Posted: 5/17/20 at 12:09am
Broadway is not coming back until next year (we all know it) so why would they put on an awards show this year? The whole point of the Tonys is to sell tickets so obviously they're going to put it on after Broadway comes back in 2021. You can't celebrate live theatre with an awful Zoom telecast. Expect them to combine both seasons and have the Tonys next year.
Posted: 5/17/20 at 12:02pm
rg7759 said: "let's be honest. given that no Musical that had an official opening is deserving of the trophy, let's just have the regular ceremony next year with the two full qualifying years. and hopefully Beetlejuice can remain in its theater."
Beetlejuice was going to be closing in June anyway-how on earth could they retract that? If it wasn't making money to stay open, why would they take that gamble? They got a boost from the Tonys, and yes it was making money. But why would they reopen and take the gamble that they could lose even more money?
Posted: 5/17/20 at 12:07pm
Posted: 5/17/20 at 12:24pm
morosco said: "Would it be cost prohibitive to, instead of Grease, do a best of the Tony Awards telecast? Would contracts need to be negotiated in order to broadcast past musical numbers?
Some of my favorites:
Dreamgirls
Rags
Vodka
It's cheaper for them to air "Grease". "Grease" is a Paramount film which is a subsidiary of ViacomCBS.
Posted: 5/17/20 at 12:30pm
And for those Broadway "professionals" and everyone else bitching and moaning on social media about CBS' decision to postpone the Tony telecast with "Grease" they have so many options on channeling that negative energy into something positive: Go to YouTube and create your own best of Tony Awards highlights playlist and schedule a video conference with your besties and host a video viewing party with them.
But no, going on social media and playing victim is so much better.
Posted: 5/17/20 at 12:51pm
Posted: 5/17/20 at 3:41pm
Posted: 5/17/20 at 8:03pm
The people complaining CBS is airing Grease instead of something Tonys related on the night gotta realize CBS make nothing off that telecast, gets some of its lowest ratings of the year, and don't even own it. The fact that they're still willing to air it, especially since its greatest champion Les Moonves is gone, is astonishing on its own. Has anyone reached out to The Broadway League or The American Theatre Wing to see if they thought of producing something for that night?
And sorry but CBS' rerun of Indiana Jones a few weeks ago had better ratings than the last couple of Tony Awards. So what's the incentive for an all-new special. Let's just be thankful they are willing to air the usual awards show and let Playbill or Broadway.com pick up the slack and put on their own celebrations.
Posted: 5/17/20 at 8:55pm
Call_me_jorge said: "You all sound like you work for ViacomCBS, a multi-billion dollar corporation which very well could afford to air Tony Awards highlights in place of a freaking grease sing-along. GREASE ISNT EVEN GOOD!"
ViacomCBS suffered an almost 20 % decline in ad revenue in the first quarter of 2020 due to circumstances related to COVID-19. And like many other entertainment industry entities, they've also laid off staff across all divisions of the company. Do people really think that producing a Tony Awards highlight show is at the top of anyone's list? Additionally, it's not as simple as some people seem to think it is.
They're airing Grease because it's cheaper and easy. I'm not sure why people (not necessarily on this board, more on twitter / facebook) are acting as if this is some gigantic affront to the theatre community. It's a business decision, pure and simple. If you don't like it then don't watch it.
Updated On: 5/18/20 at 08:55 PM
Posted: 5/18/20 at 1:18am
Call_me_jorge said: "You all sound like you work for ViacomCBS, a multi-billion dollar corporation which very well could afford to air Tony Awards highlights in place of a freaking grease sing-along. GREASE ISNT EVEN GOOD!"
And YOU sound like a sorry @ss loser..."Grease" is airing and YOU can't do anything about it...SO GET OVER IT!!!!!
Updated On: 5/18/20 at 01:18 AM
Posted: 5/18/20 at 7:48am
CBS didn’t cancel the Tony Awards!!
To claim that CBS is postponing them, or airing another program “instead” of them is wrong.
When the Tony Awards take place, let’s hope CBS remains the broadcast partner, After all the **** they’re taking I wouldn’t blame them if they decided to drop it.
The night that the Tony Awards usually air isn’t a national holiday. The majority of TV viewers have no idea that the Awards were originally slated to take place on June 7. Highlights of a low-rated show vs. airing the Sunday night movie (current programming in this time slot) makes no business sense.
