Author: Randy Slovacek

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Recap of the 2012 Tony Awards

There was no clean sweep at this year’s ceremony, and very little drama to divide theaterfolk about the winners. Once won Best Musical; Clybourne Park won Best Play.

From his snazzy opening number, “What If Life Were More Like Theater” (with Patti LuPone pushing a lawnmower in an evening gown like a lesbian version of Audrey’s “Somewhere That’s Green” fantasy), to his written-in-the-wings closer, “There’s No Time,” host Neil Patrick Harris crooned, hoofed, cracked jokes, and even hung upside-down in what seemed like forever in a riff on Spider-man‘s dangling acrobats.

I was thilled to see Newsies choreographer Chris Gattelli win his first Tony Award; and also the luminous Judith Light’s win for her amazing performance in Other Desert Cities. Both were guests on my radio show, The Candi and Randy Show last week. Click here to listen to their journeys from rehearsals to Tony Award winners.

Full list of winners:

Play: Clybourne Park, Bruce Norris

Musical: Once

Revival of a play: Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Revival of a musical: The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess

Book of a musical: Once, Enda Walsh

Original score (music and/or lyrics): Newsies, music: Alan Menken; lyrics: Jack Feldman

Performance by an actor in a leading role in a play: James Corden, One Man, Two Guvnors

Performance by an actress in a leading role in a play: Nina Arianda, Venus in Fur

Performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical: Steve Kazee, Once

Performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical: Audra McDonald, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess

Performance by an actor in a featured role in a play: Christian Borle, Peter and the Starcatcher

Performance by an actress in a featured role in a play: Judith Light, Other Desert Cities

Performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical: Michael McGrath, Nice Work If You Can Get It

Performance by an actress in a featured role in a musical: Judy Kaye, “Nice Work If You Can Get It

Scenic design of a play: Donyale Werle, Peter and the Starcatcher

Scenic design of a musical: Bob Crowley, Once

Costume design of a play: Paloma Young, Peter and the Starcatcher

Costume design of a musical: Gregg Barnes, Follies

Lighting design of a play: Jeff Croiter, Peter and the Starcatcher

Lighting design of a musical: Natasha Katz, Once

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Capt Steve Hill, booed at GOP debate, and husband Josh join Freedom To Marry campaign

Captain Steve M Hill and his husband Joshua Snyder discuss how the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from honoring legal marriages of same-sex couples, hurts their family.

More at freedomtomarry.org/military

Hill – who drew national support when he was booed during a Republican presidential debate after asking a question via video regarding repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) – recently returned from a deployment to the Middle East.

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The life of Broadway Gypsies

From CBS News: In theater speak they’re called “gypsies” – the members of the chorus, the ensemble, the singers and dancers who travel from show to show to show. They’re the body and soul of musical theater. I was lucky to be a member of the Great White Way’s best fraternity.

We work on the road for months, maybe years at a time – and someday, we hope, on Broadway. A few of us become bona-fide stars; the legendary Chita Rivera, for example, is known as “Queen of the Gypsies.”

Even if they’re not marquee names, most feel they are ‘living the dream.’ Check out this terrific set of interviews with real Broadway gypsies who embrace and “live the dream” of being on Broadway.

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Secret of HIV’s natural born killers

From Raw Story: Scientists on Sunday said they had found a key piece in the puzzle as to why a tiny minority of individuals infected with HIV have a natural ability to fight off the deadly AIDS virus.

In a study they said holds promise for an HIV vaccine, researchers from four countries reported the secret lies not in the number of infection-killing cells a person has, but in how well they work.

Only about one person in 300 has the ability to control the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) without drugs, using a strain of “killer” cells called cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) cells, previous research has found.

Taking that discovery further, scientists from the United States, Canada, Japan and Germany reported that the strain has molecules called receptors that are better able to identify HIV-infected white blood cells for attack.

The study looked at 10 infected people, of whom five took antiretroviral drugs to keep HIV under control while five were so-called elite controllers who remained naturally healthy.

HIV kills a type of white blood cell called CD4, leaving people with AIDS wide open to other, opportunistic and potentially deadly infections.

“What we found was that the way the killer cells are able to see infected cells and engage them was different,” said Walker.

“It is not just that you need a killer cell, what you need is a killer cell with a (T cell) receptor that is particularly good at recognising the infected cell. This gives us a way to understand what it is that makes a really good killer cell.”

Walker said attempts at creating vaccines had so far failed because the T cell receptors they generated were not the efficient type.

“The next step is to determine what it is about those receptors that is endowing them with that ability,” said Walker.

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Carrie Underwood supports marriage equality

Carrie Underwood has revealed to the Independent that she is a strong believer in marriage equality for gays and lesbians:

“As a married person myself, I don’t know what it’s like to be told I can’t marry somebody I love, and want to marry,” she said. “I can’t imagine how that must feel. I definitely think we should all have the right to love, and love publicly, the people that we want to love.”

Ms. Underwood was speaking to the British newspaper in preparation for her first-ever concert in the UK, which shall be held at the Royal Albert Hall later this month.

From the Independent:

Underwood draws much of her fanbase from evangelical Christians, speaks frequently about her faith and has made religion the subject of several of her best-known songs, including the No 1 country hit “Jesus Take the Wheel”.

She said, however, that her liberal attitude towards same-sex marriage comes because of her Christian values, rather than in spite of them. Though raised a Baptist, a church that tends to oppose homosexuality, Underwood and her husband Mike Fisher, a professional ice-hockey player, now worship in a non-denominational congregation.

“Our church is gay friendly,” she said. “Above all, God wanted us to love others. It’s not about setting rules, or [saying] ‘everyone has to be like me’. No. We’re all different. That’s what makes us special. We have to love each other and get on with each other. It’s not up to me to judge anybody.”

Underwood, 29, swept to fame in 2005 after winning American Idol. In the interview, she condemned “people who use the Bible for hate”, adding: “That’s not how I would want myself as a Christian to be represented.”

Underwood’s new album, Blown Away, and her single, “Good Girl,” currently occupy the top spots on the Billboard country charts.

(Via Towleroad)

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Paramount’s 100th Anniversary in Vanity Fair Magazine

Cameron Diaz, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey, JR., Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta, Robert De Niro and Tom Cruise were among the movie superstars who gathered at Paramount Studios’ fabled Lot 18 for an eye-popping ‘class’ photo to celebrate the film Mecca’s 100th birthday.

Photographer Art Streiber shot the star-studded group snap for Vanity Fair.

The epic moment wasn’t lost on Charlize Theron: “There are moments in your life where you find yourself in circumstances where you just have to pinch yourself. I got to rest my hand on Harrison Ford’s shoulder, while Steven Spielberg was standing next to me – not too shabby.”

In total 116 superstars and movie executives turned up for the once-in-a-lifetime shoot, photographed on the soundstage that housed the Star Trek TV and movie franchises.

Click on the pic to see a large view.