Hunter Foster creates "Give the Tonys back to BROADWAY" campaign- Page 2
Hunter Foster creates "Give the Tonys back to BROADWAY" campaign
#25Hunter Foster creates 'Give the Tonys back to BROADWAY' campaign
Posted: 6/17/10 at 3:00am
I joined. I'm tired of the creative awards being relegated to a tiny window on a web site. I'd be happy if they at least went back to the PBS/CBS model. But, it should be one show. It should be about the theatre. All of it.
ETA: I have no problem with "movie stars" working on Broadway and vice versa. I don't think that's the issue.
Updated On: 6/17/10 at 03:00 AM
#26Hunter Foster creates 'Give the Tonys back to BROADWAY' campaign
Posted: 6/17/10 at 3:19amray - Did you just say that Julia Roberts and Katie Holmes were snubbed by the Tony Committee? Are you kidding? They were AWFUL!
"Somethin's comin', I don't know what it is but it is gonna be great!"
SueleenGay
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/03
#27Hunter Foster creates 'Give the Tonys back to BROADWAY' campaign
Posted: 6/17/10 at 6:48am
Did he ever stop to consider that some people might have tuned in just to see Green Day? People who think theater is a joke or just for fags (there, I said it)? And maybe those people saw something they did not expect and might come to the conclusion that, yes, there are men in dresses, but there is also some pretty cool stuff and some pretty hot chicks?
And I am sure the fact that Hunter and Jen and Donna's screen careers are pretty much dead in the water has NOTHING to do with their disdain. Bitter? You betcha.
PEACE.
#28Hunter Foster creates 'Give the Tonys back to BROADWAY' campaign
Posted: 6/17/10 at 6:49am
Yeah god forbid the Tony's bring someone like greenday to perform when they are trying to save the ratings for the show (and they have had a lot to do with American Idiot)
Or how awful that Will and Jada or Jay Z were there, I mean after all all they did was produce a Tony Nominated show.
Or how about Mr Harry Potter himself, a film star right?
Do these idiots not realise TV which the Tony Awards is on is a business and with an audience demo of under 1.5 it should be thankful its on the air at all. And who says bravo or lifetime would want the Tonys? It's the ratings disaster of the awards season.
Maybe he should complain about the less than average Broadway performances this year which can't be doing Broadway any favours, or how about the dreadful producing on the show that makes it look like amateur hour. Or maybe the tactical voting that is turning the Tony's in to the Eurovision?
You know, the important stuff
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#29Hunter Foster creates 'Give the Tonys back to BROADWAY' campaign
Posted: 6/17/10 at 7:15am
I think you've missed the point entirely. He's not saying give BROADWAY back to theatre actors, he's saying let the TONY AWARDS CEREMONY celebrate Broadway, not rock bands, pop singers, or movie stars.
Nowhere does he say film actors shouldn't be on Broadway. Where did you get that from?
1 + 3 = 7
I think you jumped way ahead to the wrong conclusion.
And I believe he's right. A show celebrating the best of theatre should do just that, without bending over backwards to show big opening numbers with songs you know "outside of Broadway" and faces and names you know for other reasons aside from theatre.
In other words, have Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison on, but don't tell me "they're on GLEE" fifty times. Give me their THEATRE CREDITS. That's why they're there, right? Right?
Or is it solely because of Glee? If so, then let them sing at the Emmys.
This has to do with the presentation of the awards show and perspective of the ceremony, not at all with excluding actors and segregating film, TV, and theatre.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
SueleenGay
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/03
#30Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 7:51am
What were the songs that were sung that were not Broadway?
And don't tell me you watch the Tonys to find out what Mr. Shue and Rachel's theater credits are. Face it, we are going to watch the Tonys no matter WHO is on, it is the people who would NEVER watch unless Green Day and the cast of GLEE were on that we need to have watching.
PEACE.
SueleenGay
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/03
#31Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 7:53am
"the best of theatre should do just that, without bending over backwards to show big opening numbers with songs you know "outside of Broadway"
Like Million Dollar Quartet? Get them off the stage!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Oh, wait, then we wouldn't have seen Hunter!)
PEACE.
#32Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 8:10am
You're missing his point, Sue.
"Million Dollar Quartet" is a show ON Broadway. Celebrate this show on Broadway without explaining to me how I know these theatre songs outside of theatre. The focus should be on the stage musical, not the outside source material. I think they did a good job with MDQ, in that respect.
But when Green Day gets up to perform for ten minutes, fantastic or not, it's completely out of step and inappropriate.
I wouldn't want a Paul Simon concert when Capeman got a score nomination or a Four Seasons reunion concert when Jersey Boys was up. That's missing the point and focusing on pop culture, rather than celebrating theatre, which is what the Tony Awards is supposed to be about.
It comes off as desperate pandering without any dignity or respect for an awards show that is "supposed" to be respecting and respectful of theatre. They're giving us every other reason why we should be watching this show except for the real reason we should be watching it.
Imagine the opposite for a minute. What if the year Ian McKellan was nominated for an Oscar for "Lord of the Rings," he had walked out in front of the Academy members and the huge viewing audience and given us a ten-minute Shakespeare monologue. Everyone would be scratching their heads and checking their watches and wondering what the hell was going on.
EDIT: Imagine if Annette Benning were presenting at the Oscars, and they announced her as "Tony nominee Annette Benning" right before she hit the stage. Weird and inappropriate, right?
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Updated On: 6/17/10 at 08:10 AM
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#33Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 8:16am
"It comes off as desperate pandering without any dignity or respect for an awards show that is "supposed" to be respecting and respectful of theatre. They're giving us every other reason why we should be watching this show except for the real reason we should be watching it."
^THIS! A million times this.
And no one grew into anything new, we just became the worst of what we were."
#34Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 8:17amSo again then... this is all JUST about the Green Day performance? I agree that it went on for too long, but all in all it was such a small percentage of the show that to start a petition/movement/whatever you want to call it just seems dumb. It was 7 minutes long... hardly a huge time waster in the long run.
#35Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 8:21am
No, it wasn't all about the Green Day performance. There were other examples mentioned. The introductions, the opening number featuring "theatre songs you know outside of theatre."
Why am I repeating this? Read the posts and the comments.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#36Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 8:37am
By the way, the "Hollywood whoring" didn't work. The common-folk viewers they pandered to didn't tune in at all.
The ratings were lower than last year. So even with Harry Potter and Ricky Martin presenting trophies, despite that neither was on Broadway this year and won't be again until 2012, this "count the big pop stars and hit songs" approach was a bust.
I agree with Hunter. If CBS was telling the awards show producers to "give us pop culture or else," they should take the show elsewhere next year. Theatre fans will follow it on whatever channel it airs. And nobody else is tuning in anyway. So stop desperately focusing on anything trendy but theatre on "theatre's biggest night."
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#37Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 8:49am
At the end of the day the group might not be about Movie Stars being on Broadway, but you can't have it both ways. If you're happy with movie stars on broadway, then they should be at the Tony's.
It's not a case of, Scar Jo, CZJ and Denzel Washington were there for fits and giggles, and Green Day performed because they had nothing to do that night. Everyone who was there and performed had something to do with Broadway. So when he complains about the state of the Tony Awards, he is essentially complaing about the state of Broadway...?
Just what i got from all of this.
#38Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 8:50amAmen, Besty.
Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)
#39Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 8:59am
Pop stars (film, TV, radio, music) on Broadway is nothing new. Janis Paige, a Warner Bros. film star, in "Pajama Game." Even Patricia Morison (Kiss Me Kate) and Marion Bell (Brigadoon) had to do a few films before they starred on Broadway. Bernadette Peters and Walter Huston, too.
It's been going on forever. But never has a theatre awards show focused so much on pop influences outside of theatre. It was pathetic and embarrassing, I thought. "Hollywood whoring," as I said.
I realize that their notoriety led to them being on Broadway, but celebrate their Broadway efforts ... NOT their notoriety. At least not on this night---which is a celebration of theatre. Or change the name of this show to "Night of 100 Stars" and put a counter in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, like they did in the '80s, and tick off each celebrity as they glide across the stage looking like a parade float.
EDIT: Can you imagine the year Angela Lansbury starred in "Mame," if everyone connected with the Tony ceremony emphasized "three-time Oscar nominee Angela Lansbury" and then showed a medley of clips from "Gaslight," "Dorian Grey" and "The Manchurian Candidate?" Or announced "the star of Mary Poppins and The Court Jester, Glynnis Johns" the night she won her Tony for "A Little Night Music?" It cheapens everything connected with the awards show and Broadway. The focus is all off.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Updated On: 6/17/10 at 08:59 AM
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#40Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 9:01am
"By the way, the "Hollywood whoring" didn't work. The common-folk viewers they pandered to didn't tune in at all. "
the only one that sort of bothered me was Michael Douglas and we know why he was there
I am with Marquise. Hunter sounds like a very immature child as well. Acting is a craft, regardless of where you get a "job"
Do you honestly think if Hunter was ever offered a big role in a HOLLYWOOD movie that could potentially be an Oscar winner, he would turn it down? no way. Let's hope it never happens, so we don't have to hear movie stars say "stop casting stage actors in our movies" *eye roll - jesus h.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"it's a dirty little war"
#41Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 9:06am
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#42Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 9:08amWhat does the "H" stand for?
#43Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 9:15amAmen to Hunter Foster. Shows like MDQ and American Idiot belong in Vegas, not on Broadway.
gayer than laughter, am I. And who wouldn't be, after seeing Cheyenne in those tight black shorts?
#44Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 9:21am
You can twist his complaints to be commentary about anything of mainstream popularity on Broadway- and there's a lot these days.
I'm starting my own Facebook campaign- give the composing back to Broadway. I don't want to see a Four Seasons tribute band and an Elvis impersonator clogging up Broadway stages- I want shows with scores that were written for the show, not shoddily thrown together from a 1950s Billboard Top 40 list into a semblance of a plot. If that means American Idiot, Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia and Million Dollar Quartet have to close immediately, so be it!
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how
Wanting life but never knowing how
#45Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 9:25amawww... sorry for being ridiculous best12, i just don't see the reason for this whining. why it is such a hot button issue? so please explain the head desk. i always agree with you actually, but it seems it is okay for a broadway star to go and to do tv or movies, but when the opposite happens it is "get out" . if you are talking about the attempt to lure more viewers, i do a agree somewhat. it was never going to bring more viewers and i don't know how they thought it would. it isn't the first time they have had Hollywood clout at the Tony's.
"it's a dirty little war"
#46Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 9:26am
I give up. See it the way you want to see it.
But Hunter never said "shows like MDQ and American Idiot belong in Vegas, not on Broadway."
He's talking about the awards show and its blatant pandering and growing obsession with pop culture. Not about the content of the musicals or the stars themselves and their outside careers. This is about the Tony show's pathetic love affair with pop status, which has totally overshadowed its own love affair with the theatre, this year.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#47Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 9:26am
i always agree with you actually, but it seems it is okay for a broadway star to go and to do tv or movies, but when the opposite happens it is "get out" .
So, so true. And I'm not even referring to ratings.
EDIT: I really like this comment on ATC (and no, I don't know the poster) http://talkinbroadway.com/allthatchat/d.php?id=1870185
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
Updated On: 6/17/10 at 09:26 AM
#48Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 9:29am
It's not "get out."
It's just not the night to bring out nothing but film, TV, and music industry stars to present awards and pull the focus away from theatre.
Bring out the ones who were on Broadway this last season, fine. But not the ones who may or may not actually star in a revival in 2012. Where was (for example) Norbert Leo Butz or Marin Mazzie?
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Updated On: 6/17/10 at 09:29 AM
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#49Hunter Foster Whines with other non Hollywood actors
Posted: 6/17/10 at 9:36am
"I think you've missed the point entirely. He's not saying give BROADWAY back to theatre actors, he's saying let the TONY AWARDS CEREMONY celebrate Broadway, not rock bands, pop singers, or movie stars. "
I should have read that first fully best12bars. I put 2 and 2 together and made 6. I was going back and thinking, they could have had a Finnian's Rainbow number if they cut a couple of things.
I do know what you are saying, but I get frustrated with the things i mentioned. not necessarily about Hunter fully either. There are those who are blatant about "hollywood actors" on broadway which is what i was on about. I get their arguement more when the west end stars were put out when a reality star got a lead. 
I misconstrued the whole thing and jumped the gun. I can see how people can take what Hunter said as I did, but the other side as well.
"it's a dirty little war"