Usually the Tony Awards are the biggest celebratory event in the theatre calendar. Every year we wait in anticipation for the joy of celebrating live theatre. This year the Tony Award nominations felt empty. They served as a reminder of how badly theatre has been impacted by the events this year. Most shows from this season were unable to open before the shut down.
When the Tony Awards announced they would be going ahead this year, I was originally sceptical. Why not just combine the 2020 and 2021 seasons together and celebrate both simultaneously? Now it has become clearer there’s probably not going to be a 2021 season at all. So at least we get to celebrate what we can of the limited 2020 season (even if we don’t yet have a date for the actual ceremony).
I just want to put it out there now that I don’t feel knowledgeable enough to discuss the play nominations. Although I was aware about the buzz and conversations being had around ‘Slave Play’ so it was great to see them being recognised so highly. It received a whopping 12 nominations which is a record high for a play. I would also just like to add a little throwback here to Jeremy O. Harris promoting his own play because it gives me joy. Now let’s get into the main things to take away from this year’s nominations.
1. WHICH MUSICALS WERE ELIGIBLE
Whilst a sizeable amount of plays had managed to open within the shortened season, the musicals suffered immensely. Six musicals opened before the theatres closed, but only four remained eligible. These were Jagged Little Pill, The Lightning Thief, Moulin Rouge and Tina the musical.
The Tonys decided to make the cut off date for eligibility on the 19th February. This eliminated the controversial ‘West Side Story’ revival from consideration which opened the day after. It also meant that they would be scrapping the musical revivals category. The cut off date also barred ‘The Girl From North County’ from the awards season, which opened 5th March. This decision was made based solely on the fact not many Tony voters had been able to see them.
There were also shows that didn’t manage to open at all. ‘Six’ was supposed to have its opening night on the day theatres switched off their lights. Other musicals like ‘Mrs Doubtfire’ and ‘Company’ were still in previews. It’s truly devastating that we aren’t able to celebrate the hard work put into those unopened shows.
2. WHERE IS ‘THE LIGHTNING THIEF’?
Most of us assumed all four of the eligible musicals would get at least one nomination. Jagged Little Pill came out with an incredible 15 nominations, followed closely behind by Moulin Rouge with 14 nominations. Tina also received its fair share with 12 nominations. The news kept rolling in and we all started getting that sinking feeling of ‘are they really going to do this?’. With only four musicals in the running it quickly became very obvious one was being shut out completely.
‘The Lightning Thief’ had never planned to go to Broadway. They had a couple of successful off-Broadway runs which were both followed by a national tour. By the time it came to Broadway for a 16-week limited run, the show had gained quite the fan base. Many lovers of the books agreed that it was a great book-to-stage adaptation. Off-Broadway critics showered it with praise, but on Broadway they tore the show apart. It’s an understatement to say they didn’t like it. If the season had gone ahead as normal, no one thought it would even be considered for the Tony Awards.
But this wasn’t a normal year. A global pandemic shut down theatres leaving us with no idea when they will be able to reopen. This left us with only four potential nominees in the musical categories. The news the Tony Awards would be going ahead felt like a light in the middle of all this darkness. So it was disappointing to see them put a negative spin on it by shunning one of the only shows able to open.
3. …DID THEY JUST GIVE AARON TVEIT A TONY AWARD?
It was difficult not to laugh at how they basically gave Aaron Tveit his own category. It was hilarious when they came to announce ‘Best Leading Actor in a Musical’ and the only picture on the screen was his face. I guess it feels like the only fitting way to make up for all the times they snubbed him before. We were all immediately questioning ‘did they just give Aaron a Tony Award?’ The answer is yes, but also no. Crazily enough, he still needs 60% of voters to say yes despite being the only nominee in the category. Realistically though, I don’t think we’ll end up in a situation where they say ‘and the winner of best leading actor in a musical is… no one’.
But here’s the thing… there were actually two actors eligible for this nomination. I’m completely torn between laughing at how ridiculous it is for Aaron to have his own category,and being frustrated for the actor they snubbed. The other eligible shows of the limited season did not have any leading actors to put forward. Chris McCarrell, who played Percy Jackson in ‘The Lightning Thief’, was literally right there. Was there any need for the Tony Nominating Committee to be this petty? No. I get that they obviously did not enjoy the show, but I doubt Chris’ performance wasn’t good enough to nominate. Reviewers were always positive about his portrayal of Percy.
In reality, even if it was a two-horse race Aaron would have still bagged this award. He was a favourite to win this year anyway and when he gets it he will be so deserving. Still I can’t help but be bitter about their choice not to give Chris a nomination. He’s a talented actor who is definitely worthy of Tony recognition. But I guess the Tony voters just really wanted to let us know that they hated ‘The Lightning Thief.’
4. THE LACK OF MUSICALS IN THE BEST ORIGINAL SCORE CATEGORY
Whilst it’s not impossible for a play to be nominated for Best Original Score, it is certainly uncommon. Understandably musicals usually dominate this category. ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ was nominated for their score last year, but a play has never actually won the award (according to my quick research). Again, this year was a strange year. A limited season meant limited choices. Out of the four eligible musicals, only one of them had an original score and that was… you guessed it, ‘The Lightning Thief’.
Even in a pandemic where the other musicals were all jukebox, the Tony committee couldn’t bring themselves to nominate this show for anything. This led to an unprecedented turn of events with an astounding five plays being nominated for Best Original Score. It is 100% sure that by the end of this year a play will have finally won this award.
The thing is though, I have listened to ‘The Lightning Thief’ cast recording and in my humble opinion the Tony Awards have given nominations to worse scores in the past. That’s what is so crazy about the snub in this category, it’s not a terrible score. I don’t think it’s anything amazing, but because of the available choices I see no reason why this score shouldn’t have been nominated.
5. BATTLE OF THE JUKEBOX MUSICALS
Anyone who knows me will know that I’m usually not a huge fan of jukebox musicals. Personally they’re just not for me. But this year it is interesting to see that only jukebox musicals have been nominated. It’s not often a jukebox musical wins the highest accolade for Best Musical. Maybe this is because they’re usually slated as being not-so-original due to their lack of original score.
I personally have not seen Tina the musical so I don’t want to comment on it. As for Moulin Rouge, I think it’s a given that they’re going to take home the award for scenic design and most likely choreography. It’s the kind of jukebox musical I’d class as a ‘fun time’ but the story and characters lack any real depth. My main gripe with jukebox musicals is that they try to force a narrative around lyrics that weren’t written for the purpose of telling this story. I feel like most of the time it doesn’t work out and when it does they haven’t created anything with depth, it’s just a feel-good show.
Which brings me to Jagged Little Pill – the show that I’m rooting for! I think this may be the first jukebox musical I have ever seen that genuinely feels like the music was written to tell this story. It uses the music of Alanis Morissette, who even wrote an original song just for the show, and it battles with some dark subject matters. It’s definitely not what I’d class as a ‘fun’ jukebox musical. In that sense I feel like it’s unconventional in its genre and I’d love to see it sweep.
On a more serious note, these are hard times for everyone but the arts in particular are suffering with very little financial aid. Give these two articles a read on how you can support theatre workers and donate to the Actors Fund and the Theatre Support Fund if you can:
10 Things You Can Do To Help Theatres During the Pandemic
How to Help Arts Workers During an Unprecedented Era of Theatre
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