Is anyone else watching?

Neil Patrick Harris os hosting. Pretty good show, so far.

Bret Michaels gets beheaded.


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Holy tech problems Batman. Someone is getting fired tonight.

And I'm off to buy Next to Normal, cause that performance rocked.

And Carrie Fisher looked hideous.

Yeah, Next to Normal was amazing. I haven't seen the show but from the Tony performances, I'd say they got robbed. (Shrek? Seriously? I can't believe they nominated it. Though Sutton Foster is hot! I think it's the cocked eyebrow. )

I was hoping to hear some Dr. Horrible tonight.

I must say that the Shrek score is really great. Reminds me a lot of Wicked and the Tonys loved that show too, so it doesn't surprise me to see it up there. I actually HATE the movies, but the musical removes nearly all of the dated pop culture stuff and focuses more on the fairy tale world. It's really well done, and I hope to see it on Broadway before it closes.

NPH was an outstanding host too. Despite the numerous technical problems, I always prefer the Tonys to other shows as they don't spend a lot of time screwing around. And pretty much everyone who gets up there is an entertaining person. And they wrapped it up in 3 hours, which is the longest ANY of these shows should be.

Apparently this was the first year they broadcast in HD. I wouldn't know as it's the first time in several years that I've 1) Been home 2) Remembered to watch 3) Had an HDTV and 4) Had HD service.

But kudos to CBS for catching up with the rest of the world.

Agreed. Some additional goofiness with the direction was happening during the In Memoriam sequence. They kept cutting to different angles which was fine except you really had to concentrate to see the names of the people being shown and their credentials.

Well, I am really pleased to read those comments, because NEXT TO NORMAL is one of the most amazing shows I have ever seen - in fact, I couldn't get it out of my head and went back to see it again 4 days later.

If you go to www.nexttonormal.com you can view some other brief performance clips.

E

I'm really annoyed that I missed the pre-Broadway revised version of 'Next to Normal' run at Arena Stage here in DC, last Fall.

I thought Neil was great as a presenter, the little song ditty he sang at the end was hysterical.

hooray Billy! I thought on the whole it was a very good musical, the dancing was great as well as the design of the show, but the music unfortunantly wasn't THAT memorable, except 'Solidarity' - and the little gay kid's dress up number - which has to be one of the gayest numbers I've seen in a looooong time - was a stand out just because, well... I wont ruin that surprise.

The win for the role for Anita (West Side Story) was well deserved, she and the role of Maria were the highlights of the new version. The role of Tony though I thought was the show's only major flaw.

I soooooo have to see 'Hair' - I've always loved the songs from the show, and with what I saw online and on the Tony' lastnight, that's my next tix, along with 'God of Carnage' (if tix are to be had).

It was too bad with the Tony's rejiggered, mostly all music this year, the technical awards and more specifically the Signature's theatre acceptance was trunscated. All in all, a very good show, and best viewed with a DVR, so I could scream through the annoying commercials.

Did you get the impression that they knew who was going to win prior to the event? I mean I know there are some sharp, witty lyricists out there, but that last song had to have been written prior to the start of the evening. I mean it essentially recaps a lot of the award winners of the evening - some from within an hour previous.

^ oh I'm sure they had an inkling or a really good writer who knew how to write on the fly.

Wow, I thought the Next to Normal song was terrible. Missed a lot of the show because of severe weather interrupts. I thought Rock of Ages looked interesting. Definitely interested in Shrek.

Agree with Draven about Carrier Fisher. I thought it was Sharon Gless at first!

I missed NPH's opening. Was it any good? May try to track it down on the web. His closing number was pretty funny.

The opening was really rough. Tech issues, and NPH wasn't really in it.

I bought Next to Normal last night. Listened to part of it on the way in to work today. LOVE IT.

He wasn't in the opening number, but it was MASSIVE. Seriously the entire stage was covered with people by the end. Harris commented afterward that it was the most expensive number in the history of the show - which is why we ended up with HIM as the host, he said.

in regards to Carrie, oi! she looked like she had swallowed a beach ball. I thought the 'Next to Normal' song was a tad too shouty (at the beginning), just bought the soundtrack so I'm curious to now what the other songs sound like.

interesting that Edie sat directly behind James Gandolfini in the audience - his little remark about not being related to Shrek was funny.

now I'm totally stoked, just bought me tix to see 'God of Carnage' and 'Hair' in July - hollah!!

Here's a NY Times blog about how that number came about, complete with all the lyrics and the video:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/20...20tonys&st=cse

speaking of 'savage ditties' - when Kristen Chenoweth came out on stage, I broke out laughing cause I just bought the latest 'Forbidden Broadway' album and the song: "Kristen Chenoweth: Glitter & Be Glib" (set to the tune of 'Wicked's' 'Popular) is funny as hell.