Tony Awards: Money Quotes

"There's a line in Frost/Nixon which says, "Success in America is unlike success anywhere else. That feeling when you're up, it's indescribable." I'm very grateful to the theater community, to my colleagues in Frost/Nixon here and overseas and the New York theatergoing public for allowing me that feeling this season. The line in the play then goes on to say "But there's another feeling, when it's gone, to somewhere else, to someone else." And I know that feeling, everyone in this room knows it. I suppose we can't stop people from putting us into competition with one another, and once we're here, I suppose we all want to win, but I think we must honor the common bond in us, the struggle. The striving for success because that's a race we simply can't lose. I am very proud, very honored to work and live among you splendid people. Thank you. Thank you for giving me that indescribable feeling, I wish it for you all." - Frank Langella gives the best speeches, no?


"I didn't go to acting school, [but] I have been working in the theatre for 25 years. Over that time you learn by doing and you learn by watching wonderful people, and you learn by making dreadful, embarrassing mistakes! . . . I literally made my debut 20 years ago in Lucky Stiff — a musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. I sang the dog song." - Julie White in the Tony press room, following her win (via the Playbill.com Tony Blog)


"Frank Wood, Mary McCann, Kerry Gartner, Jim Carnahan, all of our producers..." - John Gallagher Jr. thanked Frank Wood and Mary McCann, the only two actors who were replaced when Spring Awakening moved to Broadway.

"Not one audience shot of Les Moonves in the entire TONY broadcast. I thought, “Wait a minute. Is this not the TONYS?” And then a winner mentioned Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall and I knew I was in the right place." - Blogger and tv writer Ken Levine on the Tony telecast

"Of all the big awards shows, I find the Tonys the most reliably moving... Though the awards honor only a fraction of what makes up even New York theater, they nevertheless seem to stand for the art as a whole in a way that the Oscars, Grammys or Emmys don't — they represent a community rather than an industry." - Robert Lloyd of the LA Times , in his review of the telecast

"I did tell Jack O'Brien that if he wanted to a do a musical of this, I think 'Serfs Up' would be a good title." - Tom Stoppard

"Special thanks to music director Kim Grigsby, sound designer Brian Ronan, casting director Jim Carnahan because the Tonys aren't given for their categories, and I think they should be." - Michael Mayer thinks there should be a Tony for casting.

"That's the virus of the show... It starts with that young woman whose body is talking to her. I told them, 'Feel just the tips of your body. Feel all those gentle, tender places you would like to be kissed." - Spring Awakening choreographer Bill T. Jones (via Variety)

Follow up: Reason #3,012 why Moxie Loves Julie White

Reason #3,012: the NY Times article on why Sunday's performance of The Little Dog Laughed was delayed: Julie White was at Bed Bath & Beyond, buying mattress pads.

The show started previews on Thursday, and this Sunday had an added evening performance. To accomodate the added show, the regularly scheduled 3pm matinee was moved up to 2pm.

“It gets to be about noon, which is the time I would start getting ready to go to the theater for a 2 o’clock,” Ms. White said yesterday. “And I think, ‘Oh wait, I have a whole ’nother hour, and I hate my mattress pads!’ ”

So on she goes to Bed Bath & Beyond, where she buys not only mattress pads but also a whole Jonathan Adler bedding ensemble, plus a lampshade.

The audience waited, and at ten after two, director Scott Ellis came onstage and "asked the audience if they would rather give Ms. White another half-hour, get refunds or see him play the role. The majority chose the first option." Um, hello? C'mon audience, go for #3! Who wouldn't want to see Scott Ellis don the killer stilletos?

“I’m just moseying to the theater, happy to be working on Broadway with my big giant pita in my hand,” she said, “and I hear two people say, ‘There she is!’ ”

She pretended to know them, naturally, but they turned out to be audience members, and upon their sighting a chorus of other people joined in. “Julie!” she recalled them crying. “Your matinee is at 2! It’s O.K., it’s O.K., just go!”

Of course, she made it, and they started the show at 2:45. If anybody can pull it off with style, it's her.

Recent Broadway Transfers

Saturday's NY Times has a great article on the current batch of Off-Broadway to Broadway transfers (Grey Gardens, The Little Dog Laughed, and Spring Awakening). The article details some of the complicated nuances of making the move. Roy Gabay, producer of The Little Dog Laughed, talks about the difficulty of getting The Schubert Organization onboard, and details reason #3,011 why Moxie loves Julie White.

One morning this summer, he brought Julie White, the play’s star and critics’ darling, up to the storied Shubert offices for an appointment with Gerald Schoenfeld, the august, octogenarian Shubert chairman. Mr. Gabay sat quietly as Ms. White let fly a fusillade of weapons-grade charm, asking for a tour of the office in her sugary Texas accent.

After the pleasantries, she moved in for the kill. “Gerry, won’t you please give us a theater,” she recalled saying. “Bottom line: my mother, Sue Jane, didn’t see the show at Second Stage because I was told it was moving to Broadway. So you have to help my mama see this. Sue Jane isn’t getting any younger, you know.”

There was a long pause.

Then Mr. Schoenfeld named four theaters, asked Ms. White for her preferences and promised a decision by the end of the week.

The article also talks about the re-casting process, and how Alicia Silverstone and Alyssa Milano were both considered for the role that ultimately was given to Ari Graynor. The Times also tells us that John Stamos was "game" for the Neal Huff role, but was already booked on ER. Moxie wonders how Ari Graynor and Tom Everett Scott (not to mention Zoe Lister-Jones and Neal Huff) feel about the names of the celebs that almost played their roles being tossed around.