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7/28/2019 Tony Awards 2013 - Reaction Essay
1/2
Matilda got the short shrift of things at last night's Tony ceremony. Sure, it won four awards (for
featured actor, scenic design, lighting, and book), but it lost most of the important ones -- Leading
Actor, Choreography, Score, and Musical -- toKinky Boots. Which, in my eyes is seriously
disappointing. Yes, Billy Porter is, from all reports, phenomenal in hisBoots role -- but would he havebeaten Bertie Carvel's fearsome Miss Trunchbull (who made an appearance at the beginning of the
Matilda medley) were it not for the backlash against the British juggernaut? Even before it arrived
Stateside, serious theatrical observers were singing its praises, singling out Carvel in particular. Carvelturned what could have -- and in a lesser actor's hands, probably would have -- been a larger-than-life
caricature (think Harvey Fierstein inHairspray) into a fully-developed psychological portrait. He was
so thorough in developing the character that if you didn't know better, you'd swear it was a womanparading about on stage. Just watch him walk offstage at the Tonys, just after the camera cuts to Oona
Lawrence singing a snippet of "Naughty". His was a tour-de-force performance, one that probably
would have won him a Tony if the show he was starring wasn't so damned successful.
Best Choreography wasn't considered to be an incredibly tight race -- but Jerry Mitchell was neverreally considered to be a front-runner. Most commentators considered it to be between Chet Walker's
Fosse-inspired moves inPippin and Peter Darling's work inMatilda. Both, certainly, are stronger than
Mitchell's effort this season. No, Mitchell won for his resume and past work, rather than for hisnominated work. Had he been judged solely on that, he wouldn't even be among the top two last night,
and Peter Darling probably would have won. Walker's work is good, no doubt about it, but it's hardly
integral to the show (apart from the "Glory" dance, which wisely uses Fosse's original choreographywith no changes whatsoever). Darling's work is integral to the show, drawing organically from the
impulses of childhood movement. The more technically advanced steps for the adult ensemble are also
inspired, as in "School Song", where two adults climb up the school gate using intricate footwork, each
step a letter of the alphabet that appears as it's referenced in the song's lyrics.
Now, had Gypsy Snider been co-nominated with Chet Walker....
Much likeIn the Heights a few years back, Tim Minchin's score forMatilda isn't technically advanced,
and mis- and slant-rhymes abound, but it's so infectiously joyous and clever, and melds with the rest of
the production so thoroughly, that none of that matters. There isn't a dud in the entire bunch -- a claimthatKinky Boots can't make: "Charlie's Soliloquy" is lyrically amateur and musically inappropriate for
the situation. It goes nowhere.
Diane Paulus is a gifted director, but her circus-inspiredPippin was unable to hide the production's
innumerable faults -- starting with the fact that it's a badly-written show. It didn't seem half-bad in Bob
Fosse's original 1972 production -- but that's because Fosse was really good at smoke and mirrors.Although entertaining and eye-catching, Paulus' production, in my opinion, wasn't Best Director
material. That honor ought to have gone to Matthew Warchus' work on -- you guessed it --Matilda. Hisbusy staging, interrupted at regular intervals by eye-pleasing tableaus, proved that last season's
Ghostwas merely a misstep.
Actually, all ofMatilda's parts were so meticulously crafted that you really have to concentrate to
divorce them from each other -- a sure sign of an incredibly well-crafted show.Kinky Boots won the
7/28/2019 Tony Awards 2013 - Reaction Essay
2/2
night's top honor primarily, I think, because it's feel-good and sentimental, somethingMatilda is
definitely not. Harvey Fierstein's book is reportedly heavy on jokes at the expense of solid
characterizations, and the general consensus seems to be that Mitchell's direction is fairly pedestrian.
But! -- Cyndi Lauper's score and Billy Porter's Lola are both first-rate. But two good things should nota Tony-winning musical make. Unfortunately, last night, they did.