The routine with which Billy was saddled presented him as a stage-flopping codfish, bouncing with little method and much madness off wall fragments or police riot shields then, for no discernible reason, erupting in tap dance riffs that lacked anything remotely resembling communication of feeling, except perhaps for the feeling of "Why exactly am I doing this?" What a mess!

Another uncomfortable plane crash witnessed was Liza Minnelli, who may have done a terrific solo limited engagement this year (for which she was given an award) but you couldn't tell that from her execution of either speech or song during the show.

You were sure she couldn't hold it together for lengths beyond atomic clock metrics or carry a note from point a to point b, or find a comfort zone onstage when she had to share it with a mob of other performers and award recipients. Or, not to make too fine a point, confidently remember what she was intending to say.

Even the director of her limited engagement solo show, who was on stage with her when she accepted the award, looked pained with Liza's breathless rambling when she accepted the Tony. Maybe it's time for Liza to exit the public arena, especially on the updraft of this high note of peer appreciation. Why didn't the director work around her weaknesses for the benefit of both her and the audiences? Why?