To me, it's a TV show. I don't think much of entertainment awards in general, but the Tonys are particularly overrated (in my opinion).
As far as I know, the Oscars and the Emmys do not have rules actively preventing films and television shows from being nominated just because they were not successful at the box office or had short runs and were not seen by many people.
But they'll accuse such nominations of being gained through cheating :)
