And the Tony for Best Whooper Goes To...

Posted by Bruce Miller
Like many of us, Lizzie Holland—a rising freshman at Dickinson and one of the more enthusiastic theatre lovers in the Barksdale / Theatre IV family—watched the Tony Awards last night. Like many of us, she whooped and hollered when a particular performance or show biz moment met with her approval. Unlike any of the rest of us, her whoop has been preserved for posterity on the Tony broadcast.

While the rest of us kept adjusting the volume on our TVs, Lizzie was there at Radio City Music Hall for the second year in a row! (See her archived post about last year’s Tony Awards: A Richmond High School Theatre Lover Takes Her First Trip to the Tonys, Saturday, June 28, 2008.)

And last night, when Luci Arnaz said, “Maybe one day, who knows, we might see one of you up here on stage at the Tonys,” and an unseen, wide-eyed starlet in the audience let out a cry of approval, prompting Luci to point into the crowd and shout “Yeah!” … that whooping starlet-to-be was none other than our own Ms. Holland. (You can relive Lizzie’s immortalized fervor by clicking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf-ewioMJv8.)

Lizzie, you see, isn’t shy. She’s kind of like Princess Fred in Once Upon a Mattress. She’s a whooper from way back. In fact, this year at the Trinity High School graduation, they gave a special award for passion for the theatre, and Lizzie won hands down. (That’s Richmond theatre pro Brian Phillips, Lizzie’s teacher, in the photo to the left, giving Lizzie a hug during the Trinity awards ceremony.)

This year, not only did Lizzie attend the Tony Awards, she was one of the approximately 200 theatre aficionados signed on as “seat fillers.” You can read the article from the New York Daily News to learn more about this prestigious appointment: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2009/06/07/2009-06-07_butting_in_on_tonys_cheeky_seatfillers_get_to_rub_elbows_with_celebs.html

And what seats did Lizzie wind up filling? One in the second row, one in the fourth, and one in the sixth. That’s our Lizzie.

I know little more than what I’ve been able to read on her facebook. When she returns home, I’ll try to persuade Lizzie to write another blog post about her '09 Tony experience. Till then, I’ve scattered a few photos throughout this post: Lizzie in front of the Tony poster, Lizzie holding a Tony (don’t ask cause I don’t know), and James Gandolfini trying the avoid the passionate lady with the camera.

See you at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller