Tony Time

Note: The soundtrack for this post is the song On Broadway. If you prefer The Drifters' version, click here. If you're partial to George Benson's version, click here. Are we all hearing it now? Excellent. Please proceed.

Did everyone watch the Tony's this weekend? Or were we all too busy watching the very sad Miami/Dallas game? I dabbled in both, as I'm loyal to the theater world and South Florida. I always love the Tony's, but I was extra excited for them this year. I've spent a bit of time in NYC this past year (more on that later) and I was fortunate enough to see a number of the shows nominated for the Big Award. As such, I've compiled a list here of some of the Broadway happenings I'm loving right now:

1.) First and foremost, this behemoth of a show...How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. There's much to recommend it. Peabody Award, Best Revival, Matthew Broderick, blah blah blah blah. Bottom line, Daniel Radcliffe is in it. Now, this is a travel blog, so there hasn't been much Harry Potter reporting (except for here and here and here and here). So some readers may not know about my mild obsession with all things HP. But it's exactly that, an obsession. I'm a nerd. Lauren and I were lucky enough to see D Rad in Equus for his 2007 London performance. That was fantastic, but this took the cake. Radcliffe's dancing made me giddy, and co-star John Larroquette was a hilarious surprise. And, of course, the former Night Court actor won best supporting actor in a musical Sunday night.

In closing, let me reiterate my joy for this show with the following video, taken immediately after seeing the musical:


2). The Book of Mormon, which I briefly touched upon here. This is probably the best theater experience I've had in a good long while. (Hard to believe after seeing the video above, right?) The music is fantastic and it manages to be hilarious and touching at the same time. I'd go on and on about it, but I really don't have to. The thing won nine Tony's Sunday night and has been such a critical success this year it prompted Chris Rock to say, upon presenting the award for best musical of the year: "I don't really need to read the nominees, right? We already know the best musical, right?"

I hear the show will start a national tour in December 2012 and seriously, if it comes near you, see it.

3). The Mother*#@%er With the Hat, known on censored television Sunday Night as The Mother With the Hat. A much less-cool name. This play has a lot of start power, with Chris Rock, Annabella Sciorra of Law & Order fame, and Bobby Cannavale, who Will and Grace friends will remember as the guy Will ends up with in the last season. We decided to see this play randomly a few months ago, when we were in the city with Elan. Elan had never seen a Broadway play before and has a tendency to be picky about the theater he does see, so we wanted to go to something we thought he'd like. The foul language seemed like a good choice to us. And it was. Cannavale was nominated for best actor in a play and I thought he would win, but alas I was wrong. He did take home the Drama Desk award, though, so good on him.

Honorable mentions go out to Sister Act and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Both were nominated for several awards each and both are really fun, but Priscilla is fantastic. It won best costume, which it deserves. That show has some insane drag queen outfits going on. Here's a peek:

In closing, I'd like to leave you with this video of Tony host Neil Patrick Harris. How much do we all love NPH? He's adorable and he did an awesome closing rap at the end of the show. But his opening number was the scene stealer. As Neil teaches us here, the theater is not just for gays anymore. Please enjoy!