"Thoroughly Modern Millie". Image via Google.

Buckle up, gang, the years are flying by again as we hit the gas on our time machine. With 1972, 1982 and 1992 in our rear view mirror, 2002 is rising before us in all its palindromic glory.

And what does Tony-night look like to us time travelers as we step into the celebrity-packed theater? Sutton Foster is beaming; future Smash cast mates Christian Borle and Brian d’Arcy James are a seat away from each other; Bernadette Peters bubbles and coos. In fact, it’s all eerily similar to where we live today except for the nagging feeling that everything and everyone looks a bit fresher and less lived-in — like we all went to sleep in New York and woke up in Toronto.

Edward Albee’s The Goat or Who is Sylvia? takes the top prize for plays while Thoroughly Modern Millie bests Urinetown in the Best Musical category, though that feisty little show grabs a number of other statuettes. As for the performances, the less said about the awkward “tell the whole story in 3-minutes” mega-mix strategy employed by Mamma Mia and the Into the Woods revival the better. (How often are those two shows ever in the same sentence?) Seriously, a note to today’s producers planning their Tony performances — do one whole number! Musicals don’t cut into nice neat little movie trailers. Songs are meant to be experienced as a build to climax.

So where shall we start watching? How about at the very beginning? It’s a very good place to start, I hear…

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