This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Mo Brady: You're a special kind of people known as show people. You live in a world...

[0:10] Aaron Albano: You're listening to Tony Telecasts from The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out.

[0:15] Mo Brady: I'm Mo Brady.

[0:16] Aaron Albano: And I'm Aaron Albano.

[0:18] Mo Brady: Hearing you sing, watching you tap. Welcome listeners to our mini-series about the Tonys, looking into the drama behind the drama of a theater season in Broadway history.

[0:30] Aaron Albano: In each podcast episode, we watch a telecast of a previous Tony Awards, not only the performances, but the opening and the speeches, to see how it reflects on the season as a whole.

[0:40] Mo Brady: So let's dive back in and continue our talk about the 2007 Tony Awards.

[0:45] Aaron Albano: Some policemen and detectives dream of show business. They can't get arrested, but still, they sit around the station and fancy this life.

[0:59] Mo Brady: Alright, we're back. Now, as a reminder, the telecast did open with a chorus line. And so if people want to remember what that was like, make sure you listen to the first part of this week's Tony Telecast.

[1:10] Aaron Albano: Which hopefully you have because that's why you're here.

[1:13] Mo Brady: Yeah, that'd be weird. Our second performance, however, was from Curtains. Show people.

[1:20] Aaron Albano: Now, this is a principal company of ensemble-ists.

[1:23] Mo Brady: Yes.

[1:24] Aaron Albano: There's Megan Sikora, Noah Racey, Michael McCormick, Michael X. Martin.

[1:28] Mo Brady: Michael X. Martin is literally like the current Broadway person with the most ensemble credits.

[1:34] Aaron Albano: 17.

[1:34] Mo Brady: Work!

[1:35] Aaron Albano: Work! He's up there playing a lead in this show.

[1:38] Mo Brady: So it's like, along with Joe Aaron Reid and Paula Leggett Chase, this is a cast of good mensches.

[1:46] Aaron Albano: Yes, it's a good, solid cast.

[1:49] Mo Brady: And yet, you do look at that cast and you're like, that's a lot of white people.

[1:53] Aaron Albano: That's a white cast, man. I was like, is Joe Reid the singular BIPOC performer in the show?

[1:59] Mo Brady: This is the problem when you create a show just with your friends.

[2:04] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[2:05] Mo Brady: This is the something rottening of a Broadway show.

[2:07] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[2:08] Mo Brady: If you are Casey Nicholaw and you cast a show with primarily people who are in your Rolodex.

[2:14] Aaron Albano: Right.

[2:15] Mo Brady: Or in this case, Rob Ashford.

[2:16] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[2:17] Mo Brady: Then you end up with a lot of white people.

[2:21] Aaron Albano: Hopefully that happens less. But even if it does happen the same amount, as time has progressed, that Rolodex has diversified. Just not in 2007.

[2:32] Mo Brady: Nope, not yet.

[2:33] Aaron Albano: Yeah. It is strange to me how this performance feels like a lifetime achievement nomination for John Kander and Fred Ebb.

[2:42] Mo Brady: Yeah, absolutely. John Kander introduces the number. He gets a standing ovation. He says, our show is a valentine to the world of musical theater that Fred and I lived in for 40 years.

[2:53] Aaron Albano: They're really trying to position themselves for an award.

[2:56] Mo Brady: Well, prior to this, the intro speech to this performance was the fact that Fred Ebb had just passed away. John Kander was coming out to introduce the number, but also to sort of honor his collaborator. I think you're correct. I think it did try to position itself as a lifetime achievement. I'm actually, frankly, shocked that they didn't just do it since there was no Lifetime Achievement Award this year, because they've done it in the past where they just give someone who has contributed so much to this industry a Tony Award posthumously.

[3:28] Aaron Albano: Okay, so beyond the introduction and the, like, if you love musicals with any fiber of your soul, this is the musical that should win Best Musicalness of it all. Like, what did you think of the performance?

[3:41] Mo Brady: I don't know, Curtains. I don't know it either. I've never seen it. I don't feel like it's done very often, or maybe we just have lived in New York.

[3:48] Aaron Albano: The number was cute, but I do think, and we'll talk more about this as our talk progresses about the performances, I feel like this was a telecast full of performances that were great if you knew the shows, but they didn't really grab you if you didn't. Like, I could see that this number would be something that should grab me, but it didn't. Like, it's about show people. I'm a show person. I should relate, except I did not.

[4:15] Mo Brady: In another season, this would have been the opening number to the telecast.

[4:19] Aaron Albano: 100%.

[4:20] Mo Brady: And yet, because it's not, it sort of feels couched in. I thought everybody was great. I mean, it is a star-studded performance between Karen Siemba, David Head Pierce, Deborah Monk. There's some heavy hitters on that stage.

[4:33] Aaron Albano: I just couldn't invest for some reason, and I think it's only because I don't really know the context of the number. What about you? Did you like it?

[4:40] Mo Brady: No. Somehow, the whole did not equal the sum of its parts, because I liked the cast, I liked the song, I liked the Rob Ashford, like, simple but effective staging. It had great ingredients, but...

[4:53] Aaron Albano: Sort of like Lambeth Walk from...

[4:57] Mo Brady: Lambeth Walk is perfect. I don't know what you're talking about.

[5:00] Aaron Albano: Let's take a brief stop at 110 in the Shade, the song Raunchy performed by Audra McDonald. So, like, I don't feel like there's much to say about this performance other than it's great, Audra McDonald's great, she's playing the fool, it's super fun. Like, she is a fantastic performer. Anything else to say?

[5:21] Mo Brady: This show had Audra McDonald tumbling. That's how fearless she is in this show. I feel like this is the first time we've seen Audra get to act like a fool in a show. Like, every other time she's very pulled and proper and statuesque, and so to see this was very refreshing, and it just solidified that she literally can do anything she wants.

[5:46] Aaron Albano: Cosign. I have nothing to say to that. Of course she can do whatever she wants. She's Audra fucking McDonald.

[5:51] Mo Brady: Yeah. What a gift.

[6:04] Aaron Albano: Mary Poppins. I feel like this is where we're gonna fight.

[6:07] Mo Brady: We might. We might fight. I mean, me having a very biased opinion and you not having a very biased opinion means your opinion carries more weight. So, go ahead.

[6:16] Aaron Albano: Okay, so Mary Poppins performs a medley of Step In Time, Chim Chim Churri, and Anything Can Happen. There's an ensemble of 23 onstage performers, including Sean McCourt, a longtime Wicked alum, and Vasti Monpoint.

[6:30] Mo Brady: Yes.

[6:31] Aaron Albano: This is a Tony performance with costume changes for the ensemble. So, to be honest, I like, because I know these numbers very intimately, I was like, wait a second, how did this happen? It was wild. It was very, so many, so many costume changes.

[6:49] Mo Brady: And yet, speaking of what we talked about with curtains, like, it's a lot of great elements that for me don't add up to the sum of its parts.

[6:57] Aaron Albano: Agreed.

[6:58] Mo Brady: You know, they do the great dancing in the first half, and then they're just basically singing and swirling at you for the second half with beautiful Sherman Brothers songs, and yet it just lays there like a ton of bricks for me. Tell me why this should work.

[7:11] Aaron Albano: No, I agree. It does not. I don't think it does. So, we're not going to fight. Cool. Like, it's one of those things, because I also wanted to come back to this, because I love Step In Time. I was convinced that they had just done Step In Time, because Step In Time is the best number in the entire show.

[7:28] Mo Brady: I forgot that they had done Step In Time into Anything Can Happen. And the only value I see for this is the fact that they were able to include the entire cast. Not just the ensemble, not just Mary and Bert. They were able to get everybody on stage, which I think has a lot of value in terms of importance for the company. If you can use the whole company, then let them have their Tony performance.

[7:54] Aaron Albano: But Step In Time's a better number. Step In Time's a great number. Step In Time gets butts in the seats. You want to see...

[8:01] Mo Brady: It's Disney. They could have figured out how to get Gavin to walk up on the ceiling.

[8:05] Aaron Albano: At least this wasn't the thoroughly modern Millie, where they trot out Harriet Harris in her Mrs. Mears makeup for eight bars at the end to give you show choir arms.

[8:16] Mo Brady: At least they incorporated the full company.

[8:19] Aaron Albano: Oh yeah, totally. I think you're right. It does a good job at doing that. It just doesn't make the impact that you want it to because Anything Can Happen isn't in the movie.

[8:30] Mo Brady: Step In Time is arguably the strongest memory from the movie, that if you leave your audience both in Radio City Music Hall and watching CBS humming Step In Time, you got tickets. You sold some tickets that day.

[8:47] Aaron Albano: But you hear Anything Can Happen, if you let it, it's a good message. But people just left not knowing what that song was.

[8:55] Mo Brady: Next performance, Company Being Alive, introduced by Patti LuPone, which of course makes sense because she's, at this time, she was in a revival of a John Doyle production of a Stephen Sondheim show. She was playing Mrs. Lovett.

[9:09] Aaron Albano: But it's so creepy to see her introduce Company, knowing the next Broadway revival she's the star of.

[9:15] Mo Brady: Oh, fair, fair, fair, fair, fair. Yeah.

[9:17] Aaron Albano: It's fine. I love a Raul Esparza wide vibrato moment. I'm here for it.

[9:24] Mo Brady: This, to me, didn't totally land because he is spending so much time at the piano playing.

[9:31] Aaron Albano: At the piano.

[9:32] Mo Brady: And then I started to wonder, oh, this is a show with actor musicians. The actor musicians are not playing other than Raul, so where's the rest of the company? Who is playing? So is this different orchestrations than we see in the show? Because I would assume if, like, the house band at Radio City is playing Being Alive, it's going to sound different than the company of actor musicians playing Being Alive. Like, it almost didn't feel like it was from the show because it was so, like, sparse.

[10:02] Aaron Albano: Oh, I don't think it landed either. And I think it's the one time because I did not see the John Doyle company, but I did see the John Doyle Sweeney Todd. And I dug the instrument playing in Sweeney Todd, but I feel like this is a moment where.

[10:19] Unknown speaker: Having Raúl Esparza play himself into the song took away from the song because Company's a great show. Being Alive is a great song. Bobby is a great character. But if you start the number with me watching Raúl accompany himself, I automatically can't invest in his journey. It's not that it's taken out of context because we've all seen the documentary of Dean Jones singing this song at a microphone. That was out of context, but still it's riveting. But I think the jump from him playing piano to him getting up out of the piano and walking down stage, it was too far of a jump for me. I think in the production, and someone will tell me I'm wrong, I think in the production, everyone else plays instruments throughout the show except for Bobby.

And so his sort of like, aha moment is when he plays an instrument for the first time. So this is the moment in which he does play. So there's important storytelling in the show that happens because he's playing, but it is somehow lost in this performance because the opposite is taking place. Instead of watching him not play for two hours and then play, we watch him play and then not play. Yeah, it's the blood in Oklahoma. Don't do it. I don't get it. So don't do it. Because that actually sounds like you telling me that actually sounds quite innovative and quite brilliant. And if not, if it's not in the show, then it's just my idea. And that's fantastic. Feel free to use it listeners. You can't get that from this number.

So just have Raúl kill the song and that'll sell tickets. Like just kill the song guys. Just kill the song. Speaking of killing the song, Grey Gardens, the revolutionary costume of today. Now they were Christine Ebersole is just going to sing the song. We're not even going to show you Mary Louise Wilson, who also wins a Tony for this show. Yes, correct. We're just going to try it out. One person and she's going to crush it. And you're going to know that you want to spend your money on this show and that she deserves a Tony award for this performance. I think she deserved the Tony award for that performance. Do you think she sold the show? I don't know Grey Gardens. I don't know Grey Gardens at all.

We're terrible theater goers. I know. I don't know the show, but I feel like this sold the show. Well, you know, it's a small show. Yeah, really lives on the shoulders of those leading women. And you see a fun, funny, dropped in characterization. And either you're like, that's a musical version of the documentary. And I want to go to there or nah, I'm good. Because Grey Gardens always fascinated me. The show always fascinated me because I'm like, this is a documentary that I don't know. And it's apparently a brilliant show that I don't know. Where's my gateway? And I don't know what that gateway is. And this performance, again, while brilliant, wasn't my gateway. But watching this performance, I was like, are we due for a Grey Gardens revival starring Emily Ashford? Because that could be my gateway into watching the show finally.

[13:39] Unknown speaker: All right, it's time to get to the child size elephant in the room. Here we go. We get our last performance is Spring Awakening, Mama Who Bore Me, The Bitch of Living, totally, because they couldn't say the word on national TV. It's a bad word. Okay, so this in terms of just give me the number versus the Matilda performancing of it all. Like this is very much a medley. Yes. Like we never sit somewhere for very long at all. Correct. Not only do they choose to do a group number, but then they go to another group number in which they aren't allowed to say the title of the number on the I was like, we could have just done three numbers, but you Yeah, you wanted to do four. Okay. All right. Okay, so this, you know, famously had a sort of a principal cast of like a dozen young people, four person ensemble.

This is the four person ensemble, Gerard Canonico, Jennifer Damiano, Robbie Hager and Krista Rodriguez. Like if you could be a theater ensemble, you'd be like, yeah, that was like the University of Michigan. If the University of Michigan was a musical, I don't think any of those people went to University of Michigan. They were all child. I know. But no, but like, they go on to great things after they graduate from no, none of them went to University of Michigan. They were all like performing on Broadway when they were 17. Fair. That's real. Okay, here's my question. Go. There's so much excited belting. Is it good? Because it feels energetic and exciting? Or is it bad? Because it's slightly pitchy?

Because it's too excited? Yes, I think yes. Because you don't get away with that if your curtains but you get away with that because your spring awakening, like that kind of frenetic excitement you can pass off as youth. So therefore, it's completely appropriate. If you're doing this in Mary Poppins, it doesn't work. And so I think like all of those things combined, led to the Captain Planet of this performance. All of them screaming, all of them jumping around, all of them yelling and spitting in each other's faces was perfectly right. This was Jonathan Groff before we knew he spit in people's faces. Was it though? This is where we found out. Yeah, I will say that you can hear the clean consistency of Lily Cooper's vocals just like sliding in there as an alto throughout.

I'm just like, just flawless. Just like you're a child and yet, your voice was so beautiful. And yet grounding this vocal. Thank you. I appreciate you, Lily. God bless a key change that never appears in the show but allows you to get from one number in your Tony performance to another. I love the transition from Mama Who Bore Me reprise into the Bitch of Living. I mean, that's got to be Kim Grigsby, right? Oh, so good. Kim Grigsby musical directed the show. Yeah, that's her brilliance. Like, shout out Kim Grigsby, man. And reminiscent of another youth performance, The Prom, where we got a key change that doesn't appear in the show from Tonight Belongs to Us into Build a Prom. I love it. It's young people and key changes. That's the secret to getting a well-reviewed Tony performance on this podcast.

[17:10] Unknown speaker: Okay, I think it's hard to talk about this Spring Awakening performance without really talking about Spring Awakening in terms of the context of the Broadway industry. Sure. Like, in so many speeches and so many presentations, Spring Awakening gets called out for bringing the rock musical back to Broadway. And it's like, very much, there's a sense. I think if there's a unifying sense, it's that Spring Awakening is shaking up Broadway right now. And we see that with the award winners. We see that in the performance. We see this a lot. Sure. There's lots of speeches about welcoming our little show to Broadway. It felt like the people in this moment thought Spring Awakening was really revolutionary.

Okay, yeah. Is it? What's interesting is just bringing that up. It feels, and maybe there's a little aesthetic element to this, but the fever around Spring Awakening feels similar to the fever around Hadestown. That it's like, everyone is just gagged for this show. Deservedly so. But it's almost this like, irrational fever, for lack of a better word, about it. Because it's just the coolest show that lives up to the hype. I remember, like, I remember living through that Spring Awakening fever and being like, whoa, what's happening? I think that fever comes in maybe a couple times every decade. Rent fever, for sure. Spring Awakening fever, Hamilton fever. But it's different. What you've identified with Hadestown is that it's not rent, a chorus line, Hamilton fever.

No. Excitement, which is like, to me, that's about, here's our little art form that can be insular. And look at how it's reaching a wider audience and people who don't think of themselves as people who like musicals, like these shows and know about these shows, right? It becomes the zeitgeist in a larger cultural conversation. You're identifying these like, other in-between moments, the Hadestown, the Spring Awakening, that didn't reach the larger cultural conversation, but were like, theater is cool moments. Okay, yeah. Right? You're right. Inside of the industry, all of the acceptance speeches were very like, this show has changed things. And I don't know if it did. Did it? Do you think it did?

Well, it certainly didn't bring the rock musical. I feel like it rocked the industry, but not necessarily because it was a rock musical. I remember being taken by three things. One is just the theater it played in. There was a time where I feel like there were playhouses and there were musical houses, and you didn't do a musical in a playhouse because it was too small to return your advance in. And that was the Eugene O'Neill Theater. This was the first musical that had played the Eugene O'Neill. Now, the Book of Mormon has been playing it for years, right? Now we get musicals in the booth. We get musicals in the Helen Hayes, right? Yeah. But this was a time where if it was a musical, it was big.

And they made a producing decision to put this musical in a small space. A small house. Right. Which somehow changes the experience and creates a ticket scarcity and buzz, right? The second is the onstage seating. Having watched so many of these, I'm like, okay, we get to sit onstage in the Great Comet. We get to sit on...

[20:39] Mo Brady: Once on this island, we get to sit in this room around at Oklahoma, right? It's now a thing. It's a thing we do. At the time, it felt very rare to be on stage. I remember seeing the show on Broadway and sitting on stage and being like, I have never experienced this before.

[20:55] Aaron Alvano: Agreed. Agreed. Yeah. And then the third thing is kids playing kids.

[21:01] Mo Brady: Yes. I feel like you and I got here at exactly the wrong time, Aaron. It's like, when we were kids, kids were not on Broadway. Adults played kids.

[21:10] Aaron Alvano: Adults played kids.

[21:11] Mo Brady: And then when we were adults, kids played kids.

[21:14] Aaron Alvano: Sure.

[21:15] Mo Brady: And you're like, wait, you're not allowed to play a kid. You're a kid. We've made a cultural agreement. That contract has been broken. We save by the bell everything. 30-year-olds play 15-year-olds. That's how culture works. And this was like a shaking up of that.

[21:33] Aaron Alvano: Absolutely. Well, because it's also because I was at Spelling Bee at the time. And so we were the younger adults that took over from the older adults. And that was like, ooh, we broke the system. And then this show came along and I was like, oh, cool. We're now too old to play kids. Great. Because actual children are here.

[21:55] Mo Brady: Yeah. So, I mean, all of those things, I fully agree. But I do think it was this like grand coming together of all those things, plus the fact that it was an edgy show.

[22:05] Aaron Alvano: Oh, you saw Jonathan Groff's butt.

[22:06] Mo Brady: Yeah. And it was like this hip, they have microphones. I think it was all of those things that once in a while comes along that just like hits on all the cylinders. It does all of those things really well.

[22:20] Aaron Alvano: Yeah. Sometimes when we see these devices, you know, let's hold the microphones. Let's have kids play kids. Let's be on stage. Let's do a rock musical. Let's use swear words and show our butts like they can feel contrived. And yet this all worked. There was an authenticity to it that like everybody felt and therefore praised.

[22:40] Mo Brady: Yes. And no, it's not the kind of musical that everyone likes. But if you like this kind of musical, then it is a really good version of that kind of musical.

[22:51] Aaron Alvano: Yes. Should we get to our Yelp review? Sponsored by no one.

[23:07] Mo Brady: Which performance made the show look better than it was?

[23:10] Aaron Alvano: 110 in the Shade. The Audra McDonald show.

[23:13] Mo Brady: I agree. Like, I don't know about this show, but I was like, that's good acting. That's good singing. That's fun. I mean, it just showcased how Audra can do anything she wants. She really can. I think with this question, it's often which performance seems better than the hype we've heard about the show.

[23:31] Aaron Alvano: Yeah.

[23:31] Mo Brady: And I don't know much about 110 in the Shade. I don't know much about this performance. So just the fact that Audra is so remarkable in it makes me think that's good.

[23:40] Aaron Alvano: Yeah. Which performance made you want to buy a ticket, Mel?

[23:44] Mo Brady: It's fun to think back at the seasons where I actually like came to visit Broadway and actually which shows made me want to buy a ticket. I'm not sure if Spring Awakening's performance on the Tony Awards was the thing that sold me, because I do remember thinking at the time it was a little frenetic. It was a little pitchy. I didn't like live in any of those moments specifically. But the album, the music, I remember really falling in love with. So I'm going to go with Spring Awakening, even though I'm not sure that's true.

[24:10] Aaron Alvano: Nice. What about you?

[24:12] Mo Brady: This was hard because like I said earlier, I feel like this telecast had performances that were only good if you knew the shows. Like, did I like the Chorus Line performance? Yeah, because I know Chorus Line. Did I like Mary Poppins? Yeah, because I know Mary Poppins. Did I like Spring Awakening? Yeah, because I know Spring Awakening. Did I not like the shows that I didn't know? Yeah. And so none of them particularly grabbed me in a way that made me want to buy a ticket, because if I knew them, I had already bought a ticket. The one that I take exception with that on, because it was 100% a commercial that was built to make me want to buy a ticket, was Fantasia's Color Purple.

[24:52] Aaron Alvano: Yeah, maybe you're right. Which speech moved you the most, Mo?

[24:55] Mo Brady: I don't know if it moved me, but I really liked Mayor Louise Wilton for Grey Gardens. She, in the voiceover when she's walking up, gets called out as a 44-year veteran of the American theater. Which fierce. Like people just like, you can see that people like giving this award to her. It's the Chita Rivera to a lesser degree.

[25:14] Aaron Alvano: Yeah.

[25:14] Mo Brady: There's an excitement in the room for Mary Louise Wilson to win this award. When you know people have waited this long, it's okay for them to be like, I wanted this, guys.

[25:25] Aaron Alvano: It's the Stephanie J. Block of it all.

[25:27] Mo Brady: Yeah. One of her first statements is, everyone's been so articulate, and then all she can just say is, woo! She has no words, she's just excited. She goes on to say, I used to wonder if I ever won one of these, if I'd feel like there was a mistake, and I don't. I love that moment. Laughs and applause, like the house is on her side.

[25:50] Aaron Alvano: Absolutely. And it just feels good. I'm not always a proponent of Tony Awards as lifetime achievements, but there are some cases where I feel good about it. What about you, Aaron?

[26:02] Aaron Alvano: What surprised me was Jack O'Brien for Coast of Utopia. He's Jack O'Brien, but in his speech, he does something that struck me really profoundly, and I don't know why, but he salutes his fellow nominees, which we've seen before. But he says it in saying that, I saw and loved your work, and I'm proud to be represented with you. He straight up takes a moment to be like, I saw all of your shows, and they're all wonderful, and I'm proud to be considered among you. And this is Jack O'Brien talking, a legend in his own right, but humbling himself to be considered among the brilliance of his nominees.

[26:42] Mo Brady: It was really cool. Like a classy way to give a speech for someone who's already won Tony Awards.

[26:47] Aaron Alvano: Yeah. He's not a newbie. This is not a lifetime achievement award, but yet somehow he still feels gracious and authentic, which is the goal.

[26:55] Mo Brady: Biggest surprise win, well.

[26:57] Aaron Alvano: Stephen Sater for winning Best Book of a Musical for Spring Awakening.

[27:01] Mo Brady: Okay. I think this is a great concept. I don't know if it's a great book. Like, are the words great? I feel like over time, the moniker of Best Book has definitely been given liberties. Like everything that's not the song.

[27:15] Aaron Alvano: But not even. Like, even if there are only songs. Like the concept. Or like the overall story. Or like Hamilton won Best Book. Arguably there's no book there either.

[27:23] Mo Brady: Philip dies. Still not a book.

[27:25] Aaron Alvano: Still a song.

[27:28] Mo Brady: Oh really?

[27:29] Aaron Alvano: Yeah. Wait, no, John Lawrence dies. That's the one that's not on the album.

[27:33] Mo Brady: Yeah, still a song. Like, it's just not on the album for spoilers reasons. Like, I agree in terms of that.

[27:40] Aaron Alvano: Don't lie to me. You think it's bad that Bill T. Jones won Best Choreographer for Spring Awakening over Matthew Warren. So don't even lie. Don't pretend that you have a different answer to this. It was an agreement in terms of there was no book, bro. Like, this could have gone to someone else. But we're living for Spring Awakening right now. So let's give you Best Book. In the same vein, and I will die on this hill, Bill T. Jones. He gives a great speech. His work is fine in the show. Best Choreography? And again, my bias is very clear here. Step In Time is arguably one of my favorite numbers in the musical theater catalog. You can't award Bill T. Jones Best Choreography and then have them perform Step In Time. Because, and yes, I know I'm getting in an argument about, like, steps versus concept. But still, like, you've got brilliant, brilliant tap being showcased on the Tonys. And you're going to give it to sign language and liturgical dance? Nah.

[28:42] Mo Brady: Nah, bruh. Nah, bruh. Everyone at me. It's fine. Would you recommend watching the 2007 Tony Awards?

[28:49] Aaron Alvano: I know you're going to give me shit for this. But no, I think it's fine. And I think it's a cleaner, better version of the no-host Tonys. But you don't need to watch it. There are certain things that I like. But YouTube the pro shot of Step In Time from Disney on Broadway, and you'll be fine. And find a performance of Totally Fucked where they don't censor out the title of the song, and you'll see just as good of performances. And also, the immemorial was disrespectfully short. So I'm good. It's a meh for me. The whole thing is a hat on a hat on a hat. And so I think you walk away feeling unfulfilled. Some high quality moments and some good speeches. But yeah, in general, I wouldn't say this is a satisfying night of YouTubing.

[29:41] Mo Brady: To join us for our next Tonys recap, be sure to do your homework for my second host choice, which is the 1993 Tony Awards.

[29:50] Aaron Alvano: Yay! What's that one?

[29:51] Mo Brady: The Who's Tommy?

[29:52] Aaron Alvano: Oh!

[29:53] Mo Brady: The Goodbye Girl Kissed the Spider Woman and Blood Brothers.

[29:57] Aaron Alvano: Oh, wow.

[29:58] Mo Brady: And also Angels in America, which I'm sure will have quite a large showing in that telecast.

[30:04] Aaron Alvano: But we'll find out.

[30:05] Mo Brady: We'll find out. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of props on pedestals for that one.

[30:08] Mo Brady: The Ensemblist was produced today by me, Mo Brady.

[30:13] Aaron Alvano: And by me, Aaron Alvano. Special thanks to Wasif Sami for the background research on this week's Tony season. Please rate and review The Ensemblist wherever you listen to podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or bpn.fm, the home of Broadway Podcast Network. Our Patreon members have on-demand access to our archive, including full conversations like this one where we edit out all the swear words. You can listen to the full friggin' thing. Or more of the swear words, at least. And early access to episodes. You can support us for between $5 and $20 a month at patreon.com slash The Ensemblist. Thanks for listening! Until next time!