| re: Did American Utopia not invite Tony voters? | |
| Posted by: oddone 10:04 am EST 02/04/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Did American Utopia not invite Tony voters? - ryhog 12:02 am EST 02/03/20 | |
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| Apologies for writing "Nomination Committee" where I meant to write "Administration Committee." I should have proofread better. I was talking about the Administration Committee throughout. I agree the Nominating Committee is irrelevant here. And no, I'm not talking about "Special Tonys." I'm talking about the ruling, once the "Special Event" category was discontinued, where every production would now be considered eligible as either a Play or a Musical. [This was mentioned in all the press of the time, as a quote from Tony Awards press releases, etc.] As far as I know, nothing since has been said to go against this. And nothing in the rules speaks to it. But it would seem to be the case that, in practice, this determination [everything is eligible AS either Play or Musical] is no longer followed. I say this because for years now, it has been these "Special Events" - shows that would clearly have qualified as such back when that category existed - that go unmentioned by the Administration Committee. If a more traditional Play or Musical is deemed not eligible, the reason ALWAYS gets mentioned - for example the revival of Sunday in the Park with George (which very publicly took itself out of the running), or 1984, which was deemed not eligible and then later deemed eligible, after the one uninvited voter recused himself. I mean, I guess "legitimate theatrical production," could be a determining factor. Although I feel like arguing something like American Utopia ISN'T a "legitimate theatrical production" is kind of difficult. And I feel like the concerts could usually be excluded based on the number of performances (which falls into the "regularity of the run" clause, as well as the "making enough performances available to Tony voters" clause), without having to determine whether something is a "legitimate theatrical production." So I'm doubtful that criterion is actually used on its own to disqualify any particular show that would otherwise be eligible. Presumably the producers of these unmentioned shows are on board with them being unmentioned - they either know a show isn't eligible because they decided not to invite voters, or for some other reason. (Not to mention, if producers were thinking they'd be Tony-eligible, I'm sure they'd be petitioning to get it deemed such, and would otherwise want a public statement as to why it isn't. If I was the producer of American Utopia, and I wanted my show to be eligible and invited Tony voters, I would definitely put up a stink if the Administration Committee didn't consider my show because they deemed it "not legitimate.") And I appreciate that shows don't have to be addressed unless there is something to address. but usually, those are things like billing - if a performer is above/below the title, they are lead/featured, unless the Admin Committee rules otherwise. And genre - play vs. musical - is also usually not mentioned (except when it might be questioned whether something is a Revival or a New Work). Meaning, these things that go unaddressed are otherwise obvious/visible. We know WHY such things aren't addressed. But that isn't the case here - we know WHAT shows are not being talked about, but not WHY. It's one thing for the Drama Desk or Outer Critics not to exhaustively list every show they deem not eligible for a given season (and even there, sometimes they will include a statement like "such and such Broadway show was considered last season when it ran Off Broadway." But for the Tony Awards, we're talking, what, 1-2 shows a season? Is it really so onerous not to just include a quick statement acknowledging the very few shows that ran for several months but aren't eligible? Do shows not like to go public if they don't invite voters? Do shows think this is going to depress ticket sales? I realize I'm probably one of the few very people who care about the reasoning here. (I mean, the number of people who wonder when nominations are announced why some Off Broadway show they liked wasn't nominated for Tony Awards shows how out of touch many people are). And clearly, the people who need to know - the producers, the various Tony Committees - know. But if you're someone who likes to see every eligible show (but are not a Tony voter), it'd be nice to know for sure that a certain show is/isn't eligible, especially if you still have the chance to catch it. This whole "silence means not eligible" thing just feels unnecessarily vague. I'm sure there is a reason - I'd just love to know what it is. |
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