Broadway is in the grip of Tony fever — which means everybody’s behaving as if they were in that great Alexander Payne movie “Election.”
This year, the role of Tracy Flick is being played by Jeffrey Richards, the prolific producer whose fine revival of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is up for five Tonys, including Best Revival.
Richards has thrown his competitors into a tizzy over some of the tactics he’s using to sway Tony voters.
His biggest sin?
He sent a brochure to voters promoting his production that was not approved by the Tony Award police.
Now, in the real world, this isn’t exactly a crime against humanity. But on Broadway, especially this time of year, it is, at the very least, a crime against Angela Lansbury.
The Tonys actually employ a person — Jean Kroeper — to enforce a set of strict rules governing the propaganda producers are allowed to send to voters.
Nothing can be sent out until Officer Kroeper has signed off on it. And she’s a regular Captain Queeg when it comes to following the rules, I’m told.
Richards did not submit his brochure to Officer Kroeper for inspection, and it contains a wealth of infractions.
I hope you’re sitting down, because his callous disregard for the Tony rules is breathtaking.
1. A producer may only submit a souvenir program that was sold at the theater. Richards had one made up just for Tony voters!
2. Any reviews sent to voters must be sent in their entireties. Ellipses in place of statements, negative or otherwise, are verboten. Richards’ brochure contains five — five! — sets of ellipses.
3. Only reviews can be sent to voters. Editorials, feature articles, puff pieces, interviews with cast members are not allowed. Richards’ brochure contains comments on the play from all four nominees — Pam MacKinnon (the director), Tracy Letts (George), Amy Morton (Martha) and Carrie Coon (Honey).
MacKinnon, for example, is quoted as saying: “I think of Edward’s play as fractals: The small moments reveal the whole and vice versa.”
Frankly, the use of the word “fractals” would be enough to make me vote for George C. Wolfe, the director of “Lucky Guy,” but that’s neither here nor there. The point is that Tony rules must be obeyed, and in this case they have been flagrantly violated.
Nobody’s more upset about all this than Nelle Nugent, who just happens to be the producer of “The Trip to Bountiful,” which is up against “Virginia Woolf” for Best Revival.
“Nelle is out for blood,” a source says.
She blitzed Charlotte St. Martin, the head of the Broadway League (which polices the Tonys), with e-mails this week demanding to know what the League was going to do to punish Richards.
(From the tone of her missives, I’d say that nothing short of tar-and-feathering him will satisfy her.)
St. Martin was busy glad-handing all the road producers, who are in town this week for their annual conference. She tried to put Nugent off. But hell hath no fury like a producer caught up in a Tony race, so Nugent pressed the issue.
St. Martin has called an “emergency meeting” of the Tony Award administration committee to determine Richards’ fate.
“This is not something we have dealt with before,” she told me. “We will take it up next week.”
Chilling!
Punishment ranges from a slap on the wrist to disqualifying all the producers of “Virginia Woolf” from voting for the Tonys to withdrawing some or all of “Virginia Woolf’s” nominations.
(Why can’t I be on this committee? It sounds like a lot of fun, and I’m sure I could come up some even harsher penalties. Let’s revoke his Sardi’s house account!)
When I called Richards for a comment about this unfolding scandal, he seemed shaken. “Jerry Frankel, Susan Gallin, Mary Lu Roffe and myself — the lead producers of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ — apologize to Nelle Nugent and ‘The Trip to Bountiful’ and the other nominees, ‘Orphans’ and ‘Golden Boy.’ An honest mistake was made.”
Grovel all you want to, Jeffrey.
But Nelle’s on the warpath, and the price of coffins is gonna rise!