Tony Award Categories That Should Exist

[AndreyIsntHere]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 2:06am

Apologies if there's already been a thread like this, I looked around and couldn't find anything!

But I'm wondering - what categories do you wish we could see at the Tonys? Personally, I'd love a Best Ensemble category, as well as a best band/orchestra one. It'd also be cool if there was a Best Song award (for both musicals and plays with music). There used to be a Best Conductor/Musical Director category, which would be nice to see again, though I suppose it was retired for a reason.

There's some other more unrealistic categories that I would like (Best Stage Manager - this may be difficult to judge as a viewer,  same for the also retired Best Stage Technician. I also love the idea of a best swing/understudy/alt award, but that would just make things difficult, with needing to assure that Tony voters see multiple non-principal actors.)

I'm mostly just asking in fun, as I understand that adding categories is not an easy thing. For example, I've seen people wanting to split awards up by genres but I think that WOULDN'T be a good idea, because we'd probably only get a couple nominees per category!

[willep]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 6:36am

The big one for me is always best script of a play vs best production of a play. Musical gets book/score/musical, and sometimes those aren’t all the same. There are many years where the best production of a play is not the best written play.

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 7:52am

Best Ensemble 

Best Understudy

Best Swing

Best Dance Captain

Best Stage Management Team

Also, there needs to be a rule change where if there is a musical on Broadway that has been around for many years but has never performed on Broadway, that should be allowed to compete for Best Musical as well as the creative awards like Score and Book. (Ex. Hedwig and the Angry Inch)

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 9:21am

willep said: "The big one for me is always best script of a play vs best production of a play. Musical gets book/score/musical, and sometimes those aren’t all the same. There are many years where the best production of a play is not the best written play."

Really this is the only thing I think is important, and should be reinstated.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 9:32am

I still think we need a Best Replacement award 

[SeanD2]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 9:36am

Dylan Smith4 said: "Also, there needs to be a rule change where if there is a musical on Broadway that has been around for many years but has never performed on Broadway, that should be allowed to compete for Best Musical as well as the creative awards like Score and Book. (Ex. Hedwig and the Angry Inch)"

Absolutely not. There needs to be a distinction and the "classics rule" is the best way to do it while still allowing for shows that have been in development for years to be nominated. I for one wouldn't want to force the writer of a new work to be nominated against Mozart as the composer of any of his operas that have never been produced on Broadway (as an extreme example). Maybe you could make a case if the entire original writing team is still alive then it should be eligible, but even then you're stretching things.

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 9:38am

Jordan Catalano said: "I still think we need a Best Replacement award"

I think Jonathan Pryce might disagree with you on that one.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 9:49am

I second Best Ensemble and Best Understudy. And while we’re at it, bring back Best Conductor / Music Director.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 10:02am

Ok, this might be controversial, but here goes: 

Overhaul/expand the whole damn operation to include Off-Broadway shows. Have them hire some intelligent people to come up with some sort of system to make this manageable - for example, I'd expect the non-Broadway shows / venues would have to meet certain requirements to register their eligibility. They could use something resembling the Oscar or BAFTA models where they hire a jury or secondary team to "shortlist" Off-Broadway shows, and vet them to decide if they're up to Tony standards. Or some other system - I believe they could come up with something that would work, even if none of us on this board can picture it right now. 

In an ideal world this might also be expanded to regional shows too, because on principal, it just doesn't make sense that the most prestigious American theatre award is limited to one city in this huge country. but I recognize that would be an unwieldy goal.

Maybe the answer would be to utilize the existing local infrastructure of other cities to expand the Tony Awards brand  -- e.g. "Tony Awards present the Helen Hayes Awards" so that Helen Hayes winners would also be considered Tony Winners, and would thereby receive the sense of exposure and "legitimacy" that comes with being a Tony winner. Maybe that would be considered a disservice to the Hayes awards. I don't know, I'm just thinking off the top of my head. 

But at the end of the day: public exposure and the illusion of legitimacy are the only reasons the Tony awards actually matter. Without those things, they're merely a small awards body limited to recognizing a tiny, tiny percentage of work within a vast art form, limited to a few blocks of a large city, in a large country.

Updated On: 2/14/22 at 10:02 AM

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 10:30am

Jordan Catalano said: "I still think we need a Best Replacement award"

If memory serves, they did attempt that one a few years back. I think that the reason why they dropped was that there were too many replacements going on that the voters were unable to see them all. So, that went the way of the dodo.

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 10:49am

Islander_fan said: "Jordan Catalano said: "I still think we need a Best Replacement award"

If memory serves, they did attempt that one a few years back. I think that the reason why they dropped was that there were too many replacements going on that the voters were unable to see them all. So, that went the way of the dodo."

It was actually sort of the opposite of that. They tried it for one year but there ended up only being two eligible performances (there were certainly more replacements throughout the season, but I believe it had to do with how long they were in the run for, whether Tony voters were invited, etc. so only Harvey Fierstein and Jonathan Pryce ended up being eligible). And then the committee decided neither of them were worthy to be nominated, which (rightfully) angered them, and they realized it was a mistake to have the category and went ahead and eliminated it.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 10:58am

The Tonys don't have to cover everything. An audience member cannot judge stage management, dance captain, swing, music direction, casting, etc. by merely sitting in the audience, which is the purpose of the Tonys. You also cannot have any categories that require voters to go to a show more than once (such as Replacements); turnout is tough enough as is.

If anything, leave it up to the unions and guilds to devise their own awards like with the film world (SAG, PGA, WGA, DGA, ACE, Artios, etc). But the unions won't want to exclude tours, regional productions, off-b, etc. since the majority of their members don't actually work on Bway.

To pick apart two oft-cited examples:

On a musical, you might have different people in each of these positions: Music Supervisor, Music Director, Vocal Arranger, Dance Arranger, Conductor, Orchestrator. That's not even factoring a Composer, if they are active and alive. Each of those roles is integral and if they're done well, it doesn't matter to the audience who did what. If anything, evolve the Orchestration award into one that covers both Arrangers and Orchestrators. But as with the Orchestration award, it would probably just go to the show that wins Best Score or the show with the biggest orchestra.

With a Casting award, there's the issue that many roles get cast without the involvement of a Casting Director (especially stars). The casting director is not making final choices on who gets hired. And then it's the Director's job to bring out the performance from the actor and make sure the ensemble is properly calibrated.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 11:07am

Dylan Smith4 said: "Best Ensemble

Best Understudy

Best Swing

Best Dance Captain

Best Stage Management Team

Also, there needs to be a rule change where if there is a musical on Broadway that has been around for many years but has never performed on Broadway, that should be allowed to compete for Best Musical as well as the creative awards like Score and Book. (Ex. Hedwig and the Angry Inch)"

 

Or how about we just hand EVERYONE  (merch people, porters, ushers, concessions, guy who drops off the Playbills, etc.,) a participation Tony and just all go home and call it a day!

[JBroadway]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 11:11am

Broadway61004 said: "And then the committee decided neither of them were worthy to be nominated, which (rightfully) angered them, and they realized it was a mistake to have the category and went ahead and eliminated it."

 

^Sounds like bad timing and bad management to me. If the 1st year had coincided with a really strong year for replacements, it probably wouldn't have mattered much if there was dud lineup a few years later. Maybe they should bring back the category as an all-or-nothing special award - i.e no nominees; any replacement that meets the requirements and invites voters gets put into a pre-nomination pool. Voters can then cast a vote for a winner, or abstain, and a contender has to meet a certain quota to win the award. Similar to this year's Aaron Tveit situation, but the difference being you don't have that awkward period where they are the only nominee. 

Again, I'm just thinking off the top of my head. Sometimes I think these awards categories just suffer from a lack of imagination, or under-applied imagination. Sometimes an award body will come up with a really smart new rule, category, or system, and I just think to myself "See! It's possible to think outside the box a little! Now keep thinking outside the box!" 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 11:12am

Best understudy/best swing is not obtainable: too many people trying to see too many performances.   Some understudies rarely go on - how do you get the voters to SEE the performance. 

 

While I wouldn't MIND Best Ensemble, I think that's a hard one to compare.

 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 11:16am

If they ever do away with gendered categories, it could be valuable to split the awards to Best Performance in an Original Work vs Best Performance in a Revival.

Could even be "Best Perf in a Revival or Adapted Work."

Maybe writing for plays/musical books is even split into Adapted vs Original like the Oscars? Creating a story vs adapting one are such different jobs with unique skills. The key would be having shifting eligibility criteria since some of those categories could be quite thin.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 1:43pm

The Tony for Best Music Direction is a no-brainer. The music director is part of the triumvirate of the creative team and the only without a Tony category (direction and choreography already exist). If Tony voters already vote on sound design (in two categories!) and orchestrations, music direction is not out of the realm of possibilities for voters to judge. Also, it’s a shame that this category already exists at the Emmy Awards but not at the Tonys. Maybe they should combine this with the orchestration award?

I think a citation for Best Ensemble would be nice and easily doable, sort of like how they do it at the Drama Desk Awards.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 2:44pm

My two biggies would be Best Script of a Play and Best ensemble of a play or musical. I think including something  like best swing or replacement is already too nit picky and specific. Then why wouldn’t there be one for more people. It’s like giving out participation medals.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 3:13pm

HeyMrMusic said: "Maybe they should combine this with the orchestration award?"

I believe the Orchestration award came out of lobbying by Ted Sperling and others to reinstate the award for Music Director in the 90s.

How do you judge the quality of music direction, though? And the work of a music supervisor vs music director vs vocal arranger? It's much easier with a revival than a new work when you know the score. You're not judging the conducting of that night's performance, since an associate or assistant is going to be on 2+ nights a week. You're not judging how good the orchestra sounds –– that's the contractor and orchestrator. The tempos of a new musical are going to ultimately be set by the composer. So is it a matter of judging the ensemble vocal cutoffs? Which are rarely "bad" in a Broadway show. All this to say it's a collaboration. Every department does not need an award.

And on most shows the MD really isn't equal to the choreographer (and neither is equal to the director). It's a step below, more akin to a stage manager.

Turn the Orchestrator award into a Music Department award or don't award Music Directors at all.

Updated On: 2/14/22 at 03:13 PM

[James885]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 3:18pm

Best Script of a Play should definitely exist - it's kinda mind boggling how there's an award for Best Book, but not a similar one for the best play script.

Including awards for understudies, swings & dance captains is just too unwieldy & too many logistics involved, especially with trying to see understudy performances - and what would even be the judging criteria for dance captains & swings?

Best Ensemble isn't a bad idea, but I feel like it would more times than not just go to the ensemble of whatever show won Best Musical.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 3:22pm

I agree with Ermengarde on this one, though it's unfortunate, because those of us who have done musicals can attest that the music director is a key figurehead in the creative process. It's just so hard to judge from the outside unless, as Ermengarde said, it's a revival where the music direction choices are more obvious. 

It would have to be a more involved process of judgement. I almost wonder if they can do something similar to the educator award, where productions can submit their music director with testimonials or other materials designed to demonstrate how their music director influenced the process. Put the responsibility on the production to campaign for their music director's contributions, not on the voters to pick up on these things from the audience. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 3:25pm

James885 said: "Best Ensemble isn't a bad idea, but I feel like it would more times than not just go to the ensemble of whatever show won Best Musical."

That's the problem with a lot of these awards. Similarly, MD would nearly always overlap with Best Score.

And would the Principal ensemble be separated from the "chorus" Ensemble, similar to AEA contracts? Then you have a lot of actors running around billing themselves as Tony Award winners for a group effort, instead of awarding the individual effort. It devalues the award. (You have that with co-producers, too, but everyone knows to roll their eyes at that...though while we're on that subject, non-Lead producers should also be removed from Tony consideration and voting. But it might make Broadway finances and League membership crumble.)

[JBroadway]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 3:37pm

For reference, the Script vs. Production of a play category is one the more long-standing Tony discussions. Here's the most recent thread about it, but people have been bringing it up for years: 

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1126237#

 

And I agree (yet again) with Ermengarde, that the ensemble awards would require some heavy clarification and set rules. We discussed this in a different thread a few months ago, and I was saying that they'd have to be very clear about the distinction between a principal ensemble vs. a chorus ensemble. Most "ensemble" awards that currently exist in show-biz (Drama Desks, SAG, etc.) are designed for PRINCIPAL ensembles. But I think a lot of people who suggest an ensemble Tony award are talking about chorus ensembles. It's a totally different concept, to the point where they could theoretically have both: a principal ensemble award, and a chorus ensemble award. 

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 4:40pm

I very much disagree with the sentiment that the MD is not on equal footing as the director and choreographer. The MD (or music supervisor depending on the delineation of roles) is responsible for how every bit of music is represented and therefore collaborates directly with the director, choreographer, composer, lyricist, orchestrator, music coordinator, sound designer, stage manager, etc. This is not a glorified stage manager position; it’s an actual creative and collaborate member of the team, moreso than other positions that garner Tony recognition. In most cases the MD is the one calling the shots regarding the music, not the orchestrator or composer or arranger or choreographer or director. Conducting the show every night is an added job but not the sole job of an MD. It’s a creative position, basically designing how the music is heard and performed throughout the entire show.

If projection designers can be deemed eligible for joint nominations and wins in other categories, the MD should also be included in other categories. To me, orchestration makes more sense and you could turn that into a music department win.

[stoptheworld38]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 9:15pm

everythingtaboo said: "willep said: "The big one for me is always best script of a play vs best production of a play. Musical gets book/score/musical, and sometimes those aren’t all the same. There are many years where the best production of a play is not the best written play."

Really this is the only thing I think is important, and should be reinstated."

Agreed. Reading a play and watching a fully staged theatrical production are 2 very different things.