AFTER years of pretending to “honor excellence in the theater,” Tony officials are finally coming clean about their true calling: making money for the backers of big musicals — and trying, however ineptly, to jack up ratings for CBS.
How else to interpret the decision to eliminate from Sunday’s Tony telecast a bunch of what are patronizingly called “creative awards” and put in their place musical numbers from touring productions of “Jersey Boys,” “Mamma Mia!” and — here’s a good reason to switch channels — “Legally Blonde”?
Tony officials announced this week that the awards for things such as lighting, sets and costumes — all insignificant components of a Broadway show, as anyone who works in the theater can attest — will not make the broadcast.
And that’s not all.
Also banned from prime time are the awards for choreography, book of a musical and revival of a play.
Why call attention to the work of minor writers such as August Wilson (“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”), Alan Ayckbourn (“The Norman Conquests”), Lee Hall (“Billy Elliot”) and Samuel Beckett (“Waiting for Godot”)?
Far better to showcase the work of a major artist like Elle Woods.
Of course, not everyone agrees.
Kevin Spacey, the head of the Old Vic, lead producer of “The Norman Conquests,” which is up for Best Revival, has this to say:
“This is boneheaded, outrageous, infuriating and insulting not just to everyone who has worked so hard on these productions, but to the entire theater community.
“It is another example of the systematic chipping away, for financial gain, of what the Tonys are supposed to be about.
“Plays make up something like 43 or 44 percent of the box office on Broadway — and they would make up even more if more people heard about them from the Tony Awards.”
The decision to ditch creative awards in favor of more musical numbers comes right from the top — CBS chief Les Moonves, who, I’m told, decreed that the Tonys should mainly be about singing and dancing.
“Les wants more entertainment and fewer speeches,” one source says.
A veteran theater executive puts it bluntly: “Who gives a s – – t about an old costume designer getting an award? It makes for lousy television. Acceptance speeches are not entertainment unless they’re from a celebrity or a screaming queen.”
But even this cynical exec admits it’s “schizophrenic” for the Tonys to champion “excellence in the theater” when a good portion of the telecast will be devoted to flatulence jokes from “Shrek.”
Spacey has a solution worth thinking about, especially if the ratings continue to plummet:
“The Tonys should be produced by theater people. Mike Nichols should be the director. The show should be on PBS and everyone should get their award, and then we don’t have to give a f – – k about ratings.”
THEATER people pride themselves on being “progressive,” and I’m sure if Zogby took a poll, most would be against rounding up and deporting illegal immigrants.
But when it comes to the pursuit of the almighty Tony, you’d be surprised how quickly some of them turn into Minutemen.
The producers of “reasons to be pretty” recently sent out a letter begging Tony voters to support their show because it’s “American.”
That’s a thinly veiled swipe at the competition — “God of Carnage” — which is, quel horreur, French.
Lincoln Center also sent out a letter saying that its two productions — “Dividing the Estate” and “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” — are “deeply rooted American plays.”
(“Estate” is up against “Carnage,” while “Joe Turner” is up against “The Norman Conquests,” which is English.)
This crude xenophobia is outrageous — and unwarranted.
Even Yasmina Reza, who wrote “God of Carnage,” no longer thinks her play is French.
“During rehearsals, she kept complaining we were too American,” cast member James Gandolfini recently told me.
How did you respond? I asked.
“We didn’t have to. After a few days, she went back to Paris.”