The TONY Awards were Sunday night, and this theater nerd was bummed that Mean Girls didn’t win anything (as I may or may not have watched part of a bootleg video of the show on YouTube). I was happy to see victories for Angels in America (as Best Revival of a Play and for Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane’s performances) and Laurie Metcalf (Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women). Congratulations to all of the winners, by the way.
Robert DeNiro made headlines when he spoke out against Trump at the ceremony. Another notable moment was when Melody Herzfeld, the drama teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida was honored with the 2018 Excellence in Theatre Education Award. Thanks to her efforts, she saved the lives of 65 of her students during the tragic events of February 14. In her moving speech, Melody said, in part:
“I remember, on February 7th, sharing a circle with my beloved students and encouraging them to be good to each other when times were trying, and to keep the family together, accept everyone and make a difference. And I remember only a week later, on February 14th, a perfect day, where all these lessons in my life and in their short lives would be called upon to set into action.”
Afterwards, a group of drama students from Parkland performed a heartfelt rendition of “Seasons of Love” from Rent. The group moved the crowd to tears and received a well-deserved standing ovation.
Did someone chop some onions? Wow. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one moved by the performance, as evidenced by the Twitterverse on Monday morning.
Rent is a musical about resilience during an epidemic that was for years openly ignored by the government as it took so many lives. Couldn't be more fitting for the Parkland kids to be singing something from it. #TonyAwards
— Brill alive but I'm barely breathing (@LitaTweeted) June 11, 2018
#TonyAwards
*Parkland theatre students appear onstage*
Me: Don't sing "Seasons of Love"….
*"Seasons of Love" intro starts*
Me: pic.twitter.com/4aHJyIxeWm— Hollywood Pantages (@Pantages) June 11, 2018
Omg the Parkland Drama club just performed “Seasons of Love” on the #Tonys and I am all mucus. That was so powerful. Thank you #Emmys for including these extraordinary kids in the evening’s. Elie ration.
— Debra Messing (@DebraMessing) June 11, 2018
Watching those Parkland kids sing about love onstage at Radio City tonight was exactly what our hearts needed. Such a gorgeous moment.
— Alex Lacamoire (@LacketyLac) June 11, 2018
And, since I don’t want to be a total bummer here, I leave you with two of the best performances from the awards, some obligatory Mean Girls love and the incredible stars of Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, LaChanze (who was nominated for Best Actress in a Musical), Ariana DeBose, and Storm Lever. I’m also posting photos of my favorite Broadway folks from Sunday night’s ceremony, just because. (That would be LaChanze, Laurie Metcalf, Chita Rivera and the ageless Bernadette Peters.)
Photos: Instagram, WENN.com
Just heading off to work at my special ed preschool where we are having a lock down drill today…. *sniff*
Awake 6 minutes and already crying, so that’s nice. Parkland did beautifully; great song choice.
I would LOVE to go see mean girls! It looks awesome!
Theater kids really are the best. Their teachers, too. Amazing. Too bad the right just dismisses their pain and fear and continues to dig in on guns and trash the kids.
Watched it live Sunday- such a beautiful example of music somehow transcending the spoken word. What those poor kids have had-and continue to-endure. And who better than the Tony audience-the amazing talents who these kids on stage aspire to be-to recognize their courage and talent? Well done all the way round.
Thrilling and pitch perfect in EVERY way.
I thought DiNiro’s comment was crass and politically useless. Look, I think that all the time, but he was absolutely preaching to the choir and there was no risk for him and no sense of how to move forward. What those Parkland kids did, showing up, refusing hate, that was a powerful statement. I was so moved.
Oh, and thanks for more Tonys posts, yay!
I watched this live on Sunday and ugly cried my way through both the speech and the performance.
Those kids are so resilient and so talented. I really have hope they are going to instigate change down in the states.