Geeky Impresario | New Media, Comedy, Entertainment Insight by Frank McDade

So, I just returned home after a fantastic trip to New York City and thought that I had left the excitement behind.  Today was a big day in the Theater and Internet award world.  Announced were the Tony Award nominations and the Webby Award winners.  While all of this was happening, it seemed like the words around these were buzzing in Twitter land.  More so for the Webbys than for the Tonys, but I guess that is expected given the perspective industries.  I did my part in playing the field for both.  I’m going to call out some particular nominees.  

The Tonys

I will start off by saying that while I was in New York I got to see Rock of Ages and Hair so I can only base my opinions on that.  In July, I am attending the Broadway Teachers Workshop where I will see Next to Normal and Billy Elliott but that is beside the point right now.  I’m just hoping that what’s in my mind pans out properly.  

Hair is nominated for Best Lighting Design – it was superb.  Between that and the vocals of that group, it really brought down the house.  I was more excited than ever to receive a flower and at the end of the show they invite the audience on the stage for an encore of Let the Sun Shine In.  So great.

This is the view of the audience as the cast of Hair sees it.

The Webby Awards

Okay, so there are so many categories in the Webbys that I can’t morally vote in all of them.  If I don’t know about something, I’m not going to ruin the chances of others.  Those that I did vote for faired pretty well.  My favorites were Jimmy Fallon, Current TV and the Prop 8 Musical.  All were winners.  Congrats guys!

Prop 8 the Musical won in the Comedy category.  If you haven’t seen it yet, do so.  http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/…

Current TV won for Hack the Debate in the Best use of Interactive Video category for their work during the presidential elections where they had a live Twitter feed on the bottom of the TV while the debate was televised.  Anyone using the #current hash tag was thrown in to the poll of online collaborators.  Also, they took home for the work with Vanguard.  A lot of people may not be familiar with Current TV or their work.  That is uncalled for.  Check out their website and read up on them.  They are the future of media.  Cross-platform integration: case in point.

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon won in the Variety category in Online Video, on top of Jimmy Fallon being deemed the Webby Person of the Year.  I honestly love their work.  It incorporates everything that I love: techies, sketch/improv style comedy and combining them to create an interactive experience that engages the community that makes it all thrive.  I think that winning these awards after being on air for only 2 months says a lot, I can only imagine how revolutionary they are going to be in setting the new Late Night standard. Visit http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/ for a good time.  

In Conclusion

I have taken a liking to award shows the past few years.  I’m still trying to catch on to the Grammys but that isn’t working too well.  The Academy Awards and TV Land Awards held my interest (though the Krofft musical tribute was beyond frightening).  I’m hoping that a theater related item is nominated next year.  For example the Broadway show Next to Normal performed the first live theater performance on Twitter.  

Side note: Internet Week in New York is the first week in June.  I kind of want reason to go – I need to justify doing so.

Exciting day.  I’m going to tie this all together through my visit to the Paley Center for Media.  I viewed an episode of The Ben Stiller Show and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  The Ben Stiller Show was a symbol of how sketch comedy shows were in the 90’s and Jimmy Fallon is how we roll in the 00’s.  They may be a different format, but they’re not too far off.  Sabrina was the one where Salem ate her time ball and they were stuck in the 60’s.  Hair is set in the late 60’s early 70’s, Rock of the Ages takes place in the 80’s which happens to be in sequential order.  And I was the piece to tie them all together.  Maybe that didn’t make as much sense as I thought.  Anyways.  Tune in to Jimmy Fallon tonight to see how he celebrates and stay tuned for about another month to see the Tony Awards.

 Peace out.