Stupid Tonys

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 2:53am

Some Tonys I would take back if I could...Scarlett Johanson, sorry but she was extremely stiff in "A View from the Bridge"...her performance wasn't worthy of any awards in my point of view. Jessica Hetch was much more deserving of that award in that same play and the clips I saw of Brittany Murphy felt much more organic than Scarlett's performance in that play. Other mistakes in my point of view: The Lion King, Once and Spamalot. All dreadful shows.

Updated On: 6/4/15 at 02:53 AM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 9:35am

Every Tony ever given out will have SOMEONE, somewhere that disagrees with it.  

[wickedfan]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 9:47am

"Some Tonys I would take back if I could...Other mistakes in my point of view: The Lion King, Once and Spamalot. All dreadful shows."

 I still liked them more than Gigi.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 10:03am

Once was indeed dreadful

Lion was beautifully staged but empty

Spamalot was a hoot

Gigi was not great but not the train wreck critics said it was but than again shows are never usually as bad as critics say they are. Someone thought Vanessa as Gigi would be great. It is a show that belongs in the 70's where it flopped originally. There was no reason to try again.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 10:07am

Danza

[RaiseYouUp]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 10:07am

The Tony for Avenue Q for Best Musical over Wicked was stupid enough, but to me, what was even worse was that it won Best Score over Wicked. Avenue Q is a fine show, but it is not great. I wouldn't even really call it good. It's adequate and watchable. But it's just silly that anyone thought that it had a better score than Wicked. Avenue Q is not even in the same ballpark as Wicked. Not even close.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 10:12am

The reason behind Avenue Q winning Best Musical is because the producers of that show announced a national tour, and the Tony voters felt it needed the Tony more to stay alive. Shortly after winning the Tony, it was revealed that there was no tour, they only made an exclusive deal with Las Vegas.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 10:23am

This shows you what the Tonys have become

It is not about excellence. It is about which show can tour or what show needs it more to stay alive.  It has nothing to do with excellence. It has degenerated into a scene out of the Longest Day when troops land on Omaha Beach when all the producers descend upon the stage. When a show has more producers than performers.....

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 10:23am

Tony! Toni! Tone!

 

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 10:26am

Talk about Stupid

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 10:28am

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 10:28am

Go ahead. Talk about it Roxy. You're our expert.

 

Updated On: 6/4/15 at 10:28 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 10:30am

"The sponge was a hoot!" -- Mr Roxy, Dance of the Vampires, 2002

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 11:12am

There is a perfectly good Tony rant thread. WTF start this stupid one?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 11:14am

Slow day at the office?

 

[RaiseYouUp]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 11:21am

"The reason behind Avenue Q winning Best Musical is because the producers of that show announced a national tour, and the Tony voters felt it needed the Tony more to stay alive. Shortly after winning the Tony, it was revealed that there was no tour, they only made an exclusive deal with Las Vegas."

So did Wicked not announce a national tour? Even if it did not announce a tour, wouldn't it seem fairly obvious that such a popular show would go on tour?

[tazber]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 11:22am

I don't even know who Roxy's talking to anymore.

I don't think that was directed at Bob or Namo because they're supposedly blocked.

Was that directed at doodle, or is he blocked too?

Maybe Phyllis?

 

 

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 11:23am

Maybe he was just answering my question?

Who cares?

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 11:25am

""The reason behind Avenue Q winning Best Musical is because the producers of that show announced a national tour, and the Tony voters felt it needed the Tony more to stay alive. Shortly after winning the Tony, it was revealed that there was no tour, they only made an exclusive deal with Las Vegas."
So did Wicked not announce a national tour? Even if it did not announce a tour, wouldn't it seem fairly obvious that such a popular show would go on tour?"

I think the voters realized that Wicked was already gonna be a smash hit on the road, that it didn't really need the Tony at all. Within the past decade, the enormous success of the show has proved it.

[jemjeb2]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 11:27am

"Every Tony ever given out will have SOMEONE, somewhere that disagrees with it.  

 

 Dramamamma nails it (as usual). After all, a thread with the opposite assertion would only be equally absurd.

As in  "Smart Tonys". Every award given has been to the most deserving recipient.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 11:37am

Of course it has.Wink Wink-Nudge Nudge

[MOUSTACHA]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 12:08pm

"Road voters" (i.e. voters that do not live/work in New York City) only make up about 10-12% of the tony voter pool.  The "road vote" factor is almost always exaggerated on this board.  While people do vote because they want to help a possible tour, shows do not win solely because of possible tours. 

RE: Avenue Q:  Q won because of the explosive and revolutionary (at the time) "vote your heart" campaign.  While it gets more and more outdated today, it was a very striking show at the time.  Wicked, on the flip side, was a very "traditional blockbuster" model.  Avenue Q was the "best" show of THAT season, but WICKED is probably the better overall show. 

 

[jemjeb2]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 12:14pm

""Road voters" (i.e. voters that do not live/work in New York City) only make up about 10-12% of the tony voter pool.  The "road vote" factor is almost always exaggerated on this board.  While people do vote because they want to help a possible tour, shows do not win solely because of possible tours. 
RE: Avenue Q:  Q won because of the explosive and revolutionary (at the time) "vote your heart" campaign.  While it gets more and more outdated today, it was a very striking show at the time.  Wicked, on the flip side, was a very "traditional blockbuster" model.  Avenue Q was the "best" show of THAT season, but WICKED is probably the better overall show. 

Avenue Q vs Wicked? Clearly a not particularly great season to begin with.

 

[RaiseYouUp]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 12:15pm

""Road voters" (i.e. voters that do not live/work in New York City) only make up about 10-12% of the tony voter pool.  The "road vote" factor is almost always exaggerated on this board.  While people do vote because they want to help a possible tour, shows do not win solely because of possible tours. 
RE: Avenue Q:  Q won because of the explosive and revolutionary (at the time) "vote your heart" campaign.  While it gets more and more outdated today, it was a very striking show at the time.  Wicked, on the flip side, was a very "traditional blockbuster" model.  Avenue Q was the "best" show of THAT season, but WICKED is probably the better overall show. "

I always have felt that road voters were exaggerated. Many recent Tony wins should tell us that they do not make up a very large percent of the voting pool. 

I get what you are saying about Avenue Q, but in my opinion, Wicked does not exactly qualify as "traditional". To me, it stands alone in several ways. If there were more shows that were like Wicked, thus making it a "traditional show", then I think Broadway would be an even more amazing place than it already is! But that's just me.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 6/4/15 at 12:20pm

"""The reason behind Avenue Q winning Best Musical is because the producers of that show announced a national tour, and the Tony voters felt it needed the Tony more to stay alive. Shortly after winning the Tony, it was revealed that there was no tour, they only made an exclusive deal with Las Vegas."
So did Wicked not announce a national tour? Even if it did not announce a tour, wouldn't it seem fairly obvious that such a popular show would go on tour?"
I think the voters realized that Wicked was already gonna be a smash hit on the road, that it didn't really need the Tony at all. Within the past decade, the enormous success of the show has proved it."

I think you put way too much stock in these sort of conspiracy theories or ulterior motivations. The truth was that at the time, Wicked, despite its heavy fanbase with teenage theatre-goers, was not a critical smash. Many critics (and theatre people) thought the score was uninteresting, the book was shallow or wasn't even sure what the theme was, and that it was over-produced and cold. Heck, I still think that. Whereas Avenue Q was a well-produced show that effectively did what it was set out to do. I also think the lyrics in Avenue Q are a whole letter better than Wicked even if they are less timeless than Wicked's vague and bland score that could fit in at every time.

I actually think what won it for Avenue Q was that it simply resonated with the ADULT voters because it was relatable, and it did it very well. The theme of Avenue Q was to present a Sesame Street like format but for post-collegiate adults who don't get the benefit of life lessons being sung and taught to them. So for twenty something year-olds trying to be independent, many of the songs were made to teach them lessons about everyday situations that actually have a big impact in people's every day life, like how to know if someone likes you, commitment, how to spend money, being loud during sex because we sure can't be loud anywhere else due to respectfulness and civility, fiscal responsibility, being distracted from your career goals, the uselessness of the college degree scam if you only think about it as a way to get money, accepting giving up your dreams (Brian/Gary Coleman), race relations in every day conversation (though I think this song is one of the more outdated ones but it still relates to people), etc. 

My personal favorite show that season was Caroline, or Change, but for someone it seemed like critics weren't big on that one. Maybe they weren't interested in hearing a story about racial inequality plus its impact on seriously unhappy black woman in 1960s Louisiana.

Updated On: 6/4/15 at 12:20 PM