Dear Hunter Foster, Meredith Patterson, Chris Sieber and Anyone Else With Internet Access- Page 17

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 9:40am

Everyone should print this out and send it to Hunter.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 10:02am

The one thing that you ALL seem to be missing is that ive heard ALL of you refering to the fact the Tony Awards Votes mean very little when so much polotics is involved. After Memphis won so many said that it won because of road voters, the most commercial show to tour etc etc

However now people are saying his equity awards idea is knocking the winners?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 10:08am

ALL awards are political and subjective. All of them. There's no way around it. That said, his idea of the Equity awards (with the SAG awards as its model) makes no sense, for the reasons people point out.

To be fair, I think just about anything Hunter offers at this point is going to be met with scorn and derision by a fair amount of people. It's the hole he and the others dug for themselves when they began this misguided quest.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 10:18am

The equity awards idea is stupid because Hunter didn't think about the logistics of such a thing. How are the equity members who are, you know, actually employed in a show, going to see these shows and vote? It's not like film or TV where they can mail you a screener and you can watch at your leisure. Plus, given Hunter and his ilk's previous statements about not even seeing CZJ's performance (despite his claim that she was "worse in the theater"), it's highly doubtful he, Jen, and Meredith could be counted on for anything resembling integrity. Rather, it would resemble something like those 7th grade student council elections- a popularity contest where they could all pat themselves on the back.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 10:41am

Good points (and i agree that Hunter has a hard fight to earn peoples respect back)

[Kalimba]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 10:45am

Jen Cody already demonstrated that she doesn't have an integrity by blabbing about that she's a Tony voter and who she did or didn't vote for.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 10:48am

Its not against the rules to talk about who you voted for, i actually liked how honest she was about who she voted for. She could have said she voted for CZJ to make it sound better for herself but she didnt.

I guess as much as i dont agree with what they plastered all over facebook, its kinda funny when some of the people on this thread launched in to an attack of CZJ Tony Performance on Tony night. The diference is of course that they are public figures who should no better, but everyone on here did the same thing.

Maybe we are all just bitchy gossips lol

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 10:49am

It would, however, give Jan Maxwell the chance to add some Equitys to her bag. They'd go nicely with all the Tonys she's got in there.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 10:53am

As a New Yorker and an Equity member, I can't even imagine how this might even work. Best Dresser? Unless you work on the show, how could you possibly know that? If we are to institute the Equity Awards, it seems that it makes most sense to limit it to the thing we know best...acting.

But what would be eligible? Only Broadway shows? Off-Broadway? What about the thousands of Equity members who are giving great performances in off-off Broadway showcases throughout the City? Or the thousands of Equity members around the country who do extraordinary work regionally?

You see where this goes, right? No matter what, you have to exclude people from this. So it ends up becoming about the hierarchy that these people now rail against. 'Cept, this time, Broadway is at the top...so I guess it's ok.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 11:01am

I think we should have the "Quity's" and have them broadcast on Ovation and open every year with Little Sally (SPENCER KAYDEN) handing out the awards while movie stars are kept in a medieval torture device suspended above the real "stars" who can throw fruit and bits of cheese at them all night.

[Kalimba]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 11:08am

Jordan, will there be a red carpet?

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 11:29am

Funnily enough, Spencer Kaden (who was not only magnificent in every incarnation of URINETOWN, but is also a truly marvelous human being) won Equity's Clarance Derwent Award for her performance as Little Sally.

I still remember standing outside on a hot August day telling Spencer that no matter what happens, should the show move, they had to keep her...even if they got rid of the rest of us.

And that's EXACTLY what happened. I'm a real Cassandra that way.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 11:33am

I hope you win the Hunter Foster Equity Award for Best Soothsayer!

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 11:34am

Its not against the rules to talk about who you voted for, i actually liked how honest she was about who she voted for. She could have said she voted for CZJ to make it sound better for herself but she didnt.

How on Earth would it have made her sound better if she said she voted for CZJ? It would have made her look like an idiot considering she was bashing CZJ in the same post. "She was such an arrogant bitch at Gypsy of the Year and her awful performance didn't deserve the Tony- but I voted for her!"

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 11:43am

Spencer was brilliant and to me, that's one role that will forever be owned by her and her alone.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 11:52am

You will get no argument from me. It was actually written for her...tailored specifically to her talents. Other people do it...and do it well. But, like John Cameron Mitchell as Hedwig, it is just different when performed by the person it's meant for.

[Jupiter2]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 11:54am

Songanddanceman, I think the difference (in regard to people on this board who bashed CZJ's performance) is that we didn't then start some "noble and altruistic" facebook campaign out of jealousy because we didn't get to walk the red carpet like CZJ did. And then of course denied that we bashed her.

[Kad]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 11:55am

Yes, someone proposed a "Best Performance by a Celebrity" category- and that suggestion is even worse than Equity Awards. Because it's saying "Film Actors Are Different and Don't Deserve to Be Judged Based on the Same Standards as Stage Actors". And nearly all of the film actors nominated this year have had considerable stage experience. And, at the rate Broadway is going, that category would be filled with nominees while a "Best Stage Actor" category would be devoid of anyone.

An awards system is inherently flawed and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do. It's flawed because the voters are- voters will be biased on a personal level or based on their own best interests. And an Equity Awards will be terribly flawed.

Besides- Equity already gives awards. Awards that are arguably more meaningful.

[tazber]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 12:08pm

Kalimba, there will be a red carpet if Bernadette Peters attends.

[Jupiter2]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 12:16pm

It would also seem, again, that this "Equity Award" idea is about controlling by Mr. Foster and his wife who gets to be in the Broadway community. With the exception of the voting pool (equity members)the only difference is that they seem to want a ceremony where they can control the presenters, etc. I.E., their version of the "Broadway community". Which to their minds (at least this year) does not include people giving excellent performances on Broadway. I also thought it quite telling that Ms. Cody's public bashing of CZJ extended to CZJ complaining that she was tired at the Easter Bonnet. As if her not giving true deference to a fund raiser (albeit a worthy one) that Ms. Cody is very involved in after being a lead on Broadway eight shows a week somehow disqualifies her from the "Broadway community."

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 12:30pm

Their hero Patty Lupone doesn't even participate in BC/EFA fundraisers- does that make her even less deserving of a Tony than CZJ by Jenn Cody's standards?

[americanboy99]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 12:30pm

This whole discussion just gets more embarrassing and brainless by the minute. Truly astounding. Just shameful.

[gypsy4]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 12:40pm

have we ever got a statement from Sutton? but the stupidity by Hunters group of Buttkissers crack me up. he's giving false hope

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 1:08pm

Like i said, my main thing with the Tony Awards is getting the awards for things like the Lifetime Achivement Award and Book award etc back in the telecast. Hunter has the same opinion on that, so i agree with him.

Some ideas are gonna work, some are not, i agree with some, i 100 percent dont with others.

[Q]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 1:13pm

"She was such an arrogant bitch at Gypsy of the Year and her awful performance didn't deserve the Tony"

I stopped reading awhile ago - did she really say this?