78th Annual Tony Awards-Broadway's Best: Highlights from the Tony Awards

78th Annual Tony Awards-Broadway's Best: Highlights from the Tony Awards

Summary

In this episode of Rouge and Review, Matti (Diva) and Queen discuss the highlights of the 78th Tony Awards, including standout performances, notable winners, and the significance of diversity in theater. They share their thoughts on various performances, the impact of gender and identity in productions, and reflect on the legacy of iconic performers. The conversation also touches on the importance of representation in theater and concludes with a recap of the awards and their implications for future productions.

Takeaways

Cynthia Erivo's opening performance set a vibrant tone for the Tony Awards.
Sarah Snook's win for Best Actress highlighted her versatility in a one-woman show.
The performance of Death Becomes Her was a crowd favorite, showcasing Megan Hilty's talent.
The Buena Vista Social Club's performance was appreciated but could have been more extravagant.
Nicole Scherzinger's performance was critiqued for being more about her than the character.
The representation of diverse casts in productions like Gypsy was a significant topic of discussion.
The Pulitzer Prize winners, Purpose and English, addressed important social issues.
The conversation emphasized the evolving perceptions of gender and identity in theater.
Harvey Fierstein's acceptance speech resonated with the audience, reflecting on community and acceptance.
The episode concluded with reflections on the future of Broadway and the importance of continued representation.

Transcript

Diva (00:03.233)
Hi, welcome to Rouge and Review. I'm Matti, or Diva, but today I'm dressed as Liza, or Lize, of course, and we have...

Queen (00:15.31)
Queen or Mom.

Diva (00:21.953)
And today we will be talking about the 78th Tony Awards. Now, Cynthia Erivo opened the show with a fabulous opening performance. And she went into the audience and she had some people sing. It was fabulous. Kristin Chenoweth sang. Adam Lambert took us to church. It was amazing. There was a gospel choir. Some people you knew from school were there. It was amazing. Okay. Then we have Sarah Snook.

and she won the Tony for best actress in a play. And she was in a picture of Dorian Gray and she was, she's just fabulous because it's a one woman show and she's changing into all these characters and it's ravishing really. And then we have Death Becomes Her.

Queen (01:10.974)
wait, I'd like to add about Sarah Snook. I know her from Succession. Snook. I know Sarah Snook from Succession, which was a very good show. Was on many seasons and I had no idea that she had an Australian accent because we never heard it while she was acting.

Diva (01:16.364)
It's Snoke. It's Snoke. Snoke. She's Australian. It's Snoke.

Diva (01:33.646)
Okay, well, I don't know who Succession is, but the picture of Dorian Gray. And then we had a performance from Death Becomes Her, a movie musical, and Megan Hilty performed for the gays. It was quite fabulous. Mom's rating was an eight. Do you still concur with that rating?

Queen (01:35.406)
Okay.

Queen (01:53.57)
Now I thought, I, yeah, I still, I still take that rating for when I gave it. I thought it was Gaze, like G-A-Y-S, but you informed me that it was Gaze, G-A-Z-E.

Diva (02:07.744)
No, it's Gaze is the play on words. Eventually about halfway through the song, the lyrics changed to G-A-Z-E to G-A-Y-S, but it's mostly, yeah, it's mostly like Gaze because like they're vain and they want to stay forever young and they take a potion and it's the whole thing. Watch the movie. It's an amazing movie with Meryl Streep. I gave it an 8.75 out of 10. I thought it was fabulous. She could have done the option up for, option up on certain matinees, but.

Queen (02:13.917)
they do.

Diva (02:38.657)
We get what we can get and she is currently out of death becomes her resting her vocalis muscles. So you do you Megan. We will be seeing that June 25th without Megan Hilty. I'm at tonight. I'm at tonight. So what I did that. So I did that.

Queen (02:43.906)
And we'll be seeing that. We will be seeing that June 25th, matinee.

Just like our little Matty. Nay.

Diva (03:01.173)
Nay. Nay, never. But I'm also wearing my thespian pin because this is a thespian thing. The Tony Awards. The international thespian society as I am a member. Next we had the Buena Vista Social Club performed. I thought it was very good.

but it could have been more showbiz, it could have been more extravagant costumes, could have been more sparkly or more colorful. But I understand that it's supposed to be like in real life, this is what you're seeing in a Buena Vista social club back then. The lead singer was good, but some of the high notes were a bit interesting. Overall, I gave it a five out of five, 5.5 out of 10, and mom gave it a seven.

Queen (03:54.402)
Now that was Candela, or Candela, is that what the song was that was performed? Yeah, Candela. And I believe the woman that performed that actually won a Tony. Hold on. She won.

Diva (04:01.523)
yes, Candela. Candela.

Diva (04:12.173)
She did. Natalie Venisha Belcon.

Queen (04:15.168)
Yes, for best performance by an actress in a featured role in a musical. And that is her name. Very good. Thank you.

Diva (04:22.699)
Mm-hmm.

Diva (04:26.881)
Yes, and she was also in Rent. She has been in many other things. She looked fabulous. Her outfit was... She was dressed to the nines. She looked great. And she was also in something else. Avenue Q. She was in Avenue Q as well. Two very important musicals to the Broadway community because Avenue Q beat out Wicked in the Tony Awards in early 2000s. So that was a big upset, but...

Queen (04:31.788)
Yes, I agree.

Queen (04:41.718)
Okay, good to know.

Diva (04:54.89)
Now we have Wicked the Movie with Cynthia Rivo, our fabulous Tony Award host. Going backwards, you got me all messed up.

then just in time performed

Queen (05:07.298)
Jonathan Goff.

Diva (05:11.165)
Nope. Jonathan Golf? Jonathan Groff? Yes. Our favorite little water hose. He just spits everywhere.

Queen (05:11.608)
Groth. Groth.

Queen (05:18.522)
You

Queen (05:23.392)
I did not know that that was a thing, when Cynthia announced him, she was up in the balcony and she said because that was the best place to see him because he is a spitter when he performs.

Diva (05:37.226)
Yeah, you're not in the splash zone, but hey, if you want to get wet, I mean, there's the place to do it. Go front row. Jonathan Groff will get you nice and wet. There you go.

Queen (05:44.793)
I really do like him. I liked his performance in this. I loved him as the King in Hamilton. I like him. I like him.

Diva (05:56.94)
He's a very talented performer. We'll come back to the King and Hamilton later though, because he performed two numbers in this Tony Awards. Yeah, and he won... Let me look at my...

Queen (05:57.239)
Yeah.

Okay.

Yes, he did. He was nominated for a couple things too, right?

Diva (06:14.036)
Yeah, he won nothing. But he's very talented.

Queen (06:15.235)
You didn't win anything, you're right. Okay. Maybe next year.

Diva (06:19.372)
He's very talented. Yeah, I gave it a 6.75 and mom gave it a five. So overall good performance, but I couldn't hear him at some parts and he performed a medley including Mack the Knife. That's all and once in a lifetime.

Queen (06:27.212)
Yeah.

Queen (06:35.394)
Yes.

Diva (06:38.934)
The next thing that happened, Glenn Close introduced Nicole Scherzinger. I think she looks fabulous. I mean, she's getting up there in age, but she still looks fricking great. And her outfit was amazing. She looks great. And she was the original Norma Desmond on Broadway. Not the original Norma Desmond, because that was Patti LuPone, and there was the whole Andrew Lloyd Webber Memorial swimming pool drama. But we're not gonna get into that. Anyways.

Queen (07:03.501)
Okay.

Diva (07:07.421)
Nicole Scherzinger performed as if we've never said goodbye. I think it was really good, but she was a bit like performative. I feel like she wasn't the character. It was more Nicole Scherzinger playing a character than the character just being there raw on the stage for us. You gave it a eight. I gave it a 7.2 and we did time. When she said things, I've come home at last.

The home note, it was 14.20 seconds. She held that shit for a long time. A long time. That's not what's written as a theater PRS. That is not what's written.

Queen (07:42.19)
She did.

Queen (07:48.876)
I will have to say, I think you were little rough on Nicole Scherzinger, because I know of your love of Patti LuPone, and in your eyes, Patti, Patti Patti can do no wrong. So I don't think Nicole...

Diva (08:06.229)
She does wrong, she's done wrong, she's done lots of wrong, but.

Queen (08:06.862)
I don't think Nicole Scherzinger had a shot to get this one in your opinion. I think you were a little rough on her. I thought her performance was fabulous. I thought she gave it everything she had. I thought her hitting that note and being on that Tony stage, and by the way, she did win the Tony for her performance. Well, I'm just mentioning it now because I thought she deserved it.

Diva (08:28.372)
Well, we'll get back to that.

Yeah. Yeah, she looked good. She had nails on which to me doesn't really make sense because Norma Desmond the character she's like, very cut off from the rest of the world. She's a rich. The I didn't get smaller than the pictures did. But she just gets she's very secluded from the rest of the world. And it doesn't make sense for her to have like gel nails or acrylic nails. I feel like she maybe would do a polish because she wants her to always look her best but

How is she getting these nails done? Like, does it make sense for a normal desment? And she also did the Parkinson's hands on some of the notes where she's just like... I don't know, maybe she's getting a little excited, I don't know.

Queen (09:02.307)
Okay.

Queen (09:12.706)
I think she was feeling it. She was showing her emotion.

Diva (09:17.948)
Yeah, and if you've ever watched drag race, Pearl the drag queen, they used to call it the pearl smash because she would use her arms a lot instead of dancing around the stage she would just.

lots of arm movements. I would say this performance was a bit of a pearl smash. like during the home, she like raised her eyebrows like, look at me guys. But honestly, I don't blame her because if I was on the Tony Award stage and I was holding a note for 14.20 seconds, I'd be like, look at me guys. But she did a good job. Good job, Nicole.

Queen (09:55.873)
Okay.

Diva (10:01.032)
We already talked about Natalie Venisha Belcon. and in her speech, she mentioned that she loves Jason Momoa.

Queen (10:08.008)
Natalie did, yes. And who, I mean, who doesn't love Jason Momoa?

Diva (10:11.912)
I mean, I mean, who doesn't? Jason Momoa. He's quite a hunk. Next, we saw a performance from Pirates, the Penzance musical, and someone from my home school was actually there. Yes, performing on the Tony stage in Radio City as an ensemble member. They performed...

Queen (10:15.938)
You

Queen (10:29.262)
performing on stage.

Diva (10:41.65)
We sailed the ocean blue and washboards. But the interesting thing about Pirates, the Penzance musical, it's a mashup of all the Gilbert and Sullivan works or popular Gilbert and Sullivan works because I'm pretty sure all of Gilbert and Sullivan's works are like uncopyrighted and like free domain at this point because they've been passed for so long. So this show incorporates things from the Mikado,

Iolanthe and HMS Pinafore and specifically We Sailed the Ocean Blue is literally the title of a Pinafore song. And I think it was a fabulous way to incorporate it and to revitalize old works and to make it into something new. Jinx Monsoon, the first ever drag queen from Drag Race to perform on the Tony Award stage. Good for you, Jinx. And I give the performance a seven out of 10.

Queen (11:41.112)
I gave you my score, don't you have it written down?

Diva (11:41.276)
Mom, are you giving?

Queen (11:45.902)
Yes, we did.

Diva (11:46.103)
yes, you gave it a seven.

We gave it the same score. The only thing I didn't like about this was Jinx messed up the words, but I mean, it kind of works because she says right after, guess that I'm a jinx because it kind of works for her character. whatever. Good for you, Jinx. Proud of you. Drag queens need to be represented represented as not just comedic characters and more influential roles in Broadway because

Jinx isn't playing a drag queen in Pirates, Jinx is playing a woman. And it's not like a satirized character, it's a serious part. I mean, the whole show is a comedy, but like, it's not like, look, this is a person dressed up as a woman. No, this is the character. Next there were, Purpose won the Pulitzer Prize and English won the Pulitzer Prize.

Queen (12:44.43)
actually before you go to that you had told me something interesting as we were watching it about the Pirates that you had performed one of those songs at your winter showcase I believe at school

Diva (12:59.793)
I've performed, well, I performed, we did selections from Pirates of Penzance. And we also, freshman year, we did selections from HMS Pinafore. So we did perform We Sail the Ocean Blue and Modern Major General, which like, what was his name? The guy who's playing Modern Major General. Yeah, we performed that song.

Queen (13:20.664)
Hehehehehe

Diva (13:28.156)
because we did selections from pirates. And just the incorporation. I'm not sure how copyrighted it is right now because it's on Broadway, so I'm too scared to do that.

Queen (13:29.826)
Do you want to give us a couple, a couple little notes of that song?

Queen (13:38.51)
Give us a couple notes.

Diva (13:43.523)
We sail the ocean blue, and our saucy ship's a beauty. We're sober men in true, and attentive to our duty. That's all you're getting.

Queen (13:51.638)
Okay, that's good. I like it. Thank you. Hopefully we don't get copyrighted.

Diva (13:56.345)
Okay, you're welcome. You're welcome. I really hope we don't get copyrighted. That'd be terrible.

Queen (14:02.51)
wait, so did you sing that as Liza? Liza with a Z? Or was that Maddie? Maddie E.

Diva (14:08.198)
Liza with a Z! That was Maddie. Maddie A. Maddie with an E, of course!

Queen (14:13.518)
I never know who I'm getting here.

Diva (14:17.902)
mat.di. No, I don't know what lies would sound like singing Gilbert and Sullivan. And I don't think it's the best episode to release that monster. Purpose won the best play. But I was talking about English. These were the they were introducing like the nominations for best play and these were the ones that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Queen (14:23.31)
Okay. All right. So what were you going to do next?

You

Queen (14:37.172)
yes.

Diva (14:47.176)
purpose and English both won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. English was about the 2017 travel ban travel ban against Muslims. So I think it was honestly I think it was a little raw. I at the Tony's I think that should have won. But I'm not on that committee. So I don't have a say in it.

Queen (15:03.724)
No, and what was purpose about, do you know? don't have any idea.

Diva (15:09.199)
It was about a group of people and a bunch of generations in like a household and their definition of what purpose is and then figuring out what they're like, what purpose means to them and what their purpose is and where they fit in the world. So I both think they're very important pieces, but purpose one. Maybe Happy Ending performed after that. They performed Chasing Fireflies.

Queen (15:19.199)
I mean.

Diva (15:37.241)
which is an orchestral piece. And then they performed to Never Fly Away. And Des Duran was on stage playing a firefly, which I thought was fabulous. I don't know if he does that in the show, but it was great. Des Duran is also from The Voice. I don't know if you guys watch The Voice. I don't watch The Voice, but I do know he's from The Voice. And he sings some good songs like, I think, A Sentimental Person.

Queen (15:50.057)
I didn't know that.

Queen (15:55.117)
Okay.

Diva (16:03.761)
think that's what it's called. From maybe Happy Ending, very good song, give it a listen. But they performed Never Fly Away and The Chasing Fireflies. It made me tear up a little bit. You gave it a four. Yes it did.

Queen (16:05.624)
Okay.

Queen (16:13.878)
It did? Yeah, I didn't love it.

Diva (16:19.842)
Yeah, I liked it. It was very raw and honest. And it brought me back to like, older Broadway show tunes like of like, the Porter and like the Berlin more like Berlin and like Gershwin era. But like, it's more of a jazzy, like calm piece. But it's raw and emotional. And like, it's a love story. And they're robots, which is fun. And yeah, you did not get that.

Queen (16:39.278)
Okay. They're robots?

I not. Okay, Yeah. It actually won a couple things. A lot of things, actually.

Diva (16:48.866)
Yeah, they're robots. I gave it an eight. Good job. Maybe happy ending.

Yep, it won... Yeah, I'm pretty sure it won six Tonys.

Queen (17:01.287)
Yes, like it. The Tony's really liked it. Yeah, okay.

Diva (17:06.232)
Well deserving. Yeah.

Because it's something new. They haven't really gotten like a good jazz musical in a long time. So and it was originally, it originally opened in Korea and like I could only find like two songs on Apple Music that were available, but they were all in Korean. It was just the two songs, from the original Korean production. It's the same thing, just translated to English, but I guess they added more songs to build upon it.

Queen (17:38.574)
Yeah.

Diva (17:40.581)
Not quite sure, but it's very amazing. And it was... I'm trying to remember her name.

Queen (17:41.816)
Okay.

Diva (17:51.277)
The actress who plays the lead in Maybe Happy Ending, it was her Broadway debut. This is her Broadway debut. Yes.

Queen (17:54.286)
good for her.

Diva (18:00.102)
next performance was... let me make sure I'm not skipping a page. I'm not. Floyd Collins.

Queen (18:07.01)
Mm-hmm.

Diva (18:11.313)
I think it was very believable that he was in a hall. I believed he was digging in a hall and his family could not get him and he was in a hall. He was searching for that gold in that hall. I believed it. Good job, Jeremy Jordan.

Queen (18:22.178)
Would you give it?

Diva (18:25.847)
I gave it a 7.5 and you gave it a 7. They performed the Ballad of Floyd Collins and The Call. Overall, pretty good.

Queen (18:34.616)
Yeah, I agree. I mean, I definitely agree.

Diva (18:41.126)
Best revival of a play went to Eureka Day. I think R-Town or Yellowface would have been more deserving because they're pieces that are reworked. Well, not Yellowface, but R-Town is a reworked piece and it's more inclusive in this production. But Yellowface is also a reworked piece and it's just speaking to this generation and the

times that we live in now. So I think either of those might have been better like potential winners. But again, I'm not on that committee. So

Queen (19:19.31)
No, you are not. Not yet. I'm sure you're gonna be on there. You're gonna be on that committee.

Diva (19:23.589)
Not yet. We'll see about that. Hamilton performed next, celebrating their 10 year anniversary. The original company performed. You gave it a nine, I gave it an 8.5. I don't know if you know why this performance was talked about a lot online. Do you know why?

Queen (19:49.291)
I don't.

Diva (19:52.996)
They all symbolically the whole cast symbolically wore red. mean, no symbolically wore black. I'm getting

Queen (19:56.012)
No, they wore black. Okay, they wore black. I noted that they wore black. I did note that except for Jonathan Groff came out in red.

Diva (20:06.059)
Yes, the king.

Yes, they all wore black. And the choreograph, the choreography was not exactly the same as in the original production. was brought down to like a simpler, almost like more monotone. I don't know if that's a word to describe choreography, but that's what I'm using. Like dimmer version of the choreography. And when the King, it was and

Queen (20:27.202)
Okay.

Queen (20:33.644)
Was it a political protest? see, I did not know that. did not, listen, I will say that I did note that they were all wearing black and that's one of the things I didn't like that they weren't in their original costumes. And I did note that the king was wearing red because it was the mashup of the songs. That's why I thought the choreography was not as intense as it normally is. listen, that makes sense what you're saying.

Diva (21:04.211)
Yeah, and the King wore red and he didn't sing like any of the lyrics to his actual song. He just sang like the gibberish portion of his song, which is an ode to some of the leaders in our country and spewing some falsehoods and craziness gibberish. Yes. So that is why that happened with Hamilton. I think it was very good. the

Queen (21:20.632)
gibberish. Okay.

Queen (21:29.378)
Thank you for educating myself because like I said, I had no idea.

Diva (21:34.724)
You're welcome. And the best direction of a play went to Sam Pinkleton for Mary, which I think is well deserved because that is a very good production that I would like to see.

based on, I can't even say based on because majority of the stuff in Mary is completely made up. But it's about Mary Todd Lincoln and she's supposed to be an alcoholic and a cabaret performer and what if Abraham Lincoln dying was the best thing for Mary Todd Lincoln. So it's an interesting work by Cola Scola who wrote it.

Queen (21:56.215)
You

Diva (22:18.505)
and stars in it. And we'll get back to Coloscola.

Queen (22:18.506)
I didn't I did not call I did not know Cola school erode it I just knew that I did not know that they wrote it that that's I'm even more impressed now Okay

Diva (22:24.907)
Yes, they wrote it. Mm-hmm. Yes.

Diva (22:32.46)
Yes, they wrote it and they starred in it. They were just thinking, what's some crazy stuff that I can put together? I don't know. I don't know what their idea for Omeri was, but it works because tickets are selling and I don't think it's leaving anytime soon.

Queen (22:47.554)
What did you think of Colascola's Tony Award outfit that he was wearing?

Diva (22:54.837)
I think his ode to Bernard, their ode to Bernadette Peters.

Queen (22:55.086)
Their ode, sorry. Oh, you're right. You said it was an ode to Bernadette Peters, yes.

Diva (23:02.037)
Yeah, it was an ode to Renaudette Peters. I think it was fabulous. Like if I were to be going to the Tony's, I'd probably do like an ode to like Patti LuPone, Patti LuPone, Ryan LuPone. Or like Elaine Stritch. Or Ethel Merman, or Audra, or Carol, or just looking at my wall here, mean, Tita Rivera. I mean, any of the greats.

Queen (23:11.368)
let me guess. Patty? Patty LaPone? Or Liza? Liza with a Z?

Okay, so you'd be, you, okay.

Okay, it's funny because when I saw them in the dress, was like, the dress is stunning. The hair is fabulous, but the chest hair is where you lost me. And you told me Bernadette commented on it.

Diva (23:31.466)
An ode to one of the greats. Whatever matched my show the best.

Diva (23:45.682)
No, because Bernadette was like, I love the dress, it's fabulous, but when I wore it, I arranged my chest hairs in a different fashion. She is...

She's something else that Bernadette. Mrs. Peters, what can we say? And then after that, Sarah Bareilles and Cynthia Arrevo saying, the sun will come out tomorrow for the in memoriam section of the Tonys. And we lost a lot of great people this year and last year. And they will be missed. But their legacy lives on through their work.

Queen (24:04.237)
Yes.

Queen (24:29.548)
Amen.

Diva (24:32.767)
Mm-hmm.

Diva (24:39.393)
I'm trying to read my thing. Okay, call it. nah.

Queen (24:39.64)
Dead Outlaw is next. Yeah, after Sara Bareilles, it was Dead Outlaw. Okay, yes, Kola Skola did win an award. Performance.

Diva (24:47.425)
Yeah, but Coloscola won an award first. Best... I'm trying to figure... Performance of a...

of a actor in a lead role in a revival. I just had letters. I had to figure out what that said.

Queen (25:04.938)
No, it's best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play.

And also in that category was a George Clooney, John Michael Hill, Daniel Day Kim, Harry Lennox, and Lewis McCartney for Stranger Things.

Diva (25:12.446)
well, that's what that is. I don't know what the hell I wrote. I wrote like hieroglyphics.

Diva (25:24.253)
Mm-hmm and Daniel Zeckham

Diva (25:34.921)
Yeah, I think Cole's speech was great and I like that they shouted out T-Bomb from Grindr. I thought that was pretty funny.

Queen (25:43.575)
my God, that was so funny. I thought that was hysterical.

Diva (25:48.159)
That was funny. Yeah, I don't know if T-Bomb asked to be shouted out. one or the other. T-something.

Queen (25:49.93)
No, it was T-Bone. Wasn't it T-Bone?

I think it was, I think it was T-bone.

Diva (25:59.723)
Tee Somebody from Grindr, I think wanted to be shouted out if Cole won that Tony and-

Queen (26:02.317)
I don't think Cole shattered at his mother. And may I just say that if you're up there on that Tony stage, please shout out to your mom, Maddie, if you... Well, no, you gotta say it.

Diva (26:08.693)
there.

Diva (26:15.393)
I feel like it's a given.

Queen (26:19.79)
Maddie with an I.

Diva (26:20.338)
Okay. Well, if I ever do forget.

Diva (26:28.34)
Whoopsies. I doubt I'll ever forget, though. Next was Dead Outlaw. They performed the opening ballad and Dead. You gave it a seven. I gave it a five. The first part where they were like laying down and like they were just like singing those little songs. It reminded me of like Brokeback Mountain. So. Honestly, I like the first part better. The second part.

Queen (26:29.633)
Okay.

Queen (26:48.45)
Yeah, the first part wasn't as good.

Diva (26:57.906)
I don't know, it was very in your face. I felt like I was gonna get hate-crimed. I didn't like it. I was kinda scared. But it was entertaining, I guess, for someone. Not me.

Queen (27:07.373)
Okay.

Diva (27:10.273)
Um, next. I have blue lights, I have my red Barbie. Gypsy. This is the sixth production of Gypsy to ever be on Broadway. The first production was in 1959 starring Ethel Merman. The second, Angela Lansbury in 1974. The third, Tyne Daly in 1989. The fourth, Bernadette Peters in 2003.

Queen (27:11.733)
next.

Diva (27:38.426)
and Patti LuPone in 2008. Audra McDonald performed Rose's turn and I gave her a 10 out of 10. I have no notes. was fabulous. It was raw. was emotional. I was crying. was everything I needed and more. Mom gave it a nine because explain why it was a nine.

Queen (27:57.322)
I'm not giving it a 10 on any Tony or Broadway performance until you are on Broadway. Sorry.

That's okay. That's where that's where I stand. That's where I stand. Sorry, Patty.

Diva (28:09.544)
I take that. I ain't complaining. Sorry, Audra.

Diva (28:19.135)
also that hip thrust. I'm to be doing that every day. I love that. That was fabulous. and chess will be coming soon, with Aaron to vape and, Leah Michelle. Yes. Chess is coming back to Broadway. so I'm excited for that. Probably won't see it, but I'm excited.

Queen (28:40.109)
Yes.

Diva (28:49.609)
Good for you, Aaron Tveit and Lea Michele. Won't be saying it though. Best revival of musical went to Sunset Boulevard. I can understand this because they really reworked Sunset Boulevard from the original production where it was very like big sets and everything. And this is more like of a raw production of more like the madness of Norma Desmond instead of

just like, let's like sing a song, we're on Sunset Boulevard, then we're at this crazy lady's house, we're falling in love, no, we're not, maybe we are, it's New Year's Eve, woohoo. This is a different working of the production, which I think really works, which is why I think I'll allow it to win this Tony. After Cynthia Rivo was talking to Danielle Brooks, and

Queen (29:39.457)
Okay.

Diva (29:49.055)
Oprah was in front of them and she said that we need to get a reunion for the color purple. And then Oprah was right in front of Daniel Brooks. then there was a present underneath Oprah's seat and it had some Haribo gummies and some junior mints and a car because Cynthia Erivo wanted to, you get a car, you get a car, you get a car to Oprah, which I think is amazing because who doesn't want to give Oprah a car?

Queen (30:13.644)
I do too. Right. And she wants her to, she wants her to produce the color purple again, because they need another run of it, right?

Diva (30:18.247)
It was a toy car, but...

Diva (30:25.01)
Yeah, I mean it's been produced quite quite a few times but they can always do a reunion concert at the Hollywood Bowl. can do something. We need more color purple. It's a story that needs to be told. It's an amazing story. It's amazing music. It's.

Queen (30:31.406)
Yeah.

Diva (30:40.443)
No notes for the color purple.

Queen (30:40.94)
Okay, no notes for the color purple.

Diva (30:44.107)
Operation Mincemeat was next and they performed Born to Lead. I think this production was interesting because in one of their, like, I forget who won the award. Someone won an award from Operation Mincemeat and they mentioned how

in the show they play a woman I think her name is Mildred but like

Queen (31:15.96)
So the best performance by an actor, Jack Malone won it in a featured role in a musical for Operation Mincemeat. Jack Malone.

Diva (31:27.909)
They don't get Jack Malone was saying I think the characters name is Mildred or something. But Jack Malone does not identify as a woman, but every night audience feel that Jack Malone is a woman because Jack Malone's character is woman and they kind of move through the emotions of Jack Malone being a woman in this work environment with them and it just helps to change the gender perception and the gender binaries that are

Queen (31:30.562)
Mm-hmm.

Diva (31:57.064)
thrust on to us from an early age and theater is just ever-changing people's perception of sexuality and gender identities and constructs and everything. And I think that's just amazing. Operation Mincemeat, the notes I gave were fun gender play. I couldn't understand the rap part because they started rapping at one point. It was kind of like a Hamilton-y rap, which I did enjoy, but I couldn't understand it. So I gave it a six.

Queen (32:12.75)
Hehehehehe

Diva (32:26.469)
and you gave it a f***.

Queen (32:27.904)
You didn't get it.

Diva (32:30.318)
and the, well, yes.

Queen (32:31.81)
I didn't get it. Like that's part of the problem. Sometimes it's like over my head and I don't get it.

Diva (32:39.386)
Yeah, I don't know what Operation Mincemeat's about. I don't know what a mincemeat operation is, but it's probably something historical. But also the guy that talked about Fighting Trout, very campy, very funny. So the show is probably satirical. Go see a Broadway show. If you like funny, crazy, gender-bent fun, go see this or like Pirates. Have fun. Let's see. Real women have curves performed after this.

Queen (32:42.22)
I mean...

Queen (32:57.538)
Okay.

Diva (33:07.547)
You gave an 8.5, I gave it a 9. I think it was just amazing. Yeah, juggling. I think it was amazing, it was very catchy. The costumes were showbiz enough for me. Everything was good. Like, from the woman moving the thread, there wasn't thread there, but I believe there was the way she was so precise in her movements of pulling that thread that was not there. But I believed it.

Queen (33:09.442)
They perform juggling. Juggling.

Diva (33:37.079)
and the choreography was fabulous and I liked the humor in it. And it's just a very fun upbeat song. And I think this show has a good story of real women have curves because don't we all honey, we all have curves.

Queen (33:49.71)
We do. Real women.

Queen (33:57.122)
You also gave an interesting take on who you think the new modern day Bob Mackie is.

Diva (34:05.997)
yes, Paul Taswell. designed Cynthia Rivo's purple dress at the end of the Tony Awards. And he also designed Janelle Monae's Met Gala look this year. And he also designed the costumes for Hamilton and Wicked, the movie. And Death Becomes Her. And his style is very interesting, but

Queen (34:08.45)
Tell us a little about Paul. Yeah.

Diva (34:35.196)
some points I feel like it's of an old Mackie like not even share Mackie but like I think it was the Carol Burnett show sometimes back Mackie design yeah I believe Bob Mackie design for the Carol Burnett show at times um but like just those big eccentric costumes and Paul Tass Welds is a really good job of showing like gender fluidity through

Queen (34:46.03)
Diva (35:05.052)
costumes and clothing and Death Becomes Her with the ensemble which I think is amazing. He did win, yes he did, won the Tony for best costume in a musical.

Queen (35:09.014)
Anyone to Tony for that.

Queen (35:14.658)
Yes.

Diva (35:18.017)
good job, Paul Tatswell. If you ever want to design anything for me, I mean, go for it. lastly, we had, Harvey Fierstein who received a lifetime achievement award. Harvey Fierstein has done a lot of work for the queer community from Torch Song Trilogy to being in Hairspray.

Queen (35:21.678)
There you go.

Diva (35:46.574)
and working on hairspray to Kinky Boots to La Cage aux Faux, which is coming back to...

Queen (35:55.042)
Lincoln Center? No.

Diva (35:58.628)
No, City, it's gonna be an Encore's production. No, because Lincoln Center is crazy right now. Liberty Center, the City Center, something center. It's a center. The center's someplace, probably New York. It's a New York center. Yeah, Lincoln Center's in Washington.

Queen (36:02.592)
No, okay. All right, I gave wrong information.

Queen (36:11.01)
A center someplace.

Queen (36:19.79)
You sent me, you sent it to me, so I'm gonna look while you're talking.

Diva (36:26.18)
Okay, Harvey Fierstein, after explaining how like,

thank you for this work. He was like, don't make mommy cry, which I thought was fabulous because it's a line from Hairspray. And also it's just like making jokes, which I always love some good humor. But at points he did get serious and talk about like what it was like when he was working in the theater during the AIDS crisis and

how when he finally found his community, it was the theater and they accepted him with open arms and he held on and never let go and that's kind of what I feel like with the theater community where, and just arts in general, like I found my people and I'm latching onto them and I refuse to let go because these are my people, this is my tribe and I ain't going anywhere.

Queen (37:21.88)
Good for you. Own it. mean, what? I mean, graduation's coming. Do you have a little preview of your graduation cap?

All right.

Diva (37:37.08)
It is downstairs. So no, but it does say I am what I am, which is a song from Le Carre Joffre, which was in my senior thesis presentation, which is all about drag and musical theater.

Queen (37:44.269)
Right.

which is what your senior thesis presentation was all about, right?

Diva (37:53.143)
That's what I just said, yeah. Miss Queen might need a hearing aid. Anyways, good job, Harvey Fierstein. We ended the night, maybe happy ending, won six Tony Awards. Buena Vista Social Club went home with four. Stranger Things, whatever in the world that damn musical's called, like Stranger Things.

Queen (37:53.634)
Okay. Okay. Maybe she does.

Diva (38:22.224)
The darkness of the night, what is that? I'm gonna find out what it's called.

Queen (38:22.734)
King

Diva (38:28.539)
I think that's a copyrighted interview.

Queen (38:29.686)
I stopped it immediately. was a blip. It was just a blip.

Diva (38:34.619)
Diva (38:41.463)
Okay, well, the Stranger Things thing. Stranger Things, the first shadow. There you go. They went home with three Tonys.

Mary went home with two. Picture of Dory and Grey went home with two. Purpose went home with two.

Sunset Boulevard went home with three. Death V. Comsar went home with one.

Now this is confusing to me because I wrote O-M-O-M Operation mincemeat. There you go. Went home with one which was Jackie Malone or Jack Malone

Queen (39:22.862)
Yeah.

Diva (39:26.103)
Yellowface went home with one and I'm trying to figure out

Queen (39:31.958)
Maybe happy ending won the most, correct?

Diva (39:33.653)
E.D. Yes, it did. It did win the most Tonys. I'm just trying to figure out what E.D. stands for besides the medical term.

Queen (39:48.398)
You've gotta work on your shorthand, honey. This... Okay. This is why I type my notes.

Diva (39:58.043)
Uh-uh. Honey, I'm working on it. Eureka Day! See? I forgot it because I didn't care about it.

Diva (40:08.698)
No, I'm an old lady. like to write it down.

Queen (40:10.062)
you

Diva (40:13.86)
We didn't have computers when I was growing up. We just had stereophonic sound. Yeah, so Eureka Day went home with one as well, whether or not it was deserved. Whatever. But it's not up to me. It's not up to me. Exactly, which is why I'm giving my opinion.

Queen (40:15.126)
You

Queen (40:28.75)
Come on, don't be so snarky.

No, it's not.

Queen (40:39.585)
Okay.

Diva (40:43.586)
The best actress in a musical or in a revival.

Diva (40:51.286)
No, it's just best performance by an actress in a leading role in musical. Went to Nicole Scherzinger.

Audra McDonald was robbed. There's no other way putting it. Robbed. Robbed. Nope. She was robbed. She is the most decorated woman.

Queen (41:00.268)
Oof. Oof! Harsh. Okay.

Queen (41:10.648)
How many does Audra McDonald have?

Diva (41:17.508)
I believe six. She could use a seventh because she's just that amazing and she deserves it. She deserves the recognition for her hard work that she put in for this production. It is a prolific production. It was the first ever prolific. It was, yeah, open up your dictionary, diva queen.

Queen (41:20.334)
You

Queen (41:25.376)
Okay. Prolific.

Woof! That is an SAT word.

Queen (41:39.0)
You

Diva (41:46.229)
No, it was a prolific production because they went all the way back to the... my god, what year was this? 1949? Probably 1959. But probably actually, no, 49. 59. The 1959 libretto. And they used all the original lyrics, all the original music, all the original orchestration, all the original lines for Gypsy. Because the other revivals kind of changed things around a little bit.

Queen (42:07.598)
for Gypsy.

Mm-hmm.

Diva (42:16.057)
But they went all the way back to the original the way it was done when it was first made. Yes, when Ethel Merman, yeah, when she did it. Bad Ethel Merman. I can't really be Ethel, that's hard. But, and this was the first time I was ever done with a

Queen (42:18.21)
when Ethel Mormon did it. When Ethel Mormon did it.

Queen (42:25.166)
So now you're Ethel? That was bad. Go back to Liza. Go back to Liza.

Diva (42:44.629)
a mostly black cast featured in the main roles. Like, Mama Rose is played by Audra McDonald, black woman. Joy Woods, who plays June, or no, that's not June.

Louise, black woman, like the whole family is played by black people and that's a prolific thing because that had never been done before. Almost like the Pearl Bailey production of Hello Dolly way back when, which was also a prolific production of Hello Dolly because it had never been done before. Like this has never been done before. And Gypsy went home with how many Tony's? many Tony's? Zero. Zero. Frickin' Tony's.

Queen (43:25.06)
Okay, that's a problem.

Diva (43:29.482)
No Tonys. Not one, not two, not three. Zero. That's messed up. Messed up.

Queen (43:34.166)
Okay, we got it. Alright, I hear it, I hear it. Alright, I got you.

Diva (43:43.586)
Tony Awards, don't PMO. Don't PMO.

Queen (43:44.962)
Don't PM, what does that mean?

Diva (43:50.604)
The youths know what I'm talking about.

Queen (43:51.118)
Okay, I'm gonna have to look it up.

Diva (43:56.064)
Yeah, Queen needs to open up her geriatric to Gen Z dictionary.

Queen (44:01.376)
Okay, it's Gen X to Gen Z. It's not geriatric. We looked that up already. I'm not geriatric.

Queen (44:10.414)
That's true, that's very true.

Diva (44:14.968)
Anyways, the Tony Awards were fun. Wasn't that fun? Boop. Boop should have performed. We should go see Boop.

Queen (44:21.452)
I wanna see Boop, we're gonna go see Boop.

Okay.

Diva (44:26.69)
That's also, it's a famous line. It's in the Broadway community right now. We should go see Boop. We should go see Boop. Yeah, we should go see Boop. We should go see Boop. Yeah, we should go see Boop. We should all go see Gypsy. We should probably see Sense of Boulevard, but like, based on that Tony performance, I don't really wanna see it because she kinda let me down.

Queen (44:31.457)
Is that the famous line?

Alright, we're gonna go see Boop.

Queen (44:48.748)
Listen, and anyway, she's leaving July 20th. She extended her stay until July 20th. No, we're not gonna go see it, I'm sorry.

Diva (45:00.127)
Okay, well I'm not going to say you Nicole because we know what happens, you shoot the guy in the end and whatever, you're covered in blood. Whatever, we-

Queen (45:04.75)
Okay, well maybe our listeners didn't know.

Diva (45:09.961)
Well, no they know. Deffy comes here, we will be seeing that. Let's just say everything. yes we will. Yes we will. Maybe we'll get Jennifer Samard to come on the pod and talk with us. Probably not, but like, she liked my Instagram story once, so who knows?

Queen (45:10.52)
All right.

And we'll review, are we gonna review that? Are we gonna review that? Okay. Okay.

Queen (45:25.288)
yes, I'm sure she'd love to.

Queen (45:31.434)
Anything's possible. Well, listen, you are going...

Diva (45:35.836)
Anything can happen in RUISIN' REVIEW!

Queen (45:40.718)
Are you getting ready to jingle?

would like that. Could you write us a jingle? Something jazzy, a little...

Diva (45:45.611)
I could.

Diva (45:50.871)
Can it be a tinkle? Or a tingle? A tangle. A tangle. Jingle. Tinkle. Jingle. These are funny words, and I'm going crazy. So I think let's call it a night.

Queen (45:51.438)
What the hell is a tinkle? What, a tingle? I said a jingle. Okay, no.

Queen (46:05.196)
Okay, can we wrap this up? Yes, let's wrap this up.

Diva (46:10.648)
As Dolly Parton says, act like it's raining and always wear your rubber. So we should wrap this up and have a fabulous night. This was Rujan Review. Please subscribe, give us a five star review and follow us on all of our social media platforms. We love you very much and ta ta until next time. Eliza!

Queen (46:16.942)
Please subscribe.

Queen (46:25.538)
Thank you.

Queen (46:29.929)
Bye!

Queen (46:36.84)
No, you can't end it! We have to upload, it's still uploading!

Queen (46:47.49)
You can't end it.

Rouge & Revue (46:49.9)
You can't end it.