“Schmigadoon” was all schmiles Sunday night.
The Lorne Michaels-produced show, based on the canceled AppleTV+ series, won the all-important Tony Award for Best Musical at Radio City Music Hall.
It badly needed it. Like most new musicals during this rough season, the comedy about a married couple who gets trapped inside an old-fashioned musical has had soft ticket sales in recent weeks. The top prize at the Tonys — the only one that really drives box office — should give it a helpful boost as summer begins.
I can’t say the same of the cast’s groaner of a performance of its sluggish and cutesy title song. The victor came off dusty and boring — and it is! — and not funny or particularly new. And it’s not!
The big-budget rock spectacle “The Lost Boys” had more gusto, but the production was unable to showcase its greatest asset: The jaw-dropping aerial stunts. A producer told me they didn’t want to risk the audience at home seeing wires attached to actors. The pricey loser will now have its work cut out for it to wind up a financial success. It’ll need to run for years.
The best song-and-dance of the night came from the fabulous Best Musical Revival nominee “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” which takes Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1980s felines and turns them into modern-day New Yorkers having a hugely fun ballroom competition in Harlem. Yet it’s hard to say how many lives the kitties have left in ’em after Sunday’s crushing loss.
The winner of that category — a crime, by the way — “Ragtime,” did an uninspired and snoozy rendition of their loud-and-long opener. That revival also rightly took home Best Actor and Actress in a Musical for the wonderful Joshua Henry and Caissie Levy.
Luke Evans from “The Rocky Horror Show” rocked the house with “Sweet Transvestite” and then the full cast did a high-spirited “Time Warp” that should put some laced-tights butts in seats.
The little guys, “Titanique” and “Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York),” were not well served by the vastness of Radio City. They got swallowed up like a piece of chiffon sponge.
The original cast of “The Book of Mormon” reunited for the 15th anniversary of the hit comedy — and millions of people learned that Andrew Rannels and Josh Gad can no longer sing those roles. Oof!
That was one of many dumb choices in the broadcast that went on and on. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of “A Chorus Line,” Rachel Zegler sang “What I Did For Love.” She sounded pretty, but the somber song felt like another In Memoriam. Why didn’t they hire some dancers to kick-line to “One”?
The winning plays don’t really need to sell any tickets. Best Play “Liberation” closed in the winter. And the superb Best Revival “Death of a Salesman,” which also snatched up Featured Actress (Laurie Metcalf) and director, among a bunch of other trophies, is already one of the year’s biggest hits.
John Lithgow won Best Actor for his towering turn as Roald Dahl in “Giant” — 53 years after his first win! — and British star Lesley Manville took home her first Best Actress Tony for her mother of a performance in “Oedipus.” I was especially pleased to see Alden Ehrenreich walk to the podium as Best Featured Actor for his revelatory work in “Becky Shaw.”
Weirdly, Pink, who has never been in a Broadway show, hosted the ceremony honoring the best of Broadway. The “So What?” singer smartly poked fun at the randomness of her gig.
“For some reason, I’m your host, Pink,” began her monologue. Funny!
And the big number she kicked off the broadcast with, an enjoyable spin on her song “Lady Marmalade” from “Moulin Rouge” reworked to be “Leading Lady Marmalade,” was rousing. It featured a ton of cast members from the nominated shows — always a good idea.
But from there, Pink flopped. The material written for her was terrible, especially one mystifying skit about free speech.
“Soon we may not be able to say what we believe,” Pink said. Huh? She then asked various stars such as Rose Byrne and Kelli O’Hara to speak their truths. They awkwardly told lame jokes. Awful, awful, awful.
The Tonys talked a big game this year about having shiny new producers.
Well, they did a pretty Schmigy job.
