Tonight is the biggest event in professional theater. It’s the night excellence is celebrated by giving talented theater creators a Tony Award.
I will be watching, of course. To me, it is the most entertaining award show on television. When producers choose what musical number to feature at the Tonys, you can be sure it’s the most special segment in the show.
Personally, I am not a big fan of awards that function to name the best of anything. This is especially true in the arts where the act of creativity is such a personal and ephemeral process.
I am eligible to vote with the Berkshires Critics Association to participate in their annual best awards celebration. Every year I decline the invitation.
That said, the Tony Awards are an important commercial event for the entire industry. Winning shows will see a spike in sales, and if some struggling show happens to win an award or two, a closing notice might be averted.
Sometimes just seeing a great production number from a nominated musical is enough to give a show a boost. As for performers in an uncertain profession, it is a guarantee that you will have at least one more job.
The entertainment and commercial value of the show are obvious. So, rather than discuss winners and non-winners, I’d like to look at the social value of watching the award show on television.
Theater is a collaborative art form and has always been an inviting environment for all people. It is also a safe space where people are judged by talent, not by race, color or gender.
With this in mind, I think one of the most important takeaways from this year’s event is the cooperation between the producers of the show and the Writers Guild of America who are on strike.
Because many actors said they would stand in solidarity with the writers and not cross a picket line, the show almost didn’t happen. This would have reduced public awareness of the quality of many shows still offered on Broadway.
Writers who understood the lines they write need people to bring them to life didn’t want to alienate those individuals, let alone an entire industry.
Realizing that both sides need each other, the Writers Guild agreed not to picket if the producers agreed that aside from the entertainment portions of the show, no scripted material will be used.
Producers and presenters agreed and the show will be televised tonight on CBS at 8 p.m.
I have always admired theater for its ability to produce plays dealing with important social and political issues. Here we are in real life getting a message that two opposing sides of a negotiation can put aside petty disagreements to work for the common good. Can you imagine if that concept took root throughout the country and in seats of power?
The Tony Awards have also been a leader in public displays of diversity. Watching the audience as well as the presenters and winners is revealing.
Theater was always a leader in what used to be called “color blind” casting. Today, it’s the norm in which most roles are open to actors of all races and color.
A heartwarming Tony Award moment was in 2019 when Ali Stroker won Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her work in the revival of “Oklahoma.”
Stroker played the role being confined to a wheelchair due to an automobile accident when she was two years old. In her acceptance speech the actress said, “This award is for every kid who has a disability, who has a limitation or a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena.”
Gender-defying casting is openly accepted as the norm in theater -one could say since the time of William Shakespeare. But even Shakespeare wouldn’t have conceived of the recent production of “King Lear” with Glenda Jackson playing the title role.
Modern gender identity is another issue at the award ceremony. This year a nominee for best actor in a musical, J. Harrison Ghee publically identifies as non-binary. They plays Jerry/Daphine in “Some Like it Hot” a musical adaptation of a film where two men dress as women to join a female band in order to avoid being killed by mobsters. In the stage play, Jerry discovers he is more comfortable as a woman than as a man.
However, there is a controversy about the labeling of categories. Many individuals no longer want specific gender categories. In fact, actor Justin David Sullivan, who plays May in “& Juliet” and identifies as trans non-binary, withdrew his name from Tony consideration They said they could not pick one of the gender categories currently available.
Another statement the Tony Award Show is making this year is the location. It is not being held in Radio City Music Hall or a Broadway theater.
Instead it’s at the United Palace Theatre on Broadway and 176th street. It’s a 3300 seat vaudeville movie theater built in 1930. And it’s way uptown in a neighborhood populated by minorities.
It’s a clear statement that theater is an art form that is intended to tell stories to all people by people who look like the population. If you watch the show, pay attention to the audience. They make the same statement.
Bob Goepfert is theater reviewer for the Troy Record.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.
