Tony Afterglow

So, Sunday at the 67th Annual Tony Awards....AMAZING!

I couldn't have attended a more perfect first Tony Awards ceremony in my life.

First, that opening number was incredible! I think they had almost every Broadway show, old and new, from this season up on stage at one time! Only Wicked and Book of Mormon never made appearances.  Lin-Manuel Miranda co-wrote the opening number with Tom Kitt and did a phenomenal job! Because I was there in person, I got to see the whole thing happening on stage instead of relying on the camera angles CBS deemed worthy to see.

Second, 4 African American artists took home Tony awards! Patina Miller for Best Actress in a musical, Billy Porter for Best Actor in a Musical, Cecily Tyson for Best Actress in a play, and Courtney B. Vance for Best Featured Actor in a play. That's a big deal!

Third, a Jujamcyn show took home the Tony for Best Musical! KINKY BOOTS! We had much to celebrate last night! I'm so proud to be a part of such a wonderful company and a spectacular show! Now it is going to be pretty impossible to get tickets! So glad I've seen it a few times already!

Fourth, this:

Finally, The epic closing number with NPH and Audra McD! I was actually sitting in about the 6th row when this happened! My mind was blown...

As a seat filler, I had to be at Radio City Musical Hall at 4 PM. My friend Valentina and I waited in a long line of glamed up seat fillers for a good while as they checked everyone in. We took photos inside in front of the Tonys signs. When everyone was checked in, we had the introductory meeting where they explained what we were going to be doing and how it would be working. Questions were asked and answered.
A bathroom break was given. Radio City Musical Hall's women's bathroom is the most glamours wash room I've ever seen. They have a huge room with several mirrors that each have their own table and cushion chair! But the bathroom isn't the most exciting part, obviously. The best part was seeing everything live and moving about in the orchestra to different seats, seeing all of the stars, producers, directors, writers and designers that make it happen (plus a plethora of extremely wealthy upper east and west siders who shelled out the big Ks to sit in the orchestra). Cecily Tyson, Shalita Grant, Sigourney Weaver, Tom Sturridge, Jerry Mitchell, Laurie Metcalf, John Gore, Nathan Lane, Bertie Carvel, Courtney B. Vance, Angel Bassett, the cast of Pippin -  just to name a few people I was in close proximity to. I witnessed an usher accidentally stepping on Cecily Tyson's dress while walking past me. She gave him a look that could kill! It was priceless!

Valentina and I attended a lovely after party or two and garnered curious attention from the every-day-dressed tourists and general public while roaming Times Square. I could certainly get used to the chic appeal. Galas and balls, where do I sign up?

There was a bit of post Tony drama this week. The Daily Mail accused NPH of dropping the N word during the opening number. I can say from actually being there that the accusations is unfounded. But just to validate NPH's defense Playbill posted the lyrics for the Opening HERE. All I can say is they were really fishing for drama with that one. Guess they couldn't think anything better (or credible) to report. Other Tony lyrics can be found HERE.

I think my year has peaked. What more could top that? Other than being nominated for something at the Tonys, of course. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Who knows, maybe a Broadway show is on my horizons this year. Fingers crossed!

Guess Who's going to the Tony Awards?

That's right! The good news was received yesterday evening. I am going to be a seat filler for the 2013 Tony Awards! This means I have to go shopping for a fancy dress and new shoes! I am extremely excited (if you couldn't tell)! I haven't even been in NYC a year and I'm already going to a major award ceremony! Not half bad. Glad I saw the majority of this season's shows (approximately 26 at this point, but I still have time to see a few more!). For those of you who don't know what a seat filler is, that is someone who sits in the seats of the celebs when they go up to make speeches/read the nominees so that the theater doesn't look empty when they do audience shots for the telecast. When I found out, I cheered out with joy at this random woman on Spring Street and 6th Ave. She probably thought I was crazy. I wish Hugh Jackman was hosting this year instead of NPH. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Neil Patrick Harris as much as the average human being, but I've already seen him at EPCOT for the candlelight processional. Plus I'm just a major Hugh Jackman fan so... It'll still be awesome though! The pinnacle of my year so far.

Last week I finally saw the BOOK OF MORMON which is worth all the hype and then some. Definitely the funniest show I have ever seen in my entire life. Plus I love most of the songs, and they are still stuck in my head (good sign).Matt Doyle is INCREDIBLE as Elder Price. I love his voice and wish it was on the soundtrack. The original is great too, but I prefer Matt of course. I used to see him occasionally in passing/hear him singing last fall at an undisclosed location (I stand by my vows of silence and secrecy). BOM is also the most offensive show I have ever seen. I can't even begin to imagine how a devout Mormon would react. And some of the ushers told me that people have brought kids to see the show! This is anything but a kid friendly show. They use every vulgar word under the sun and then some. There is a repeated lyric "I have maggots in my scrotum!" I doubt kids are learning about that on Nickelodeon. I mean this came from the writers of South Park.I pretty much died laughing at the Ugandan performance of the creation of Mormonism. So good! If you haven't seen it yet, see it. It's jaw-droppingly good. Your abs will get a work out from laughing so hard.

Following my spectacular night at the theater, I volunteered at the Drama League Awards held at the New York Marriott Marquis on Friday afternoon. I worked at the check in table (Letters L-P). I saw a large armada of Broadway, film, and television VIPs, and even had to tell Sigourney Weaver where to go (she is awesome). It was very exciting to see Joel Grey, Jerry Mitchell, and Bernadette Peters give epic speeches. Jerry Mitchell is hilarious and the stories he shared were amazing. Each Broadway performer nominee, and there were about 40 or so that showed up of the 50 nominees, gave a mini speech which caused the event to extend over an hour. The most memorable for me were Billy Porter, Stark Sands, Cecily Tyson, Tom Hanks (revenge on the audience- he took a photo on his cellphone of the audience. The Best!), Tracy Letts, Patina Miller, Valisia LeKae, and Paul Rudd. To my total surprise, Nathan Lane was the big winner of the day. I haven't seen THE NANCE, but I am told that a lot of the voters for the award are older so I guess it goes with the territory. I wonder what it was like for Lilla Crawford of ANNIE to be the kid on the dais with all those major actors and actresses. Was she even aware of how big a deal it was to be considered on par with the likes of Tom Hanks and Vanessa Williams?

This weekend I had to say goodbye to my dear, treasured Kiwi. My friend Katie is heading back to New Zealand this week after living a year in the states. She's the one who got me the opportunity to volunteer for the Drama League Awards. She also got me addicted to Marie's Crisis (a musical theater piano bar in the West Village) and The Almighty Johnson's (New Zealand dramedy about Norse Gods living in NZ). A group of us went to Lucy's Cantina near Herald's Square where she got the biggest margarita goblet I have ever seen with a bottle of Corona tipped in like a test tube shot. On Sunday, the two of us went to this fancy schmancy place on the UWS called Sugar and Plumm. It's tres expensive (if you get anything with classy meat in it) and full of families who don't know how to maintain their sugar charged children.  Katie looked like she was going to snap on the huge party next to us. It was pretty funny. The food was good, but Sugar and Plumm is known for it's desserts. We each got a macaroon and a scoop of ice cream (sorbet for me). My macaroon was purple with silver shimmer dust on it - Violet Cassis. We had a lovely meal in spite of the untrained children running around and the dreary rain. Now I have a place to stay and a person to visit in New Zealand! Apart from Peter Jackson of course! Ha!


Things Happening this week!

• Tigers Be Still at the Drilling Company May 22-25 Wed-Sat @ 8 Sun @ 3 (I'm the House Manager! Come see the show!)
• Memorial Day Weekend!! 4 days free!