What categories would you like to see added to the TONYS? — Page 2

Best Sound Design & Best Musical Direction

I think in order to be able to have a replacement category there would have to be some serious rules as to who is eligible, to make it possible for nominators to see them. I would perhaps limit it to leading roles for a start (they could always expand that to featured if it works a few years later), and I would distinguish between male and female. They would have to be in the show for a certain amount of time, say at least 3 months or even more. And perhaps there could be something like: they can only invite the nominators and voters back to the show once per season to see who they want them to see. That way, they can submit several people from their show (say, Wicked can submit 1 Elphaba and Glinda, not just one actor per show), but it would keep the amount of shows the nominators have to see at a minimum. It's really not that many if you think about it that way. Exclude all news shows, most plays because they close before they have any replacements, and some shows from last season that still have the OBC (e.g. Something Rotten). You're left with 10-15 shows tops I think that they would have to see over the course of the season. They could even reinstate an additional rule of not being allowed to invited during March/April when they are busy with new shows anyway.

It's not ideal and just some thoughts from the top of my head, but I do think it could work and would be a good start to recognize replacements, and might encourage name actors to replace more often, which never really happens...



I agree about an ensemble award, this one is very necessary!



I like the Music Director one, but I feel like that's another like sound design where nobody knows how to judge that...

Because people don't get it. Ask two actors to do the same role and they do it differently and one of them does it better. With props and sound it's different, apararently. People think that all prop masters output the same thing. They dont. People think that sound designers all output the same thing. They dont. It's called an art for a reason folks. Bringing out the humor in a serious role is a mistake, as is putting a purple polka dotted knife in a butcher shop. Singing operaticly in a humble, down-to-earth role is a mistake as is playing a sound clip that does not fit the time period. I'll let these q2q comics comic sum me up.

https://q2qcomics.com/tag/tony-can-you-hear-me/

Btw, if you want to learn more about the tech world in a funny way, read these things. They are quite good and amazing and wonderful and hilarious and you wI'll probably love them.

I think that Best Stage Technician should be brought back. Also, I think Best Author should be brought back. Why is there no love for the plays?

^Not true. If plays never made money, there wouldn't be any.



Why? We wish we knew...it's a travesty indeed.

I like your ideas for Best Replacement, _IrisTInkerbell. They could even make it similar to the Best Foreign Language Feature category at the Oscars where every country is allowed to submit one film to reduce the overwhelming number of films in contention. Producers could petition for certain actors to help the Tony committee narrow it down.

To focus on the playwright there should be two added: "Best Written Play Adapted" and "Best Written Play Original". Right now there is only "Best Play" and when the winner is announced all the producers come up on stage with the playwright often pushed to the back of them. Unbelievable!

I like to see best orchestra/conductor. You could have the best score and the best orchestration in the world, but you also need a good conductor and good musicians. The beauty of live theatre is also to have live musicians. It's a shame that they don't have any recognition except for 10 seconds of applause at the end of the show.

They did add a Best Replacement category in 2005 - the season Fierstein replaced in Fiddler - but didn't nominate anyone. It proved to be too unruly so they just dropped it.