Rant about the 2014 TONY NOMINATIONS here — Page 10

Well Isherwood has a rant to contribute...

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/29/what-are-tonys-saying-by-ignoring-realistic-joneses/?smid=tw-share

My biggest disappoint is Margo Seibert not getting a nom. I thoroughly enjoyed Rocky. I also wholeheartedly thought she was the best part. Her two songs were the highlights of the night, and this is a show that has a boxing ring come into the audience. Sad face.

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Updated On: 4/29/14 at 12:26 PM

Broadway61004- thanks for answering my question!!! I'm now more amazed that it's happened so many times, and I just didn't realize it.

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The "Bea Arthur Reacts to the Tony Awards' 15 Biggest Snubs" is funny. First it made me chuckle, but then I flat out laughed at the last one

"I, and clearly others, however, happen to disagree with you that Barnett's performance was merely capable. You saw something ordinary. We didn't."

I agree; Barnett was superb and completely convincing as Viola.

Similarly, it's great that Isherwood loved The Realistic Joneses.
But the fact that others didn't share his enthusiasm doesn't mean the committee was sending a message that unconventional drama doesn't belong on Broadway; a simpler explanation for it not even taking up a potential fifth slot is that they just didn't like the play as much as Isherwood did.

But then again it may mean exactly that. Your theory is no more logical or illogical than anyone else's. Unless you're a mind reader in which case I defer.

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I think Isherwood's points are well taken. Traditionally the committee does tend to reward mainstream over adventurous or avant-garde unless the adventurous or avant-garde manages to *become* mainstream (Nicholas Nickleby, Brooks' Midsummer Night's Dream). Well, it is showBUSINESS, after all.

Updated On: 4/29/14 at 12:52 PM

Still, it's just a presumption.

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Yes,it definitely would be better to just give everyone on Broadway a Tony award (not just a paltry nomination!) for showing up, like we do with our kids' soccer teams these days.

We really should evolve past the outmoded concept of limited numbers of awards and nominations.

Somebody made a comment about how both men from Gent's Guide is weird/unfair. The nominators do that consistently. Examples: last year (Kinky Boots: Porter and Sands), Book of Mormon: Gad and Rannells, Wicked: Menzel and Chenoweth.

It happens a lot. They like to recognize both leads.

Updated On: 4/29/14 at 01:19 PM

"I really thought that the love would be more widespread this year. I had high hopes for the Tony Awards this year – I thought that many more musicals would get a chance to shine (with not all of the focus on only one or two shows) and it really could be anyone’s game"

I think you have this backwards. Every musical already had its moment to shine, in that they put a show up on stage that got attention, audiences, reviews, etc.

So, the Tonys are specifically meant to reduce that list to what they feel represents the highest quality the season had to offer, not keep it a wider field so more can participate. They have a mechanism for allowing a fifth nominee for Best Musical, but the votes weren't close enough for that to happen.

"Much rather sit thru the colossal mess Rocky again than see If/Then once. "

Oh you're SO open-minded!!!!!!!!!!

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"Much rather sit thru the colossal mess Rocky again than see If/Then once."

Umm, you were a champion of Rocky when it came out... so, seeing something you like again hardly seems to be a punishment of any kind.

So, the Tonys are specifically meant to reduce that list to what they feel represents the highest quality the season had to offer, not keep it a wider field so more can participate. They have a mechanism for allowing a fifth nominee for Best Musical, but the votes weren't close enough for that to happen.

First, for the record, I never mentioned anything about having a fifth nominee for Best Musical. I understand how that works and was never bemoaning having only 4 nominees.

I am also not championing for a “everyone gets a star” mentality. As I said in my first post, I often feel that the favorites of the Tony season sometimes end up getting nominated/winning in categories they didn’t necessarily excel at and where I believe other shows were more deserving (but the favorites got the nomination or award based off of the momentum from some of the bigger awards). I often feel the technical design categories, specifically, get filled in with shows that were favorites overall instead of truly just looking at the categories on their own. So, when I say I thought it would be more widespread with more shows getting the chance to shine, I meant that I was hoping that more shows would get to shine in the categories they deserve to shine in (even if the rest of their show wasn’t recognized for anything), instead of shows getting “default nominations” in some of the smaller categories from being big hitters in the bigger categories (which is something I, personally, think is often the case).

This is, obviously, all just my observation, opinion, and theorizing. I never mean to assert anything as truth or fact on here when we are all discussing opinions, show reactions, etc. While this is what I personally think often happens, I understand and respect that others don’t.