2020 Tony Awards: Digitally in Fall 2020

[Paul Sheehan Joined: May 14th, 2011 Topics: 64 Posts: 21 View Predictions]

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Tony Award Productions announced today that they will present the American Theatre Wing’s 74th Annual Tony Awards digitally this fall. Final eligibility determinations will be made by the Tony Awards Administration Committee in the coming days. Additional information, including a date and platform for the awards ceremony, will be announced soon. The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

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[Jeffrey Kare Joined: Jan 23rd, 2013 Topics: 123 Posts: 5297 View Predictions]

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I wonder how eligibility is going to work. Are they going to do something similar to what the Outer Critics Circle Awards did this year by having a virtual awards ceremony where rather than picking individual winners, they would have a list of multiple honorees in all categories?

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[Djoko Joined: Feb 14th, 2012 Topics: 0 Posts: 204 View Predictions]

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Terrible idea. Expect crappy winners. On top of that, many voters didn’t even get to see all the productions. And the Tonys are supposed to be about LIVE theatre and performances and instead they’re going to do it digitally??? The show is supposed to help shows sell tickets at the box office, but with nothing going to open till at least the spring what the hell is the point of this???

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[Awardsfan1990 Joined: Mar 28th, 2015 Topics: 102 Posts: 5439 View Predictions]

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The theater community really needs a morale boost right now, so I think this is a great idea. Sure, it may not be the same, but in my opinion, any kind of recognition is better than no recognition at all.

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[Sam Eckmann Joined: Jan 17th, 2012 Topics: 1 Posts: 57 View Predictions]

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There are more than enough quality shows to compete as normal on the Play side of the ceremony. But not many musicals opened in the first half of the season before the pandemic hit.

So, I would suggest lumping the gendered performance categories for actor and actress together on the Musical side. This would result in just Lead Performance in a Musical and Featured Performance in a Musical. Otherwise some categories (the men) won’t be able to fill out all the nomination slots. Especially if the bit in the NY Times article is true that Girl from the North Country and West Side Story will not be eligible this season.

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[Awardsfan1990 Joined: Mar 28th, 2015 Topics: 102 Posts: 5439 View Predictions]

#1203659796

On the plus side, maybe Danny Burstein will FINALLY win his long overdue Tony. He should have originally won 14 years ago for The Drowsy Chaperone.

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[Jeffrey Kare Joined: Jan 23rd, 2013 Topics: 123 Posts: 5297 View Predictions]

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If that does happen, let’s just hope he ends up going the Elizabeth Taylor route where you win your first award likely due to overcoming your own personal crisis*, but you go on to win a second award for a far superior performance (and role) that goes on to be considered an all-timer. Plus, I’d much rather have him win his first Tony as lead than featured.

Though I’d probably feel much better about having win his first Tony for Moulin Rouge! via virtual ceremony as opposed to literal because I really don’t think I could’ve stand it one bit. At least he wouldn’t have to deal with the press room because when Jason Robert Brown came into the press room after winning his first Tony for Parade back in 1999, Michael Riedel literally said to him that it wasn’t a very competitive year and that he really just won out of default. Brown responded to that by saying “I’ve worked very hard for this, a lot of people have worked very hard for this, and a little blankety-blank blank like you isn’t about to take it away from me.”

*At the 1960 Academy Awards, Elizabeth Taylor managed to win her first Oscar for Butterfield 8, pretty much as sentiment for all the trouble she went through during the making of that movie as well as how she was hospitalized with pneumonia during awards season. Meanwhile, Danny Burstein recently overcame the coronavirus while his wife, Rebecca Luker, is currently suffering from ALS.

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[Jeffrey Kare Joined: Jan 23rd, 2013 Topics: 123 Posts: 5297 View Predictions]

#1203660369

What I’m most interested in is the race for Best Revival of a Play because I happen to know one of the producers of the most recent Broadway production of Betrayal. His name is Tony Marion, he’s from the same area of origins as me, Northeast Ohio. I came across him through mutual friends, and he was also a part of the same high school graduating class as one of my cousins. So I’m of course rooting for him to win a Tony Award.

By the way, you can learn more about Tony Marion through this interview I did with him back in 2017.
https://www.karereviews.net/broadway-producer-tony-marion.html

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[Awardsfan1990 Joined: Mar 28th, 2015 Topics: 102 Posts: 5439 View Predictions]

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From what I’ve heard about Moulin Rouge!, a lot of people seem to have liked Danny Burstein’s performance for the most part, which makes me think that had we not had this pandemic, and had Danny Burstein not gone through so much hell in his personal life, he probably would’ve still won anyway, mainly just from the plain overdue factor.

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[Awardsfan1990 Joined: Mar 28th, 2015 Topics: 102 Posts: 5439 View Predictions]

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Also, in regards to Jason Robert Brown’s comments to Michael Riedel, I agree with Brown there completely, because even if the competition has a weak year, the nominees still undoubtedly had to have put in hard work to warrant that nomination.

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[Jeffrey Kare Joined: Jan 23rd, 2013 Topics: 123 Posts: 5297 View Predictions]

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Awardsfan1990 wrote:

From what I’ve heard about Moulin Rouge!, a lot of people seem to have liked Danny Burstein’s performance for the most part, which makes me think that had we not had this pandemic, and had Danny Burstein not gone through so much hell in his personal life, he probably would’ve still won anyway, mainly just from the plain overdue factor.

Though had this pandemic not happen, the revival of Company would’ve opened, and I think Matt Doyle would’ve given Danny a run for his money. He was getting rave reviews while that show was in previews, and his character, Jamie, won Jonathan Bailey an Olivier for the West End production. Not to mention that those snobby Tony voters would’ve much more likely have championed a brand new take on one of the great works in the American musical theatre as opposed to a big multi-million dollar stage adaptation of a jukebox movie musical.

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[rantinanton Joined: Jun 22nd, 2017 Topics: 6 Posts: 413 View Predictions]

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Too bad Girl from the North Country isn’t eligible because it would have been better than the others. Now it’ll have to compete with Six next year.

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[Awardsfan1990 Joined: Mar 28th, 2015 Topics: 102 Posts: 5439 View Predictions]

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Jeffrey Kare wrote:

Though had this pandemic not happen, the revival of Company would’ve opened, and I think Matt Doyle would’ve given Danny a run for his money. He was getting rave reviews while that show was in previews, and his character, Jamie, won Jonathan Bailey an Olivier for the West End production. Not to mention that those snobby Tony voters would’ve much more likely have championed a brand new take on one of the great works in the American musical theatre as opposed to a big multi-million dollar stage adaptation of a jukebox movie musical.

Well, we’ll never truly know now. The path for Danny is now wide open with not a lot of challengers.

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[Awardsfan1990 Joined: Mar 28th, 2015 Topics: 102 Posts: 5439 View Predictions]

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Sam Eckmann wrote:

There are more than enough quality shows to compete as normal on the Play side of the ceremony. But not many musicals opened in the first half of the season before the pandemic hit.

So, I would suggest lumping the gendered performance categories for actor and actress together on the Musical side. This would result in just Lead Performance in a Musical and Featured Performance in a Musical. Otherwise some categories (the men) won’t be able to fill out all the nomination slots. Especially if the bit in the NY Times article is true that Girl from the North Country and West Side Story will not be eligible this season.

At least one benefit to West Side Story not being eligible is that Amar Ramasar can’t be nominated. His personal off-stage behavior should automatically disqualify him. Separating art from the artist does not warrant consideration with him.

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[adamunc Joined: Jul 5th, 2011 Topics: 12 Posts: 563 View Predictions]

#1203661140

If these are actual voted-on Tonys, they will forever have the world’s biggest asterisks next to them.

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