cavo's corner

✭Matinée Wednesday: Round Twenty-Five…

✭Matinée Wednesday: Round Seventeen…

Wow. So I went to the Tonys! The 63rd annual Antoinette Perry Awards took place on Sunday, 7 June 2009 at the world renowned Radio City Music Hall. This all started when @Pasty told us that her mother was buying tickets to the ceremony to cheer on her cousin, Trent Kowalik, @TrentKowalik, who was nominated for a Tony! Trent was up for “Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical,” which he won!

The whole evening was planned out. @Pasty had the foresight to get us a room at the Benjamin Hotel, which by the by, had a clutch mini-bar! The Tony Awards usually take place on a Sunday night, so she figured that we’d be too tired/drunk to even entertain the idea of taking the Long Island Rail Road home. She was right. I had rented a tux (yes, rented) because my cousin’s wedding was the following weekend. Bed to crash in: check. Debonair attire: check. We were ready to roll.

We took a cab the short distance from the hotel to Radio City Music Hall because it was the middle of June, a very rainy, muggy June at that! Once we arrived, the atmosphere was circus-like, abet it a controlled and very fancy circus. Once we passed the threshold into the art-deco and highly ornate lobby of the beautiful Radio City Music Hall, the excitement began to hit me.

The throngs of people mingled as they picked up their Playbills, cocktails in one hand, tickets in the other. There was a sophisticated air about the crowd. As we were ushered up to our seats, the house lights began to dim and the pre-show began. The pre-show is not aired on television, as they distribute the awards that nobody really cares about. Then it was time to get down to business…

Hosted by the very talented and funny, Neil Patrick Harris, @ActuallyNPH, who performed magic tricks during the commercial breaks, this ceremony touted the most expensive opening number in the history of the Tony Awards. Liza Minelli made an appearance while Bret Michaels and his band, Poison, performed a number from Rock of Ages. As you may or may not remember, Michaels was injured during this performance, when part of the set was lowered onto him, hitting him in the face. There were numbers from Hair, Next to Normal, and 9 to 5, where Dolly Parton joined the cast in the title number.

Throughout the course of the ceremony, stars of upcoming shows would give the audience a little taste of what was coming to Broadway in the next season. One show that I new I wanted to see right off the bat was Wishful Drinking, starring Carrie Fisher, AKA, Princess Leia. The comedy, which was based on the book of the same name, tells the ups and downs of Fisher’s life. It looked hysterical.

Billy Elliot: The Musical was the big winner of the night, taking 10 of the 15 awards it was nominated for. Just to put that into perspective, Next to Normal, which was the second most nominated show that evening took only 3 of it’s 11 nominations. Team Trent-o was ecstatic, obviously; after he won his award, we all sighed breaths of relief and were able to enjoy the remainder of the show.

The sad thing about events of this magnitude is that they seem to breeze by, ending, seemingly, as fast as they begin. Neil Patrick Harris took to the stage, alibiing a wonderful closing number. And just like that, curtain.

Read about what happened after the ceremony here!