Out of Focus

Damn, don’t you hate it how life sometimes gets in the way of blogging? I know I do – sort of. Well maybe not that much. Except for times like these when I actually have a lot to write about, yet even in my unemployed state, I don’t seem to have enough time to sit down and do it.

Moving on: About a year ago (it was March 25 of last year, to be exact), upon reading some casting news in the trades, I wrote the following: “If the next Batman film/prequel/whatever-you-want-to-call-it (and currently the title is Batman Begins) is not one of the best action films of all time, I’m going to be shocked.” the course of the past year, as news and teasers and trailers filtered in, my excitement did not diminish. And finally last night, doing something I rarely do – attend an opening night of a blockbuster film; too damn crowded – the time was here and Batman Begins had begun.

I hate going into any movie with high expectations. They almost always manage to disappoint one way or another. I do my best to clear my mind and not consider any reviews I may have read and leave my expectations at the door, but I’m also conscious of the reality that doing so completely for anyone really is impossible. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t so horribly upset by the latest Star Wars like so many people, but all I find myself saying about Mr. And Mrs. Smith is how ultra-disappointed I was. (And more detail on those films will come in a future post.) I also am neither a comic-book movie, action movie nor, specifically, Batman, fanatic. I don’t mean any negative connotation from “fanatic” or even freak; and I love great comic-book movies, great action movies and the Batman character. But I don’t have a shrine in my room to any of these things, and I’m as likely to get super-excited over a film with none of these qualities. (Case in point, before Batman Begins there was a trailer for The Constant Gardner, the next film from Fernando Meirelles, the incredible talent behind the absolutely brilliant City of God, and while it’s of course only a preview, it looks absolutely amazing!) In fact, I’m not even a huge fan of the original Tim Burton-directed Batman movies. I thought, as often happens in his films, that Burton let his brilliant visual sensibility get in the way of telling a good story; that the first movie didn’t really have much to do with Batman, himself; and, having read the original, very good and much darker screenplay by Sam Hamm, that it was a missed opportunity. I think there is some greater fondness for the Burton films now that we’ve suffered through the Joel Schuhacker ones, and they were fun; I just never thought they were a brilliant reinvention of the character.

I mention all of this (yes, at length, I know) because Christopher Nolan‘s Batman Begins did something movies rarely if ever do: it blew my expectations right through the roof. I didn’t just love Batman Begins; I’m in fucking awe of it. My friends and I turned to each other after the film and were that weird combination of speechless and babbling. I kept repeating, “What the hell is wrong with this picture? What? Nothing!” There were two lines of dialogue that annoyed me, and one I don’t even remember.

I’ve read plenty of reviews, before and since, and I’m seriously confused as to whether or not I saw the same movie as some critics who had less-than-enthusiastic reactions. Of course, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, but what I keep finding in every negative review I’ve read is not a person critiquing the film as much as being upset that the Batman Nolan gives us is not exactly the Batman this person specifically wants.

And to be fair, maybe that’s why I love this movie so much. Because this is exactly the Batman I want; it’s exactly the story I want; it’s exactly the action I want. This is how a franchise and a character should be re-imagined. Re-invented! With substance. With style. With story. With themes. With personality. With character. And with an absolutely brilliant and supremely creative filmmaker pulling the strings. (Please please please … will someone involved with the James Bond series pay attention. I know I’ve been harping on this, but Batman Begins is how it should be done. Hell, hire Nolan. Get rid of Martin Campbell. Get the right lead. You’ve already picked the right story in Casino Royale. Please let me leave that film next year – or whenever – as excited as I was after this one.)

For all the criticism of summer blockbusters that comes from mainstream critics and (occasionally holier-than-thou) cinephiles alike, it baffles me how someone could potentially not enjoy this film. As much as Sam Raimi has been (justifiably) hailed for Spider-Man and its even better sequel due to his ability to bring a comic book to life with multi-dimensional characters, emotion and actual storytelling while not losing any of the action-packed excitement expected from such a film, Nolan does him at least one better. Yes, I’ll admit some of the philosophical psychobabble at the beginning gets slightly heavy-handed, but it’s rarely actually distracting. And the first third of this film is so brilliantly constructed, straying from simple linear storytelling to really juxtapose the boy Bruce Wayne’s history with his older conflicted self, developing and determining his place in the world, throwing you into the story and flying along – seriously, the first act of Batman Begins, at least as it exists on the screen since I don’t know if the screenplay is constructed exactly the same way, should be utilized in screenwriting classes as an example of how to write and construct exposition without simply boring and telling the audience everything.

Basically, Nolan and co-screenwriter David S. Goyer did three fundamental things that help make this movie so great:

Continue reading “GIVE SOMEONE AT WARNER BROS. A RAISE WHILE I BOW DOWN TO CHRISTOPHER NOLAN”

When the Lower East Side wasn’t yet the ultimate destination point for all things … uhm … nightlife related? OK, let’s start over. Many years ago (10, to be specific), a small bar opened on Ludlow Street. Eventually, bands started playing there. And before you knew it, Luna Lounge became a Lower East Side institution — a place where people could see live music by promising new bands without having to pay a cover (!), and everyone loves no cover, no?

Well tonight, Luna closes its doors, hopefully only for the time being, though. One of the owners of Luna is Rob Sacher, the husband of a friend of mine, and back in August he was one of the first Gothamist Interviews we ever wrote. At the time, Rob was in the middle of searching for a new location for Luna because his lease was running out and the owner of the single-story building which had always been the bar’s home was planning to tear-it-down in order to build a bigger, taller apartment building (or something). It’s worst rereading Rob’s interview. He was pretty frustrated back then with the commercial real estate situation in Manhattan; I can only imagine what he must be thinking and feeling now.

Sadly, here we are over eight months later and still no home has been found. Apparently, Rob is now looking at locations in Williamsburg, and hopefully Luna’s absence from the NYC music scene will only be a short one. But for now, they’re going out in style with five bands performing tonight starting at 8:30 PM, and culminating with The Picture, who will now be the answer to the trivia question: “Who was the last band to ever play Luna Lounge at its home on Ludlow Street.”

Go celebrate or mourn, whatever you choose. But either way, check-it-out, and support yet another great Manhattan establishment that has had to (at least temporarily) close its doors because of how crazy expensive this town has become.

Just 10 days ago, Warner Home Video released The Complete James Dean Collection, which of course really is “complete,” containing the only three feature films the brooding icon lived to make. This September marks the 50th anniversary of Dean’s death in a car accident that cemented his 24 year old visage in the minds of film fans and students for eternity. The collection includes two-disc special editions of Rebel Without a Cause, Giant and, finally out on DVD for the first time, East of Eden.

If you live in New York, Film Forum, as often is the case, is doing Warner Home Video one better. Over the course of the next two weeks, Film Forum will screen brand new 35 mm prints of all three of Dean’s films starting today through next Thursday with Eden. (Rebel will screen for five days from 6/17-6/21, and Giant will show on 6/22 and 6/23.) Everyone should make it a point to see each of these titles on Film Forum’s biggish screens, but if you can only make it to one, don’t miss Eden.

Notable for being both Dean’s first film and the only one actually released before his death, Elia Kazan‘s East of Eden also features Dean’s best performance. Sure, Rebel is the one for which he’s best known: that photo of Dean as Jim Stark in the Red Jacket transcended simple movie advertisement into full on pop culture art and symbolism, but it’s his performance as Cal Trask – the “bad” brother in John Steinbeck’s modern version of Cain & Abel — that really established his persona as the troubled, petulant, impetuous youth for which he will always be remembered. But more important than just the persona or even the greatness of this film is the startling emergence of a gigantic talent unlike almost anything seen on film before or since. It’s not that Dean was specifically the best actor, and certainly he has his more whiny moments that rub a lot of people the wrong way, sometimes even feeling somewhat forced. But Dean had the perfect combination acting chops and, as importantly, screen presence. It is completely impossible to take your eyes off of Dean when he’s on screen. Whatever he’s doing – a line or a short movement – he interacts with the camera effortlessly. It’s why at only 24 and in just three films he was able to become as (and even more) notable a screen icon as many of the stars from his day to the present one.

I know I don’t need to tell anyone in the blogospher that tonight is the broadcast of the MTV Movie Awards, and you sure don’t want to miss that because a) they were taped four days ago so there’s absolutely no chance of any interesting live hijinks; b) the winners of these serious awards celebrating the artistry of film are a magnificently kept secret; and c) if you don’t catch it tonight, MTV will never ever ever EVER show them again. (OK, to be fair, this year, MTV is separating the post-show and the replay of the pre-show and actual show by a whole half-hour with an episode of Britney & Kevin: Chaotic.)

But please don’t let the dire importance of watching the MTV Movie Awards take away from the potential brilliance, or more likely train-wreck, that will be The Cut on CBS (starting at 8 PM). It will be very hard for The Cut to beat the magnificence that was Bravo’s Project Runway, even if Tommy Hilfiger manages to be more entertaining than the huge bore who is Claudia Schiffer. But hey, I’ll give it a shot! Even if the last 30 of The Cut’s 90 minutes runs into the start at 9 PM of NBC’s “new summer hit” (at least that’s what they’re calling it) Hit Me Baby One More Time, which actually was quite entertaining in its own way last week. (Dude, the lead singer of Loverboy got fat! And I don’t mean Phat!) This week features The Knack performing “My Sharona,” Tommy Tutone singing “867-5309” and Vanilla Ice doing “Ice Ice Baby.” Come on — if that’s not good TV, I don’t know what is! (Actually, I do know what it is, but this is good guilty TV. Or something.)

So, as I mentioned yesterday, I hadn’t done a day of movies in a while. I guess since I only got to three (some of you are saying “only?” I’m sure) as opposed to a true marathon of at least four or five, it’s not really a full day, but I must admit – I’m out of practice, and I didn’t plan as meticulously as I usually do. Additionally, my formula for accurately calculating the end times of a film at the AMC 25 (i.e., add 10 minutes to the run time) seems to have been altered. Now you need to add a good 15-20 minutes if you want to come even close to accuracy. I guess I hadn’t really been paying attention that even more commercials and trailers had been added. The end result was, after getting to two, I missed my desired third, and it was two long for me to wait around there for something else, so I left and (shudder!) paid a second admission somewhere else.

Oh, what did I see? In honor of Monday, I decided to only see movies with titles beginning with the letter “L.” Why? Lunes, Lundi and Lunedi – that’s “Monday” in Spanish, French and Italian. Duh! Actually, that’s a big lie. I just happened to see three movies starting with L. But wouldn’t that be cool to actually formulate a personal program that way? No. You’re right. Moving on.

I started with Layer Cake. I already mentioned in my previous post the important Bond-related lessons I learned courtesy of Matthew Vaughn’s drug gangster film, but I wanted to actually talk a bit more about the movie itself, as well as mention the other two features I sat through, Lords of Dogtown and The Longest Yard. Suffice it to say, Layer Cake was by far the highlight.

Continue reading “MOVIE MARATHON MONDAY: A TALE OF THREE ‘L’S”

So I’m actually a week behind on this, but if you missed the new show Lost, ABC is giving you a chance to catch-up. Tonight at 10 PM is the second hour, i.e., part 2 of the “Pilot.” Missing one hour isn’t the biggest deal, and you can always head over to TWoP and read the recap.

What you absolutely should NOT do is miss anything more, and hopefully, ABC will reshow the entire series this summer before season 2 starts in the fall. I haven’t written my post-season wrap-up because I still have to watch the last few episodes of one show I used to like before I completely trash it. But suffice to say, Lost is one series that did what a new show is supposed to do: keep growing and get better as it goes along. Can J.J. Abrams sustain it into a second season? I don’t know. His track record with this kind of series with action and twists actually says no. Alias has managed to go from shockingly fun to beyond absurd, and really has been on a downward slope ever since season 1.

Hopefully, Lost will sustain itself better, but whether it does or not, this first season was a brilliantly constructed 24 hours (minus commercials) of television that should not be missed. So don’t.

Of course, there’s also always the pending DVD.

Wow. I just saw this via Defamer and was absolutely shocked: Anne Bancroft died today at the age of 73. I must have missed or simply forgotten the news that she had cancer. Even though I’m sure he had time to prepare, I’m sure this is a devastating day for her husband, Mel Brooks — that the clown prince of film and theater who certainly is not laughing today.

Bancroft will always be known first and foremost as one of cinema’s all-time great seductresses, the iconic Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate. As brilliant as she was in that seminal late-’60s film, let us not forget her performance in The Miracle Worker, which netted her only Oscar (among 5 total nominations), in a role she recreated after winning the Tony in the stage version on Broadway. Performances in The Pumpkin Eater, Agnes of God and ‘Night, Mother were also very notable.

R.I.P. Anne. We’ll miss you.

Update: The greatest obituary ever?

This post started as something else: a description of my “Monday Movie Marathon,” or at least my attempt at one. I’ve been trying to enjoy at least a little bit of my unemployment, but my brain doesn’t seem to work that way — I’m too stressed about finding work and feel like I should be spending every spare second “looking,” whatever that means. But yesterday I decided I really needed to see a bunch of movies. I didn’t get to as many as I had hoped — scheduling screw-ups — but the first one of the day was Layer Cake, the new British drug gangster film from director Matthew Vaughn. I started writing a post about my day, with brief reviews of all three films I saw when suddenly I found myself off on a tangent (shocking!) regarding James Bond. Next thing I knew, I’d written a ton without even mentioning much about Layer Cake other than, “I liked it.” Critical analysis at its best, if I do say so myself.

I’ll still get to talking about the three Monday movies in another post, but for now, I want to share with you what I learned from Layer Caker, and it has nothing to do with British drug pushers or organized crime.

Vaughn is most notable recently for dropping out of helming X3 reportedly because he didn’t want to leave his two kids and wife Claudia Schiffer for such a long time. Well … that might be understandable, and it may even be true. It’s more likely, however, that he and the studio weren’t getting along on budget or the way the film should be made and the story told, etc. It seems shocking that a studio would willingly let a director out of a contract on a tentpole summer picture that is their likely big money maker just because he’s going to miss his family. But whatever: this is Hollywood and X3 is now Brett Ratner‘s problem. I guess that could make it our problem too, but I’ll withhold judgment and let Brett prove himself on something that may actually fit his seeming affinity for superkinetic movement onscreen. But I digress….

Why is this important? Well, Vaughn is out of work now. Free and clear. And the first lesson of Layer Cake is that Vaughn is a very talented director. Martin Campbell, on the other hand, is not.

Continue reading “THE LESSONS OF LAYER CAKE AS THEY RELATE TO JAMES BOND”

I really thought I had this down, the whole posting at least once a (week)day thing again. Oh well, so I missed yesterday. Big deal. I had a good excuse (which will be in the next post).

But first, all these random bits kept happening or popping to mind this weekend. For instance:

ON Saturday I was suddenly reminded that my TV must be 14 to 15 years old. It’s a crappy 19″ with one input in the back, a standard cable/antenna RF connection. How do I connect my DVD player you ask? Good question? I run it with a regular RCA type yellow composite video cable through a VCR. Oh yeah, I’m living with the kick-ass picture, I am. And when you letterbox those films, the height of the image ends up being somewhere around 6 inches. It’s just awesome. Actually, it’s horrible, and I almost can’t watch it. (Key word: almost.) I can’t watch anything good on it though. I tried to watch a movie I had DiVod from TCM, and I just couldn’t deal. Even things in black and white of a pink tint. I’ve tried to adjust the tint and brightness, and it’s now better, but still awful.

But I haven’t bought a new TV because I can’t afford the TV I want. I hate spending large sums of money on things I consider second rate. It’s sort of the same thing I was talking about on Friday: why spend $65 for crappy balcony seats when $100 for orchestra literally makes all the difference. I feel the same way about TVs. Why spend $300 for something meh when you can put that $300 towards buying that $750 LCD widescreen that would kick ass?

But now I don’t have the option, and I’m trying to find the happy medium. On Saturday, my TV blacked out for a second. Literally, one second. When the image came back, it looked weird. It still was sharp and in-focus, but it was darker and very red. I’m sure a part of the tube basically blew out, which is understandable in a 15 year old TV. So now I need to buy a new one, but I don’t want to spend a couple hundred dollars on a small piece of crap. I also can’t afford to get the 32″ or widescreen that I would love both because of cost and because I’m going to have to move by the beginning of September, and I have no idea what kind of situation in which I’m going to find myself. But I still want to get something decent, and bigger, that will actually make my DVDs look like DVDs for the first time … ever. And of course, buying a bigger TV means needing a new/bigger TV stand too … so the non-existent money not in this unemployed person’s bank account somehow manages to get even more … uhm … non-existent.

Anyway, I’m looking at a Samsung 27″, a Sony 27″ and a Panasonic 27″ … I believe all with digital comb filters and flat tubes. If anyone has any good TV-buying advice, let me know.

MEANWHILE, on Sunday night, the stars came out for the Tonys, but there was obviously tons of cloud cover because only 6.6 Million television watchers gave a shit. That translates to an absolutely pathetic 1.4 rating and 4 share in the desired 18-49 demo. And sadly, the show wasn’t all that bad. There was a clever opening with Billy Crystal coming on and pretending like he was the host; the numbers for Spamalot and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee were great (although I thought Christina Applegate’s performance from Sweet Charity was awful), and the show never actually got tremendously boring. At least not for an awards show.

I’m happy CBS continues to broadcast the Tonys. I just think that maybe it’s time for them to change a bit and, in some way, become more National. Broadway now is not what Broadway once was. There was a time when much of what was popular music came directly from shows on Broadway. In fact, in the 1920s and ’30s, it was mostly the case. There was a time when more films were adapted from Broadway plays rather than the other way around. There was a time when fewer people visited New York, yet Broadway as an institution still had a dramatic influence over theater across the nation. But that time is past. Broadway is now a tourist destination more than anything else. Plays are put up more for commercial viability than for distinctive artistry.

There’s always that one point during the Tonys where an award is presented to a top regional theater from somewhere else in the country. The fact is, the best theater these days is happening at those theaters and Off-Broadway here in town. I’m not sure how one would actually give nationwide theatrical awards – it’s too difficult for any adjudicating body to judge that many plays all over the country as opposed to easily going to a screening or watching a DVD. But if there was a way to connect theater that people could actually see without spending thousands of dollars on a vacation to the people in other parts of the country, maybe they would get more viewers actually tuning in to watch their show. I’m sure there’s a way – it just might take some creative ingenuity, unfortunately, a quality which has been mostly lacking the last few years on Broadway.

LASTLY, just the other night I was having a conversation with a friend about the various network morning shows, and I brought-up how I just didn’t get CNN’s Bill Hemmer. He’s been this rising star at CNN ever since the 2000 election, and I understand he’s very smart, but you know what? He’s not really very good. In fact, he’s an absolutely terrible interviewer. He always has this slightly patronizing, condescending tone, but his youthful face and good looks somehow tempers it. Worst of all, though, is you can tell that he’s just not listening to whoever he’s questioning. He’s always thinking up or preparing for the next question. He asks very few follow-ups, and when he does, they’re often more antagonistic than challenging. Sometimes that’s called for; sometimes it’s just due to lack of creativity.

So color me shocked when yesterday it was announced that Hemmer’s out at CNN. They’re replacing him on CNN’s AM broadcast American Morning and putting together a pair of O’Briens – the new Miles with the old Soledad. Even more surprising, though, was that they’re not reassigning Hemmer or putting him back into the field – it seems that he’s leaving the network all together. Have I missed the news that Hemmer’s got a new high-paying gig elsewhere? “(A)t this point in my career, it is time for me to move forward with a new set of challenges.” What the hell does that mean? It means his contract wasn’t renewed, and he was probably blindsided.

Even worse, this morning if you turned on CNN, there was the old show with Hemmer, O’Brien and Cafferty side-by-side. Can someone say uncomfortable?

Wow. This is how out of it I’ve been; what a lost month May was. The Tonys are this Sunday. That annual night where the world of Broadway tries to pretend that it is still a major part of this country’s cultural landscape by showcasing how much basically mediocre theater one can see at $100 a pop just snuck up on me, and as it did, I realized that for the first time ever (well, at least since I moved to NYC in 1996), I have no vested interest in anything.

My original job in New York at HBO was a godsend for many reasons, but none less than the fact that at the time I was allowed to expense all my theatre. Not just for me, mind you; two tickets, because who wants to go to a play alone. (Well, I would, but why not share the wealth?) I think one of the first shows I went to upon arriving in New York was the revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum starring Nathan Lane. Back then — between 8-9 years ago — the top price ticket for a Broadway musical was $65. AND, I got reimbursed. For everything. I saw so much theater my first two years in New York, it was absurd; and it included everything from major Broadway shows like The Lion King, The Life and Titanic (blech) to smaller off- and off-off-Broadway shows at companies like Playwrights Horizons, the Atlantic Theater Company, Second Stage, La MaMa, New York Theater Workshop, Theater for a New City, etc. Ahh those were the days.

Those days are long gone for me, sadly. The theater I have gotten to the last few years has mostly been thanks to a family member coming to town and wanting to spend some cash. I’d love to subscribe again to many of the rep companies around town, but it’s just too expensive. And while TKTS is a great service, even half-price of a $100 ticket is still $50 … that’s almost five movies — and that’s assuming I don’t pay for one and sneak into four others. I also refuse to pay for the “cheap seats” because they’re not so cheap. You spend $65 or $70 for a balcony seat that is a mile away from the stage, way on the side, and doesn’t allow you to actually see the faces of the actors? It’s not worth it. If I’m going to spend that much, I’ll shell out the additional $30 for a seat that allows me to actually see the show.

Still, I’d love to get to more theater, and I’m very sorry that I can’t have greater insight into the respective merits of this year’s Tony nominees. I think this is the first time that I haven’t seen any of them. While Spamalot and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels are the behemoth’s in the musical category, the show I’m most interested in is by far The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and I will make it a point to see it very soon … somehow. (I’m upset I didn’t get to its more affordable pre-Broadway production at Second Stage as I had originally intended.) It’s the latest work from the mind of William Finn, possibly the most talented and creative writer of musical theater alive today (after, of course, Sondheim). Listen to the soundtracks of March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland and you’ll see what I mean. I can’t actually say that Spelling Bee is a better show than Spamalot or Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (or the fourth nominee The Light in the Piazza), but it certainly has the Avenue Q mantle of little-show-that-could compared to the two blockbuster productions, even if it does have such a great pedigree.

I’ve heard good things about most of the straight play nominees, but I know even less about them. I really have to work on this because it’s upsetting to me. One of the reasons I moved to New York was due to my love and devotion to theater. One of the reasons I want to move back downtown is to be closer to more of the smaller (and therefore more affordable) theaters, although you always take your life in your hands anytime you go to a play … well, really anywhere in this town.

And speaking of taking your life in your hands to see theater, you know what’s just around the corner? That’s right: it’s this year’s edition of the New York International Fringe Festival. I’ve always been fascinated by how the Fringe is programmed. Sure, you hear about the successes that get off-Broadway transfers (like Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical) or even become big Broadway hits (the very clever musical theater satire Urinetown), but really the vast majority of what I’ve seen at the Fringe has been crap. Granted, I never get to as much as I’d like, and I’m sure I’m missing plenty of great, innovative and interesting work, but it seems that the Fringe is always trying so hard to be be so huge and comprehensive that the standards aren’t always that high. And the shocking thing is they don’t accept everything.

I will never forget about 5-6 years ago, I believe, I went to a show that a friend was performing in. It was literally the worst piece of theater I’d ever seen in my life. Worse than any of the craptastic plays performed at my high school. It was absurd and tedious and boring … and I’ve done my best to block-out almost everything about it, yet I still remember that it had something to do with alien abduction. Other things I’ve seen at the Fringe have run the gamut from being mildly amusing to downright awful. And you know, I LIKE theater. I LIKE seeing theater that succeeds in a small space with no budget; no bells and whistles. My favorite work of my own was when I directed a production of David Mamet’s The Duck Variations at UCLA about 15 years ago (oy, I’m old!), and I just stuck my two actors on a bench in the sculpture garden on campus — because they’re characters are two old guys on a bench. Simplicity isn’t bad — bad writing is bad! And there’s often too much of it at the Fringe.

Nevertheless, even with these negative associations with the Fringe, I absolutely applaud them (them being The Present Company who produces the annual theater festival) for the work they do. And talk about affordable? There probably is no better deal in town (at least for theater) than going to as many Fringe shows as possible, so this year, obviously depending on job prospects and time commitments, I do plan to spend a lot of time on the LES in August. Who knows, maybe I might even go to a Newbie Meeting and try to get involved.

In any case, do CBS a favor and watch the Tonys on Sunday night. And do yourself a favor and check out this year’s schedule of Fringe shows.