My crystal ball has a few cracks in it. As some people happily pointed out after Sunday’s Tony Awards, I called several categories wrong, including Best Musical and Best Play.
The voters, it seems, chose “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” for being a proper old-fashioned musical, with an original score and script. Since “Beautiful” — my pick — features old songs by Carole King and others, it’s perceived as a jukebox musical. “Jersey Boys” notwithstanding, that’s a category voters have little use for.
I thought the road vote would be squarely behind “Beautiful,” but it was probably countered by the huge block of producers of “Gentleman’s Guide.” I stopped counting at 1,340, all bounding for joy on the stage of Radio City Music Hall after their big win.
Joey Parnes, the lead producer, isn’t one of Broadway’s superrich who can write one check for a show, or collect a few checks from wealthy friends. He takes much smaller investments from a lot of people, each one of them a Tony voter. So “Gentleman’s Guide” entered the race with a lot of votes in its vest pocket.
The same is true, to some extent, of “All The Way,” winner of Best Play. Its lead producer, Jeffrey Richards, also raises money from dozens of investors: There are more names above the title of “All the Way” than there are on the donor wall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. By contrast, “Act One” (the show I picked to win) has just one producer: Lincoln Center.
Others are beginning to notice this new twist in Tony voting blocs. One producer, who could easily bankroll a production by himself, says, “I think we’ll start cutting more voters into our shows. We don’t have to do it, but it gives you a leg up.” Which means Radio City had better reinforce the stage next year with steel and concrete.
As for the telecast itself, what would Broadway’s big night be without controversy? Some were annoyed that Harvey Weinstein nabbed a key spot for a song from his upcoming “Finding Neverland.”
It was an odd number. Jennifer Hudson, wearing a silver lamé evening gown, was surrounded by the Darling children, dressed in Victorian-era pajamas. As columnist Michael Musto observed, it looked like “The Bodyguard” meets “Peter Pan.”
And what of Hugh Jackman’s bouncy opener? I think I may have been the only person there who knew it was an homage to Bobby Van’s “Take Me to Broadway,” from the 1953 movie “Small Town Girl.”
At least I got something right.