June 2004 Archives

President Reagan died.

Oh what a circus! Oh what a show!
Argentina has gone to town
Over the death of an actress called Eva Peron
We've all gone crazy
Mourning all day and mourning all night
Falling over ourselves to get all
Of the misery right

A servant of the people for 16 years of his 93 year life.

Oh what an exit! That's how to go!
When they're ringing your curtain down
Demand to be buried like Eva Peron
It's quite a sunset
And good for the country in a roundabout way
We've made the front page of all the world's papers today

Eight years as Govenor of California.

But who is this Santa Evita?
Why all this howling hysterical sorrow?
What kind of goddess has lived among us?
How will we ever get by without her?

Eight years as the 40th President of the United States.

She had her moments--she had some style
The best show in town was the crowd
Outside the Casa Rosada crying, "Eva Peron"
But that's all gone now
As soon as the smoke from the funeral clears
We're all going to see and how she did nothing for years!

Repect the man and the service he performed for the United States. But lets not rewrite history.

("Oh What A Circus" from Evita. Lyrics by Tim Rice)

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Can you believe it? I heard the news about 11PM. J Lo got married again! (to Capeman's Marc Anthony, maybe the cast recording will now be released.)

Seriously, I couldn't be more happy for Avenue Q, specifically Jeff Marx. I met Jeff a number of years ago. We keep each other updated on what is happening via email mostly or in person at the occasional event. I know that it has been such a long an winding road for Avenue Q to get from the BMI workshop to Broadway, having been fortunate enough to see it along the way. While everyone associated with Avenue Q deserves congratulations, I have seen the huge effort put in by Jeff. It goes to show that Broadway shows don't happen without every single person who is involved giving 110%.

Now, we have to wonder, what can did the Avenue Q folks open? Will we start to see heavy campaigning by other shows next year the way that Avenue Q did this year? I believe that Avenue Q would of, and should have, won without the campaign. One can consider that the Tony 'campaign' was simply a brilliant advertising scheme to play off the national presidential campaign and not a real Tony vote swayer. But I loved the ads!

It was a night of surprises, with some of the winners giving speeches like their horse just upset the triple crown. (Michael Cerveris). Everyone looked stunning last night. I did not see any Bjork-type of outfits there. If straight men are the largest untapped market for the Broadway audience, last night was a good promotion piece to bring them to the theater! But one question, why do women spend extraordinary amounts of money on a dress that falls down when they move a little? (Sarah Jessica Parker)

Away from Radio City Music Hall, I got a few emails that TonyAwards.com accidentally posted all the winners after the first CBS-aired Award was given out. I was unable to verify it (I got the email this morning) but I would imagine how many Blackberry's in RCMH would be humming at that point!

Along the lines of Tony Trivia, one reader, Richard Rainville, wrote to us this morning,

"If my memory is correct, I believe Avenue Q now holds the record for the earliest opening show to win best musical, previously held by La Cage. Cage opened in Aug, and Q opened in July."

Anyone know if that is the case?

Overall, I felt it was a great night for Broadway. A great awards show. Lastly, talk about bankable stars, overheard last night, "Maybe we could put Hugh and Kristin into those roles..." Hmmmm...

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