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CNN Live Sunday

Tony Awards Ceremony Gets Under Way Tonight

Aired June 08, 2003 - 16:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Bernadette Peters in "Gypsy" there. Doesn't everyone love her? She's among those being honored tonight as Broadway honors its best and brightest when it hands out the Tony Awards. Among the intriguing contenders, movie heartthrob Antonio Banderas and theater icon Harvey Fierstein. CNN's Whitney Casey is outside Radio City Music Hall in New York with a preview of the goodies the stars will be taking home. But Whitney, not all the stars, just the nominees?
WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no, actually, the nominees don't even get this, only the presenters. And the guru here told me why. I said, well, doesn't everybody get one of these? Especially the winners? He said, no, the winners get a Tony, what's better than that?

Anyway, well, with no further ado here, we've got Lash Ferry (ph). He's had his hand in quite a few goody bags, not cookie jars, goody bags, Grammys, Oscars. He's going to give us basically sort of the lowdown and the highlights of what the presenters are going to get in their goody bags. This is like $10,000 of loot right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little over $10,000 of swag. A nice way to say thank you for coming out on this very special evening.

CASEY: Let's get to it. What do we have here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, one of the highlights for sure that the ladies in particular have been flipping out over is this diamond toe ring from Soho Gem. It's a New York-based (ph) boutique. What more perfect way can you bring in the summer, if it ever gets here to New York, than a diamond toe ring to go with your flops?

CASEY: Oh, yes, I don't know. I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll figure it out. The purse that you've already alluded to is from Debbie Brooks (ph). These are all one-of- a-kind couture bags that people -- are also reversible, by the way. You can turn it over for a more subtle side, or your more fun, funky side. We balance these sort of couture items with things like Olay and Crest Spin Brush Pro so they have those taken care of. Another big highlight item.

CASEY: This is the mac daddy, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the mac daddy. This is $5,200 give gift from the Applesenski (ph) Institute. This is for lasik eye surgery, which you may have heard. I woke up with 20/20 vision the next day, hadn't worn contacts or glasses since.

CASEY: He just had it with his baby blues. He just had this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go. We have coffee and cappuccino being served backstage, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and they also get a little gift that they take away with them. In addition, they have pamper verifies from Sparty (ph). So, you know, we had folks coming back this morning who were tired, just getting up, and they got a little massage and hand massage and that sort of thing.

CASEY: Just stressed out about their presentation? Here's the Tony?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have to get up at 8:00 in the morning. So they are getting their blood circulating. Another highlight.

CASEY: This is what I like the best. Fredricka, look at this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and all the guys have been flipping out over this sort of techy product. It's a digital pen. When you write on the pad and you sing it into your computer, it downloads all of your notes. So you can truly be paperless.

CASEY: So I could write my script on this and then it would be in my computer. If you could understand my handwriting, though. That would be a huge snafu.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You never lose the paper, which is the very, very nice part.

CASEY: All right, W hotels. Fabulous hotels.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you ever stay at these hotels...

CASEY: Love it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... of which there are about 50 in New York, but they can stay at any W hotel here in the city. The Times Square is my personal favorite. They're also -- the furnishings for the entire lounge have been provided by Bombay. This table, actually, is from them. And they transform a very ordinary plain green room into a true amazing respite for these folks to come in, and sit on leather ottomans and beautiful orchids. And Bombay did an amazing job.

CASEY: I'm paying attention to you, but this is like very distracting. I just don't know what to do.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a stationery kit from Angela Adams. And so these are folks who travel. We always try to balance -- it's not just about the price tag. When you had asked about the different price tags of the items. It's really about the convenience and finding fun things for them to enjoy. Most of them are traveling a lot. This is a portable stationery kit for them to -- Bebe Neuwirth for example, she's like why go paperless, it's so romantic to write on paper. So for those who are more timeless romantics, we have stationery products.

CASEY: OK, real quick, we only have like five seconds, where does this rate on a scale of one to 10 in all the bags you've seen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seven.

CASEY: Seven. Not too bad. Fredricka, a seven. This is chocolate. I'm taking it home with me. I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From Mirabel.

CASEY: I have to. Mirabel Chocolate -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Sounds good. OK, this is getting pretty competitive on these little gift bags, because first it was just the items, and now it's an experience that's part of the package. Lasik surgery, eye surgery?

CASEY: I know. Isn't that bizarre?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

CASEY: I mean, maybe that's part of the extreme makeover. The extreme makeovers of the Tonys, lasik eye surgery.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my god. And $10,000. All right. Well, only for the presenters, you say, right? And if they don't need the lasik, then they know somebody who does.

CASEY: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

WHITFIELD: OK, well, that's kind of cute. That's not bad. All right. Thanks a lot, Whitney.

CASEY: Doesn't go with my outfit, though.

WHITFIELD: Oh, you're working it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired June 8, 2003 - 16:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Bernadette Peters in "Gypsy" there. Doesn't everyone love her? She's among those being honored tonight as Broadway honors its best and brightest when it hands out the Tony Awards. Among the intriguing contenders, movie heartthrob Antonio Banderas and theater icon Harvey Fierstein. CNN's Whitney Casey is outside Radio City Music Hall in New York with a preview of the goodies the stars will be taking home. But Whitney, not all the stars, just the nominees?
WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no, actually, the nominees don't even get this, only the presenters. And the guru here told me why. I said, well, doesn't everybody get one of these? Especially the winners? He said, no, the winners get a Tony, what's better than that?

Anyway, well, with no further ado here, we've got Lash Ferry (ph). He's had his hand in quite a few goody bags, not cookie jars, goody bags, Grammys, Oscars. He's going to give us basically sort of the lowdown and the highlights of what the presenters are going to get in their goody bags. This is like $10,000 of loot right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little over $10,000 of swag. A nice way to say thank you for coming out on this very special evening.

CASEY: Let's get to it. What do we have here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, one of the highlights for sure that the ladies in particular have been flipping out over is this diamond toe ring from Soho Gem. It's a New York-based (ph) boutique. What more perfect way can you bring in the summer, if it ever gets here to New York, than a diamond toe ring to go with your flops?

CASEY: Oh, yes, I don't know. I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll figure it out. The purse that you've already alluded to is from Debbie Brooks (ph). These are all one-of- a-kind couture bags that people -- are also reversible, by the way. You can turn it over for a more subtle side, or your more fun, funky side. We balance these sort of couture items with things like Olay and Crest Spin Brush Pro so they have those taken care of. Another big highlight item.

CASEY: This is the mac daddy, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the mac daddy. This is $5,200 give gift from the Applesenski (ph) Institute. This is for lasik eye surgery, which you may have heard. I woke up with 20/20 vision the next day, hadn't worn contacts or glasses since.

CASEY: He just had it with his baby blues. He just had this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go. We have coffee and cappuccino being served backstage, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and they also get a little gift that they take away with them. In addition, they have pamper verifies from Sparty (ph). So, you know, we had folks coming back this morning who were tired, just getting up, and they got a little massage and hand massage and that sort of thing.

CASEY: Just stressed out about their presentation? Here's the Tony?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have to get up at 8:00 in the morning. So they are getting their blood circulating. Another highlight.

CASEY: This is what I like the best. Fredricka, look at this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and all the guys have been flipping out over this sort of techy product. It's a digital pen. When you write on the pad and you sing it into your computer, it downloads all of your notes. So you can truly be paperless.

CASEY: So I could write my script on this and then it would be in my computer. If you could understand my handwriting, though. That would be a huge snafu.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You never lose the paper, which is the very, very nice part.

CASEY: All right, W hotels. Fabulous hotels.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you ever stay at these hotels...

CASEY: Love it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... of which there are about 50 in New York, but they can stay at any W hotel here in the city. The Times Square is my personal favorite. They're also -- the furnishings for the entire lounge have been provided by Bombay. This table, actually, is from them. And they transform a very ordinary plain green room into a true amazing respite for these folks to come in, and sit on leather ottomans and beautiful orchids. And Bombay did an amazing job.

CASEY: I'm paying attention to you, but this is like very distracting. I just don't know what to do.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a stationery kit from Angela Adams. And so these are folks who travel. We always try to balance -- it's not just about the price tag. When you had asked about the different price tags of the items. It's really about the convenience and finding fun things for them to enjoy. Most of them are traveling a lot. This is a portable stationery kit for them to -- Bebe Neuwirth for example, she's like why go paperless, it's so romantic to write on paper. So for those who are more timeless romantics, we have stationery products.

CASEY: OK, real quick, we only have like five seconds, where does this rate on a scale of one to 10 in all the bags you've seen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seven.

CASEY: Seven. Not too bad. Fredricka, a seven. This is chocolate. I'm taking it home with me. I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From Mirabel.

CASEY: I have to. Mirabel Chocolate -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Sounds good. OK, this is getting pretty competitive on these little gift bags, because first it was just the items, and now it's an experience that's part of the package. Lasik surgery, eye surgery?

CASEY: I know. Isn't that bizarre?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

CASEY: I mean, maybe that's part of the extreme makeover. The extreme makeovers of the Tonys, lasik eye surgery.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my god. And $10,000. All right. Well, only for the presenters, you say, right? And if they don't need the lasik, then they know somebody who does.

CASEY: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

WHITFIELD: OK, well, that's kind of cute. That's not bad. All right. Thanks a lot, Whitney.

CASEY: Doesn't go with my outfit, though.

WHITFIELD: Oh, you're working it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com