Pop music wins big at the Tonys

Pop music has invaded the theater in a big way. Not that there has never been a close relationship between these two branches of entertainment. Some of the greatest songs ever written originated in the theater and that goes back to the likes of Someone To Watch Over Me or The Way You Look Tonight and to as recent as Defying Gravity and many others that were originally written for theater musicals but eventually became hit songs.

Recent times have seen the birth of the jukebox musical. This is so-called because the songs used are originally hit recordings. Rock of Ages is one good example. So is Mamma Mia! with the music of Abba or We Will Rock You with the songs of the rock band Queen. These have become so successful that there are now more and more of them opening on Broadway or London’s West End.

The fact that the jukebox musical is fast-becoming the rule rather than the exception in theater became most obvious with the nominations for Best Musical at the recent Tony Awards, Broadway’s annual recognition bash. Would you believe that there is only one show in the list that has an all-original score? This is A Gentleman’s Guide To Love and Murder.

The others were After Midnight with a soundtrack of jazz and soul hits like On The Sunny Side Of The Street; Aladdin with songs from the animated Disney movie like A Whole New World; and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical with songs composed by Carole King like Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow plus other tunes from the ’60s and ’70s eras. And the winner of the Tony for Best Musical is… A Gentleman’s Guide To Love And Murder.

What I want very much now is to watch this show and find out if it deserves the Tony or if the Tony voters were just reacting to the jukebox invasion. Come to think of it. And this must be the worse thought yet.  Does this situation mean that Broadway is starting to run out of hitmaking songwriters? Of course, I heartily agree that there is nothing like a hit song to pull audiences into the theater or to anywhere else, but this is Broadway, home of The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady and Funny Girl and many other unforgettable shows. One more scary thought, Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Les Miserablés all originated in London’s West End.

Anyway, jukebox or no jukebox musicals, the Tony Awards put on a great show last Sunday, June 8, evening, that was telecast live over the Lifestyle channel on Monday morning. The event is not yet as exciting as the Academy Awards but it gets better and better every year with more and more celebrities attending and the nominated shows performing wonderful excerpts. Note that unless you are one of the lucky few who makes regular trips to New York, the Tony Awards is the closest you can be to what shows are happening on Broadway. And so we watch and got a fantastic bonus in host Hugh Jackman.

Broadway must be glad that Hollywood brought the Aussie song-and-dance guy, Jackman, to the US. Of course, he was famously recruited to play Wolverine in the X-Men movie series, which he does really well. But isn’t it great that it turned out that he can sing Don’t Cry Out Loud in The Man from Oz and can do Jean Valjean in Les Miserablés in between growing his Titanium claws? And there is something incredibly sexy about superheroes who can also sing and dance.

Jackman did another great job as host, singing, hoofing it up and even introducing rap music to the Tonys with T.I. and L.L. Cool J via a song from the Broadway classic The Music Man.

Scene-stealer of the night was Neil Patrick Harris, star of the TV series How I Met Your Mother and last year’s Tony Awards host. He is now Broadway’s flamboyant cross-dressing lead actor in the revival of Hedwig And The Angry Inch, a musical about a botched sex change operation. He did the Sugar Daddy number from the show and gave lap dances to Sting and Orlando Bloom in the audience. He won his first Tony trophy for Best Lead Actor in a Musical for his work on Hedwig.

A sweet moment for Baby Boomers was seeing King join Jessie Mueller, the star of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, on stage to do one of her biggest hits, I Feel The Earth Move Under My Feet. I can just imagine how audiences are reacting to King’s compositions and all those other songs in the show. Broadway songwriters had better shape up. The jukebox is on top and winning big.

The Tony Awards 2014 Music Honor Roll is as follows:

Best Musical: A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.

Best Book: A Gentleman’s Guide To Love and Murder

Costume Design: A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Lighting Design: Hedwig The Angry Inch

Sound Design: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

Scenic Design: Rocky

Best Revival of a Musical: Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Lead Actress in a Musical: Jessie Mueller, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

Lead Actor in a Musical: Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig And The Angry Inch.

Featured Actress: Lena Hall, Hedwig And The Angry Inch

Featured Actor: James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin

Direction: Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman’s Guide To Love and Murder.

Choreography: Warren Carlyle, After Midnight

Orchestration: Bridges of Madison Country