by Linda Holmes

You know, there are sayings in the theater. The show must go on, and so forth.

Another one of them emerged from last night's Tony Awards, and it's this: Whenever it takes five minutes to sort out a tech issue at the beginning of, say, a live-blog, you can guarantee that those will be the five minutes during which Bret Michaels, lead singer of Poison, will be standing his ground instead of retreating and will get conked on the head by a descending stage segment.

You can sort of see the other guys run back behind what turns out to be the problematic piece of scenery the minute the music stops, because they clearly remember from rehearsal that it's time to hustle and get out of the way. Michaels, however, was enjoying his moment (probably unlikely to appear on the Tonys too many times in the future, even before this happened), and he forgot to dash behind the backdrop. Gotta wave to the fans! Give 'em a wave! Love you!

[BONK.]

(His publicist seems to be suggesting he's okay and even hoped to "hit some after-parties," and he didn't break his nose, don't worry.)

The other notable thing, I think, is that while she clearly didn't have any idea what was happening, Stockard Channing managed to launch into "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" in a manner that unavoidably comes off like she's giving you her best exasperated "Aaaanyway..."

Best headline goes to the Times-Picayune, for this: "Opening the Tony Awards, Bret Michaels of Poison chews scenery on Broadway."

categories: Awards Season, Television, Theater

9:40 - June 8, 2009

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