The Tony Awards

[edjames]

Soon to be announced but a little news on the telecast...

 

Can hosts Groban and Bareilles stop a Tony ratings nosedive?

By Michael Riedel

April 19, 2018 | 7:59pm | Updated

 

Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles will host the Tony Awards on June 10.Getty Images

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MICHAEL RIEDEL

 

They’re not going to sing and dance like Hugh Jackman or get big laughs like James Corden, but Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban just might expand the Tony telecast demographic beyond the Actors Fund Home.

 

Or so CBS and the Broadway League hope.

 

“Maybe they don’t have that old-fashioned Broadway sizzle,” says a veteran producer, “but they’re popular and pretty cute together.”

 

As co-hosts of the June 10 awards show, Bareilles and Groban come with built-in fan bases. Groban’s cornered the market on soccer moms, who buy tickets to Broadway shows, while Bareilles is popular with 30-something women who bring their husbands or dates to her concerts.

 

And both are bona-fide Broadway stars.

 

Groban propelled weekly grosses for last season’s “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” to $1 million. Whenever he missed a show, those soccer moms nearly rioted in the Imperial Theatre lobby.

 

Bareilles has proved a major draw whenever she sang the lead in her show, “Waitress,” at the Brooks Atkinson. She also won raves and, with John Legend, attracted nearly 10 million viewers to NBC’s “Jesus Christ Superstar Live” on Easter Sunday.

 

Nobody’s expecting huge numbers for the Tony telecast, but if Bareilles and Groban can halt the downward drift, Broadway will breathe a bit easier.

 

Last year’s Tonys, hosted by he-who-must-not-be-mentioned (Kevin Spacey), drew just 6 million viewers.

 

CBS hopes to goose ratings with a performance by Bruce Springsteen, who’s racking up $2.5 million week in, week out at the Walter Kerr Theatre. The Tony Award administration committee meets next week and will likely vote to give him a special Tony Award for injecting some excitement into a lackluster season.

 

“We’re not idiots,” says one committee member.

 

Musicals are the engine of Broadway and the Tonys, but aside from Tina Fey’s “Mean Girls,” there hasn’t been a breakout hit this season.

“The Band’s Visit,” a terrific show, should pick up awards for Best Musical, Score and Actress (the marvelous Katrina Lenk), but it hasn’t penetrated popular culture the way “Hamilton” did in 2016 and Ben Platt in “Dear Evan Hansen” did last year.

 

If I were producing the Tonys, I’d kick off with Bruce to grab viewers and then hold them with a number from “Mean Girls,” since everybody knows the movie.

 

Bareilles and Groban should do a fun medley of Broadway duets, then have cameos by Fey, Platt and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

 

I’d also have Bareilles reprise her touching rendition of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from “Jesus Christ Superstar” and then, for good measure, I’d bring on Brandon Victor Dixon to knock out the title song.

 

Dixon stole the “Superstar” telecast right out from under Legend, and he’s on his way to becoming a major star.

 

Mark my words: He’s going to host the Tonys himself one day.

 

It sounds like a joke, but it’s not.

 

Actors’ Equity has voted to change the name of the “Gypsy Robe,” worn as part of a longstanding tradition on a musical’s opening night. Some members think the name is offensive to gypsies, so they’re polling for a replacement.

 

We’re not talking gypsies with crystal balls and caravans as in Maria Ouspenskaya in “The Wolf Man.”

 

Gypsies, as everybody on Broadway knows, has long been the affectionate name for chorus kids who go from show to show. It’s never been used as a pejorative.

 

This decision reminds me of what the late great Shubert leader Bernard Jacobs said of Equity: “It’s a union governed by a galaxy of lunatics.”

[bostonman]

I'm actually glad to see Groban and Bareilles - two stars in the pop world who have both had recent unqualified Broadway successes - hosting the Tonys. Why not, lol? As long as Groban isn't given any reason to salaciously drool the name "Alan Cumming" throughout the show (Cumming disgustingly did that with Groban a few years back, and it made for must-turn-off TV). It will also be great to see Springsteen on the show. I doubt it will attract a large number of non-Broadway fans to watch the awards show - that kind of thing really never works. But it might make for an interesting show.

 

That said, I really hate the constant hullabaloo over hosts for these awards shows every year. Often they are terrible, are given way too much to do, and make the show longer than necessary. Sue me.

 

I don't get all the viciousness that has been all over the theatre chat boards about the Gypsy Robe thing. And Riedel is doing his best here to live up to his trademark snarkiness. I support the name change - I really don't think it's that big of a deal. No, the classic musical Gypsy will not be changing its name anytime soon, for good reason. Everyone is getting bent out of shape about this, and it's really annoying. There are so many more important things to be upset about, aren't there?

[+ WilliamM]

No, the classic musical Gypsy will not be changing its name anytime soon, for good reason.

 

Yes, I read that thread on All That Chat as well. Wow.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

I don't get all the viciousness that has been all over the theatre chat boards about the Gypsy Robe thing. And Riedel is doing his best here to live up to his trademark snarkiness. I support the name change - I really don't think it's that big of a deal. No, the classic musical Gypsy will not be changing its name anytime soon, for good reason. Everyone is getting bent out of shape about this, and it's really annoying. There are so many more important things to be upset about, aren't there?

 

It's nearly as rich as people getting bent out of shape over Sierra Boggess doing West Side Story (in concert) in London.

SHE'S NOT A LATINA! SHE DOESN'T HAVE THE RIGHT!

 

Oh, for fuck's sake...

[Kenny]

Totally chicken-sh*t casting of hosts. If the Tony’s really wanted to guarantee blockbuster viewership, they would bring back Kevin Spacey. Everyone would watch.

 

No wonder Broadway is dying. Still.

 

[bostonman]

Totally chicken-sh*t casting of hosts. If the Tony’s really wanted to guarantee blockbuster viewership, they would bring back Kevin Spacey. Everyone would watch.

 

No wonder Broadway is dying. Still.

 

 

Taking your post seriously - no, everyone really wouldn't watch. I think it's pretty much a given that these niche award shows don't get much viewership outside of the niche group. People that don't care much for theatre (particularly musicals, because that's the bias the Tony broadcast always has) aren't going to be interested, no matter who the host is.

 

If Bernadette Peters were hosting some golf show, say - I wouldn't tune in, lol - I'd have no interest, even though I like her.

 

And Broadway isn't dying. But there will always be the Eeyore Chorus of people who say it is. Every year, No matter what.

[edjames]

"People that don't care much for theatre..."

Last weeks box office grosses were $32 million, and the 2017 total was over a billion dollars. That's a lot of seats and a lot of fans. Yes, higher prices have inflated gross receipts, however, the majority of shows have been running for many years and are still sold out (Wicked, Hamilton, Lion King, Dear Evan Hansen, Aladdin, Chicago, Kinky Boots, Book of Mormon, and others are difficult to get tickets to). As a result of the popularity of Broadway, NYC's tourism dollars on hotels, restaurants, and other tourist related industries, the money pours in. It never seems to fail that when I go to the theater (and I see a lot of it) I'm sitting near a bunch of ladies who are all "Y'alling" it amongst each other, not to mention the foreign languages being spoken...)

Awards shows are a snooze in general. Today, nobody cares for them except to watch who's walking down the red carpet, BUT "Best Tony" award, and others are a critical and effective advertising/marketing plan.

[bostonman]

Awards shows are a snooze in general. Today, nobody cares for them except to watch who's walking down the red carpet, BUT "Best Tony" award, and others are a critical and effective advertising/marketing plan.

 

Agreed (even though I do enjoy watching the Tony ceremony, and some other awards shows - and have zero interest in anything having to do with red carpets, lol). It's the awards themselves that can help boost a Broadway show's status, not the awards ceremony. However, I do think that when the show excerpts shown on the awards broadcast are done effectively, they can also help spur interest in those shows.

[Kenny]

And Broadway isn't dying. But there will always be the Eeyore Chorus of people who say it is. Every year, No matter what.

Er, time to get a sense of humor.

 

As a friend on the Tony nominating committee puts it, “I always bring flowers when I visit the Magnificent Invalid. She insists.”

Edited April 21, 2018 by Kenny

[Kenny]

As a result of the popularity of Broadway, NYC's tourism dollars on hotels, restaurants, and other tourist related industries, the money pours in. It never seems to fail that when I go to the theater (and I see a lot of it) I'm sitting near a bunch of ladies who are all "Y'alling" it amongst each other, not to mention the foreign languages being spoken...)

Broadway is indeed more about tourism than about theater. Feeding tourists makes those “Y’alling” ladies think they’re engaging with theater, which I dare say they don’t do in Biloxi.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

I'll just leave this right here...

 

https://nypost.com/2018/04/21/broadways-box-office-is-wasting-away-in-margaritaville/amp/

[bostonman]

Er, time to get a sense of humor.

 

For your post, sure.

 

But the Eeyore Chorus is real. For theatre, for opera, for classical music, for the arts in general. And though yes, more exposure to all of that is sorely needed, none