2006 Tony's

My favorite part of the 2006 Tony's had to be the super-ridiculous Hal Prince tribute. This man has won like 20-something Tony's, so to add to his life-time achievement award, they decided to honor him with character tableaus of each of his shows followed by a performance from The Phantom of the Opera.

At first I couldn't tell if these"tableau-people" were real or not. I quickly learned they were very real. They were standing there in full costume, not moving, and as Brian Stokes Mitchell went down the line announcing each title, they came to life in a pose depicting the basic gist or theme of that show (the creative team behind this montage should be given a special Tony for retardation) They started out with West Side Story and had the Jets and Sharks pop into a standard, mean/gay-looking "fight" pose. The Fiddler on the Roof pose consisted of a Tevye and Golde standing next to each other looking like sad, desolate Jews, Golde holding a pot and stirring it's imaginary contents. The lady playing Evita in the Evita pose was out of control! You could tell she was SUPER psyched when she got that call from her agent and she was gonna give the "don't cry for me Argentina" pose every ounce of gusto she had.

After all the titles were announced and the Poses set, the guy currently playing the Phantom walked out to sing Music of the Night. Now, this dude sings that same exact song 8 times a week. He should be all set, right? Well, actually no. The weird cut of this song went a little something like this:

to the tune of Music of the Night...

"Slowly, Softly, Night unfurls is splendor"

awkward silence. awkward silence. panic. figuring out what the orchestra is playing. panic. awkward arm sweeping motion.

Loud and bold, as if nothing was wrong,
"HELPLESS TO RESIST THE NOTES I WRITE. For I compose the music of....The niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight"

End Song. 30 seconds altogether--15 of which were confusing and embarrassing

This just confirms that when I was a kid, and convinced that I could play the Phantom on Broadway--I was actually right. I used to laugh at my immature thoughts, but after that Phantom phoned in the performance comparable to that of a fat 8 year old's...I humbly stand corrected.