Tonys Celebrate Commerce, Not Art

Awards should be aspirational, validating excellence and originality even though each and every one of us knows that commercialism rules the day. But far be it from the ever-insecure Tony's the geeky glee club representative of the major entertainment awards to bite the hand that feeds it.

For the third year in a row the best musical award went not to the work that deserved it but to the one with the greatest box-office potential on the road. “Memphis," the splashy show about the early segregationist days of rock 'n' roll that had a pre-Broadway run at the La Jolla Playhouse, snared the prize from “Fela!," the inventive Afrobeat bio-musical about Nigerian singer-songwriter-activist Fela Kuti, which was thrillingly directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones.

If there were any doubts that Broadway doesn't know on which side its bread is buttered, just look at the acting victories. Hollywood dominated in a way that befits a season that confirmed again and again the equation of solvency and mega celebrity.

In his acceptance speech, Denzel Washington struggling to summon the name of that mysterious body that gave him the nod over his acting betters Liev Schreiber ("A View From the Bridge") and Alfred Molina ("Red") seemed pleased about winning, but not so much so that he could reprise the coherency of one of his Oscar thank-yous. Yet Washington's performance in the Tony-winning revival of “Fences" was, like Broadway newcomer Scarlett Johannson's in “A View From the Bridge" (a featured actress Tony winner), at least a genuinely commendable effort.

I'm afraid I can't say the same for winner Catherine Zeta-Jones' star turn in “A Little Night Music," as her clumsily emphatic rendition of “Send in the Clowns" revealed on the telecast. Too bad Tony voters (those wooers of superstars who can't be expected to know what they're called) didn't get to see Hannah Waddingham's portrayal at the Menier Chocolate Factory's production in London, where Trevor Nunn's revival of this Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler classic originated. If they had, they might have been persuaded to give the award to Montego Glover, the silver lining in that plastic cloud called “Memphis."