CurtainsUpat8 said: "tell me another time this has happened? It's new, I believe. Yes, it's marketing I understand that, I don't need a lecture on what was going on. It was AWFUL and it set a terrible precedent. Just more decline in the theatre world. Little by Little. Year by Year."
Do you feel that way knowing what's coming in next season?
CurtainsUpat8 said: "tell me another time this has happened? It's new, I believe. Yes, it's marketing I understand that, I don't need a lecture on what was going on. It was AWFUL and it set a terrible precedent. Just more decline in the theatre world. Little by Little. Year by Year."
Literally just gave you an example. Sara Bareilles. Waitress. 2016. Get a grip.
CurtainsUpat8 said: "tell me another time this has happened? It's new, I believe. Yes, it's marketing I understand that, I don't need a lecture on what was going on. It was AWFUL and it set a terrible precedent. Just more decline in the theatre world. Little by Little. Year by Year."
The entire point of these performances is to sell tickets. If Alicia Keys and Jay Z do that, then so be it.
Also, Maleah has been out sick several times this month and her voice is clearly not fully recovered. Perhaps that had something to do with her singing less on the telecast?
I don't know if they pay for placement, but length is definitely involved in the fees attached, from my understanding.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
OhHiii said: "CurtainsUpat8 said: "I think something happened last night which I have never seen happen before.
Alicia Keyes STOLE the song from Maleah. Maleah WON THE TONY. And the composer stepped in and took her best number. So we never got to hear the young lady who WON the award because the composer decided it was best she sing it. That was AWFUL. That was a disgrace imho."
I think you need to understand what this performance was about. It was about selling tickets. The shows spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to perform, so they have to put forward the best chance at snagging the most ticket sales. Like it or not, having Alicia Keys’ face in that performance was worth so much more from a sheer commercial perspective. Which is what the Tonys ultimately boil down to.
Now…was the performance successful overall? Not in my book because the execution was so sloppy. A helpful reminder that Sara Bareilles came out for Waitress and people didn’t complain like they are about Alicia and Jay-Z….which is…interesting."
re: the Alicia Key/Jay Z performance I feel like there are two kinds of Tony Awards--those that are looked at years down the line to get a sense of the show and those that are meant more to spark buzz in the here and now--and this was definitely the latter. I agree that it could have possibly enticed non-theater goers to check out parts of the Tonys (or at least the Hell's Kitchen performance) and it certainly ensured this Tonys ceremony would be talked about, and they did manage to showcase a little bit from the nominated performers in the show as well. If anything, I'd probably be upset about it cutting into other performances' times (like Stereophonic) since theirs was much longer than everything else. And we've had Tony Awards in the past where none of the nominated shows even performed so let's not pretend like there's some sanctity around what has to be performed on the Tonys.
Speaking of Stereophonic, I'm sure it'll be alright with the awards it's won and the general buzz, but I really don't think that performance alone would've helped sell tickets. Best case scenario someone gets intrigued by the song and looks up the full thing themselves, but overall I feel like I would've been left with a "that's it?" if I didn't know the show at all.
Overall the only award I was a little upset by was Cabaret winning over Here Lies Love for set (David Korins Tony, when?), though I understand since Cabaret is still open and they also transformed the rest of the lobby/theater etc. I thought the Danya Taymor Tony was well deserved, but did ANYONE have that in their predictions?
I'd love to see Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad host next year (especially since it seems like Andrew might not be on Broadway anymore), I thought their bit together was the best non-performance part of the show.
Also has the full version of Cody Spencer's speech been posted anywhere? I haven't watched the Pluto TV stream afterwards so not sure if they included the rest of it after the fact. I felt pretty bad for him since it was an honest mistake but it was also pretty funny.
Play Esq. said: "I wonder how much the last Merrily shows are going to go for. Top price is currently 600, but I think those are going to get more expensive soon."
CurtainsUpat8 said: "I think something happened last night which I have never seen happen before.
Alicia Keyes STOLE the song from Maleah. Maleah WON THE TONY. And the composer stepped in and took her best number. So we never got to hear the young lady who WON the award because the composer decided it was best she sing it. That was AWFUL. That was a disgrace imho."
I think there should be a rule that only members of the cast can appear in any musical performance for the nominated shows. It's very misleading. And let's face it, Keyes' and Jay-Z's fanbases weren't ever going to be tuning in to the Tonys.
OhHiii said: "CurtainsUpat8 said: "tell me another time this has happened? It's new, I believe. Yes, it's marketing I understand that, I don't need a lecture on what was going on. It was AWFUL and it set a terrible precedent. Just more decline in the theatre world. Little by Little. Year by Year."
Literally just gave you an example. Sara Bareilles. Waitress. 2016. Get a grip."
And let's not forget Carole King -- BEAUTIFUL (2014)
I am still shocked OUTSIDERS won … more so because it is primarily a young adult story that we haven’t seen win in a while. Really thought SUFFS or ILLINOISE would take it.
CurtainsUpat8 said: "You know what I was wrong and you are correct. That did happen with Waitress and that was awful as well.
I wish Gen Z would learn how to use the word "literally" correctly."
Aww bitterness is ugly babe, just take the L. I wish I was in my youth and a part of Gen Z though, so I’ll take your snark as a compliment that you think I’m young.
In any case the people stamping their feet now didn’t stamp their feet at the time when Sara or Carole or Dolly came out, but have a problem with two Black artists doing it. I won’t say it, but well….
Broadway Flash said: "The Great Gatsby Tony award winning Broadway musical!! Good for them. I was hoping back to the future would win set so they could say the same"
Cabaret winning set truly puzzles me. Isn't it just the center platform? Or are they counting the entire theater being transformed? Is there more to it that I don't know about because I haven't seen the show?
Fosse76 said: "And let's face it, Keyes' and Jay-Z's fanbases weren't ever going to be tuning in to the Tonys."
Not the point. In the age of social media, it doesn’t matter if any given person tunes into a live broadcast, but that they see it after the fact and that is indeed happening and her fans as well as his are seeing that they performed the song for the first time in years this morning in support of a musical on Broadway that they didn’t know existed beforehand. That’s a success regardless of if a bunch of whiners online who think they know better think it is or not.
I skipped the Hell's Kitchen performance because I'm not interested (and I'm sure the posters who are full of insinuations will have more about that, though I also skipped Tommy for the same reason), but it's not true that no one complained about the Waitress performance, because I did. I love Sara Bareilles and get why they did it, but that's a song that builds in emotion, and forcing Jessie Mueller to jump in halfway through emoting all over the place without that build did not come across well on TV. I felt bad for her.
You can like it or not, celebrity artists will always be a part of any shows performance that makes sense. This made sense. I’m just glad none of you are making marketing decisions for shows. This is the biggest commercial opportunity for any new show. It would be foolish not to pull out all firepower to sell as many tickets as possible.
It's possible for some of us to understand the reasoning behind something and yet not feel that it was particularly well executed in practice, which is my opinion of the Waitress performance. (I think they could have chosen a different song in that case, but again, I understand why they chose that one since it was the show's signature number.)
MemorableUserName said: "So interesting to read this thread alongside Deadline's liveblog, where they claim it's been a fantastic night of performances without a clunker in the bunch. (But would they really admit it if they didn't care for any?)"
To follow up on this, I just saw Deadline's Snubs/Surprises article, and it turns out they did call out one of the performances, which they didn't in their liveblog.
"Fortunately, most of the musical numbers were much better, “most” being the operative word. The big exception: Cabaret. Not only did the revival’s producers keep Gayle Rankin away from the mic — I mean, doesn’t Cabaret sorta belong to Sally Bowles? — but Eddie Redmayne’s herky-jerky performance as the Emcee (he sang “Willkommen”) seemed even more, shall we say, eccentric with TV cameras in his face than it does at the August Wilson Theatre. I’m very curious to know how it played to the uninitiated"