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Hall of Divas

The most important night of the year is fast approaching. Here are some things to know about the Tony Awards:

*There seems to be an annual tradition brewing at PBS. Last year, in the Fridays running up to Tony night, PBS aired concerts by significant Broadway names: Sutton Foster (pretty good), Andrew Rannells (fabulous), Stephanie Block, and Leslie Odom.

*This year, PBS will give us Cynthia Erivo (Friday this week, iconic, and close to an EGOT, for her interpretation of "Celie"), A. Ashford (fine in "Sunday in the Park," but she wasn't Bernadette), and M. Hilty (why does anyone ever try to replace Ellen Greene in "Little Shop of Horrors"--?)

*When people say that Bernadette Peters has three Tony Awards, they sometimes fail to observe that one of the three is like a "humanitarian hero" award. This fact seems important to me.

*One of Bernadette Peters's Tony wins was for "Annie Get Your Gun," and people didn't really love her in that show. Quiet as it's kept, people feel Bernadette's replacement--Reba M.--did a better job.

*It is shocking that the following people do not have Tony Awards: P. Soo, S. R. Scott, Judy Kuhn, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Ellen Greene, and Joshua Henry. Yes, read that again. JUDY KUHN DOES NOT HAVE A TONY AWARD.

*Christian Borle married Sutton Foster, and then there was a divorce. EACH HALF OF THIS FORMER POWER COUPLE HAS TWO TONY AWARDS. Sutton's awards were for lead roles; Christian's awards were for supporting roles. Wisely, the honchos behind YOUNGER paired the divorced couple as co-leads in a few episodes from Season Five. There was a strange, unpredictable, un-feigned chemistry between these two, which you maybe wouldn't see if they hadn't had an actual history. Borle's character didn't fare well.

*People forget that "Avenue Q" defeated "Wicked" for Best Musical. And "Music Man" defeated "West Side Story."

Mark your calendars....Nothing is more important than this particular night in June....

 P.S. Taylor Trensch should have a Tony, as well, but he is young and will get one soon enough.

 P.P.S. Raul Esparza should also have a Tony.
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