Tony Awards

Max Star · Veteran Member

Tony Awards

MrE1111 · Guru

There is a nominating committee which meets to determine who is nominated. As a nominator, they are required to see every show of the season. They then meet and vote on who is nomintated.

The committee this year includes:

Joe Benincasa - President of The Actors Fund of America
Robert Callely - Theatre Executive
Betty Corwin - Retired Director of the Lincoln Center Library of Theatre on Film & Tape
Jacqueline Z. Davis - Executive Director of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center
John Dias - Producer, Dramaturg, Educator
Michael D. Dinwiddie - Associate Professor, Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU
Teresa Eyring - Executive Director of the Theatre Communications Group
Sue Frost - Producer
Joanna Gleason - Actor
Andrew Jackness - Scenic Designer
Betty Jacobs - Script Consultant/Theatre Historian
Geoffrey Johnson - Retired Casting Director
Robert Kamlot - Retired General Manager
Michael Kantor - Director, Producer, Writer
Howard Marren - Composer
Laurence Maslon - Associate Arts Professor, Graduate Acting Program - Tisch School
Brian Stokes Mitchell - Actor
Phyllis Newman - Actor
Lynn Nottage - Playwright
Gilbert Parker - Retired Senior-Vice President of the William Morris Agency
Roger Rees - Actor, Director, Playwright, Lecturer, Administrator
Jonathan Reynolds - Playwright & Screenwriter
Donald Saddler - Choreographer
Steven Suskin - Theatre Author
Tom Viola - President, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
Franklin Weissberg - Retired Judge of the New York State Court of Claims
Kimberlee Wertz - Music Contractor

Max Star · Veteran Member

Do you think this group will have the Critic's "reality show" bias?

MrE1111 · Guru

I don't think the critics had much of a reality show bias - they just didn't like the show and reviewed it as they would a show with "professional" Broadway actors.

The nominating committee is notorious for not nominating the "popular" choice. Everyone thought Legally Blonde was a shoo-in for a Best Musical nomination, but they gave it to Mary Poppins. When Julia Roberts was on Broadway, they went above and beyond not to nominate her performance.

-- Edited by MrE1111 at 22:21, 2007-09-13

greatwhiteway · Senior Member

I think some were prejudiced. The show on opening night was very good, much better than the previews and very much better than some critics said it was. The show was fun and exciting. Some of the critics could see nothing good in it and I think that was due to bias. Somewhere in the recesses of their minds they wanted to make sure they were the ones who would forever determine what/who makes it on Broadway and what/who does not.