WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2002
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN -19
That spacey, ambient sound is brought to even greater heights on The Last Broadcast, as the band reaches much of the promise showed on its debut.
That potential may not be tapped out, as songs like "Friday's Dust" and "Caught by the River" show nearly as much capacity for future greatness as
some of the numbers from Radiohead's The Bends.
Although The Last Broadcast doesn't show as much musical variety and experimentation as Lost Souls, the band benefits by creating a much more cohesive album and focusing even more on emotion than psychedelia.
Anyone who enjoys Britpop originals like The Smiths or Charlatans UK or current bands like Travis and Coldplay could do far worse than The Last Broadcast. So could fans of any musical genre, as the album stands out for its emotion and quality no matter what your taste. Rating: 8.5 out of 10.
An album for the summer:
Alfie's A Word in Your Ear
Alfie, A Word in Your Ear, XL Recordings
Floating in the neo-psychadelia soundscape with Super Furry Animals, Mercury Rev and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Alfie's second full-length album features beautiful pastoral sounds that are perfect for summer lounging on the front porch. Rating: 7.5 out of 10.
Chronister is a Pittsburg senior in journalism.
'Thoroughly Modern Millie' wins Toneys
NEW YORK (AP) — An old-fashioned Broadway musical about a small-town girl's quest for love and riches in New York now has a fairy-tale ending for itself and its unlikely young star.
"Thoroughly Modern Millie" won six Tony Awards on Sunday, including best musical and best actress for Sutton Foster, a 27-year-old former understudy in the show who landed the title role.
"To say that this is a dream come true is an understatement," an ebullient Foster said in accepting the award at Radio City Music Hall.
"The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?" — Edward Albee's dark comic drama that provocatively delves into the nature of sex and love—won for best play. It was Albee's second Tony, coming nearly four decades after his 1963 award for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf."
Albee, who has won three Pulitzer Prizes, wryly thanked his producers for their "faith, the outrageous faith, that Broadway was ready to see a play about love."
In doling out winners, Tony voters were far more evenhanded than they were last year, when a record 12 of 22 competitive awards went to the smash hit "The Producers." This year's prizes were divided among 11 shows.
Besides best musical and lead actressmusical, "Millie"—based on a 1967 movie starring Julie Andrews — won for featured actress-musical, Harriet Harris; choreography, Rob Ashford; costumes, Martin Pakledinaz; and orchestrations, Doug Besterman and Ralph Burns.
Yet while "Millie" took home the most honors, it wasn't a true standout. The unconventional "Urinetown," a social satire that emerged three years ago from the New York International Fringe Festival, and which pokes fun at various musical theater traditions, won for best score, book of a musical and best direction.
The last musical to win best book and score and then lose the top prize, as "Urinetown" did, was "Ragtime" which lost to "The Lion King" in 1998.
Alan Bates and Frank Langella — who face off in "Fortune's Fool" — both won Tony's: Bates as best actor-play for his portrayal of an impoverished nobleman and Langella, in the featured category, for his portrait of an extravagant fop.
John Lithgow, who plays a devious New York gossip columnist in "Sweet Smell of Success," took the prize for best actor musical.
Mary Zimmerman, who adapted and directed "Metamorphoses" — a series of playlets based on the writings of the ancient poet Ovid — took the prize for direction of a play.
"I would like to thank every person I've ever met in my life," Zimmerman said as she fought back tears.
"Private Lives" won for best revival of a play as well as for actress-play — given to Lindsay Duncan for her role as Amanda, the world-weary sophisticate in the Noel Coward comedy. It also won for its set designs, by Tim Hatley.
Katie Finneran of the comedy "Noises Off" won in the featured actress-play category, while Shuler Hensley was chosen as featured actor in a musical for his role as the brooding Jud Fry in "Oklahoma!"
"Into the Woods"beat out "Oklahomal" for the musical-revival prize and also won for best lighting.
Two shows that were nominated for awards but shut out Sunday included the box-office success "Mamma Mia!" and "Topdog/Underdog," whose author, Suzan-Lori Parks, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in April.
Some of the evening's heartiest applause went to Elaine Stritch, who won a Tony that has eluded her since 1956, when she received the first of her four previous nominations.
The 77-year-old performer got the special theatrical event prize for her onewoman show, "Elaine Stritch at Liberty." In her acceptance speech, she told of an admirer who wanted to follow in her footsteps. "I told her to wear comfortable shoes," Stritch said.
Stritch, who began her remarks goodnaturedly, turned visibly angry when her speech was cut short to accommodate the live television broadcast.
CBS blames the popular NBA playoff game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings for siphoning off viewers.
The show was watched by just under 8 million viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research ratings released Monday. That's down 11 percent from last year and would make it the least-watched Tony telecast for which records are available.
"Unfortunately, we ran into a little bit of a juggernaut with the L.A. Lakers," said David Poltrack, CBS' chief research executive.
Though security was tight, there were few references to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that briefly shut down Broadway just as the season kicked off, and which had many worried about irreparable harm to the industry.
Both grosses and attendance were down only slightly from the previous season's banner year, but a sense of nervousness persists. Advance ticket sales have faltered with audiences preferring to buy at the last minute or only a week or two in advance.
The Tonys are a joint presentation of the League of American Theatres and Producers and the American Theater Wing, which founded the awards in 1947. Nominees were chosen by the 27-member Tony nominating committee of theater professionals. Winners then were voted on by 731 theater professionals and journalists.
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