Post-Tony Musings
Can I confess something? This year I have very mixed emotions regarding the Tonys. Don’t worry; I’m still madly in love with the show. In fact, this was one of the better years in a while and I thought the numbers were outstanding, the speeches were brilliant, and the stars unbelievable. It’s just that my usually joyous Tony extravaganza was a little less so than usual. It wasn’t so much an extravaganza as it was just a travaganza.
First of all, every single person I invited, save one, canceled. Everyone had reasons that they couldn’t come. Some told me early and some told me the night before and some the day of, but every person canceled. My sister came, which was lovely. And she brought a friend, which helped. But not one other person could be troubled to attend. Irving watched with me for most of the show. He slipped out to catch the last period of the NBA finals, but was back before the finale. This is why I love him.
But that did leave me with an awful lot of food. I’d planned to cook for nearly a dozen people and we ended up with three and a half. That hurt. I have attended many events in the last few years and I try really hard to respect the things that my friends and family enjoy. And at work I’m often extending ignored invitations from people who claim they want to see me outside the office.
Despite Irving’s insistence to the contrary, I couldn’t help but take it personally. I mean really? Every one? It was a little harder to enjoy with that thought in the back of my mind.
Tomorrow I’ll go to work and I know that at least one person will ask how it was. Do I say that it was a great, but lonely show or do I just act like it’s not a big deal? This is a tough one for me because it’s really the only thing this month I’ve had to look forward to. I wanted a victory, you know? Because it’s felt like a while since I’ve had a win of any kind, I was putting a lot on this evening. As I do every year, I wanted it to be the thing that buoys me until next summer. From the perspective of the show itself, it absolutely delivered. For the rest of it, I guess I just need to be happy with the fact that my food was still pretty awesome.
I really do understand your disappointment about the party this year. There were a lot of factors that made it so low-key. But I do believe this year’s disappointment was a fluke and predict that the 2012 Tony Extravaganza may be the biggest and best ever.
And look on the bright side: This year, you (and Neil Patrick Harris) helped create a new fan of the Tony Awards. . . A very, very heterosexual fan.
June 15th, 2011 at 7:11 pm