Tony vs. Tony

Forget Dec. 21, 2012. The world came to an abrupt end on Sunday, June 11 at 10:04 P.M. It ended not with a bang (well maybe, not), but with a Cut to Black.

I'm referring of course to the ambiguous ending of the most hyped TV-series conclusion since "M*A*S*H," the finale of "The Sopranos." Every HBO subscriber in America was glued to the event. Since it would become instant news, I doubt it was being recorded on many DVRs for later perusal. In my case, I had the suddenly mandatory device humming while encoding the three-hour Tony Awards show on CBS. I actually watched the first hour live, then left the next two for later viewing. I knew pretty much in advance which shows would win, and didn't care.

The "Tony" event--the theater one, that is--has distinguished itself among all awards show as the most entertaining, albeit insular, of the species of Self-Aggrandizing Showbiz cavalcades. Since I don't get to Broadway too often it is my only opportunity to view snippets of musicals which I may get to see in their West Coast runs or truncated Vegas versions. Like all awards show, it has its downside in the endless thank you speeches to agents, etc., which thankfully could be sped through thanks to the wonderful 30-second jump button on my DVR remote.

I learned the next morning that "The Coast of Utopia" and "Spring Awakening" won their respective Best Play and Best Musical awards. Later on Monday I watched the show and decided that I'd be more interested in seeing Stoppard's play than the neo-rock German expressionist songfest, which seemed more like an 1895 version of "Hair." The Emmy attendees loved the show, though, so maybe when it's at the Ahmanson... Meanwhile I was more intrigued by the upcoming CBS Series "Viva Laughlin," which was aggressively promoted during the lengthy commercial breaks. Hmm. A series with musical overtones about gambling in the town where I had all my peak gambling experiences. Cool.

I also noticed as I flipped through the commercial interludes a few Broadway tributes from eminent New Yorkers claiming "There's a little Broadway in all of us." Among those testifying were Mayor Bloomberg and, of all people, Alex Rodriguez. I presume Arod's slice of Broadway is "Damn Yankees." In any case, the show in its abridged version was a great improvement, but inevitably a ratings loser on "Sopranos" night. Weird prediction: Is there a "Sopranos" musical in our future?

Then there's Mr. Tony Soprano himself, whose wary, alert visage in the homey restaurant is the last image we will ever have of him and his New Jersey adventures. Like every other live viewer I was at first outraged by the abrupt inconclusive ending of a scene constructed out of all our fears and recollections of previous mafia movies and shows. As the tension built, with Meadow's delayed appearance and an onslaught of banal but subtly threatening images, writer David Chase cut everything off. The show met its sudden end. Are we to think Tony did as well, or is going to continue suspiciously eying every bystander as a threat to his life? Either ending is appropriate, neither is definitive. I choose to believe that Tony actually was shot by the sad sack restaurant patron who wandered off to the bathroom, like Al Pacino in "The Godfather."
After all, the patron was staring suspiciously at Tony, seemingly casing his prey. Meadow had not arrived yet so he would have a clear shot as he rose to go to the john. And the hit man never ordered any food at his bar stool.

Of course it doesn't matter; Chase leaving us to argue the conclusion was probably a more interesting choice than a definitive ending. If looking for some kind of karmic consequences for his criminal actions, there's not a lot of difference between Tony extinguished or feeling eternally imperiled by the threat of instant extinction. Only if there is a "Sopranos" movie will we know whether he survived, and even that can be quibbled if the writers choose to go into an earlier period of Tony's regime and bring back all the dead lieutenants and maybe even Adriana.

But Tony's ultimate disposition was a sample of crystal clarity as compared with the enigmas established in the follow-up Metaphysical Surf drama "John from Cincinnati." Will viewers eight years hence still be wondering who--or what--this character is? Will I care? Dunno. But that would come after Dec. 21, 2012, so it's probably not an issue anyway.