A Tony Awards that had the potential to deliver some jaw-dropping upsets delivered nothing but a lackluster telecast hosted by James Corden, who, though he did a brilliant job three years ago, seemed past his sell-by date.
As expected, “Hadestown” won the top prize — Best Musical — as well as seven other awards, including Best Score (Anais Mitchell), Director (Rachel Chavkin) and Featured Actor, the great Andre De Shields.
Whether all those Tony wins lead to a major uptick in ticket sales remains to be seen. The number “Hadestown” did on the telecast surely was baffling to anybody who hasn’t seen the show. Reeve Carney looking sad and screaming out “Eurydice!” is not up there with Jennifer Holliday singing “And I’m Telling You, I’m Not Going” from “Dreamgirls.”
An investor in the show texted me during the telecast, “I think our advance just went down.”
“The Ferryman,” Jez Butterworth’s gripping look at the troubles in Ireland in the early 1980s, didn’t surprise anyone by winning, as it deserved to, Best Play.
“Oklahoma!” — radically rethought for our “woke” era — beat the traditional revival of “Kiss Me, Kate,” while “The Boys in the Band” turned back a stiff challenge from Kenneth Lonergan’s “The Waverly Gallery.”
The highlight of this year’s awards ceremony was Elaine May’s win for Best Actress for her portrayal of a woman stricken with dementia in “The Waverly Gallery.” May, a showbiz legend at 87, never speaks to the press. But she accepted her award with that same impeccable comic timing she honed years ago with Mike Nichols.
“This is the first award for acting I’ve ever won,” she said. “And let me tell you how I did it.” She got a big laugh before praising Lonergan, her fellow cast members — Lucas Hedges in particular, the “Manchester by the Sea” star who played her grandson — and her producer, Scott Rudin.
The only surprise of the night came when Bertie Carvel, brilliant as Rupert Murdoch in “Ink,” James Graham’s terrific play about newspapers, picked up the award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He beat out Gideon Glick, from “To Kill a Mockingbird,” who was favored to win as the boy loosely modeled on Truman Capote, Harper Lee’s childhood friend.
The musical numbers, always the highlight of the Tonys and designed to sell as many tickets as possible, were a bust on the telecast. “The Cher Show” was a disaster. Stephanie J. Block won Best Actress in a Musical, but there was something off with the tempo in “Believe.” When the number ended, CBS cut to audience members at Radio City Music Hall, who seemed underwhelmed despite all those Bob Mackie costumes.
“Beetlejuice” did a frenetic number that won’t sell a ticket at the Winter Garden. “Beetlejuice” is about to be squished. Word on the street last night was that Hugh Jackman will be taking “The Music Man” to the Winter Garden next season.
“Oklahoma!” performed the title song with every cast member looking as if they hated being in America in the Trump era. But that might work for them. It could sell some tickets to NPR listeners.
The number that came off the best was from “The Prom,” a struggling but delightful musical that some of us hoped might have pulled off an upset last night.
It didn’t happen, and I fear for the show’s future.
As for Corden, this was not his finest hour. The opening number, written especially for the telecast, was a dud, and he seemed a bit tired throughout the evening. There was a skit where he had Broadway actors dissing each other, and I can only hope he did not have script approval on that one.
I’m sending you back to carpool karaoke, James.
Next year, let’s get Hugh Jackman.