Tony Awards honor former San Diegans

At the American Theatre Wing’s 63rd annual Antoinette Perry (Tony) Awards, there were, as usual, gobs of San Diego connections.

The biggest locally-related honor went to a first-time Tony occurrence: a trio of performers who starred in “Billy Elliot.” The alternating leads included Kiril Kulish, who thanked the San Diego Academy of Ballet for training him. The 15-year-old ballet and ballroom dance phenom shared the award with Trent Kowalik and David Alvarez, who lived in San Diego for a time and trained at California Ballet.

Kiril got in the last word for the three nearly speechless teens, saying, “We want to say to all the kids out there who might want to dance, ‘Never give up!’”

“Billy Elliot” racked up a total of ten Tonys (it was nominated for 15), including Best Musical, Director of a Musical, Book of a Musical and Choreography. San Diegan Jamie Torcellini, an alumnus of San Diego Junior Theatre, was in the award-winning ensemble.

Another former San Diegan who got his start at Junior Theatre is Brian Stokes Mitchell, shown briefly onscreen as the presenter of the Creative Arts Awards, that is to say, all the “technical” categories that don’t make it onto the three-hour TV broadcast.

Eighty-three year-old Angela Lansbury, who won her fifth Tony for her terrific turn as the loopy medium, Madame Arcati, in “Blithe Spirit,” tied the record for acting Tonys held for years by Julie Harris.

Lansbury was grateful and gracious in accepting her award, and lovely in presenting a special Lifetime Achievement Tony to Jerry Herman, composer of “Hello, Dolly!” and “Mame,” in which she’d starred. The ever-cheerful composer was in San Diego last year for “An Intimate Evening with Jerry Herman,” a delightful visit with Theater Royalty, at the Old Globe.

UCSD alumnus and former La Jolla Playhouse artistic director Michael Greif didn’t win for Best Direction of a Musical (”Next to Normal”) but the show went on to garner three Tonys, including Best Actress in a Musical for Alice Ripley, playing a tortured woman suffering from manic depression. Ripley performed in San Diego in her early days, and this is where she earned her Actors Equity card.

Bartlett Sher, who also got his theatrical start in San Diego, didn’t win for Best Director of a Play (”Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”) but Roger Robinson won for Best Featured Actor in a Play. The production also won for Best Lighting of a Play.

“33 Variations,” the Moisés Kaufman drama about Beethoven that had its West Coast premiere last year at the La Jolla Playhouse, went in with five nominations; it won only for Best Scenic Design, but that was well deserved. Derek McLane’s work was spectacular.

As usual, the attempts at presenting a segment from the nominated straight plays didn’t work on the Tony show. This time, they tried video segments from the productions, but without any real contextual background, all the scenes were unsatisfying.

The broadcast was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, a Broadway performer who has appeared several times on local stages, starring in “Luck, Pluck and Virtue” at the La Jolla Playhouse (1993), “Rent” (1997) and “Romeo and Juliet,” his Shakespeare debut, at the Old Globe (1998).

As a host, he was charming, though some of his jibes (especially the in-jokes) fell a bit flat. He got to show off his impressive pipes in the “11 o’clock number,” which proved a fitting ending to the evening. In his amusing riff on “Tonight” from “West Side Story,” mentioning all the winners, the funniest lyric was “Tonight, this show could not be gayer/If Liza were named Mayor/and Elton John took flight…”

The show opening was the best in memory, with excerpts from all the nominated musicals, ending with a rousing rendition of “Let the Sun Shine In” from “Hair,” which had the audience on its feet, clapping, swaying, and feeling maximally hippie and nostalgic. The musical performance from “Hair” was by far the most energetic and energizing of all the show selections, especially when the cast went out into the audience, mussing up locks for the title number.

“Hair” rightly earned the Best Revival Tony, leaving former La Jolla Playhouse artistic director Des McAnuff and his “Guys and Dolls” out in the cold. Still, their “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat” performance was enjoyable (except for that solo from a self-flagellating Salvation Army General - what was that about?).

Sartorially, this definitely wasn’t the Oscars. Most of the dresses were black and understated, and there was no bling in sight. But there were many poignant moments, and even some heartfelt tears, most notably from Karen Olivo, who won Best Featured Actress in a Musical for the bilingual revival of “West Side Story.”

For the first time this year, the Tonys were twittered, with Mark Indelicato of “Ugly Betty” as the chief tweeter from backstage at Radio City Music Hall. Another first was the simulcast in Times Square on the Clear Channel Spectacolor HD Screen.

Yet another innovation this year was the performance of numbers from national touring companies, and one, “Legally Blonde,” is on its way to the Civic Theatre, courtesy of Broadway San Diego (arriving March 2010).

This was a robust year on Broadway, despite a number of shocking closures in January (”Spring Awakening” among them). Forty-three shows opened during the 2008-2009 season, the highest number of new productions since 50 shows opened in 1982-83. The awards were voted on in 27 competitive categories by more than 800 members of the theatrical community, including producers, actors and journalists.

It was a more bracing show than usual, and it’s always fun to see how many of these productions, performances and performers San Diego sees first. We are, after all, the nation’s number one exporter of shows to Broadway, though most San Diegans don’t know it.

Pat Launer is the SDNN theater critic.

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