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
