PRODUCER Eliza beth I. McCann, who guided the Tony Awards through some choppy times, had a lot to do with the success of this year’s telecast, a program that won an Emmy and good reviews from the press.
And what was her reward?
To be unceremoniously ousted from her job as managing producer of the Tonys by a couple of apparatchiks – Charlotte St. Martin, who heads the Broadway League, and Howard Sherman, who looks after the nonprofit American Theater Wing.
The two organizations have joint custody over the Tonys.
Reached by phone, McCann told The Post: “I will not comment.”
But theater sources say she’s furious about the way she was treated.
She took over the Tonys eight years ago when the League and the Wing, which is in business only because it controls the copyright on the Tony, were at each other’s throats.
The League was trying to make the Tonys more commercial, while the Wing was fighting to protect the integrity of the theater world’s most famous prize.
McCann helped smooth over the differences with humor and, when necessary, steel. She also became a colorful spokeswoman for the Tonys, turning back attacks from the press with quips and jokes.
A source close to McCann says: “She did a lot to get us back on track, and now that we’re all getting along, it’s: Thanks – but we don’t need you anymore.”
McCann, sources say, was blindsided by the dismissal. She attended a regular Tony meeting last week with St. Martin and Sherman.
St. Martin was chattering away about the economic conditions of Broadway – “that’s all the press wants to talk about,” she complained – when all of a sudden Sherman piped up and said, “Liz, we’ve decided not to renew your contract.”
Then they got up and left, leaving McCann and her business associate Joey Parnes “looking stunned,” says a source.
St. Martin and Sherman did not make the decision on their own – both answer to their constituents: St. Martin, the producers; Sherman, a bunch of rich people who sit on the board of the Wing.
“A lot of people signed off on the decision – people who are supposed to be Liz’s friends,” says a source.
One reason McCann was let go is that she didn’t “collaborate very well,” says a source.
“Everybody loves Liz, but she does her own thing. She’s not inclusionary, and she turned the Tonys into her own little fiefdom. She wasn’t listening to the League or the Wing. And she was being paid a lot of money.”
McCann’s Tony contract, sources say, was worth $1 million a year.
McCann will be replaced by Alan Wasser, a longtime Broadway general manager. He’ll look after the nuts and bolts of the telecast but will have very little creative input.
That, God help us, looks like it will fall to the apparatchiks.
With McCann out of the way, Sherman and St. Martin will be able to exert more control over the Tony telecast, which is a very valuable piece of real estate on the Broadway Monopoly board.
A bespectacled ex-flack from the Goodspeed Opera House, Sherman may look harmless but “burns with ambition,” says a source.
Another person says: “Beware the nerd.”
St. Martin, who joined the League two years ago after a career in the hotel business, flashes a lot of Texas charm around Broadway. Now, with her strike against McCann, she’s beginning to flex some Texas muscle, as well.
All right, my little apparatchiks. Let’s see what you can do with the Tonys. But if next year’s telecast isn’t up to snuff, I know where to point the finger of blame.