13 June 2011

Not-Adaptation Wins Tony Awards

No matter what it's called, the musical "The Book Of Mormon" is not in the least an adaptation of the religious book of the same name. (I was kind of hoping it would be so I wouldn't have to read the thing, out of curiosity.) Clearly Tony voters didn't care as they showered it with nine awards last night.

The real adaptation winner was children's writer Michael Morpurgo whose World War I novel WAR HORSE was adapted into this year's Best Play winner. Special shout-out to fellow graduate of my high school Mark Rylance for picking up his second award for Best Actor in a Play (for "Jerusalem," a play taking its name from a William Blake poem), and once again flummoxing the audience by quoting poet Louis Jenkins in his acceptance speech instead of making the customary thank-yous. 

2 comments:

Marjorie said...

I'm totally charmed by the Mark Rylance thing.

Ellen said...

He's so impish and zany. You can practically see the thought bubble over his head reading, "Yeah, I used to run the Globe. Anyone want to tell me to stop?"

I haven't seen him in "Jerusalem" yet but he was great in "Boeing-Boeing" (playing, oddly enough, a man from WI).