Sunday: I thought the Tony Awards show was interesting, but not that much fun. The ending was kind of rushed (as usually the case with awards shows) and there were too many samplings from the Disney musicals (I could do without those, even though I do understand that they have them for the purposes of trying to entice people to come see Broadway fare). Whoopi Goldberg’s skits were a little silly, but were again probably to entice people to come see Broadway fare. Not enough on the plays – would have liked some samplings of those.
But, I really enjoyed the samplings from “Sunday in the Park With George” and “South Pacific” (the stars were quite hot…), and enjoyed the enthusiasm of the new stuff “In the Heights” and “Passing Strange.” I also thought the “Rent” reunion was also poignant.
NY Times’ Jennifer 8. Lee on this Williamsburg artist who uses Ikea cardboard boxes into sculpture — okay, so, this craze for the upcoming new Ikea’s starting to feel just a bit much – just a bit…! 😉
The sad and strange firing of NY Mets manager Willie Randolph. I’ll grant that firing Willie Randolph as Mets manager may have been warranted; but it was the way that it was done that was terrible. 3am EST in California, after the Mets won a game? Ridiculous! NY Times’ William Rhoden notes that as bizarre and humiliating as it was, it wasn’t a surprising firing and it’s a resolution and now time to play ball. Newsday’s Barbara Barker notes that, whether we like Willie Randolph or not, it was how the firing was done. I kind of wonder if firing someone’s like a band aid – it may be painful, but you just got to do it. Being indecisive about it doesn’t make anyone look good.
Big Bird!!! (or at least a fascinating video profile on how Carol Spinney’s been doing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch all these years and counting — watch the end, where Carol Spinney, rehearsing a Sesame Street scene, waves to the Associated Press camera and says in the Big Bird voice “Bye, bye, everybody. Don’t watch Barney…” LOL! .. oh, and the text version of the profile‘s also interesting, but the video’s priceless.
On a sadder note: the passing of Cyd Charisse, known for her dancing on the MGM movies. I always loved this quote of hers, on how her husband knew who she was dancing with in a filming: “‘If I was black and blue,’ she said, ‘it was Gene [Kelly]. And if it was Fred [Astaire], I didn’t have a scratch.'” Watch those dance moves she had with Gene Kelly – wow, that was stunning stuff (not knocking Astaire, but I love Kelly). How sad that they’re now all gone.