Don't know whether it was premeditated or not, but it was the first thing he said when he accepted the Tony:
"This award forever shatters a myth about the musical theatre. There's been a rumor around for a couple of years that the simple, hummable show tune was no longer welcome on Broadway. Well, it's alive and well at the Palace!"
A very odd thing to say. I've lived in NYC since 1977, and I don't recall any "rumor" about the simple, hummable show tune being unwelcome on Broadway. Did I miss some torchlight parade down Broadway about this "rumor" while I was on vacation? Maybe it was a statement he just hadn't thought through. Clearly it didn't go down well with the Sondheim crowd, but I also heard fellow nominees Kander and Ebb had a WTF? reaction to it when they heard his comment (not sure how Maltby & Shire reacted, though). |
