (serviced the show well, though not as stellar as the real thing)
5. Nice Work If You Can Get It (played it safe, but good)
6.Ghost
7. Follies
8. Once (Underwhelming and almost boring)
9. Hairspray (good for them getting the opportunity)
10. Book of Mormon (Why were they even there? It's not like they need the pub)
11. Jesus Christ Superstar (no comment)
12. Godspell (cheesey and desperate)

Read more: https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1046614#ixzz1xSPIal37

[goldenboy]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 1:55am

1 Leap of Faith ( this was the best number of the evening... shocking I Know)
The whole room of people I was with really liked this number best.
2. Porgy and Bess ( liked the medley of numbers. Reminded one of how great the songs aree..... and Audra and cast rocked it)
3 Nice Work (well I really like the chorus)
4 Peter and the Star Catcher (hate this show but came off nice)
5 Newsies (overrated show with wonderful choreography)
6 Evita ( Ricky was good but.....Why didn't Evita do anything? It's called Evita..not Che.
7 Follies nicely done but odd out of context.
8 Mormon (something was off...Seemed rushed. no Rannels and Gad S
9 Once (Seemed kind of dull. The whole room I was with groaned)
10 Jesus Christ Superstar ( seemed odd)
11. Hairspray (chorus very good but a thin Tracy Turnblad and whats with that Edna?
12 Godspell ( So annoyingly perky but a least the songs are good)
13 Ghost. (God Awful song and performance. Screech. How do you do a musical with such awful music.. Spiderman and Ghost. WTF






Updated On: 6/11/12 at 01:55 AM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 2:06am

1. Once (no words - breathtaking)
2. Porgy and Bess (Audra McDonald owned it)
3. Jesus Christ Superstar (loved this one! Josh Young was great)
4. Evita (Very well done - wish they would have showcased Elena Roger more though)
5. Leap of Faith (VERY surprised - upbeat and fun)
6. Follies (ehh I was let down)
7. Nice Work If You Can Get It (Matthew Broderick did nothing to help... not sure why they went with that song choice)
8. Ghost (okay, I like this show and thought this was bad)
9. Godspell (pointless and annoying)
10. Newsies (I do not like this show, but their performance was just terrible. Glad it went first so it was out of the way)

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 2:27am

I actually thought Leap of Faith came off the best. All I knew about it was that it got terrible reviews and people here said it sucked, but I thought their performance had the most joy.

Jesus Christ Superstar was bizarre. I love this production, and I'm not sure, but it looked like they brought their entire set with them and then performed the whole song in front of the LCD screens which looked tacky and terrible. The girls are on the scaffolding in the show. Why not perform on the set they spent all that money to bring over instead of only revealing it in the last 30 seconds? It made no sense. I guess they wanted to better incorporate Jesus and they had to do it without the ramp, but they failed.

Still, I think the worst has to go to Godspell, not because the cast isn't talented and giving it their all, but the whole performance just seemed like a pathetic and desperate plea for ticket sales. I guess the same could be said of all the performances, but at least the others didn't make it so obvious.

[choitoy]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 3:25am

1. Once (I actually welled up with tears up during this performance. It could have easily bordered on cloying, but there was such an emotional honesty behind it that it totally blew me away. I can't wait to see the show in July! A)
2. Leap of Faith (Surprisingly they gave a pretty good, energetic performance, and Raul looked great (he does not look “fat” at all!), and even tough it sounded like he had some mic troubles when he was taking off his jacket, he still was running and singing like a pro. They probably went for broke and just gave it their all. It actually made me interested in seeing the show… but we all know how that story ends… A-)
3. Newsies (A solid, energetic performance with plenty of eye candy and flashy dance moves. It didn’t necessarily make me want to see the full show, but a good performance none the less. B+)
4. Porgy & Bess (I sometimes like medleys, I sometimes don’t, and I didn’t know what to think about this one. Well, actually I think it might have worked better for me without that little dance break in the middle. B)
5. The Book of Mormon (cute and serviceable. It was nice to see my old high school acquaintance, Ben Schrader, have so much national screen time. I’m jealous. I wish I could sing and dance and act. B)
6. Follies (I had so much riding on Danny giving a great performance, and on paper it seemed like a good choice if they didn’t do the “Mirror” number (though I would hate to see an abridged version of the mirror number). The number didn’t come off quite as nicely as I hoped (I was, however, super happy to see Kiira as “Margie” again. She just slides off Danny like Teflon!). I couldn’t put my finger on what though. Maybe it was the slightly sloppy and soft sound mixing that made poor Danny sound like he was lisping more than usual. B-)
5. Nice Work If You Can Get It (It really was a toss-up between this and “Evita”s numbers. I give this one a slight edge, even with Matthew Broderick looking bored, uncomfortable, and puffy all at the same time. And it’s true, it seems like all the stagings are working against the songs in this show. C+)
8. Evita (There was something a little off about this performance. The energy level didn’t seem right. It had more “pep” during their “The View” performance, even with more of the dance break. Ricky’s voice seemed to be all over the place too. C)
10. Hairspray (Fairly decent for a cruise production, though Tracy looked weird in that outfit. It made it look like a skinny girl was wearing a fat suit, but they didn’t match the face with prosthetics to make it look proportional, and thus was highly distracting. C-)
6. Ghost (The performance seemed like a total bore and made the musical seem like a snooze fest. I don’t even feel like it was well sung. D)
11. Godspell (I quite frankly can’t remember a thing about this performance. So I guess it didn’t really do it’s job. Sorry Kenny! D)
12. Jesus Christ Superstar (This was the worst performance I have seen in a while. It looks like an “American Idol” wannabe that’s about to get cut by the Judges. It didn’t sound well sung to me. F)

[choitoy]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 3:34am

"and I'm not sure, but it looked like they brought their entire set with them and then performed the whole song in front of the LCD screens which looked tacky and terrible. The girls are on the scaffolding in the show. Why not perform on the set they spent all that money to bring over instead of only revealing it in the last 30 seconds?"

I think all the performances this time were done in front of videos of thier sets. I notice that while Norm Lewis was singing "I Got Plenty Of Nothin" that the area behind him looked really pixillated. I then realized that all the musical performances had the same video screen background. They were just projecting pictures of their sets on LCD screens, except for certain pieces (the mirror for "Once").

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 3:40am

^I'd have to see it again, but it did look like the LCD screens went up and the scaffolding was behind them, but it could have been another LCD screen. I couldn't tell. It would certainly make a little more sense if that was the case.

[jazzynat]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 4:28am

All I can say is Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar reminded me of college productions...

Haven't seen Once yet but that one was intriguing.

Follies couldn't keep mine or my friend's attention-

I liked the dance number in Newsies but I'm not necessarily interested in seeing the actual show.

Honestly I liked the medley of Porgy & Bess. I feel like since there were several nominated actors it gave the audience a chance to see WHY they were nominated. Perhaps a medley doesn't always work but in that case I felt it did.

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 5:41am

They were all bad, painfully bad, actually. But the worst of the lot was unquestionably Once. This one was laughably bad. It should have been called Zombies from the Beyond, but there was already a musical with that name.

[amoni2]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 5:58am

"1. Once 2. nothing else will be remembered after tonight."


Actually that should read 2. nothing else will be remembered after "Once", since it put everyone to sleep. Like I stated before. It's this year's "Spring Awakening" & "American Idiot", Tonys, huzzahs and gone in 16 months.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 7:42am

Things have to be considered in context. In Buddies Blues, Burstein brilliantly fused Buddy's character, his condition, into the Loveland sequence and it was extremely effective. On the Tony's, this didn't read at all. In Leap of Faith, Rise Up was a generic and unimpressive opening number. Last night it was a breath of fresh air because it had an energy and drive seemingly missing in a great many production numbers featured on the Tony's. There is a difference between how a number plays in a musical and how it plays in a vacuum.

Another example: Kelli O'Hara's performance of Someone to Watch Over Me in Nice Work If You Can Get It is outstanding. Few if any would ever guess that from watching the Tony's last night.

(by the way, as a whole, I didn't like either of the two above mentioned productions, which is another subject entirely).

Updated On: 6/11/12 at 07:42 AM

[defyinggravity2]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 7:55am

I think in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, the little parts where the girls sang the soprano sections here and there were completely unneccessary. I didn't catch all the performances, as I fell asleep on the couch watching it, but by far my favorite that I saw was BOOK OF MORMON. I fell asleep right before HAIRSPRAY performed.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 8:40am

1. Once -- no contest. A brilliant and beautiful number that worked perfectly for TV.

2. Porgy & Bess --- mainly for the voices and acting. It was a solid medley, too, but I found myself wincing at the modern orchestrations.

3. Nice Work If You Can Get It -- worked so much better than I thought it would. The costumes really dazzled on the ladies, too. The only downside was Broderick, looking like he might fall over from a heart attack at any moment.

4. Leap of Faith --- I can't believe it, but this number came off really well on TV.

5. Hairspray --- even if Tracy was 35 and underweight, she was talented. I'd rather see her "type" compromised over her ability. For a cruise ship, this was way off the chart. Surprisingly good overall: talent, staging, choreography. As "Broadway caliber" as I've ever seen from a cruise ship show.

6. The Book of Mormon --- it was severely hampered by bizarre extreme closeups of people on stage who weren't singing. Thankfully, those camera missteps didn't continue throughout the evening. But this was a clever and humorous idea that opened the show nicely.

7. Newsies---for its energy only. The choreography looked even worse than usual to me, and several of the tumbling boys just seemed to be going through the fancy motions now, probably because they've done this number one too many times on TV. It felt like a not-so-well-oiled machine this time.

8. Follies --- Note to all future Broadway shows: small, clever numbers don't play well on TV awards shows. They fall flat, particularly out of context. See this number as a prime example. It just didn't go over. If you want to feature a small number of people on a huge stage with TV cameras, it's better to have a "wow" show-stopper factor (see Bernadette Peters do Rose's Turn or Betty Buckley do Memory). Otherwise, stick to the large production numbers for television.

9. Ghost --- Caissie Levy was really pitchy, and all three of them yelled. Fleeshman came off the best, I guess, but it didn't make me want to see the show. (I wish they could have done "With You," but a quiet simple solo, as beautiful and emotional as it is, wouldn't have worked well for an awards show. Just asked Catherine Zeta-Jones.)

10. Jesus Christ Superstar --- Josh Young sang it really well. The voices and the music (orchestrations) were great, but the costumes, set, and staging were pretty awful.

11. Evita --- painfully under tempo! It killed the whole number. The musical director of this show should be fired, pure and simple. There is no way any performer could breathe energy into this with that slagging meter. Martin sounded good, Roger looked good, the choreography was fine, but without a crisp, exciting tempo, nobody stood a chance of rising above boring. They were sabotaged by a lazy baton.

12. Godspell --- a fun community theatre number! But this was the Tonys.


EDIT: I have to add that Neil Patrick Harris's two numbers (the one featuring all Best Score winners and the closing "I'm Out Of Time") were fantastic. Best "host numbers" I've seen on any Tony telecast, although the duet between Neil and Hugh came pretty close to this. Kudos to Neil and his writers! If I had to figure them into the main list, I would put them both right behind "Once" as #2 (out of time) and #3 (best score).

Updated On: 6/11/12 at 08:40 AM

[rjm516]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 9:04am

Totally agree with most of this. I am so pleasantly surprised (happy for the company) that Leap of Faith came off so well! And the comment above on the slagging meter of Evita's number is so right on. I was yelling 'GO FASTER!' It ruined it completely. (Also, why didn't they do Buenos Aires??) Once and Porgy were gorgeous, though I wish Porgy did more of the last part and less of the Kittiwah part. Godspell, Ghost, and JCS were not good. I wish they did a different Follies song because out of context Danny looked silly, whereas he should have blown everyone's mind.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 9:22am

Buenos Aires would have been a good choice if Roger had a more broad appeal as a singer and as a "name" for TV audiences. But given the option between that number and The Money Kept Rolling In, they made the right choice ... except for the fact that the conductor is completely inept. It's as bad as hiring someone who can't act, hiring a conductor who sucks the life right out of the music.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 9:55am

I feel like I always have different opinions from everyone.

1. Porgy and Bess-A+
2. Nice Work If You Can Get It-A - Would have been better if Kelli O'Hara was featured more.

3. Once A -For me, I'm still not completely sold on it. Looks good, but also like it could be boring in the same instance.

4. Leap of Faith B -Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad.

5. Evita B- -It could have been better. But, I thought it came off decent.

6. Newsies C+ -The dancing looked better than I had seen, but still won't make me go see it.

7. Follies C -It wasn't horrible, but they certainly could have picked something better.

8. Book of Mormon C -It started off funny, but was kind of tiresome after they knocked on all the celeb's doors.

9. Ghost D -Not interesting at all. The songs are bad, in my opinion. I even thought Unchained Melody sounded bad.

10. Hairspray D- -It is what I expected from a cruise ship production. However, Tracey was too skinny and looked far too old.

11. Godspell- F -I agree it looked like a high school production.

12. Jesus Christ Superstar F -Bad song and bad choreography. I swear, I could learn that in like an hour or less.

I thought the songs Neil Patrick Harris did were better than most of these performances. I will never forget Patti LuPone pushing the lawnmower in the first one.

[Lenexajones]

Posted: 6/11/12 at 10:08am

We always watch the Tonys to see which shows make the final cut for seeing when we visit NY [August] (other than Mormon). Only one performance made me immediately want to buy a ticket: Once.