Lifetime Achievement Award winners SHOULD be Celebrated as PART of The Tony Telecas

[gwapnitsky2]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 10:35am

Per Richard Skipper

Click: Lifetime Achievement Award

The Lifetime Achievement Award will NOT be presented during The Tony telecast. I would like to change that! Can you weigh in with your thoughts? Please sign the petition and pay it forward.
Lifetime achievement awards are awarded to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions. This year's recipient is Tommy Tune and he is certainly deserving of this award. He has won 9 Tony Awards and the only person in theatrical history to win in four different categories and to win the same two Tony Awards two years in a row. With this Lifetime Achievement Award, he will have an unprecedented 10 Tony Awards!
Tommy danced onto the Broadway scene in the chorus of "Baker Street" in 1965 and hasn't stopped since. He worked in the chorus' of "A Joyful Noise" in 1967 and "How Now Dow Jones" in 1968. He garnered raves and his first Tony (Best Featured Actor in a Musical) in Michael Bennett's "Seesaw" in 1973. Branching out, he directed his first show, the off-Broadway production of "The Club" in 1976. "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" was his next venture followed by "A Day in the Hollywood/ A Night in the Ukraine" and his second Tony (Best Choreography). Tommy returned to off-Broadway in 1981 to direct Caryl Churchill's "Cloud 9"; 1982 brought "Nine" and his third Tony (Best Direction of a Musical). Mr. Tune pulled double duty in "My One and Only" and was rewarded with his fourth and fifth Tony (Best Choreography, Best Actor in a Musical). This was followed by "Stepping Out", and then he received his next two Tonys with "Grand Hotel" (Best Choreography, Best Direction of a Musical). The following year brought the "Will Rogers Follies" and his next two Tony Awards, (Best Choreography, Best Musical).
Not satisfied to remain stationary, Mr. Tune returned to the stage in his acclaimed one-man song and dance extravaganza, "Tommy Tune Tonight!" first on Broadway and then touring nationally and internationally.
He continues to perform and epitomizes why Tonys are given out in the first place. It is an insult to a body of work and worth to be relegated to not be a part of the very telecasts that purports to celebrate excellence in the theatre! Please give him the respect he deserves and allow his legion of fans to celebrate with him.
Check out my blog on this:http://richardskipper.blogspot.com/2015/05/tommy-tune-tops-tonys-with-tenth-winbut.html
Theatre Lovers: Lifetime Achievement Award winners Should be Celebrated as PART of The Tony Telecasthttps://www.change.org/p/tony-award-producers-lifetime-achievement-award-winners-to-be-celebrated-as-part-of-the-tony-telecast?recruiter=688170&

Liz Smith agrees! This was in her Social Diary column on May 18th, 2015:

THEATER artists, who have already won the Antoinette Perry Award, are reviewed each year by the Tony committee and they select one person to receive their “Lifetime Achievement Award.”
This year they’ll tap my pal Tommy Tune who is the king of them all; having won 9 Tony Awards so far. (10, with his honorary award.) But the telecast viewers — hopefully future Broadway ticket buyers — won’t see Tommy in this historic moment.

The Tony Awards want to promote current hit shows. As far as they are concerned, honoring legends isn’t worth the time, if they can squeeze in another musical number, or more useless prattle from the host or presenters.

Oh, come on! Don’t tell me that, in the past, the Tony TV audience — which is made up of people who worship the theater and its stars — wouldn’t have wanted to see Lauren Bacall or Angela Lansbury accept their well-deserved lifetime honors? And I’m sure they’d love to see Tommy.

But Tommy doesn’t complain, so when he dropped me a note recently, it wasn’t about him. He wrote: “The Visit is my favorite show this season. Chita Rivera’s extremely nuanced performance is her best ever and the choreography by Graciela Daniele is the best of the season. (Not even nominated.) But what do I know?”http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/guest-diary/2015/liz-smith-tommy-tune-william-shatner-lena-horne-ava-gardner-and-light-egyptian

 

Updated On: 5/22/15 at 10:35 AM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 10:42am

If PBS was doing the show, all awards would be shown.

Unfortunately , CBS is doing it & it must fit into a 3 hour time slot including commercials. The main problem is the long winded acceptance speeches. The nitty gritty is if CBS did not do it probably NBC & ABC would not. If PBS could not do it due to monetary constraints, it would not air at all.

It is a bit of a conundrum - damned if you do & damned if you don't. CBS could try and at least advertise the show. I have yet to see any ads for it & the show is only a few weeks away.

[Kad]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 10:56am

I find the Tony Awards far, far more watchable than the bloated Academy Awards, and I have to say that the reduced number of televised awards plays a big part in that.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 12:04pm

It at least makes sense for all the design awards (and Best Orchestrations) to not be presented on the air because how many people are gonna possibly care about those awards as much as the main categories?

They used to show the awards for Book, Score, and Choreography on the air, but they simply just ran out of time for all three.

2008:
Best Revival of a Play (pre-show)
Best Book of a Musical (pre-show)
Best Original Score (on the air)
Best Choreography (pre-show)

2009:
Best Book of a Musical (pre-show)
Best Original Score (on the air)
Best Choreography (pre-show)

2010:
Best Book of a Musical (pre-show)
Best Original Score (pre-show)
Best Choreography (on the air)

2011:
Best Book of a Musical (on the air)
Best Original Score (pre-show)
Best Choreography (pre-show)

2012:
Best Book of a Musical (pre-show)
Best Original Score (on the air)
Best Choreography (pre-show)

2013:
Best Book of a Musical (during commercials)
Best Original Score (on the air)
Best Choreography (during commercials)

2014:
Best Book of a Musical (during commercials)
Best Original Score (during commercials)
Best Choreography (during commercials)