If it weren’t the Antoinette Perry Awards

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 9/23/18 at 2:46am

If the awards weren’t named after Antoinette Perry who would you name them after?

Updated On: 9/23/18 at 02:46 AM

[haterobics]

Posted: 9/23/18 at 10:25am

So, if one of the few things that is named after a pioneering woman were not, what man would they be named after? Is that where we're dreamcasting here?

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 9/23/18 at 1:44pm

If it weren't for the Tonys, I think the Donaldson Awards would still exist. The Donaldsons predated the Tonys by 3 years and were discontinued in 1955 because they became overshadowed by the Tonys. They had a lot of the same categories as the Tonys, plus a few others (i.e. Debut Performance, First Play, Dancer).

But it's not like the Tonys and Donaldsons were the first of their kind... The Pulitzer Prize for Drama, The Drama Critics Circle Awards, Drama League Awards all predated them. Even in the early years of the Tonys, some shows would advertise that they won the Drama Critics Circle award over winning the Tony.

I'm not the most knowledgable about this subject, but it's kind of interesting that the Tonys, an award started by, frankly, a fringe organization, rose to prominence in the way that it did. (The American Theatre Wing was a war relief society operated by theatre women in WWI and WWII; Antoinette Perry, the Wing's secretary, died the year before the Tonys were established.) The Tonys didn't have the media/prestige backing of the Donaldsons (run by Billboard), DCC, or Pulitzers. The Drama League was probably the most similar to the Wing at that time, but almost 100 years later the Drama League is still a fringe organization! 

[eastcoasttheatre]

Posted: 9/24/18 at 3:20am

George S. Kaufman or George M Cohan the only actor statue in NYC I think

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/24/18 at 8:00am

Tony Danza, obviously.

[WayTooBroadway]

Posted: 9/24/18 at 8:03am

Tony’s Di Napoli, if only to appease the apostrophe lovers.