Posted: 6/12/17 at 4:53am
Do the voters get it right?
Does winning guarantee ticket sales?
Posted: 6/12/17 at 5:01am
They're credible when you agree with them and not credible when you don't
Posted: 6/12/17 at 5:50am
Credibility is not the word needed here...but basically the above statement says it all.
Posted: 6/12/17 at 7:37am
Does it guarantee ticket sales: great example would be the year Avenue Q won against Wicked. Which one is still filling the house and which has made a few random pop up Off Broadway relocations?
Posted: 6/12/17 at 8:28am
Brian07663NJ said: "Does it guarantee ticket sales: great example would be the year Avenue Q won against Wicked. Which one is still filling the house and which has made a few random pop up Off Broadway relocations?"
Avenue Q moved to New World Stages after it closed on Broadway and has been playing there for almost eight years, so your claim about pop-up locations is false. It's completely obvious that Wicked has been the more successful show, but I suspect that the Best Musical Tony helped Avenue Q run a lot longer than it otherwise would have.
Posted: 6/12/17 at 9:11am
1. What is "right"?
2. No. The stuff about AveQ is not just wrong but also not responsive. I think every show that wins the big prize sells some tickets. (Probably true for every show that appears.) The question is if it sells enough tickets to run, and that is a mixed bag, especially on the play side. Most all musicals that win, even the pretty lousy ones, get a decent run and almost always recoup.
Posted: 6/12/17 at 9:40am
My point between Avenue Q and Wicked is that the musical that won ended up moving to a house with 499 seats vs it's competition that season (which many hoped would win) is in a house with substantially more seats...1,926
So responding to the question about an award guaranteeing ticket sales...in this case, no because Avenue Q, in the long run is proving, each week in the current location, that it is playing to a much smaller audience.
Posted: 6/12/17 at 10:05am
JBroadway said: "They're credible when you agree with them and not credible when you don't"
Isn't that always the case?
But seriously, there will be times that the choice will be questioned (i.e. Kinky Boots). But for the most part, they do get it right.
Posted: 6/12/17 at 11:03am
Depends on the Tony award won. Obviously, winning Best Musical/Play is going to help. I don't know how much winning award for Best Choreography or Best Score help ticket sales.
Posted: 6/12/17 at 11:05am
It's like any other subjective collective awards competition.
Sometimes it gets it right. Sometimes it gets it wrong.
And - newsflash - right or wrong depends on whom you ask about the ultimate decision.
Posted: 6/12/17 at 11:07am
Does winning guarantee ticket sales?
In recent years, winning has certainly boosted a lot of shows that were doing modest business, like Fun Home, Once and Gentleman's Guide.
Posted: 6/12/17 at 11:16am
Brian07663NJ said: "So responding to the question about an award guaranteeing ticket sales...in this case, no because Avenue Q, in the long run is proving, each week in the current location, that it is playing to a much smaller audience."
That is illogical and a non-sequitur. It is unquestionable (i.e., easily demonstrated empirically) that the win sells tickets. That another show does better (in the long run or otherwise) is logically irrelevant. No musical winner in modern history has not seen a bump from the win. Lots of shows that did not even get a single nomination have done better than most shows that have won. But that is not a responsive statistic.
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Posted: 6/12/17 at 12:27pm
I have to jump in here and agree with HogansHero. The win doesn't mean it will be the most successful musical of the season, but it demonstrably sells a considerable amount of tickets to the show. Avenue Q, a small show with unknown stars and puppets, ran for YEARS, distinctly buoyed by its Tony win. And LarryD2 gives three great examples of shows that weren't doing well on Broadway that all ended up recouping after the Best Musical win--Gentleman's Guide, Once, and Fun Home, all of which played to substantially larger audiences after their win.
Again, it doesn't mean they will be the MOST successful shows of all time. It just means that they will be MORE successful than they would have been without the wins.
Posted: 6/12/17 at 12:27pm
I have to jump in here and agree with HogansHero. The win doesn't mean it will be the most successful musical of the season, but it demonstrably sells a considerable amount of tickets to the show. Avenue Q, a small show with unknown stars and puppets, ran for YEARS, distinctly buoyed by its Tony win. And LarryD2 gives three great examples of shows that weren't doing well on Broadway that all ended up recouping after the Best Musical win--Gentleman's Guide, Once, and Fun Home, all of which played to substantially larger audiences after their win.
Again, it doesn't mean they will be the MOST successful shows of all time. It just means that they will be MORE successful than they would have been without the wins.
Posted: 6/12/17 at 2:55pm
So responding to the question about an award guaranteeing ticket sales...in this case, no because Avenue Q, in the long run is proving, each week in the current location, that it is playing to a much smaller audience.
Um, no. You'd first have to prove what Avenue Q's ticket sales would have been had it NOT won Best Musical, which is not possible. Avenue Q ran over 6 years on Broadway, putting it in the top 25 long-running Broadway musicals, just ahead of The Producers. You're saying none of that run is credited to winning Best Musical over one of the biggest juggernauts in Broadway history?
Posted: 6/12/17 at 3:05pm
Though winning is definitely nice, I think a good performance is the major thing. Like two years ago: Something Rotten! only won Best Featured Actor, but I know a lot of people who saw the performance on the Tonys and bought tickets afterwards, myself included. And while I eventually did see Fun Home and love it, the performance on the Tonys nor the awards they won did much to make me want to buy tix. I only did end up seeing it because it was on TKTs one day.
Of course, I'm sure Dear Evan Hansen is going to see a big boost, and I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened for The Great Comet and Bandstand, too. They had the strongest performances last night, imo, and I think it helped them all out.
Updated On: 6/12/17 at 03:05 PM
