June 3, 2002

EIGHT IS ENOUGH JUST THE BEGINNING: I was enjoying the hospitality of the fine folks in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday when this very website passed its seventh year and its fourth at the bradlands.com domain. Alas, the AOL and Fastrans files are lost to history, but nostalgia junkies can witness the humble beginnings of Must See HTTP from June 1998. To our considerable surprise, all but one of the links from day one still work just fine.

Also: Congrats and much admiration to Jeffrey Zeldman on his recent 7th anniversary celebration.


Random observations on the 56th Annual Tony Awards:

• There is a seat in hell reserved for whoever cued the orchestra to cut off Elaine Stritch's acceptance speech. Rules are made to be broken.
  
• I thought the Oscars had cornered the market on stilted, trite pre-written presenter banter. Sadly, I was wrong.
  
• It was surprising and delightful to see Into the Woods — flaws and all — trump the emotionally uneven production of Oklahoma for Best Revival of a Musical.
  
• Why wasn't Jeff McCarthy nominated for featured role? Or, hell, lead?
  
• I absolutely adore Harriet Harris, Laura Linney and Lindsay Duncan.
  
• Damn, Hunter Foster is adorable and Sutton Foster is charm personified. Are there any more Fosters at home we should look out for?
  
• Urinetown and Thoroughly Modern Millie shared and played well together. Their parents should be very proud.
  
• Overheard backstage: "The call is half-hour, ladies and gentlemen. Half-hour to the top of the show. Commence defrosting Isabelle Stevenson. Half-hour please."
  
• The Goat taking Best Play shocked the hell out of me, but that was really a hairy category this year, a real coin tosser.
  
• Nice coup by the Millie folks pulling a few strings to get Mary Tyler Moore to present Best Musical.
  
• The PBS portion was, as for the last couple of years, far better produced than the CBS portion. Please just turn the whole damn show over to public television. (In general, the Tonys broadcast has been disappointing overall for the last five years or so.)
  
• Bernadette and Gregory are lovely, but did we really need hosts?

As always, Broadway Stars is on top of the coverage of all things New York theatre-related. Go there for all the news and links.

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