Top Ten Tony Awards Performances - Part Four - Places 5-2

Continuing with my personal top ten Tony Award performances.  Remember that the Tonys were not broadcast until 1967 - so, nothing before then will make the list.

5.  A Chorus Line.  If you know theatre at all - or have perhaps only a passing knowledge - then you know about A Chorus Line.  Heck, it even made the cover of Newsweek magazine.

(Yes, that's the same Donna McKechnie from Turkey Lurkey Time).  A Chorus Line started with a late night group session among dancers - not leads nor stars - talking about their lives.  It morphed into a musical whose only set was a line drawn on the floor and some rotating mirrors.  And, it was magic.  Confession after story after song.  The show actually traces a Broadway dancer's life from first dance class to contemplating the end of a career.  Director/choregrapher Michael Bennett (yes - the same guy who choreographed Turkey Lurkey Time) wanted the finale to horrify audiences or make them sad.  Only he put the cast in gold lame outfits with top hats and a kick line and it roused audiences.  For the Tony Awards, Michael Bennett restaged and edited the opening number ("I Hope I Get It") as well as reportedly directing the camera placement and camera cuts.  Watching this on television - well, it didn't change my life - but I could tell this was so different, so game changing, so invigorating.  Two notes:  The show was called "A Chorus Line" so that it would appear first in any alphabetical listing of shows by including the word "A" as part of the title.  Second, A Chorus Line won the Tony Award for Best Musical over a little show called Chicago.  But, this is the opening (sort of):

4.  Applause.  Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical 1970.  And, you may never have heard of it.  It's a musical adaptation of the Oscar winning film "All About Eve".  Only, the creatives didn't have the right to use any of the dialogue or characters from the film or even the title!  This created a creative challenge!  The creatives did have the rights to the short story upon which the film was based and they could use that.  Late in the development process, they did get the rights which did them no good as there was little time to redo the whole show!  But, it did enable the show to have a song entitled "Fasten Your Seat Belts" based on one of the more famous lines from the movie.  With music by Charles Strouse (Bye Bye Birdie, Superman and Annie also on his list), lyrics by Lee Adams (Bye Bye Birdie, Superman) and a book by the team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green (who also wrote Singin' In The Rain, On the Town, Wonderful Town and Bells are Ringing among others), and directed and choreographed by Ron Field, it was a big hit.  It starred Lauren Bacall who won the first of two Tony Awards for Best Actress in a musical (besting Katherine Hepburn who also was in a musical that year - Coco - based on the life of Coco Chanel).  But for the Tony Awards performance, there is no Lauren Bacall.  Rather, they went with the title number which doesn't really advance the story much.  It highlighted Bonnie Franklin - years before One Day At A Time made her a household name.  The title number is such a love letter to theatre - and to the dancers who tread the floorboards.  Until A Chorus Line, this song was their story.  This was the first Tony Awards broadcast I remember watching live.  So, it made a huge impression on me.  To my young eyes, the nudity and what sounds like an audible gasp from the audience - made this quite memorable.  The show was later filmed for television with Lauren Bacall and Larry Hagman! (which you can find on YouTube) The show is quite dated - and I doubt I will ever see a production of the entire show.  But this number on the Tony Awards is one of the best.  That's why it's number 4.

3.  Grand Hotel.  A musical adaptation of the 1932 Best Picture.   A group of strangers get together in the Grand Hotel in Germany.  Stories unfold.  And, I can't say any more because I've never seen the show.  But, it was another triumph for Tommy Tune, who won the Tony for Best Direction and Best Choreography.  The highlight was this performance by Michael Jeter, who won the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role and then gave a very tearful acceptance speech about overcoming addiction.  For the Tony broadcast, he performed "We'll Take A Glass Together" and Jeter is simply astounding - how does he do what he does?  And that's not to take anything away from the tapping ensemble whose stamina is equally challenged.

And here is his acceptance speech:

2.  Contact. Controversial winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2000.   It's the only winner where none of the actors sing and there are no original songs or any songs written for the stage.  It was a "concept" dance show.    (The next year, the Tony Awards added a category for "Special Theatrical Event")  Choreographed by Susan Stroman, Contact had three acts each involving people trying to connect - to have "contact."  The first part is cute - the second part is difficult. But part three - entitled Contact -  is astounding and incredible theatre.  It is an emotional story of a man - played by Boyd Gaines who won the Tony Award for this performance - who is at an emotional low point in his life.  He ends up in a bar where he sees a girl in a yellow dress - Deborah Yates.  Part pop. part ballet, part jazz, all swing.  For the Tony broadcast, Stroman collapsed various moves in part three into this one dance.  You would never know that it wasn't done exactly like this on stage - but it includes most of the jawdropping moves from the entire section.  As Robert Palmer sings, it is "simply irresistible."

The last performance of the musical - with a different cast - was taped and broadcast on Live from Lincoln Center.  You can find it in pieces on YouTube.  "Simply Irresistible" is here at 2:25:  With the big spin at 5:05.

So, what is my personal number one performance?
Next time.