Question about Tony Awards/Money

[Luckydave14]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 12:46am

I do not know if this has been asked before and do not know exactly how to phrase this in a search but...

When a show wins Best Musical, the show now has the title of, "Tony Award winning Best Musical (Add Show Here)". When a show advertises with this title, do they owe the Tony Awards association any fees for using their name? If not, then why do the Tony voters vote for shows that make the money, like with Spamalot. I think I could understand their reasoning if THEY actually made money for a show having the Best Musical Tony.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 12:51am

A large chunk of voters are road producers who do stand to profit from things like Spamalot. They choose the show that has the most potential on the road.

[Luckydave14]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 12:53am

Oh. That should've been obvious to me LOL

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 1:12am

While the road presenters have a voice, I do not believe they make up more than 1/3 of Tony voters.

In an ideal world every voter would see all the nominees (they DO get offered comp tickets) and then "vote with their heart" as to which of the 4 shows is the best.

Road presenters may have been disappointed with recent Tony winning musicals:

AVE Q - not touring (as yet)
MILLIE - toured but did weak numbers on the road
CONTACT - limited tour did not perform well on the road (and CONTACT is not a musical anyhow)
TITANIC - weak roadshow performance
SUNSET BLVD - tour was a huge flop
PASSION - did not tour at all
KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN - weak roadshow performance
CITY OF ANEGLS - show did well in NY but poorly on tour.
JEROME ROBBINS BROADWAY - did not tour
MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD - tour (with Jean Stapleton!!!) did poor business and folded early

Of course the big winners (LES MIZ, CRAZY FOR YOU, RENT, LION KING) have done more than their share to keep the road presenters happy.

[thetheatrekook]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 1:15am

I thought that only nominators got comp tickets? And that voters were pretty much on thier own?

[misto625]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 1:17am

I thought Jerome Robbins' Broadway toured.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 1:28am

Each of the 750+ Tony voters gets a pair of comps to every nominated show -- though many don't bother seeing every show and vote for what they hear is good or what is likely going to be the biggest hit. And voters can and do vote for their own shows, their friends' shows, and their business associates' shows.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 1:51am

I guess you can't keep people from voting for their friend's shows, etc. but don't you think they should make it a rule that each Tony person has to see each show? Why can't each show just hold a "Tony night" - like maybe the night after opening - that way you know the show will still be running. And that way they know each person has see the shows?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 2:02am

It wouldn't work. Approximately a third of the voters don't even live in New York (they're running theaters and working in other capacities around the country) and cannot fly in every time a new show opens. Many voters arrive in New York a week or two before the Tonys, go to all the parties, catch up on some of the shows they've missed, attend the Tonys and then head home (which is one reason shows that close earlier in the season rarely win). And as far as coming up with a system to guarantee that every voter has seen every show (they already sign a pledge saying that they have, but a large percentage don't -- shows keep lists, but a voter can always say that they went using a friend's extra comp, which is why they never used theirs), the Tonys COULD do it if they wanted to, but it's doubtful they'll ever do such a serious crackdown.

Updated On: 5/5/06 at 02:02 AM

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 2:17am

Or they could just, you know, limit the number of voters...

Is there no Audience Choice Theatre Award?

There should be...