{"id":93923,"date":"2025-06-15T17:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T00:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=93923"},"modified":"2025-06-16T03:45:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T10:45:01","slug":"tonys-aftermath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2025\/06\/15\/tonys-aftermath\/","title":{"rendered":"Tonys Aftermath"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cPeople are going to label you.  You have to be ready for that,
\nbecause it\u2019s not going to be easy.  And I will be by your side 100%.”
\n– <\/em>Gloria Estefan <\/strong>shares what she told her daughter Emily <\/strong>when she wanted to come out.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

With the Tony Awards<\/em>, we mark the end of Awards Season <\/em>and also the beginning of Pride Month<\/em>.  This is not happenstance \u2013 after all, nothing is gayer than the Tony Awards<\/em>.  This year, Cole Escola <\/strong>was the first non-binary performer to win Best Leading Actor in a Play <\/em>\u2013 beating poor George Clooney<\/strong>, who has said he didn\u2019t think he had a chance.  What was the first thing Cole did after winning?  Throw some shade on Nicole Scherzinger <\/strong>\u2013 who he seemed to like during The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>\u2019s actors roundtable.  He was in the press room backstage when Nicole won her Tony <\/em>for Best Leading Actress in a Musical <\/em>\u2013 besting Audra McDonald.  And he quipped, \u201cWow, the speculating is over.  Four years.  Four more years.\u201d  Most interpreted that as a reference to Scherzy liking a Russell Brand <\/strong>post where he was wearing a red cap with the words \u201cMake Jesus First Again\u201d in the MAGA style.  Cole clarified with a video: \u201cWhen I made that joke…. I meant it like, well, she won, she\u2019s who we\u2019ve got for the next four years, as if I think winning Best Actress in a Musical <\/em>is the same as winning a presidential election.  But, you know, people just want to pit us Broadway <\/em>gals against each other.  And I think it\u2019s sad.  I think it\u2019s sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cynthia Erivo <\/strong>keeps going from strength to strength.  For instance, on the eve of the Tonys<\/em>, was she home resting up for the big night?  Nope \u2013 she was in DC closing out the WorldPride <\/em><\/strong>concert!  Then she hosted the Tonys <\/em>with her typical aplomb, including great opening and closing numbers (to say nothing of a stirring In Memoriam <\/em>duet) and about a dozen frocks.  What\u2019s next?  Well, I\u2019ve already told you she\u2019s starring in Jesus Christ Superstar<\/em><\/strong> this summer at the Hollywood<\/em> Bowl<\/em>…as Jesus<\/strong>!  Adam Lambert <\/strong>is Judas <\/strong>(I\u2019ve always thought he\u2019d make a fetching Mary Magdalene<\/strong>).  And she kicks off 2025 in London\u2019s West End<\/em> in a one-woman show, Dracula<\/em><\/strong>, where she plays 23 roles (shades of Dorian Gray<\/em><\/strong>).  It opens at the Noel Coward Theatre <\/em>on February 4th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

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Near the beginning of the Tonys<\/em>, Megan Hilty <\/strong>performed a number from \u201cDeath Becomes Her\u201d.  And not just any number.  \u201cFor the Gaze\u201d may be the gayest number to ever grace a Broadway <\/em>musical, and Megan stopped the show in more ways than one.  Days later, she announced she\u2019s stopping being in the show \u2013 at least temporarily.  \u201cWe are athletes.  And just like a professional basketball player, we are going to get injured from time to time \u2013 not because we aren\u2019t good at our job, it simply comes with the territory because of the extraordinary demands we put on our bodies.  Thank you for your patience and support while I take this time to take care of myself to ensure my longevity with the show and my career, in general.\u201d  Prior to announcing her month-long sabbatical, she revealed to The New York Times <\/em>that she was diagnosed with tendonitis in her throat.<\/p>\n

Of course, Megan starred in the TV show Smash<\/em><\/strong>.  While many readers of this column are fans of the short-lived series, apparently there weren\u2019t enough fans to keep the Broadway <\/em>musical open.  After receiving only two Tony <\/em>nominations and no wins, it will shutter on June 22nd<\/sup>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cPeople are going to label you.  You have to be ready for that, because it\u2019s not going to be easy.  And I will be by your side 100%.” – Gloria Estefan shares what she told her daughter Emily when she wanted to come out. With the Tony Awards, we mark the end of Awards Season<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93923"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93941,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93923\/revisions\/93941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}