Tonys: high-octane, high-spirited fun

OK, that was a reminder that award shows can, on occasion, be really good.
The Tony Award show was high-octane, high-spirited and mostly very entertaining. It started with two big production numbers – one with Alicia Keys joining the music from her “Hell’s Kitchen” – and ended with a moderate surpise: “The Outsiders,” (shown here) not “Hell’s Kitchen,” was for best musical.
The rest offered few surprises. Of course, “Stereophonic” – most nominated play in Tony history – won for best play. Of course, “Merrily We Roll Along” – finally repairing a show that Stephen Sondheim never quite fixed – won for best revival, alongside two of its stars.
But the real surprise was how the show kept soaring.
Ariana DeBose, the host, opened with a terrific song-and-dance number she’d co-choreographed. Then – after a too-long opening speech – she mostly stepped aside and kept things running.
She was followed by a dreary acceptance speech and then by the “Hell’s Kitchen” mega-number. After 20 minutes, the show finally paused.
That set the tone for what would follow. Yes, there were a few dull acceptance speeches; lists were recited as if this were a school quiz. But most of the winners had something to say and some (especially Jonathan Groff) said it beautifully. Things only got bad near the end, when people with “producer” titles got to give the speeches.
Mostly, the Tonys rippled with music. A few numbers were just sort of OK, particularly the ones from “Merrily” and “Stereophonic,” but most glowed.
There was even beauty to the segment about people who died in the past year. To some viewers, Nicole Scherzinger is just the missing “Masked Singer” judge; to London audiences, she’s an award-winner in “Sunset Boulevard.”
Scherzinger delivered a subtly passionate version of “What I Did For Love.” Then we saw more people getting awards for what they love doing.