Posted: 5/4/16 at 12:29pm
So after the CBS mistep of last year's Tonys, will we see Book & Score categories televised this year? I can't imagine they wouldn't televise Lin winning, in addition to making up for last year's mess.
Posted: 5/4/16 at 12:33pm
I imagine they would! Not that they'll win...but Steve Martin & Sara Bareilles also seem to help those chances.
Posted: 5/4/16 at 12:36pm
Tag said: "So after the CBS mistep of last year's Tonys, will we see Book & Score categories televised this year? I can't imagine they wouldn't televise Lin winning, in addition to making up for last year's mess.
"
What was last year's mess?
Posted: 5/4/16 at 12:38pm
they televised score when Cindi Lauper was nominated, so there's no reason to expect otherwise this year around with nominees like Steve Martin and Sara B. any chance the broadcast can get to showcase celebrities, they do it. and do it desperately.
Posted: 5/4/16 at 12:43pm
backwoodsbarbie said: "Tag said: "So after the CBS mistep of last year's Tonys, will we see Book & Score categories televised this year? I can't imagine they wouldn't televise Lin winning, in addition to making up for last year's mess."
What was last year's mess?"
History was made last year when Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron became the first all female writing team to win Best Original Score, and a lot of people were angry that it was only presented during commercials.
Posted: 5/4/16 at 12:44pm
The larger draw of presenting Book & Score on TV will be Sara Bareilles and Steve Martin. I hope for the sake of all book and song writers that they are televised, but I'm still mad about last year.
Posted: 5/4/16 at 12:47pm
^ they will be. there's established precedent for this (see: 2013).
Posted: 5/4/16 at 12:53pm
JM226 said: "^ they will be. there's established precedent for this (see: 2013). "
Yes, there is, and I expect it will be. But I won't believe it for sure until I see it. I'll take it any year they give it but it's still frustrating that it's not every year. What the hell do they think those best actors and actresses are doing on stage? Improv?
Posted: 5/4/16 at 1:12pm
wait I'm confused. why would they televise it just because of Sara and Steve Martin? If they don't win it doesn't really matter if semi famous people are nominated. It's not liek they go up on stage or anything, But I do think they will televise it this year.
Updated On: 5/4/16 at 01:12 PM
Posted: 5/4/16 at 1:13pm
I assume they will televise them both because Lin's speeches are always performances and the public wants as much Hamilton as they can get.
Posted: 5/4/16 at 1:21pm
Broadway Forever2 said: "wait I'm confused. why would they televise it just because of Sara and Steve Martin? If they don't win it doesn't really matter if semi famous people are nominated. It's not liek they go up on stage or anything, But I do think they will televise it this year."
When they do teasers and ads leading up to the broadcast to try to attract a national, non-Broadway following audience, they'll say "Steve Martin" "Grammy nominee Sara Bareilles" I think they will televise it just because they can show those faces when the nominees are announced.
Lin's speeches are fun but I just don't think he's a draw outside those who follow Broadway. Non-Broadway fans know what Hamilton is but they are less likely to know who LMM is.
Posted: 5/4/16 at 1:26pm
Hmm I think LMM and Hamilton are more part of the pop culture consciousness right now over Barreilles or Martin.
Posted: 5/4/16 at 1:34pm
Tag said: "Hmm I think LMM and Hamilton are more part of the pop culture consciousness right now over Barreilles or Martin."
Hamilton, absolutely. LMM himself, I'm not so sure.
Also, middle-aged and older white people, a frequent Broadway market, will perk up at hearing Steve Martin's name.
Posted: 5/4/16 at 1:46pm
I feel like those people would be watching the Tonys anyway!
Posted: 5/4/16 at 2:04pm
wait I'm confused. why would they televise it just because of Sara and Steve Martin?
because then they can say, "with appearances by.... x, y, and z." it may not mean much to you but at the networks they put a lot of stock and value in being able to advertise celebrity names with their various spots.
Posted: 5/4/16 at 2:06pm
Tag said: "I feel like those people would be watching the Tonys anyway!"
Yes they will but it's also important to have those names heard during the actual broadcast so people will say "oh Steve Martin wrote a musical let's check it out"
Posted: 5/4/16 at 2:23pm
My favorite part of awards ceremonies are the acceptance speeches, and not just by celebrities. Sometimes the most moving speeches are from the people who aren't often in the spotlight. Not that that's going to happen this year since Miranda will win both (and I think they'll televise it), but I wish they'd show them every year. Last year I was like "why am I watching Jersey Boys and hearing about awards that happened during commercials?"
There aren't THAT many Tony categories.
Posted: 5/4/16 at 3:24pm
OK Steve Martin maybe but Sara Bareilles really isn't very popular. I know she has her fanbase but she's not really known b the general public outside of her song "love song" from many years ago.
Posted: 5/4/16 at 3:47pm
Broadway Forever2 said: "OK Steve Martin maybe but Sara Bareilles really isn't very popular. I know she has her fanbase but she's not really known b the general public outside of her song "love song" from many years ago.
"
i don't know what world you live in but Sara is a notable figure in the mainstream pop genre. also, from her Wikipedia page: Bareilles has sold over one million albums and over nine million singles/downloads in the United States of America alone and has earned five Grammy Award nominations, including one for Album of the Year.
Posted: 5/4/16 at 3:54pm
JM226 said: "i don't know what world you live in but Sara is a notable figure in the mainstream pop genre. also, from her Wikipedia page: Bareilles has sold over one million albums and over nine million singles/downloads in the United States of America alone and has earned five Grammy Award nominations, including one for Album of the Year."
I agree. Yes, there will be people on this board who say they don't know who she is and of course there are people out there who don't - she's not Beyonce but she's well known. Remember a little song called "Brave" that was everywhere? She's also performed on lots of TV broadcasts including the Grammys and Kennedy Center Honors and performed at the White House a couple months ago. And she was a mentor on The Voice.
Updated On: 5/4/16 at 03:54 PM
Posted: 5/4/16 at 4:27pm
If you go back and watch Tony's past (you can, they are all on youtube dating back to the late 60s) they have always played with the format of how to make the show more entertaining and also how not to exclude the 99% of America that has no idea what these shows are and WONT see them in their entire Bway run....it's tough. In years where no "celebrities" are nominated in what producers of the show deem the lesser cared about categories they opt to not show them at all on the telecast and put more performances into the ceremony. When they can connect the categories with the relevancy of America's interest they show them. It comes across disrespectful to the artform as a whole though. Recently this has included Score and Choreography (!!??).
I think they just need to swallow their ratings pride and commit to showing them the same way the Oscars do. Not many film fans really cares about or have seen the nominated shorts come time to give the award out, but they show it anyway...the whole organization is about honoring film. If Tony organization doesnt want to honor the REAL theater artists on the telecast, they should go back to privatizing it and then have a night called The Best of Broadway where all the shows of the year perform numbers. That is entertaining enough for people. But don't disrespect the composers of a musical who spent their entire career getting their show up by only making it matter when LADY GAGA gets paid a ridiculous amount of money to write the score to Avatar the musical, an that was cooked up by some film studio head who is just trying to find another way to make money on a film that is now irrelevant to pop culture and one Lady Gaga has no real passion for in the first place.
This year they will show them because of Sara and of course Lin being made into a star.
Posted: 5/5/16 at 11:19am
there was a related conversation in a thread I can no longer locate, but I find it alarming that a NY Times Theater Critic is unclear on the definition of "Book of A Musical", as evinced by Isherwood's first comment in this piece:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/04/theater/hamilton-aside-where-the-real-tony-competition-lies.html?ref=arts&_r=0
Wow. 
Posted: 5/5/16 at 5:21pm
Tag said: "I can't imagine they wouldn't televise Lin winning"
What happens if he doesn't win?
Posted: 5/5/16 at 5:50pm
OMG what an idiot. How does he not know what a book is.
