June 10, 2025 • 7 mins
Johnny Oleksinski joined Mendte in the Morning to talk about the Tony Awards this past Sunday and how many of his predictions came true.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, as I said a moment ago, and you heard
him yourself. Jenny Olagzinski, entertainment critic for The New York Post,
is here and last week when you were here, you
were talking about the Tony Awards and what you expected
and correct me if I'm wrong, But you really did
well in your predictions about who was going to win,
especially when it came to the big winner maybe happy ending.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I did very very well. Oftentimes my crystal ball needs
some wind decks, and I go back and look at
my predictions. One time for the Oscars. I remember the
editor said in the headline it's at our critics can't
miss predictions, said, maybe we can soften that a little bit.
I do miss sometimes, but yeah, I did great. The
one that I got wrong was the play purpose defeated
(00:45):
Oh Mary. I think very very narrowly. But at the
same time, I gave both of those four stars, so
I won either way.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And also everybody seems stunned by that. Yeah, I'd be
writing after writing after writing. It seemed like people were
saying that was unexpected.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Because Oh Mary got Best Actor and Best Director, so
it looked like it might be headed in that direction.
But it didn't. And so that was one of the
bigger surprises. But yeah, maybe happy ending Ones, Sunset Boulevard,
Nicole Scherzing or beat Audre McDonald. I was one of
the few people that said that.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Wow, you did extremely well.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I thought I would compliment you to stop you from
complimenting yourself, but it still didn't stop you.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Oh you can't stop me from complimenting myself. No one
can with this ego.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
So the Tony said pretty well in the ratings, right.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Actually, yes, And I'm so unused to coming here and
talking about an award show improving. Usually it's at every
year you kind of hear the funeral march. Yeah, but
the Tony's ratings went up forty percent. Now look it's
not we're not talking Oscar's numbers or Super Bowl numbers.
It went up to four point eight five million, which
is just short of I think twenty nineteen it was
like at five million people. But the big thing to
(01:56):
remember with the Tony Awards is that the people that
walked the Tony Awards are all very, very interested in broadways.
So you actually have four point eight five million potential
ticket buyers for just forty theaters that see the thousand
so it is a very important vehicle for selling all
these shows that are competing for audiences.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Right, So it's a limited audience.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
I get that, and especially for the shows that are
currently in theaters, which is what's up for rewards. But
when you bring back the Hamilton cast which has been
across the country and on TV, all of a sudden
you have the entire country interested. Can the Tonys learn
from that?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Well? Sure, well it's tough. It's tough because Hamilton, you know,
that little show that needed all this publicity because they
are really Hamilton is really struggling right now. There are
very few shows like Hamilton, or Phantom of the Opera
or Cats that everybody knows Hamilton. This is the tough
thing about the Tonys. I'm really glad that maybe Happy
(02:53):
ending one, but Hamilton still is really Broadway's last big hit,
and that is ten years ago. So as cool as
it was to see them all gathered everybody at the parties, afterwards,
we're talking about how this kind of reminds us that
we have a long way to go because to get
another Hamilton.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Right, is there anything in the pipeline that you see
that could rise not to Hamilton's level, but be a
big hit.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Maybe the Dolly Parton life story that'll unite America. Everyone
loves Dolly Parton. That's coming next season.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Really now, that will be a big hit if it's any.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Good it hopefully, and I don't believe it's all Dolly
part I think she's writing some new songs and hopefully
they're good because I just want you know Islands in
the Stream on a loop versus and Joelene.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
What about the Britney Spears musical.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well, I went to see there was a Britney Spears
musicals about Disney princesses called Once Upon a One More
Time two seasons ago, which was my rare zero star review.
I've never been so miserable in the theater and I
don't mind the songs of Britney Spears, but they they'll
need to figure out how to tell that story. Also,
she's a wacko. Have you seen her holding these knives
(04:02):
on Instagram? Getting the car kids? Let's go see the
Crazy Britney Spears musical.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, she definitely has mental health issues and maybe that
conservatorship shouldn't have ended because it's it's you feel for
you when you watch those videos.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Sure, but I don't want to go to a musical
where she sings a ballad about her conservatorship. Kind of weird.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So Sylvester Salone is crossing the picket line. Huh is
anybody going to join him?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Oh? Wait? Wait, what's he doing? Still?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
That's because Solve'ster Salone is crossing the picket line. He's
going to do a talk at the Toronto Film Festival
for a new documentary about himself.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I regret to inform you this happened last year.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Oh that's in my notes here. Sorry about that.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Those notes must be old. Well, you know sometimes I
come here with very old topics, so I can't blame you,
you know what.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
I'm afraid to read anything else off this.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
So so this is something that really freaked me out
and irritated me. There was a Katie Perry concert in
Australia a few days ago and a fan gets up
on stage and hugs her and she has to push
them away, and then security swarms and she keeps going.
But if fans keep doing stuff like this, because remember
(05:19):
in twenty twenty three that fans were hurtling objects at
the stage. They were throwing I think someone through a
cell phone at Drake someone up through a drink at
maybe it was Bebe Rexa. They're gonna take these things
away from us. If fans who claim to be into
these artists assault them, it's terrifying.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
No, and many many acts like to go out into
the crowd. Many many acts like to walk down and
shake hands and it several times it's turned out bad.
There's been many videos of people going down there and
having to security, having to run over because somebody have
of course they're there. They love this person. They come down,
(06:02):
they talk to them, and they hold onto them a
little too close, or they grab on to them, or
they kiss them, which they didn't wanted. So I think
that probably the smartest person in all of this is
Taylor Swift when she Have you ever seen one of
her concerts with all the security.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I'm sorry, I worked for the New York Post. I
can't afford it.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You don't have to go to see her. And by
the way, she fired she fired a security guard last
year for dancing along and singing along with her.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Good My favorite thing. I love when you go to
a show and you see those big burly guys at
front and then you kind of stare at their face.
You know, their faces never move, and you think, what's
going on in their head? Are they are they actually
kind of listening to the comedian or the singer, or
are they assessing all of us out? Because that's what
you want. You want to feel protected. You want Taylor
(06:54):
to feel protected, so we can all have a good
time and not have nice things taken away from us,
all take for a whole concert tour to go away
as one loser, exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
And that's why she's so smart too, because she brings
people up on stage, and it's usually little girls, you
know what I mean. It's usually young girls, and so
she knows they're not gonna be a threat, and it's
gonna be cute, it's gonna be adorable. But she never
walks out, walks out on the stage. As a matter
of fact, her security has been heralded over and over
again as to the fact that it should be copied.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, yeah, Taylor Swift. By the way, have you heard
the rumors about Taylor Swift might be married?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I did hear this? Is there any truth to that whatsoever?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
I bet it's just a typo. That's my good Taylor
Kelsey just a Typo.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Thanks so much, Johnny Oligzinsky. I'll bring up this year's
stories next time. Johnny Oligzinsky, entertainment critic for The New
York Post,
Well, as I said a moment ago, and you heard
him yourself. Jenny Olagzinski, entertainment critic for The New York Post,
is here and last week when you were here, you
were talking about the Tony Awards and what you expected
and correct me if I'm wrong, But you really did
well in your predictions about who was going to win,
especially when it came to the big winner maybe happy ending.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I did very very well. Oftentimes my crystal ball needs
some wind decks, and I go back and look at
my predictions. One time for the Oscars. I remember the
editor said in the headline it's at our critics can't
miss predictions, said, maybe we can soften that a little bit.
I do miss sometimes, but yeah, I did great. The
one that I got wrong was the play purpose defeated
(00:45):
Oh Mary. I think very very narrowly. But at the
same time, I gave both of those four stars, so
I won either way.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And also everybody seems stunned by that. Yeah, I'd be
writing after writing after writing. It seemed like people were
saying that was unexpected.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Because Oh Mary got Best Actor and Best Director, so
it looked like it might be headed in that direction.
But it didn't. And so that was one of the
bigger surprises. But yeah, maybe happy ending Ones, Sunset Boulevard,
Nicole Scherzing or beat Audre McDonald. I was one of
the few people that said that.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Wow, you did extremely well.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I thought I would compliment you to stop you from
complimenting yourself, but it still didn't stop you.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Oh you can't stop me from complimenting myself. No one
can with this ego.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
So the Tony said pretty well in the ratings, right.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Actually, yes, And I'm so unused to coming here and
talking about an award show improving. Usually it's at every
year you kind of hear the funeral march. Yeah, but
the Tony's ratings went up forty percent. Now look it's
not we're not talking Oscar's numbers or Super Bowl numbers.
It went up to four point eight five million, which
is just short of I think twenty nineteen it was
like at five million people. But the big thing to
(01:56):
remember with the Tony Awards is that the people that
walked the Tony Awards are all very, very interested in broadways.
So you actually have four point eight five million potential
ticket buyers for just forty theaters that see the thousand
so it is a very important vehicle for selling all
these shows that are competing for audiences.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Right, So it's a limited audience.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
I get that, and especially for the shows that are
currently in theaters, which is what's up for rewards. But
when you bring back the Hamilton cast which has been
across the country and on TV, all of a sudden
you have the entire country interested. Can the Tonys learn
from that?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Well? Sure, well it's tough. It's tough because Hamilton, you know,
that little show that needed all this publicity because they
are really Hamilton is really struggling right now. There are
very few shows like Hamilton, or Phantom of the Opera
or Cats that everybody knows Hamilton. This is the tough
thing about the Tonys. I'm really glad that maybe Happy
(02:53):
ending one, but Hamilton still is really Broadway's last big hit,
and that is ten years ago. So as cool as
it was to see them all gathered everybody at the parties, afterwards,
we're talking about how this kind of reminds us that
we have a long way to go because to get
another Hamilton.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Right, is there anything in the pipeline that you see
that could rise not to Hamilton's level, but be a
big hit.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Maybe the Dolly Parton life story that'll unite America. Everyone
loves Dolly Parton. That's coming next season.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Really now, that will be a big hit if it's any.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Good it hopefully, and I don't believe it's all Dolly
part I think she's writing some new songs and hopefully
they're good because I just want you know Islands in
the Stream on a loop versus and Joelene.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
What about the Britney Spears musical.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well, I went to see there was a Britney Spears
musicals about Disney princesses called Once Upon a One More
Time two seasons ago, which was my rare zero star review.
I've never been so miserable in the theater and I
don't mind the songs of Britney Spears, but they they'll
need to figure out how to tell that story. Also,
she's a wacko. Have you seen her holding these knives
(04:02):
on Instagram? Getting the car kids? Let's go see the
Crazy Britney Spears musical.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, she definitely has mental health issues and maybe that
conservatorship shouldn't have ended because it's it's you feel for
you when you watch those videos.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Sure, but I don't want to go to a musical
where she sings a ballad about her conservatorship. Kind of weird.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So Sylvester Salone is crossing the picket line. Huh is
anybody going to join him?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Oh? Wait? Wait, what's he doing? Still?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
That's because Solve'ster Salone is crossing the picket line. He's
going to do a talk at the Toronto Film Festival
for a new documentary about himself.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I regret to inform you this happened last year.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Oh that's in my notes here. Sorry about that.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Those notes must be old. Well, you know sometimes I
come here with very old topics, so I can't blame you,
you know what.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
I'm afraid to read anything else off this.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
So so this is something that really freaked me out
and irritated me. There was a Katie Perry concert in
Australia a few days ago and a fan gets up
on stage and hugs her and she has to push
them away, and then security swarms and she keeps going.
But if fans keep doing stuff like this, because remember
(05:19):
in twenty twenty three that fans were hurtling objects at
the stage. They were throwing I think someone through a
cell phone at Drake someone up through a drink at
maybe it was Bebe Rexa. They're gonna take these things
away from us. If fans who claim to be into
these artists assault them, it's terrifying.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
No, and many many acts like to go out into
the crowd. Many many acts like to walk down and
shake hands and it several times it's turned out bad.
There's been many videos of people going down there and
having to security, having to run over because somebody have
of course they're there. They love this person. They come down,
(06:02):
they talk to them, and they hold onto them a
little too close, or they grab on to them, or
they kiss them, which they didn't wanted. So I think
that probably the smartest person in all of this is
Taylor Swift when she Have you ever seen one of
her concerts with all the security.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I'm sorry, I worked for the New York Post. I
can't afford it.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You don't have to go to see her. And by
the way, she fired she fired a security guard last
year for dancing along and singing along with her.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Good My favorite thing. I love when you go to
a show and you see those big burly guys at
front and then you kind of stare at their face.
You know, their faces never move, and you think, what's
going on in their head? Are they are they actually
kind of listening to the comedian or the singer, or
are they assessing all of us out? Because that's what
you want. You want to feel protected. You want Taylor
(06:54):
to feel protected, so we can all have a good
time and not have nice things taken away from us,
all take for a whole concert tour to go away
as one loser, exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
And that's why she's so smart too, because she brings
people up on stage, and it's usually little girls, you
know what I mean. It's usually young girls, and so
she knows they're not gonna be a threat, and it's
gonna be cute, it's gonna be adorable. But she never
walks out, walks out on the stage. As a matter
of fact, her security has been heralded over and over
again as to the fact that it should be copied.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, yeah, Taylor Swift. By the way, have you heard
the rumors about Taylor Swift might be married?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I did hear this? Is there any truth to that whatsoever?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
I bet it's just a typo. That's my good Taylor
Kelsey just a Typo.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Thanks so much, Johnny Oligzinsky. I'll bring up this year's
stories next time. Johnny Oligzinsky, entertainment critic for The New
York Post,
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