Elegant Evening With Tony

NEW YORK — The Tony Awards post-mortems have already been made, so we won’t belabor the event--certainly we won’t nit-pick over who or what won or lost. (As presenter Bernadette Peters said, referring to the nominees who didn’t take home a Tony, “I know what that’s like, too!” Peters is a one-time winner, five-time nominee.)

But despite some critics who are just never satisfied with anybody or anything, I thought Tony hostess Rosie O’Donnell handled herself very well indeed. Her occasional nervousness only made her more lovable and sincere--and boy, does this woman love the theater! Moving the Tonys to Radio City Music Hall gave the show a kind of big-scale glamour. And without the dreaded “musical hook,” employed in recent years to get loquacious speakers offstage, all the winners seemed more relaxed and exuberant. Lots of feminine glamour, including a simple and soignee Susan Sarandon and a busty, be-sequined Raquel Welch. (I think La Welch could have done without the Big Bird feather boa--but what the hell, she’s a movie star!) And Roseanne, resplendent in red, seemed truly happy to be part of the theater community. Roseanne’s sweeter nature was apparent in her beaming face.

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Remember Ted Turner’s $7-million offer asking NBC’s Tom Brokaw to come work for CNN, only days ago? Here’s the way Ted put it, or words to this effect: “Tom, whatever you decide, I am going to make you a helluva lot of money. If you come, CNN will pay you a fortune. Stay at NBC, and they’ll have to pay you a fortune just to keep you!” How satisfying to be the calm, cool and collected Brokaw, who suffered for years in the triad contending for who’s “first” in the evening news.