I’ll admit I’ve only seen The Band’s Visit off this list. (I’ll be seeing Spongebob, OOTI and MFL next month). But I’m surprised at some of the results based on the chatter on here about some of these shows.
Winners at tonight's Chita Rivera Awards included:
Outstanding Choreography in a Broadway Show:
Sergio Trujillo, "Summer: The Donna Summer Musical."
Outstanding Female Dancer in a Broadway Show:
Ariana DeBose, "Summer: The Donna Summer Musical."
Outstanding Male Dancer in a Broadway Show:
Tony Yazbeck, "Prince of Broadway."
Outstanding Ensemble in a Broadway Show:
Tie!
"Mean Girls"
"Carousel."
All in all a total Mumbo Jumbo of an evening. Clocking in at 2 1/2 hours (originally slated for 90 minutes) it was an ill-conceived awards ceremony that was poorly produced and directed. Honorees Hal Prince, John Kander, and Carmen De Lavallade deserved so much better!
I think that most of the audience was stunned when "Summer" took Best Choreography tonight. For me, it was the least inspired work of all of the nominees. They were also the only "nominated" show for Best Choreography to perform this evening.
Fairchild was a no-brainer, and Yazbeck was genuinely touched at being remembered since "Prince of Broadway" closed earlier this season.
I was also disappointed in the snippet they performed from '"The Beast In The Jungle." And it didn't help that they put the "Carousel" pas de deux just before it. Bad choice.
The Carmen De Lavallade segment was the most comprehensive and elegant tribute of the evening.
''Summer'' was quite a surprise, considering Sergio Trujillo's work on it hadn't been nominated by the Outer Critics, Drama Desk or the Tonys. But obviously, the judges enjoyed ''Summer,'' since Ariana DeBose also took Outstanding Female Dancer on B'way.
Congrats to Trujillo. He should've won a Tony for ''Memphis,'' but he didn't even get Tony-nominated until ''On Your Feet!'' (2016).
And I'm happy to hear that Yazbeck was touched to win and be remembered. Tonys should've remembered to nominate him, too.
I mostly hated Summer, but I would go see the show again just to see Ariana DeBose. She stole the show for me, I was blown away after her numbers, so I'm happy for any recognition she gets.
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008
TheaterPizzazz.com's Sandi Durell got comments from the red-carpet at the Chita Rivera Awards. Among them: Chita herself, Andy Karl, Tony Yazbeck, Ariana Debose, Joel Grey, Katrina Lenk, Christopher Gattelli, Norbert Leo Butz, Hailey Kilgore and more ...