--PAUL: Welcome to a special episode of THE BROADWAY.COM SHOW, a celebration of the 2018
Tony Awards! I’m Paul Wontorek. BETH: And I’m Beth Stevens. We’re looking
at Broadway’s biggest night, from wizards to angels to goats and, yes, winners!
PAUL: And later, we’ll take a close look at the productions that cleaned up on Tony
night. But first, let’s get started with the news. What’s the buzz, Beth?
BETH: THE BAND’S VISIT dominated the 2018 Tony Awards, winning a whopping ten trophies
including Best Musical, Best Original Score for David Yazbek, Best Book for Itamar Moses,
Best Direction for David Cromer and acting wins for stars Tony Shalhoub, Katrina Lenk
and Ari’el Stachel. All the love for the intimate tuner didn’t leave much to give
out to the season’s other nominated musicals. FROZEN and MEAN GIRLS didn’t win any trophies—with
12 nods, MEAN GIRLS goes down in history as the most nominated shows to walk home empty-handed.
And SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS took home just one of its 12 nominations with David Zinn winning
for his imaginative scenic design. PAUL: So, unfortunately, not the best day
ever in Bikini Bottom. BETH: But David Zinn did have the most BLING
ever on the red carpet. PAUL: Well, that’s something.
PAUL: The play’s the thing, and HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD left Tony voters spellbound.
The wizarding world two-parter made magic at the Tony Awards with six wins, including
Best Play, Best Direction and design wins for the show’s sets, costumes, lighting
and sound. Other big play wins from the evening included ANGELS IN AMERICA for Best Play Revival;
Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane both went home with trophies for their searing performances
in Tony Kushner’s masterwork. Towering talent Glenda Jackson also garnered her first Tony
for her powerful performance in THREE TALL WOMEN. And Laurie Metcalf—a winner LAST
year for A DOLL’S HOUSE PART TWO—earned her second award for Best Featured Actress
in a Play for her own performance in the Edward Albee revival.
[music]
BETH: A
goat on the red carpet wasn’t the biggest surprise ONCE ON THIS ISLAND had in store
on Tony night. The Michael Arden-helmed production, voted Broadway.com’s Best Show of 2017,
garnered the award for Best Musical Revival. The vibrant production of Lynn Ahrens and
Stephen Flaherty’s 1990 musical about a peasant girl pining for love on a tropical
island, beat out fellow nominees CAROUSEL and MY FAIR LADY, which respectively garnered
11 and 10 nominations. It certainly seems the Tony gods heard the prayers of the ONCE
ON THIS ISLAND producers! PAUL: Wait. There was a goat on the red carpet
at Radio City? BETH: Yes, and I think he left a present.
PAUL: Ew.
[music]
PAUL: Broadway buds Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban were co-hosts with the most at the
72nd annual Tony Awards. The Tony nominees and self-proclaimed theater geeks tapped into
the child in all of us, singing about dreamers and showing off photos of themselves and the
stars in roles from childhood. With three original song performances, seven costume
changes—including gold jumpsuits and rocking each other’s costumes from their respective
Broadway debut shows—and some pure Broadway magic, the pair did an A-plus job emceeing
the ceremony. And fans across the country tuned in—in fact, the CBS Tony broadcast
saw a slight ratings bump, with a 2.1% increase in viewership from last year’s awards.
BETH: Here’s another possible reason for a ratings bump: Presenter Robert De Niro stole
the show by raising his fists in the air and dropping a couple of F-bombs about the president.
Yep, TWO F-Bombs. The moment was bleeped on the telecast, but it did earn a sustained
ovation from the crowd in attendance. De Niro went on to praise Bruce Springsteen—whom
he was introducing—and urged viewers to “rock the vote.” That political sentiment
was echoed by ANGELS IN AMERICA playwright Tony Kushner who reminded audiences the dates
for upcoming elections. Meanwhile, ANGELS IN AMERICA star Andrew Garfield, who won the
Best Actor trophy, eloquently dedicated his award to the LGBT community and then referred
the Supreme Court’s controversial decision on a case involving a same-sex wedding cake
by saying,
--We are all sacred and we all belong so let’s just bake a cake for
everyone who wants a cake to be baked!
PAUL: Sure, the 2018 Tony Awards were filled with stunning performances from the big hits
of the Broadway season, but a group of high schoolers stole the show. After drama teacher
Melody Herzfeld was honored with the Carnegie Mellon Excellence in Theatre Education Tony,
members of her Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School drama club—the same students that
Herzfeld shielded from the horrific February 14 shooting at the Parkland, Florida school—took
to the stage. In what was ranked the top performance of the night by Broadway.com readers, they
delivered the timeless RENT anthem “Seasons of Love” and got the crowd of theater pros
on their feet. Bravo to the entire troupe—and a special shout-out to soloist CALLIE CLOUGHERTY
who SANG that high note like a true Broadway diva.
--[sings] Measure your life in lo-ove [music] [applause]
BETH: When we come back, we congratulate Lindsay
Mendez and more on their brand new Tony Awards.
--The funniest
musical in forever has just opened on
Broadway. --I know I'm telling everyone
--Time out gives Mean Girls four stars
This show is a marvel --Really
He just said so don't be thirsty -- Mean
Girls -- Wow
Get tickets now -- I forget what we're
talking about -- I'm Josh Groban
--And I'm Sara Bareilles --And you're
watching the Broadway.com Show.
—PAUL: Lindsay Mendez has had an incredible Broadway rise in the past decade, taking her
from a frisky Jan singing about “Mooning” in GREASE in 2007 to the stage of Radio City
Music Hall to accept her 2018 Tony Award for playing Carrie Pipperidge in CAROUSEL. Along
the way, she sang back-up as a Mennon-ette for Sherie Rene Scott, praised Jesus in GODSPELL,
broke hearts in off-Broadway’s DOGFIGHT and won two Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards—for
playing Elphaba in WICKED and starring in last season’s SIGNIFICANT OTHER. Of course,
she’s also one of the most popular Broadway.com vloggers ever—for her backstage at WICKED
vlog FLY GIRL and her current CAROUSEL chronicle THE CARRIE DIARIES. Needless to say, we were
thrilled to see Mendez take the prize—and so were you, as readers voted her emotional
speech as the favorite of the night. We got to congratulate her in person just moments
after she had her big Tony moment.
— I just want to say when I moved
to New York, I was told to change my last
name from Mendez to Matthews or I
wouldn't work. And I just want to say how
proud I am to be a part of a community
that celebrates diversity and individuality!
I felt so much love in that space
and it was amazing that like warm
feeling that came over me when when I
got up there. And I'm just so proud to be
a part of this whole community. -- To all of you artists out there, just be
your true self and the world will take
note. Thank you so so much! -- Mendez's message
of embracing individuality is something
she truly believes in and wants to
spread --Well, I mentor a lot of actors and
I know how hard it is to come here and
you know want to be whatever anyone else
wants you to be because you want to work.
And I constantly tell my students like
make yourself the best you that you are,
but bring that to the room, and people
will see that and they'll want to work
with you. And I feel like I've tried to
always do that and this just feels like
a really great reminder to keep on that
journey, and so I hope that young artists
are watching and want to pursue this
and really you know take that with
them. -- So how will winning a Tony change
her life? --Well I am no longer gonna walk.
People have to carry me everywhere I go
now, so hope my husband's ready cuz my
the soles of my feet can not touch
the ground. [laughs]
—-RYAN: ANGELS IN AMERICA, which took home three Tony Awards, including the trophy for
Best Revival, is a sprawling epic that touches on everything from the purpose of humanity
to Reaganism, McCarthyism, immigration, religion, AIDS and so much more. Twenty-five years after
tapping into the zeitgeist of the late ’80s and early ’90s, the two-part masterpiece
is back as a must-see blockbuster that again feels like it is the cultural event of the
moment. On Tony night, playwright Tony Kushner elaborated on why his great work continues
to move audiences—especially in New York City.
—I think that the play
has survived in part because a lot of
young people keep discovering it, but
it's important to remember, it's
important not to forget the past
so that we're not condemned to repeat it.
And it's it's wonderful that the
play can still speak to successive
generations. I'm very proud of that. I think
play is about the whole country, and
hopefully about things more than the
whole country, but it's also very much
about this astonishing city, which I just
can't imagine living anywhere else. So I
really wanted production to come back to
New York, and I'm really glad that it did.
--V/O: Producers Tim Levy and Jordan Roth express the effect ANGELS IN AMERICA has on a rallying
audiences to get political and take action.
—One of the
things I love most about it is that last
moment in the show is a call to action
for us all to be citizens and stand up
and fight for what we believe in. I think
that says that's more important now than
it has ever been. --There are times when I
think it's fine to talk about personal
stuff, but there are times when when
there's a real danger threatening you
know your community,
your country or world. -- Tony Kushner is one
walking genius call-to-action. Hearing
him do anything makes me want to stand
up and say yes, and what can I do? And
that's that's why there's nobody like
him.
--IMOGEN: HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD took home six Tony Awards.The two-part play
checks in with Harry, Hermione and Ron as adults. Producer Sonia Friedman chatted with
us just moments after HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD took home the Tony for Best Play
and explained her gratitude to HARRY POTTER author J.K. Rowling—or Jo as she is called—for
entrusting her, playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany with bring the world
of HARRY POTTER to the stage.
[music]
—We approached
Jo, had no idea if there was going to be
a glimmer of hope of her responding to
the idea of her play. You know she's had
all she'd had her novels and she'd had
her movies. Why do a play? We tapped into
something. She was ready for the the
story to be told. Where would Harry
be years later? What would he be like?
And I think once we pricked that idea
with her, pricked her imagination, she
understood that there really could be an
eighth story. God bless her. She let
us have a go. --The Harry Potter team
revealed just how much the Tony Awards,
and working on this show, means to them.
--This is a show where you see a lot of
people running around holding wands. And
the thing I love about it is that those
actors are truly special individuals, and
they're running around with wands, and
they're just full of truth. I hope that
the truths expressed in the play comes
across obviously because I tried to
write it, but that experience of just
believing in magic, just believing in the
magic that they create for us, I think is
an extraordinary thing.
—-V.O.: HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD is bringing in a vast Broadway audience. The
CURSED CHILD team explain how much they love that people are pouring in to see the stage
show and perhaps experience theater for the first time.
--Theater is the most amazing form of
telling stories. And the reason that that
is is because we can only work because
of the audience's imagination and the
audience's connecting with us. Everyone
in the audience is magic because they
make what we do magic and it kind of,
breaks my heart every night in such a
beautiful way that you know we've got
to percent of every single audiences
first-time theater goers. That is a great
honor for me and I I promised to myself
that I wouldn't let them down. And I
hopefully haven't --A critical darling The
Band's Visit was tipped to win Best
Musical and it delivered with ten awards
in total. We caught up with the show's
victorious stars Katrina Lenk Tony
Shalhoub and Ari'el Stachel as well as
composer David Yazbek, scribe Itamar
Moses and director David Cromer, about
the show's sweep and what it means for
them to share this triumph with their
company and audiences. --In The Band's Visit,
music gives people hope and makes
borders disappear. Although the
characters are strangers to each other,
with great political divides, our show
offers a message of unity in a world
that more and more seems bent on
amplifying our differences. --Us being the
first Middle Eastern based really
explicitly based musical on Broadway
shows that we're challenging things and
we're trying to show people we're trying
to put a reflective mirror on society
and show people things that they may or
may not know that exist -- So proud to be
included with this ensemble. There's so
much talent in this group. It's it's
inspiring. --Everyone's stories matter and
there's room for everyone's stories and
everyone wants them. And the more the
merrier. -- It's such a breathing thing. I've
been in theatre since I was 10, and and I
have not never gotten bored with it. --If
you're watching the Tonys, you probably
have some affection for live theater, and
that's great because there's something
about being in a room with other people
and live people on the stage, this is
true for live music as well, that's
connective and unifying. And I think we
need that.
[sings] Dark and thrilling, strange and sweet, Cleopatra and the handsome theif
and they floated in on a jasmine wind, Umm Kuhltum and Omar Sharif
[Music]
--With its remote Israeli setting and
quirky characters, The Band's Visit is
not your typical razzle-dazzle Broadway
musical. --The whole thing was begun by our
commercial producer Orin Wolf.
It was Orin's baby from the beginning. He
hired us, he had the vision, and what it
meant was that the idiosyncratic, sort of
strange personal, specific tone of the
movie that we were trying to translate
to the stage, was protected from the top.
--Everyone that's involved in the show is
really wonderful and generous and and
I'm so proud that we've been recognized
in this way. Our little like ragtag
group is not so bad.
[Music]
[applause]
RYAN: When we come back, the 2018 Tony winners show off their new trophies.
—Go ahead
throw rocks at me baking a pie is easy
and you know how if only life were as
easy as pie. Waitress is a hit raves the
New York Times, with songs like
grammy-nominated artist Sara Bareilles
an uplifting celebration of love and
laughter.
[Music]
--I'm Tony Shalhoub and you're watching
the Broadway.com Show.
—PAUL: Thank you for watching this Tony-centric edition of THE BROADWAY.COM SHOW.
—BETH: We leave you with some of this year’s winners taking their new awards for a spin.
—PAUL: See you next week!
[Music]