Finally watching the 2017 Tony Awards. Wonderful show, as usual – always the best awards show on TV. In addition to all the great numbers and Kevin Spacey as host, I was thrilled to see Mark Hamill on the show. Near the start of my Star Wars<\/i> insanity, I followed every single thing the three main actors in the movies were doing, and that means knowing that Mark Hamill played the lead in The Elephant Man<\/i> and Mozart in Amadeus<\/i> on Broadway and won a Drama Desk nomination for his role in Harrigan ‘N Hart<\/i> off-Broadway back in the day. And that Carrie Fisher was in Censored Scenes from King Kong<\/i> and of Agnes of God<\/i> on Broadway I couldn’t see those shows, living in Western Kentucky, so I would go down to the Henderson County Public Library, and look up photos and reviews of the shows in magazines and a book that came out every year and said who was in what, summarized the plots of the shows, and had photos.<\/p>\n
So, when Mark Hamill came out, I cried, both because I knew he was about to somehow make a referral to our favorite Princess, and because via Star Wars<\/i>, my dreams of Broadway were further cultivated.<\/p>\n
One of the people who passed away that was listed in the tribute section was Gordon Davidson. I drove Gordon Davidson in my truck once. I drove him from the San Francisco airport to San Jose, so he could see a production of Holly Near’s one woman show at the theater where I worked. We had a delightful conversation – I’d worked with his daughter at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Later, the company manager said I’d put him in such a good mood, it laid the groundwork for him to love the show (and he did) and transfer it to La Jolla.<\/p>\n
This year, it’s the straight plays I’m dying to see on Broadway – except for the revivals of Hello Dolly<\/i> and Sunset Boulevard<\/i>, which I would kill to see, and Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812<\/i>, which looks and sounds fantastic. Indecent<\/i>, Oslo<\/i>, A Dolls’ House, Part 2<\/i>, the revivals of The Little Foxes<\/i> and Present Laughter<\/i> and The Glass Menagerie<\/i>.<\/p>\n
But that said: I love musicals. And I was reminded of that recently not by the Tony Awards, but by seeing something I’ve avoided for a long time.<\/p>\n
For reasons I\u2019m not sure of, I have avoided seeing Rent<\/i>. I never saw the play, and when people would put the soundtrack on, I would shut down, leave the room, ask for something else\u2026 it just did nothing for me.<\/p>\n
More on that in a moment.<\/p>\n
The very first musical I ever saw was probably You\u2019re a Good Man, Charlie Brown<\/i> at Henderson County High School, in 1974 or so. I would have been 8, maybe younger. I think I saw Snow White<\/i> at the movies after that. If it weren\u2019t for Disney re-releasing that and Cinderella<\/i> and Sleeping Beauty<\/i> and Mary Poppins<\/i> and Song of the South<\/i> and all their other early musicals, I\u2019m not sure I would have seen any outside of high school productions – there was no cable TV, my little town had no community theatre, and I had no idea at the time that Great Performances on PBS wasn\u2019t just opera.<\/p>\n
I admit that I avoided the movie The Sound of Music<\/i> until my Dad made me watch it. No, really, he pretty much made me watch it. Oh, how I loved it. Probably why I\u2019m such an anti-fascist now\u2026 (\u201cYou\u2019ll never be one of them\u2026\u201d).<\/p>\n
But after that, I was introduced to most musicals via their soundtrack. Living in Western Kentucky, I was far, far from Broadway, and Broadway tours did not come our way. Camelot<\/i>, Little Shop of Horrors<\/i>, Les Miserables<\/i>, Jesus Christ Superstar<\/i>, Chess<\/i>, Phantom of the Opera<\/i>, Into the Woods<\/i> – I was introduced to all of them and more via their soundtrack. It meant that, when I finally did see those musicals, on film or on stage, I realized I\u2019d gotten some plot points wrong – just listening to the soundtrack means you can\u2019t always know exactly how the story is supposed to be.<\/p>\n
As I said, for some reason, just hearing a bit of songs from Rent<\/i> did nothing for me, so I never saw it when I lived in the USA in the 90s. The film version was probably shown in Cologne when it was released in 2005 and I lived in Germany, but I made no effort to find out. It’s been on TV a few times since I moved back, and produced by community theaters here and there, but I never saw them.<\/p>\n
Then, a few days ago, I was bored, and Ovation was showing Rent<\/i>, and so I watched it, and I bawled and squalled and wanted to dance around the room. A pox on me for waiting so long.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m really glad I got to first see it as the film, because I got to judge it only based on that, not based on the Broadway show or the tour. I get really tired of the oh-it\u2019s-not-as-good-as-the-Broadway-version crowd.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the same with the movie version of Hair<\/i>. I freakin\u2019 LOVE that movie. If you saw it staged first, however, you usually don\u2019t like the movie.<\/p>\n
I wonder if I\u2019ll feel differently about Hamilton<\/i> once I finally see it. I think it will have to be a great production of it for me to get it. I\u2019ve seen bits of it and it\u2019s done nothing for me. I\u2019m intrigued when I read about it – but not when I hear a bit of the music. Which is exactly how Rent<\/i> has been for me all these years. So, someone please send me airfare and a ticket for Hamilton<\/i>, please?<\/p>\n
Other blogs where I have mentioned the Tony Awards:<\/p>\n