Pajiba

Yeah, that was a big budget just in AGMA dues.

That man is a national treasure!

That was FABULOUS!

Also, the look of wonder on Debra Messing's face was pretty enjoyable.

If we ever start human cloning, NPH is the person we should make copies of.

NPH is fucking amazing. I've always loved the Tony's but ever since he's started hosting they've become such a wonderful event. This has been of the best I've ever seen and I love how he always sticks it to H-wood and knows how to play to the theater crowd.

He should be kind of a permanent biannual host for the Tonys until every other major awards show figures out they need to hire him. He can alternate with Nathan Lane.

Hugh Jackman's pretty good too.

Listened to an interview with NPH on the Nerdist. He's one of the more interesting people I've heard interviewed.

His nerdiest interviews are always fantastic.

See this is why I want him off on HIMYM since he is better than that craptastic show now.

My dad texted me after seeing this last night and told me it was one of the most spectacular things he'd ever seen.

BTW, my dad also recently said that Transformers 2 was better than The Dark Knight.

That's alright....I went to visit my folks recently and my dad called Two and a Half Men "the best show on tv." I'm still picking my jaw up from the floor.

That kind of thing makes me glad that my dad doesn't watch anything but sports on TV.

An awards show that was entertaining start to finish? Will the wonders never cease! To put this in context of how "meh" the Oscars are, compare this performance with "I saw your boobs". Why can't the Oscar folks get their shit together like this?

The only number that fell a bit flat was "Bring it On", but maybe that was bc I was expecting some crazy cheerleading moves.

I think it's the quality of the talent on the stage vs the screen. Typically actors in musicals must be able to sing, dance, AND act. Often a screen actor can get away with being just one (or none) of those things.

Because Broadway people actually care about being entertaining.

Most Hollywood people appear to only care about making money. So it's distressing that they continue to make so much of it.

I had the extreme pleasure of seeing him on Broadway in Assassins back before he reached demigod status. I wish I could go back 9 years and be able to worship that performance the way I would now.

I think he's justification for reviving Company again, if that show weren't so hopelessly dated as to be laughable now.

I didn't think it was possible for me to love him more, but it just happened.

Go, Neil, go!

He's barely even sweating by the end! Brilliant.

It's a little weird to me that nearly all of the new musicals he referenced in the opener were based on movies. I don't keep up that much with musical theater, but are they really that out of ideas?

Oh, but him dissing Tom Hooper was my everything.

YES. They are completely out of new ideas for Broadway with the large financial risks involved. I know a few Off-Broadway composer/lyricists who are knocking out original material, but it's the rarest new show that makes it all the way to the larger theaters (Avenue Q is the biggest that comes to mind, and it went from Off-Broadway to Broadway and back to Off-Broadway), kind of like a record label picking up an artist's first album for redistribution because it's already proven itself.

When I spent a couple of months working in Times Square about 10 years ago, everything was revivals, stunt casting (Edie Falco, Sally Field, Molly Ringwald, John Stamos!) or included the music of a big name like Billy Joel. Too much money involved to take risks (though the best show I saw was "Urinetown" which was new).

Well, I'll give you everything but Edie Falco. Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune isn't really stunt-casting territory; Kathy Bates created the role off-Broadway. Stanley Tucci as Johnny, maybe. Sally Field taking over for Mercedes Ruhl in The Goat, definitely. Sally Bowles in Cabaret was basically intended to be stunt-casting through most of the run, I think, so Molly Ringwald wasn't much of a surprise, but Stamos as the MC after Alan Cumming, Michael C. Hall and Raul Esparza (not to mention before Neil Patrick Harris) was perhaps a bit of a stretch.

Interesting that that year Field was stunt-cast in Albee and Tucci/Falco were doing McNally.

BTW: I consider Claire Danes as Eliza Doolittle as far stranger stunt casting than most.

"Stunt casting" may be stretching it, but she was gathering attention for the 1st time in her career with The Sopranos, so the couple from Des Moines is suddenly willing to pay $85 to see her in person.

I think turning The Mystery of Edwin Drood into a musical is pretty original, but yeah, I think none of the musicals mentioned on the show were based on original material. I imagine that with the large casts and huge production numbers, Broadway musicals are something like summer blockbuster movies, and people feel the need to play it safe.

Unfortunately, Drood was not new - it was a revival of a musical from the 80s (by the guy who wrote the Pina Colada song!)

The delight on the faces in the crowd was great too.

I called the husband to come watch it because I couldn't believe how good it was.

That opening would have killed a lesser man. And every man is less than NPH.

Tyson was a blip I didn't need. Everything else was A-1 perfect.

Is there such thing as a hosting EGOT? NPH needs that. Or at least give him an award for that shimmy and jumping through that hoop. Jesus. The number about TV shows being canceled was almost as awesome, too.

"I want to be in a TV show..." "What?"

Epic!

If NPH played Bob Benson Pete Campbell would have fucked him right there in the office.

I don't care if it's possible or not, NPH should be given a Tony just for that performance.

Well, that's his Emmy in the bag.

THAT. WAS. EVERYTHING.

Probably literally everything.

He really is. He is poise, charm & assloads of talent wrapped up in one adorable dog-licking package.

That opener was AMAZEBALLS. Seriously, loved it.

I love that he was genuinely breathing hard.

He doesn't need a closeup to prove that he was actually singing.