The Tonys got a glam makeover

By Michael Riedel

I’m not one to drop a name, but I was at lunch Thursday with Tina Brown (thump) and Helen Mirren (thump, thump) when it occurred to me how glamorous the Tony Awards have become.
Tina (as I call her) hosted an intimate lunch at Barbetta for some Tony nominees, with the spotlight on director Stephen Daldry, who’s up for a Tony for his superb production of “Skylight” starring Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan.

Daldry also directed Mirren in “The Queen.” She, too,
Tina interviewed Daldry, who discussed the difference between British and American actors. Americans, he said, like to talk about “character,” delving, Marlon Brando-like, into the deep recesses of their character’s emotional life.

Daldry doesn’t have the patience for that. Neither do British actors. They decide how to play a scene, get on with it, and let the character emerge from the action.
But then Mirren chimed in: “I’ll tell you the difference between American and English actors. Americans show up for the first rehearsal prepared. They know their lines. English actors never come prepared!”

It was a fun lunch — smart, relaxed and, given the crowd, effortlessly stylish.
Once the backwater of the entertainment business, the Tonys are now New York’s premiere summer event.
Not only is Tina Brown hosting a lunch for nominees, but Anna Wintour is dressing them for the event’s red carpet.
I’ve even heard that Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter (Graydon, as I call him) wanted to host a Tony party in New York that would have been the equivalent of the Vanity Fair Oscar party in Los Angeles.

It didn’t happen, my sources say, because Carter was told that, for political reasons, he’d have to invite all sorts of people from the Wing and the Broadway League, the organizations that run the Tonys.
That would have defeated the point of a Vanity Fair party, which is to be as exclusive as possible.

(Check with me next year, Graydon. I’ll draw up your guest list.)
The Tonys have become glamorous because Broadway is booming. More than 13 million people saw Broadway shows in the last year, according to figures released this week by the League. That’s a record.
Broadway grossed nearly $1.4 billion the past 12 months. Another record.

The Tonys have become glamorous because Broadway is booming. More than 13 million people saw Broadway shows in the last year.

And look at the parade of stars on the boards this year — Helen, Hugh (Jackman), Larry (David), Nathan (Lane), Jake (Gyllenhaal).
All my pals!
I’m glad Broadway’s enjoying its moment in the sun. But sometimes I long for the old days, when nobody was paying much attention.

Back then, the Tonys were held in a Broadway theater rather than Radio City Music Hall, and the press room was in an old, threadbare French restaurant on West 51st Street.
Anna Wintour would have been appalled.
But I remember sitting at the bar between Bea Arthur and Angela Lansbury and sipping a martini.
It seemed pretty glamorous to me..