I truly have the best friends.
When they fall into something that they know I might be interested in, they don’t hesitate to ask if I want to come along for the ride.
A few years ago I got to see Hamilton because Kim’s husband wasn’t able to accompany her to see the show. A dream come true. (Sorry, Ryan)
Erin and I got to see the Piano Man, in person, and then, when he brought out his special guest, as Billy Joel was wont to do, it was Paul Simon, an absolute favorite of my Dad and I. I almost lost my mind with excitement.
And then late last week, I got a text from Michaela asking what I was doing on Sunday morning. Why? Oh, because she had an extra ticket to the dress rehearsal of the Tony Awards.
Excuse me? The Tony Awards? No hesitation…I was going to be there.
I love Broadway. My idea of a good time is sitting in a darkened theater and having someone sing a story to me.
I’ve seen Les Mis 6 times, Phantom of the Opera, the same. I’ve seen Waitress twice, Mean Girls three times. I’ve seen Miss Saigon, the original Cats, the original Annie. I’ve seen Kinky Boots, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Mama Mia, Aladdin, and Moulin Rouge. Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York and Lost Boys are my two most recent and definitely favorites. And I know I’m not remembering them all.
So, yes, I wanted to go to the dress rehearsal of the 79th Tony Awards.
There was an enormous kerfuffle with NJ Transit on the actual morning, but I skidded into Radio City right before they closed and locked the doors at 9 am.
Friends, let me tell you, it was as exciting as you think it was.
Basically, the dress rehearsal for the Tony Awards IS the Tony Awards, except all of the celebrities waiting to collect their awards aren’t there. But everyone involved with the show itself IS there and they present and perform and it’s like all the glamour of the big night, except the actors are in their street clothes.
Pink was nervous and gracious and funny and disgustingly talented. She kept apologizing because she’s not a Broadway performer, and yet she hit everyone note as if she had a collection of Tonys on her mantle at home.
Yes, she really did lift Neil Patrick Harris into the air with just her ridiculously fit thighs, and when she couldn’t get the ropes off that suspended her from the ceiling, he helped her out and let her know it’s tricky the first few times you do it. So, yep, he’s a good guy in regular moments, too.
(I have no pictures of the actual dress rehearsal because the ushers were ON IT and making sure all phones were away during the performance so as not to ruin the “surprises” for the television audience at night. But here’s the stage beforehand!)
The entire opener was unbelievable and received a standing ovation from those of us in the two mezzanines (and probably the fake actors in the orchestra as well).
Rachel Ziegler, basically wearing sweatpants, a tank top, and a messy bun stood in the middle of that massive stage, all alone, and sang the hell out of “What I Did For Love” from A Chorus Line and brought the house down.
I now realize that I NEED to get to Ragtime and The Book of Mormon and am embarrassed that I haven’t done so already.
Readers, I was in the same room with Annette Bening, who is one of my all-time favorite actresses. Sting and I shared the same air. I’m pretty sure Julia Louis Dreyfus made eye contact with me, yes, from that far away. BILLY CRYSTAL and I were there, together!
Sarah Paulson, BERNADETTE PETERS, Lily Rabe, Darren Criss, Arianna DuBose…the list goes on and on. And they were awesome. For the majority of them, you wouldn’t have known it was rehearsal. They were consummate professionals, but they also seemed to be having fun. I feel like when I watch them the night of the show, they can sometimes be stiff, even when making a joke. But they were relaxed. I almost wished they had spliced in some of the moments from the dress rehearsal into the regular show so the whole world could get the “normal people” feel of the morning.
The best gig of the day, however, were the people that the script writers hire to be the “winners.” The presenters do their schpiel and then they would open the envelope and say “The Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical, FOR THIS REHEARSAL ONLY is …” And then they’d call the name of one of the actors and one of these stand in winners would go up and accept the award as if it was their own. They were hysterical. There was a lot of “Go Knicks” as one might imagine in New York this past week, but these were the right people for the job, as they thanked their families and fellow cast members. One of them spent a minute discussing how shocked he was that he won and then said “I’m totally lying. I knew I was going to win. It’s why they hired me!”
I had to remember not to get excited when some of my favorites “won” because that was the only part of the morning that wasn’t real. But I didn’t care. It was fabulous, from top to bottom.
So, get yourself some friends that take you with them on adventures. I don’t really have much to offer them back in terms of adventure, but I think if we’re all honest, a friendship with me IS the adventure. 🙂
