LOVE THE TONY AWARDS

During his opening, Tony Award host Neil Patrick Harris said that watching the Tony Awards as a kid was his portal to Broadway.

I feel the same way. It has always been one of my favorite shows because it was the only opportunity a girl from Walnut Creek had to see dramatic goings on beyond the Ygnacio Valley High School stage.

The only thing I would nit-pick about last night was the all too brief views of the non-musical shows. I love me a musical, but we tend to see those production numbers on various TV shows. The dramatic shows don't get the same coverage - so let us have a longer peek!!

I love that the actors look like normal people and that their husbands and wives look normal, too. It just makes sense that Botox and skin tight faces don't work well on stage. On the other hand - does Bebe Neuworth have a portrait hidden in her attic or what? It is also so interesting to see actors you recognise from TV and movies doing plays. Who knew Dr. Bailey from Grey's Anatomy could sing? But there is Chandra Wilson in All that Jazz.

I love that they are doing West Side Story in English and Spanish, and that there is still an audience for Hair! I don't get the Shrek thing, but I guess really rich people can afford to take their kids to Broadway musicals. I have watched the movie Billy Elliot a number of times and it was brilliant of Elton John to make it into a musical. Those boys who play Billy were delightful. And so amazingly accomplished.

I did see a play on the Broadway stage when I was in college. I saw Equuis which was a rather dark, psychological play. Then Tom and I saw the Broadway production of the musical Titanic which we enjoyed on a hot summer night in 1998 when he was in New York for an interview. The company offered the tickets as an incentive, he didn't take the job, but it was a memorable night, walking through the theater district and back to the hotel.