The Playgoer: pre-Tonys

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Saturday, June 10, 2006

pre-Tonys

It's hard to believe CBS still agrees to give the Tonys three full hours for a broadcast that only sinks lower and lower in the ratings. They once cut back to two, pushing many important awards into a pre-show oblivion that never got on the air. Now that the Tony folks have their third hour back, though, what do we make of the fact the first ten awards will still be given out before 8:00! What are they doing with that whole three hours???

Looks like one boring show, so far.

Luckily TonyAwards.com will be providing a webcast of the first part:

The first ten awards will be webcast exclusively at www.TonyAwards.com beginning at 7:15 PM ET on June 11. Those awards include Best Orchestrations, Best Lighting Design of a Play, Best Lighting Design of a Musical, Best Costume Design of a Play, Best Costume Design of a Musical, Best Scenic Design of a Play, Best Scenic Design of a Musical as well as the Regional Theatre Tony Award (Intiman Theatre of Seattle, Washington), the Special Tony Award (Sarah Jones for Bridge & Tunnel) and the Lifetime Achievement Award (Harold Prince).

So if you care about such trivial matters as, say, design, you may want to log on to the webcast. I myself will probably have to settle for whatever pixels I can see with the ol' dial-up.

And don't forget, live Tony blogcast of the ceremony "proper" on Playgoer, updating periodically between 8:00 and 11:00pm. (Eastern Standard Time, of course. Those of you on the West Coast won't get the broadcast till three hours later, so get it here first!)

4 comments:

June said...

I was at a "Tony Talk" discussion earlier this week (I know, I should get help) that featured Michael Riedel and assorted producers, critics, book writers, PR types, etc. (All very impressive, I must say.) One audience member asked if CBS will drop the Tonys if the audience keeps shrinking, and the panel members agreed that wouldn't happen because it attracts such an upscale audience. I'd also add that we're at that point on the TV schedule where, other than a few mostly doomed new summer shows, the TV schedule is packed with reruns. It's a relatively cheap show to produce (apparently, it costs the various musicals a fortune to mount their big numbers for the telecast).

Larissa said...

Dude, you still use dial up? that's so late-'90's. DSL all the way, baby.

Anonymous said...

So, the Tony Awards are about theater only in a limited sense, and the Tony Awards show is about the awards in a limited sense too. These are the kinds of thoughts that usually keep me from watching. I confess I'm thinking of tuning in this year, but it's mainly because I hope to get a taste of The Drowsy Chaperone. The little songs that that show's creators have contributed to the TV series Slings & Arrows are admirably clever, and since my budget may never allow me to see Chaperone itself, the Tony show looks like the best alternative.

June said...

Another depressing factoid: In addition to the restrictions John mentions, CBS have asked many of the "lesser-known" nominees (which, I think we can take it, means "theater people") that they can't walk the red carpet. Better-known folks, many of whom who aren't nominated, are welcome! That's showbiz!

PS I love Slings & Arrows! I hope they're making another series, though I suppose that's very unlikely in the light of the creative team's success down south.