Last night’s Tony Awards show was a nice surprise.  It seems they have finally taken a page from Hollywood and decided to provide "teaser trailers" to the nominated shows, whether it be through extended musical numbers by the original artists or through short film shots from the plays in question.

In this day and age of tight economics, people want an idea ahead of time of whether their money will be well spent.  And given last night’s performances, I sure wish I had more money and could take the time off to go to Broadway!  There seems to be a treasure trove of great musicals and plays, with some really great actors treading the boards.  (Unfortunately, Michael T. Weiss’ play, IMPRESSIONISM, has already closed – seems no one in it rated a nod from the "Wing" this time around, even though it started before the end of nominating season.  Ah, well, better luck next year! At least he made Broadway this year!!)

Another thing I liked about this year’s Tony Awards was the host, Neil Patrick Harris, was on just enough to keep it interesting and funny, but unlike so many others, he didn’t feel the need to try to take over the show.  He kept the show going and got out of his own way.  (Plus he was quite a surprise at the end – didn’t realize he could sing so well.)

If you missed it, here’s a link I found:

BTW, is Angela Lansbury looking AMAZING for 84 years old or what!?!  What a totally classy lady.  And I’m positive she deserves all 5 Tonys she’s won, including this latest.  I’ve always liked her.

And I think it was wonderful they gave all 3 kids from BILLY ELLIOT a Tony.  (First time 3 people have ever shared the award for the same part in the same year.) After watching the number from the play, I can see why they deserved it, at least from the one kid’s performance. I felt sorry for Elton John, though.  He looked SOOOO tense when he was up for an award, only to lose to NEXT TO NORMAL.  (Especially since BILLY ELLIOT took most of the other awards.)  Guess they figured Sir Elton’s already got enough awards already? 

Another thing I liked was they didn’t feel the need to get reaction shots from the losers like they do on the Oscars and other shows. I mean, how horrible is it to have to sit there with a grin plastered to your face with a camera jammed in it while you’re sitting there hoping the winner will trip on the way to the podium and don’t want anyone to know what you’re really thinking? 

Here’s a list of the main Tony awards:

Best Actress in a Musical
Alice Ripley, Next to Normal

Best Revival of a Musical
Hair

Best Play
God of Carnage

Best Revival of a Play
The Norman Conquests 

Best Actress in a Play
Marcia Gay Harden, God of Carnage

Best Actor in a Play
Geoffrey Rush, Exit the King

Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Karen Olivo, West Side Story

Best Featured Actor in a Musical
Gregory Jbara, Billy Elliot

Best Special Theatrical Event
Liza Minnelli, Liza’s at the Palace

Best Direction of a Musical
Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot

Best Direction of a Play
Matthew Warchus, God of Carnage

Best Original Score
Tom Kitt (music) and Brian Yorkey (lyrics), Next to Normal

Best Featured Actress in a Play
Angela Lansbury, Blithe Spirit

Best Featured Actor in a Play
Roger Robinson, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

Best Book of a Musical
Lee Hall, Billy Elliot

Best Choreography
Peter Darling, Billy Elliot

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Tim Hatley, Shrek The Musical

Best Costume Design of a Play
Anthony Ward, Mary Stuart

Best Orchestrations
(TIE)
Michael Starobin and Tom Kitt, Next to Normal
and
Martin Koch, Billy Elliot

Technorati Tags: Angela Lansbury, Billy Elliot, Broadway, Hair, Michael T Weiss, Tony Awards, West Side Story

Previews for the Broadway play IMPRESSIONISM, starring Jeremy Irons, Joan Allen, Michael T. Weiss, Marsha Mason and Aaron Lazar among others, start this Saturday, Feb 28th.  The play will have an 18-week limited run (due to other obligations for Jeremy Irons, who will go on to another project right after.)

As part of promoting the play, the actors did a Meet and Greet for the press, some of which you can see below: 

BroadwaySpace Feature: Meet the Cast of Impressionism

Meet the Cast of Broadway’s Impressionism: MICHAEL T. WEISS

Meet the Cast of Broadway’s Impressionism: JEREMY IRONS

Meet the Cast of Broadway’s Impressionism: JOAN ALLEN

Meet the Cast of Broadway’s Impressionism: MARGARITA LEVIEVA

Meet the Cast of Broadway’s Impressionism: ANDRE DE SHIELDS

Meet the Cast of Broadway’s Impressionism: AARON LAZAR

The play is being performed at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater on Broadway at 236 W 45th Street, New York.  Ticket information is available at Telecharge.com or by calling 800-432-7250.

The official website for the play is ImpressionismThePlay.com.

Technorati Tags: Aaron Lazar, Add new tag, IMPRESSIONISM, Jeremy Irons, Joan Allen, Marsha Mason, Michael T Weiss

Michael T. Weiss (THE PRETENDER, JEFFREY) will be on Broadway in 2009 in IMPRESSIONISM, starring Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons.  Also joining them onstage at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre will be Marsha Mason, André De Shields, Aaron Lazar and Margarita Levieva.  (No word yet on who Michael’s character will be.)

Previews will start on February 28th with a March 12th opening night.  It is listed in Playbill as an open-ended performance.  (Hopefully, that means it will have a nice long run!)  Ticket sale information is not currently available/to be announced.

Directed by Jack O’Brien, IMPRESSIONISM was written by Michael Jacobs, who also wrote CHEATERS as well as produced the movie QUIZ SHOW.  IMPRESSIONISM  tells the story of  "a globe-trotting photojournalist and New York gallery owner [who] discover that there may be an art to repairing lives."

Michael T. Weiss was last on stage in OF EQUAL MEASURE in Los Angeles (Culver City) at the Kirk Douglas Theater and in SCARCITY at the off-Broadway Atlantic Theater Company – Linda Gross Theater.

Technorati Tags: Broadway, IMPRESSIONISM, Jeremy Irons, Joan Allen, Michael Jacobs, Michael T Weiss

Today (Feb 2nd) is Michael T. Weiss’ (THE PRETENDER, JEFFREY) birthday. Happy 46th!

Here’s to his best yet with even better ones to come!! And may his fondest wishes come true. (And may he come out with new projects this year for us all to enjoy. ) And to everyone else, a happy Groundhog Day. Here’s to an early spring and beautiful weather all around!

Technorati Tags: Michael T Weiss, The Pretender

Anthony Stagliano, writer-director of FADE (starring Sarah Lassez, David Connolly, and Michael T. Weiss) has done a YouTube interview about the movie with InArtMedia:

“This chilling drama explores what happens if our bodies refuse to shut down – and the resulting effect on those closest to us. Using the rare genetic disorder fatal familia insomnia as a jumping-off point, writer-director Anthony Stagliano’s film examines issues of identity, marriage and death as a couple confronts constant sleeplessness and the dissipation and sorrow that follow.” (From the Official Movie Website)

If you will be in New York City on Valentine’s Day, Thursday, February 14th, 2008, you can catch a screening of the film at the NewFilmmakers Festival at the Anthology Film Archives.

On a sad note, David Connolly, one of the stars of the film, passed away in Oct 2006… FADE was his final movie. R.I.P. David.

(Thanks to Ask Dr Mike for the info.)

Technorati Tags: Anthony Stagliano, Drama, FADE, Michael T Weiss, MOVIES

According to a story on Sci Fi Wire dated Dec 3rd (”Pretender To Pretend Again?“), Michael T. Weiss has been “breakfasting” with the creators of THE PRETENDER regarding reprising his role as Jarod, the genius who got away. Only this time around, the format and the platform of the project will be “digital”. (What that actually means is anyone’s guess: Straight to DVD? Directly downloadable on the Net? Jarod becomes a computer generated character either in a film or a video game voiced by Michael T. Weiss? Hmmmm.)

No word mentioned about any of the other original actors taking part in the new project (Andrea Parker, Patrick Bauchau, Jon Gries, James Denton, Richard Marcus, Harve Presnell). I can’t see a version of THE PRETENDER without most, if not all, of them, though. It’s the chemistry between the ensemble that really made the stories work for me.

Given that the series ended on a whimper when it was canceled, with the networks tossing us 2 small bones, I mean movies (PRETENDER 2001, PRETENDER: ISLAND OF THE HAUNTED) in the 8 years since the show went off the air , fans have been waiting a loooong time for some kind of resolution to the various story lines, including the new ones the movies brought up. It would be wonderful if this turns out to be true. (I’m not holding my breath, though – it HAS been 8 years of promising to give the fans some closure! and instead we got TIN MAN from Craig Van Sickle and Steven Long Mitchell not a bad mini series, just not THE PRETENDER!)

Time to start “agitating” again, eh?

In the meantime, time to go back and rewatch the series and the movies so I’ll be totally up to speed by the time Jarod reappears!

(Get yours at Amazon or eBay!)

Technorati Tags: Andrea Parker, James Denton, Jon Gries, Michael T Weiss, Patrick Bauchau, The Pretender