Sunday, June 5, 2005

Troubled Tonys

There's something wrong with a Tony Awards broadcast where the high point is a surprise walk-on by Al Sharpton.

I'm usually quick to defend these shows because folks don't appreciate how difficult they are to put on, how many things could go wrong and don't, and because a lot of the high and low points are things are simply beyond the producers' control. Still, you had to wince at all the tech mistakes and bad choices. Especially baffling was how, at least on the New York telecast which I watched out here, gibberish kept popping up on the screen, courtesy of (I guess) a drunken closed-captioned device that went inexplicably open...and every so often, you could hear the director (I think it was) giving camera instructions, which ain't supposed to happen, either.

Good points: The opening with Billy Crystal. The funny bit with Christina Applegate (actually, a stuntwoman) falling off the stage. The charm of host Hugh Jackman. Nathan Lane and just a few other presenters. Mike Nichols's advice to the losers. The number from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee...which was the only musical number all evening that made me want to go see the show. Some say the main function of the Tony telecast is to serve as an infomercial for Broadway, and that the real winners are those whose presentations drive buyers to the box offices. I can't see how most of the selections this evening could prompt purchasing, especially the scenes from the nominated plays which were too brief to generate the slightest interest. Even Spamalot, which I just know is not a dull show, looked like a dull show.

Bad points: There were too many of them to name...and hey, what's with everyone tugging their ear to send a signal to someone? And all that lip-syncing on a show that's celebrating The Magic of the Live Theater? Why was Nathan Lane's head shaved and why were almost all the winners thanking their agents? Radio City Music Hall is way too big to properly present anything smaller than huge spectacle, and the director kept cutting to wide shots that not only distanced us from the action but showed us the empty seats of so many attendees who'd had enough and headed for the lobby.

Last year, there was a ghastly "star" musical number with Mary J. Blige singing a number from A Chorus Line. This year, it was outdone by Aretha Franklin and Hugh Jackman singing a song from West Side Story. The thought — to honor Stephen Sondheim's 75th birthday — was a nice one, but why'd they have to pick a number from his first show, and one for which he wrote only the lyrics? Rumor has it the man has written one or two good songs all by himself in the years since.

Even the bleeping was weird. The idea of having a live broadcast on a seven-second delay is that someone might accidentally blurt out some naughty word...but there were two deletions in the number from Dirty Rotten Scandals — which was, of course, scripted and rehearsed, and I think it was also pre-recorded and lip-synced. For that matter, once you've made the (correct) decision that you have to leave in the shots of men and women kissing their same-sex mates, are you really going to offend anyone by allowing the word, "ass?"

Later, during Chita Rivera's tribute to deceased friends, she was censored without even being dirty. She was supposed to speak of the recent deaths of composers Fred Ebb and Cy Coleman but she accidentally mentioned Ebb and his very much alive partner, John Kander. CBS bleeped the mention of Kander on the fly, but since she caught and corrected herself, most viewers probably didn't know what she was talking about and/or thought she'd uttered some ghastly expletive.

It was a whole evening of that kind of thing...painful to those of us who want the Tony Awards to be as wonderful as we all know Good Theater can be. Recently, someone sent me DVDs of some of the earlier telecasts and it's fascinating how joyful these shows used to be. (The 1971 show, for reasons that can probably never be re-created, is especially thrilling.) I know you can't ever get Zero Mostel and Robert Preston out to re-create their great musical moments...but these things used to be about performances, and now they're about walking to the stage to thank your agent and life partner. Most of America doesn't watch the Tonys since they've never seen the shows and don't know who most of the nominees are...but there's a group out there that might tune in and perhaps be moved to purchase tickets, if only the show had a little magic.

• Posted at 11:02 PM · LINK

The Iron Horse of Comic Art Publications

For more than 35 years, the world of newspaper comic strips has been covered by Cartoonist PROfiles, a fine quarterly magazine produced by Jud Hurd, who is himself a practitioner of the art. Cartoonist PROfiles has delved into animation and comic books, but its principal focus has been political cartoons and comic strips, and I've been a happy subscriber since its inception.

Sadly, I'm hearing that this venerable magazine may be coming to an end soon. Mr. Hurd is in poor health, and you could almost sense it from the latest issue (#145), which I received yesterday. The issue is a little slimmer than I'm used to, and has the slight feel of having been assembled without Hurd's customary editorial precision. That is not a criticism. If what I've heard is true, it was a commendable effort just to get this one to press.

I hope this is not the end of this fine publication. Perhaps when Hurd is no longer able to do it, he has someone else in mind to assume command, or someone can be found. At the very least, I'd love to see someone issue the entire run on CD-Rom because even though I have 'em all, it would be a lot easier to have the issues in that format. It's been a very important magazine and there's been a lot of history in its pages.

• Posted at 10:44 AM · LINK

Thoughts on Verdict Watch

It's tempting to try and predict the outcome of the Michael Jackson trial. But then I remember that those jurors sat there for 14 weeks and heard something like 130 witnesses, whereas I've paid maybe an hour's worth of attention to the matter and only heard/read third-hand paraphrases of some teensy fraction of the testimony. That doesn't mean they'll come to the right decision — one O.J. jury was certainly wrong — but real jurors have a perspective and a possession of the facts that are generally unavailable to us casual, armchair jurors. Maybe we ought to trust them more than we do to judge the case that was presented in court. They're also burdened with rules of evidence and points of law that do not encumber our judgment...and of course, we have the luxury that if we're wrong, no one gets hurt.

Many of the Talking Heads on cable TV are avoiding predictions but those that have a view seem to think there's no way Michael will be found guilty; that we're looking at either an acquittal or a hung jury. The latter possibility may be just wishful thinking from folks who are making good livings covering this Jackson trial and wouldn't mind another. It doesn't hurt to keep in mind that a lot of these same experts told us that Robert Blake was a sure bet for a quick conviction.

As I understand it, the jury could boot the molestation charges and convict Jackson of one or more counts of furnishing alcohol to minors. That sounds like a nice "compromise" move if they're as conflicted as the press coverage of the trial might suggest. But maybe they're not conflicted one bit. Maybe they're sure, one way or the other. I'm not going to make the mistake again of being shocked at a verdict because I expected the jury to see things the same way I did after some casual glances at the MSNBC coverage. It's the real world in that jury room. The only prediction I can express with any confidence is that regardless of the verdict, Michael Jackson will never be Michael Jackson again.

• Posted at 10:19 AM · LINK

Foto Blogging

Here's another photo from the National Cartoonists Society gathering in Scottsdale last weekend. Sunday evening, they had a roast/tribute to Sergio Aragonés and almost everyone in the room was wearing false mustaches that looked much more realistic than the phony one he's been sporting all these years. Here, we see Mr. and Mrs. Mort Walker with theirs. Mort, of course, is the man reponsible in one way or another for Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, Boner's Ark, Sam's Strip, Sam and Silo, Patches and Gamin, etc. Three times during the weekend, other cartoonists had to physically restrain him from creating a new strip. (Sergio, by the way, took this photo.)

• Posted at 8:18 AM · LINK

Set the TiVo!

In case you're unaware, the Tony Awards tonight will be preceded by a one-hour special on the TV Guide Channel covering the arrivals. I just found this out so I figured I'd pass it on.

• Posted at 1:05 AM · LINK

June 6, 2005 • Current • June 4, 2005