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jenn_unpluggedWe had such a fantastic time at the Tony Awards Sunday night! The entire weekend was fantastic, actually, just a wonderful time to spend with Doug.
It started with Friday night -- we drove down to San Antonio to catch Sammy Hagar in concert. Doug had procured us seats very close to the stage (he has a knack for this sort of thing), and that was a lot of fun. Well, I should say it was fun for the first two hours of the concert. After that, the area in the front of the stage turned into a sort of drunken middle-aged mosh pit, with people pushing their way to the front and being generally obnoxious. But still, I love Sammy, and he's amazing in concert. By the end we were hot and sweaty and drenched in beer and margarita, which was actually more fun than it sounds!
We spent the night in New Braunfels and then drove to the airport Saturday morning to catch our flight to New York. We managed to get on earlier flights on standby and got to New York nearly three hours earlier than planned. This meant that we could do something fun that evening, so we bought tickets for Avenue Q, which we saw about a year and a half ago. It's sort of a raunchy cross between South Park and Sesame Street, if you've never heard of it. That was a blast, and we followed it up with several Stella Artois in the hotel bar.
Saturday morning we slept in and then headed to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch: Mario Batali's Lupa. It was a gorgeous day in the city, and we walked around the village a bit before heading back to our hotel to start to get ready for the Tonys.
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dorrie6 and her mom jansong around 5:00 and then had some wine in the bar. We had decided to hire a car to take us (the eight blocks) to Radio City, and when we got outside we discovered that the car company had sent a stretch limo instead! It was the shortest limo ride of my life, but it was a lot of fun. There's something very cool about dressing up and going to a big important event where everyone else is dressed up too. I felt glamorous, hee! (Unfortunately, there are no pictures of Doug and I dressed up, because in all the excitement, I forgot to take a picture.)
When we got to Radio City, we all split up and found our respective seats. Doug and I sat in the center of the first balcony, about halfway back. We had a great view of the stage, though all the celebrities were still tiny dots. There were big screens that showed what you probably would see on TV, but I tried not to watch them. I wanted to really look at Julia Roberts and Oprah Winfrey, you know?
I've never been in the audience for a live telecast before (just that taping of Jay Leno about ten years ago, which isn't live), and the technical part of that was very interesting. The people down on the floor (presumably the nominees and celebrities and such) kept getting up and wandering around during the commercial breaks, and when there was a minute to go, the announcer had to keep asking them to sit down again. During the commercial breaks, they would play entertaining videos on the screens, four of which featured Seth Rudetsky, who we listen to on Sirius's Broadway channel. His specialty is Broadway trivia, and his video segments displayed quite a bit of that!
It was interesting to see the awards announcements, because the audience members definitely had their favorites. There were people all around us who were rooting for one show or another, sometimes quite loudly. Jersey Boys was definitely a crowd favorite, and it took away quite a few awards. I haven't seen it, but I can't help but be baffled by the recent proliferation of "jukebox musicals". Has it become so difficult to write musicals that the only option is to take songs other people wrote and piece them into a story? Of course, not many of these have been successful, so maybe it's harder than it seems to do that well.
We were disappointed that Sweeney Todd didn't do well. It did get two Tonys, though -- for best direction of a musical and for best orchestration, both of which are definitely deserved. But I couldn't believe it lost best revival!! OMG what an injustice!! Of course, The Color Purple got snubbed. Though the best actress win for LaChanze seemed to be a surprise. In general, it was a good night for actors who had been in the Harry Potter films, which I thought was interesting!
We met up with Melinda and Jan and walked back to the Westin, where they were picked up for the long drive back to Massachusetts. Doug and I had a few drinks in the bar (and closed it, actually) before heading to bed. I don't think either of us were ready for the evening to be over.
The whole night was just amazing and magical, though, and it was truly one of the coolest things I've even gotten to do. From now on when I watch it on TV at home, I'll remember what it was like to sit in Radio City and watch it all, see the stars go up on the stage, watch the performances, and feel the excitement build just before they announce a winner. Maybe I'll even dress up for it again, hee!
It started with Friday night -- we drove down to San Antonio to catch Sammy Hagar in concert. Doug had procured us seats very close to the stage (he has a knack for this sort of thing), and that was a lot of fun. Well, I should say it was fun for the first two hours of the concert. After that, the area in the front of the stage turned into a sort of drunken middle-aged mosh pit, with people pushing their way to the front and being generally obnoxious. But still, I love Sammy, and he's amazing in concert. By the end we were hot and sweaty and drenched in beer and margarita, which was actually more fun than it sounds!
We spent the night in New Braunfels and then drove to the airport Saturday morning to catch our flight to New York. We managed to get on earlier flights on standby and got to New York nearly three hours earlier than planned. This meant that we could do something fun that evening, so we bought tickets for Avenue Q, which we saw about a year and a half ago. It's sort of a raunchy cross between South Park and Sesame Street, if you've never heard of it. That was a blast, and we followed it up with several Stella Artois in the hotel bar.
Saturday morning we slept in and then headed to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch: Mario Batali's Lupa. It was a gorgeous day in the city, and we walked around the village a bit before heading back to our hotel to start to get ready for the Tonys.
We met up with
dorrie6 and her mom jansong around 5:00 and then had some wine in the bar. We had decided to hire a car to take us (the eight blocks) to Radio City, and when we got outside we discovered that the car company had sent a stretch limo instead! It was the shortest limo ride of my life, but it was a lot of fun. There's something very cool about dressing up and going to a big important event where everyone else is dressed up too. I felt glamorous, hee! (Unfortunately, there are no pictures of Doug and I dressed up, because in all the excitement, I forgot to take a picture.)When we got to Radio City, we all split up and found our respective seats. Doug and I sat in the center of the first balcony, about halfway back. We had a great view of the stage, though all the celebrities were still tiny dots. There were big screens that showed what you probably would see on TV, but I tried not to watch them. I wanted to really look at Julia Roberts and Oprah Winfrey, you know?
I've never been in the audience for a live telecast before (just that taping of Jay Leno about ten years ago, which isn't live), and the technical part of that was very interesting. The people down on the floor (presumably the nominees and celebrities and such) kept getting up and wandering around during the commercial breaks, and when there was a minute to go, the announcer had to keep asking them to sit down again. During the commercial breaks, they would play entertaining videos on the screens, four of which featured Seth Rudetsky, who we listen to on Sirius's Broadway channel. His specialty is Broadway trivia, and his video segments displayed quite a bit of that!
It was interesting to see the awards announcements, because the audience members definitely had their favorites. There were people all around us who were rooting for one show or another, sometimes quite loudly. Jersey Boys was definitely a crowd favorite, and it took away quite a few awards. I haven't seen it, but I can't help but be baffled by the recent proliferation of "jukebox musicals". Has it become so difficult to write musicals that the only option is to take songs other people wrote and piece them into a story? Of course, not many of these have been successful, so maybe it's harder than it seems to do that well.
We were disappointed that Sweeney Todd didn't do well. It did get two Tonys, though -- for best direction of a musical and for best orchestration, both of which are definitely deserved. But I couldn't believe it lost best revival!! OMG what an injustice!! Of course, The Color Purple got snubbed. Though the best actress win for LaChanze seemed to be a surprise. In general, it was a good night for actors who had been in the Harry Potter films, which I thought was interesting!
We met up with Melinda and Jan and walked back to the Westin, where they were picked up for the long drive back to Massachusetts. Doug and I had a few drinks in the bar (and closed it, actually) before heading to bed. I don't think either of us were ready for the evening to be over.
The whole night was just amazing and magical, though, and it was truly one of the coolest things I've even gotten to do. From now on when I watch it on TV at home, I'll remember what it was like to sit in Radio City and watch it all, see the stars go up on the stage, watch the performances, and feel the excitement build just before they announce a winner. Maybe I'll even dress up for it again, hee!
