Critic’s Notebook: Neil Patrick Harris Hosted the Tonys for Fourth Time

Mr. Harris was hosting his fourth Tony Awards. Even the best hosts of the marquee awards shows have sometimes found that after a few return engagements, the glow dims, often through no fault of their own; the writers or the viewers, or both, just need a change, and the show never catches fire.

Mr. Harris, though, would have none of that. He dazzled the house at Radio City Music Hall with an opening number that had him leaping acrobatically through a hoop, avoiding an effort by Mike Tyson to chomp his ear and pulling a vanishing act that was as impressive on television as it must have been in the theater. (He disappeared from a box onstage, only to reappear moments later at the back of the hall.)

The Tony broadcast always tries for a splashy opening, and this one translated particularly well to television. As often happens, the subsequent show rose to those heights only a few times. One of them came just minutes after Mr. Harris left the stage and the cast of “Matilda the Musical” took it over. If that show’s number didn’t produce an instant spike in ticket sales, there’s no hope for the theater.

In his opening Mr. Harris made the familiar reference to young theater lovers who sit out in the heartland watching the broadcast and dreaming that they will someday be on Broadway. Many of them probably watched this show and realized they had better pack their bags for New York before they grow too old to be cast. There may have been more young children on the Radio City stage than there were grown-ups, what with the musical selections from “Annie,” “A Christmas Story, the Musical” and other kid-heavy shows. Certainly the broadcast made the case, if it needed making, that New York can be a family friendly destination for those who can afford it.

Presumably many of those heartlanders are fans of the television series “Glee,” and the song from “Annie” certainly caught their attention. It featured Jane Lynch, a star of “Glee” and a recent addition to “Annie” in the role of Miss Hannigan. A theater wonk’s dream.

Another TV show that you might have thought would be referenced all night, the recently canceled backstage drama “Smash,” wasn’t much of a presence, perhaps because it was an NBC series and the Tony broadcast was on CBS. But one of its stars, Megan Hilty, did turn up in a comic number featuring stage actors who have tried television and been canceled (with Mr. Harris, star of the very successful CBS series “How I Met Your Mother,” providing the counterpoint). The number wasn’t great, but these days the connection between Broadway and Hollywood has to be acknowledged.

Instead of the expected running gag about “Smash,” viewers were served a running gag about Mr. Tyson, the former boxer, who had a one-man show on Broadway last summer. Mr. Harris tossed in Tyson jokes as he went along, in addition to bringing him onstage during that opening number for a gag referencing the time that Mr. Tyson bit an opponent’s ear. You almost expected Mr. Tyson to walk out when Ms. Lynch, singing the song “Little Girls” from “Annie,” delivered the lyric, “I’d like a man to nibble on my ear, but I’ll admit no man has bit.”

Sandy, the dog from “Annie,” gave the show one of its better moments during a two-shot with Mr. Harris, licking the host’s face enthusiastically and giving Mr. Harris some choice ad-lib opportunities. But things grew sluggish after that.

Remember all those heartland youngsters who are even now bound for New York? The first thing that should be required of them when they hit town is enrollment in a class where they are taught how to give an acceptance speech in 30 seconds or less. Because should they eventually realize their dreams and wind up onstage holding a Tony, what they actually have in their hands is the power to kill the momentum of the broadcast with an overly long acceptance speech.

Though the show ran long, Mr. Harris still got to close again with an insta-song, written during the program and making reference to what happened during the broadcast. It wasn’t as funny as last year’s, though. Maybe that Host Fatigue Syndrome was showing itself after all.

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