Weinstein regrets last year's NEVERLAND Tony performance

In a new interview with Billboard.com, producer Harvey Weinstein reveals that he has regrets over last year's FINDING NEVERLAND performance by Jennifer Hudson on the 2014 Tony Awards. Many in the theater community took offense to a performance from a show which was not yet on Broadway by a singer who was not even a member of the cast.

Weinstein admits that the push to get his new show exposure on national TV may have cost his stars, Matthew Morrison, Kelsey Grammer and Laura Michelle Kelly the opportunity to receive Tony nods for their performances at this year's awards ceremony. "The Tony committee spanked us by being unorthodox," explains Weinstein. "The Broadway community likes to do things a certain way, and I think we paid the price for it. If I had to do it all over again, maybe I wouldn't have done it."

The producer goes on to lament, "Tony love is very nice for a show, especially our cast. But this has nothing to do with Matthew or Kelsey or Laura Michelle or [director] Diane [Paulus.] This was Broadway saying, 'Hey, Hollywood boy, you and Denzel [Washington] and your buddy Jake [Gyllenhaal], this is our turf. Play by the rules or don't.'"

Weinstein shares that he may go about things a little differently for his next theatrical project, a musical adaptation of Around The World In 80 Days. "We'll try to find the happy medium," he offers.

At least he seems to be becoming a little self-aware.

Weinstein admits that the push to get his new show exposure on national TV may have cost his stars, Matthew Morrison, Kelsey Grammer and Laura Michelle Kelly the opportunity to receive Tony nods for their performances at this year's awards ceremony.

Yeah cause Morrison, Grammer and LMK had anything to do with that Jen Hud performance. If this is true then shame on the broadway community. Don't punish actors for idiot producers.

They didn't deserve nominations. There were better performances and better musicals. He's just needs to shut up.

Grammer was the only nod I expected for this show.

He's basically found a way to say, "oops, I was naughty. But the awards are meaningless anyway as demonstrated by the punitive way they shut us out.

This whole thing with Weinstein is just embarrassing. Him buying his way onto the Tony's and Jennifer Hudson singing did not cost Morrison, Kelly or Grammer a Tony nod.

He can't stop making excuses for this show. And tickets are selling well so he should just keep his mouth shut.

Your show sucked, Harvey. That's why you didn't get any nominations. The book and score were turgid. It's an idea as freeze-dryed as Walt Disney's icy corpse. (I know, I know. He was cremated. Good joke, though.) And your attempt at being David Merrick would have even embarrassed David Merrick.

"Also, why does he bring up Jake Gyllenhaal and Denzel Washington? Were they producers or is he talking about Gyllenhaal not being nominated as an actor?"

Yeah, that made no sense. Denzel WON for Fences, but I figure he meant how he was not nominated last year for "Raisin in the Sun" and Jake's non-nomination this year. Oh well, it was a crowded field. He seems to really think it's all because of him and not that other performances were considered better by the committee than the ones he mentioned.

He honestly needs to accept that maybe his show is not as good as the dozen nominated shows on Broadway. He keeps trying to find reasons for why his show wasn't nominated, and as political as Broadway might be sometimes, it really comes down to a few things. Performances and Material.

At no point did I say that everyone who likes the show is wrong. I said that I think it's atrocious, my opinion. But my point was that Harvey needs to accept that his show didn't get nominated because people didn't vote for it, not because people got together to conspire against the show and send him a message. Basically, Harvey needs to learn that, unlike what everyone has probably told him, not everything is about him.

And his point about Jake Gyllenhaal and Denzel Washington is absurd. Gyllenhaal didn't get in because the category was so competitive, for goodness' sake, Glenn Close (a celebrated stage actress) didn't get in either. Washington, a very recent Tony winner, didn't get in for the same reason.

"And everyone who likes the show is wrong. That's just how things roll around here, I suppose. "
That's what it seems like! Everybody always talking in these lovely absolutes... I love it and stand by that. I thought it was visually stunning and deserved design nods. I also thought the acting was good. I personally enjoyed the music. All that made me not the feel the weaknesses in the book as much, and I left the theater elated, something not all that many shows did this season. I'm a fool to feel that way? So be it. A happy fool I'll be!"

I loved the show and stand by it. Also, if a show not funny nor enjoyable like Something Rotten got a nod... I do think Neverland was snubbed.

valeposh, while I agree with your assessment of Something Rotten!, it's inclusion in the Tony nominations has nothing to do with a snub for Finding Neverland. The former show got a number of excellent reviews and has enjoyed some nice buzz and word of mouth. Finding Neverland, on the other hand, received mostly negative reviews and the buzz has been mixed at best. The two shows really aren't comparable.

For those who think the show was snubbed, what specifically would you remove from a category to include Finding Neverland. It's easy to say a show was snubbed, but saying that means that another show shouldn't have gotten nominated, and from where I stand most, if not all of the nominations, were well-deserved and expected.