Bobo has never met Cheyenne Jackson or even seen him onstage. (Maybe we're doppelgangers, or in parallel universes or something.) That's Bobo's loss, because Jackson clearly had talent to spare during Sunday's Tony broadcast.
Those eyes! That voice! Those thighs! That %^&$!#?! turkey of a show that he was stuck in!
*Xanadu* looks only marginally better than the disaster-movie it evolved from. Your heart just sank -- what could this muscular (and muscular-voiced) chap do with, you know, REAL material?
Other observations:
Mark Rylance's non-sequitur poem didn't really work. But points for effort: He did better than all those boring people who READ long lists of thank-yous.
I enjoyed Whoopi's self-spoofs, inserting herself into classic musicals. But why did we open with five minutes of Lion King -- and that ridiculous *Little Mermaid* snippet with the woman in the ridiculous costume? Clearly Disney has commercialized it, and musicals chip in to get at least some coverage in what amounts to one long advertorial for Broadway.
And why do we get 20 people cavorting in *Cry-Baby* but we can't get the five men in *The Seafarer*? In an age of free-download music, theater is harming its precarious self by refusing to give away some free content as teasers. (Is five minutes of a single straight, non-musical play too much to ask?)
At least Tracy Letts let 'em have it in his acceptance speech.
Those of us who haven't seen the Lion King 40 times (I seem to remember Bobo gushing over it for pages and pages when it was in town) enjoyed the 5 minutes at the opening of the Tony awards!
ReplyDeleteWell figuring Jackson has originated TWO roles...I'd guess he's pretty happy. Plus, I think the Xanadu sales are going pretty well.
ReplyDeleteWe saw "Xanadu" in New York and thought it was hilarious. It owes more to Thorne Smith than the movie. I would really recommend seeing it before judging it.
ReplyDeleteYou're exactly right. Bobo is judging based on the first half of the movie (which is all he could stand, despite having a major crush on Olivia Newton John) and the three-minute snippet on the Tonys (which was, sorry, ghastly). But Douglas Carter Beane is quirky and fun, and reviews say his book of the musical is quite fun. So you're absolutely right. But we all decide what to spend our entertainment dollars on, based on word of mouth and trailers and reviews and past history with certain genres -- and I just think I would cringe all the way through. That said, Cheyenne Jackson is clearly an exceptional talent. I just want to see him in Carousel or Company, or even as Curly in Oklahoma! Them's my druthers.
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