Tony Awards aftermath- Page 2

[Owen22]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 1:06pm

I concur that parade without been Platt is not going to run. It's not a terribly accessible show and in my opinion it's never been a very good show. Its winning over the Sweeney Todd revival makes me even more angrier at it! I remember originally I couldn't believe that it actually won best musical even though it had little competition. I was so happy Jason Robert Brown was cut off, as to me he is the bane of modern musical theater!

[two ladies tickets]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 1:22pm

There were many people, many MANY people who have worked with JRB throughout the course of his career that were VERY happy he was cut off last night. 

[Theatrefan2]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 1:31pm

I really disagree that Parade isn't an accessible show. It's just as accessible as any dramatic musical. I also think it might even be better than Sweeney as a piece overall.

Has the website for Parade always had 'limited engagement must end' banner on it?  I notice they've updated the awards banner but I can't remember if the end date had always been up or not.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 1:32pm

OuttaTowner said: "I’d love to know what matters most to folks unfamiliar with shows, planning trips to NYC. Or to those folks who may eventually get a touring company. The performance clip? The awards themselves? Name brand recognition?

Having seen most of the nominated, I don’t know that any really sold themselves to the uninitiated. And for shows that have already posted closing notices (e.g., Parade, Funny Girl, Leopoldstadt), those bumps could put some more $ in the coffers. I’m guessing a couple (Sweeney and Juliet) are safe no matter the Tony impact. But performance awards are a double edged swords - folks mar buy seats only to find an understudy on, or that the award recipient has left the show.
At any rate, I guess SLIH may have fared best, in terms of the performance, but I too thought Shucked was a bit of a mess, NYNY should have done Wine &Peaches, and…out of context, I’m not sure any one number will sell KA."

Only about 3.2 million people watched last night. Chances are very few of the viewers were the uninitiated. Sadly, I don't think it's going to be something that is really worth wondering about.

 

[DAME]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 1:33pm

Owen22 said: "I concur that parade without been Platt is not going to run. It's not a terribly accessible show and in my opinion it's never been a very good show. Its winning over the Sweeney Todd revival makes me even more angrier at it! I remember originally I couldn't believe that it actually won best musical even though it had little competition. I was so happy Jason Robert Brown was cut off, as to me he is the bane of modern musical theater!"

Well;  it just sounds like you personally have some kind of vendetta against the show.  I am not a big Ben Platt fan and would have loved to have seen the far more superior Jeremy Jordan replace him as opposed to going into Little Shop.  But the revival is stellar.  And I am glad it won.  And I hope this piece now gets seen more.  

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 1:44pm

IN what universe is Kimberly Akimbo a children's show?

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 1:44pm

Only people interested in theater or know the shows is going to watch. Who wants to watch an awards show about stuff you aren’t invested in? And performing arts is already a small subset. To me, 3 Million sounds like a lot than I’d expected. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 1:45pm

Will Sweeney Todd, A Beautiful Noise, and & Juliet be the only open-ended shows from this last season that are still standing after Labor Day?

I sure hope Akimbo makes it to January, but that’s a lot to ask even with the Triple Crown win. 
 

[uncageg]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 1:49pm

I was really hoping the numbers would stay steady or increase a bit, but there was a decrease in viewership this year.

 

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Tony-Awards-Draw-342-Million-Viewers-11-Decrease-From-Last-Year-20230612

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 1:50pm

JRB's words before being cut off were "Mary Phagan," so I'm sure he had something admirable and necessary to say about the real-life person whose tragic murder inspired the musical. But you have to cut off the speeches eventually, and they'd already had 3 speakers (and the largest group of co-pros who then had to be shepherded offstage).

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 1:53pm

Also, hot take: WGA strike or not, the Tonys should continue without writers. It felt so refreshing to not have any ridiculous banter this year.

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 1:55pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "Will Sweeney Todd,A Beautiful Noise,and& Julietbe the only open-ended shows from this last season that are still standing after Labor Day?

I sure hope Akimbo makes it to January, but that’s a lot to ask even with the Triple Crown win.
"

Well, if you're saying it'll close on Labor Day then that surely means it'll be around through the end of the year. 

Updated On: 6/12/23 at 01:55 PM

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 2:02pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "WillSweeney Todd,A Beautiful Noise,and& Julietbe the only open-ended shows from this last season that are still standing after Labor Day?

I sure hopeAkimbomakes it to January, but that’s a lot to ask even with the Triple Crown win.
"

I'm gonna bet Kimberly will last longer than A Beautiful Noise but both will make it past Labor Day. I also think either Shucked or SLIH will make it to January but I'd be surprised if both do.

[dan94]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 2:24pm

If Ben Platt has a hard out on August 6th, new Tony winner Brandon Uranowitz would be good in Parade and could probably float them to Labor Day (but likely not past Labor Day). I'd love to see Uranowitz do it, but again, he'd likely only be able to sell a month's worth of tickets if that.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 2:30pm

dan94 said: "If Ben Platt has a hard out on August 6th, new Tony winner Brandon Uranowitz would be good in Parade and could probably float them to Labor Day (but likely not past Labor Day). I'd love to see Uranowitz do it, but again, he'd likely only be able to sell a month's worth of tickets if that."

His name would make no dent on the heels of Platt, as has been the case in LEOPOLDSTADT. Skylar Astin would similarly not sell.

You also run into the issue of bigger-named actors not wanting to follow in the footsteps of a lauded performance by a star, for purposes of comparison and sales (as was the case with Joanne/COMPANY, and Doug Hodge & Kelsey Grammer/LA CAGE, and Jackman/MUSIC MAN, and plenty of other shows...we could be saying the same of Comer/PRIMA FACIE right now, too).

Updated On: 6/12/23 at 02:30 PM

[B.JAMES]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 2:44pm

I often wonder how much streaming and DVR affect these numbers.  I look at ratings for a few shows I watch, and some get a considerable bump in the days following their premier date. 

[MCW1227]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 3:01pm

perfectpenguin said: "&Juliet and Kimberly Akimbo’s performances did not persuade me to buy tickets. Although neither did Sweeney Todd’s. Truthfully the only one that did was Parade. After seeing the performance and clips from the show,I still don’t see the appeal for Kimberly Akimbo."

You can’t go by 1 song. KA has 3 songs that would have sold this show instantly. One had profanity in it, so it would have been censored. One that the entire cast was featured in at the end of Act 1 required a skating surface that this stage probably couldn’t accommodate and the third one would have revealed the ending. So they went with Anagram that highlighted the friendship and explained her condition. I think 5 Tonys speak to its quality. It’s your loss.  

Updated On: 6/12/23 at 03:01 PM

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 3:07pm

quizking101 said: "KA and SLIH definitely bought themselves some time for sure. SLIH can spin their Best Musical wins from other bodies into the marketing as well as their 4 Tonys."

I hope the SLIH marketing team can manage to do something with Ghee's win during Pride Month.

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 3:35pm

I expect Shucked, SLIH and KA to see a nice bump. The press I'm seeing about the three, specifically around historic wins and a challenging TONYs is next level. 

[Jarethan]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 3:51pm

dan94 said: "If Ben Platt has a hard out on August 6th, new Tony winner Brandon Uranowitz would be good in Parade and could probably float them to Labor Day (but likely not past Labor Day). I'd love to see Uranowitz do it, but again, he'd likely only be able to sell a month's worth of tickets if that."

Unless Parade has a big name replacing Platt (or Diamond), it should close, especially if it returns or comes close to returning its investment.   They would probably lose money those weeks without a name.  Uranowitz is not going to sell tickets beyond his family and some people on this board.

While I doubt the impact will be significant, IMO SLIH could benefit the most.  The number screamed big Broadway musical and the title song was good, which is more than I can say for many of the songs in the rest of the show, and the number just worked as we already knew.

I was surprised by ST’s choice, no AA and very little JG, but the number was good so I was satisfied.  Since JG is largely responsible for box office sales, i was surprised he did not have more to do.

I don’t think KA was helped at all by the number selected.  Out of context, I found JC’s anagram effort distracting from Kimberly’s singing.  The number screamed ‘small, niche musical’, which it is.  How mnany tourists are going to buy tickets for a small, niche musical, even with a Tony.  I suspect the duration of its run is dependent on two factors: will ticket sales increase sufficiently from the win and how much longer is VC committed to staying with the show?  I imagine it closes if her contact is up in a couple of months and she does not re-up, even if is doing a little better at the box office.

as someone who did not see Shucked, the number definitely did not make me want to see it more.  I assumed I would see it in my next NY trip in mid-October but, even if it is still open, nothing I saw gave me incentive to put on the list.  Probably would have been better, as others have said, if they did not try to cover so much ground.

I enjoyed &Juliet the show more than last night’s performance and would have had second thoughts about seeing it if that was supposed to be a major highlight of the show.

Of the shows that I have seen (see NYNY in October if it is still open and have not yet seen ST or Shucked), Camelot came across — as I guess it always has — as better than the show actually is.  The number was for me very good.  Maybe future revivals of Camelot should have a Cliff Notes script and musical numbers, wrapping up in 105 minutes.

The best number was LM and her parade, even if the tempo was sped up.  I would bet that that will increase ticket sales in the near-term.

The worst number was NYNY.  If the person singing the title song can’t make it exciting, then highlight something else instead.  Made me hope the show closes before mid-October, when I am supposed to see it.

Finally, agree with others who recommended scrapping what the writwrs usually contributed to the show.  I liked the people generally introducing themselves va aims talking head announcer.

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 3:56pm

Did Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods cancel each other out, awards-wise? I really expected one of them to take Best Revival of a Musical, especially as they are the first revivals after Sondheim's passing.

[yyys]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 4:00pm

KA should have done Skater Planet!  What a missed opportunity......!

[Jarethan]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 4:01pm

joevitus said: "Did Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods cancel each other out, awards-wise? I really expected one of them to take Best Revival of a Musical, especially as they are the first revivals after Sondheim's passing."

They are very different shows, so I don’t think so.  Parade already won the Drama League and a special award from the NY Drama Critics, both of which the other two shows were eligible for.

Also didn’t Company take Best Revival after Sondheim’s passing?

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 4:03pm

I feel like it was never really that big of a possibility in my mind.  Parade covered a relevant topic (antisemitism) and had the benefit of reworking a flop musical to one that was critically acclaimed (I have no concept of the original outside of the cast album, but many people who love the revival said the original production just did not work).  Into the Woods had just closed a while ago and didn't really do anything revolutionary with the show, though it had a very good cast.  And Sweeney got great reviews from the critics but general word of mouth seemed to be a bit more mixed (so presumably Tony voters might have been more mixed on it).  And imo it was also just a "fine" production, with nothing too special about it either.  

What I'm curious about is if Merrily has a chance to win next year, because what a coup that would be 

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/12/23 at 4:06pm

Thanks both of you for those responses. I can see what you mean.  I...honestly don't remember if Company won, but it would make total sense if it did.