Ways to Improve the TONYS

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 9:16am

--Let all the NEW musicals perform.
--Get a darn host!

Any others?!

[shiksa_goddess]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 9:20am

Take everything they did last night, and do the exact opposite of it.

[madbrian]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 9:23am

They should prohibit medleys. I'd MUCH prefer to see one number all the way through.

And I think the show needs a host.

[thesinger]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 9:25am

I actually thought the awards ran pretty smoothly, but they definitely should've had less medleys. Having all new musicals perform would take forever.

[avab802]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 9:31am

Thank you, singer. I keep hearing arguments that ALL the new musicals should be allowed to perform, but that would take up the whole broadcast.
I actually enjoyed the broadcast last night. It didn't even bother me that there was no host because most of the presenters were interesting.
I could do with less medleys, but sometimes that's the best way to promote a show. Also, when an actor from a show is also nominated and they have a big song in the show it makes sense to have that actor sing that song. When a show doesn't have any lead actors nominated, or there isn't a big recognizable song for a nominated actor to sing, it makes more sense to showcase the ensemble and the show as a whole.

[shiksa_goddess]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 9:34am

I don't mind medleys, but they should at least be well constructed medleys. Spring Awakening's medley was pretty terrible, plus it featured the same songs they always perform. I would have rather seen "Don't Do Sadness" in some form.

[Steve2]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 9:35am

avab802, I couldn't have said it better myself.

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 9:40am

My only real "beef" about the Tonys are the acceptance speeches.. Specifically, when two persons win a particular award. Person 1 goes on and on and on.. while Person 2 looks on and prolly thinks "when will that schmuck give me a chance to say something before the "stop your speech" music begins? I believe that two person winners should have an agreement beforehand to make their speech time more equitable.. instead of having Person 1's ego ruin any speaking chances for Person 2. Does that make sense? from RC in Austin, Texas... (the liberal oasis of Central Texas)

[ben4]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:11am

-Present the technical awards with everything else (This has always bothered me and if I were one of the winning/nominated designers, I'd feel kinda slighted)

-Eliminate the silly character introductions to the musical numbers (the Jerry monologue for Grey Gardens, David Hyde Pierce's for Curtains). They were just pointless and ruined the suspense since you knew who was coming up next.

-No more medleys. Either perform one whole song or just don't do it at all.

-Even though The Apple Tree had closed, it should've gotten the chance to perform. These people preach on and on about how relevant their art form is and then they cut out a nominated show just because there's no chance of it boosting ticket sales. It's hypocritical and short-sighted (Haven't you tony voters heard of cds?)

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:13am

Eddie Izzard for host.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:15am

Cancel it.

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:19am

Ugh, LET it take up the whole broadcast. No one cares about the awards anyway. Let them all be done before the ceremony and recapped like the technical awards are and have the show be one big promotional thing for Broadway with the Best Play and Best Musical announced at the end.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:19am

Get a host and show more tony moments, have there be more than just performances and speeches.

I loved the opening of last year (minus Connick Jr., who I'm not a fan of) when in the background they showed clips of various people winning Tonys from the past and the 60 stars came out.

They need more interesting moments like that.

[Holly Therese]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:30am

I kind of liked the character intros, it let me know if I'd be missing anything. (I was running back and forth to The Sopranos)

[JBSinger]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 12:30pm

- Get a host
- no more "nobodys" as presenters. who was that greek woman from Cabaret? Yes, she had a mild connection with K&E, but what, Joel Grey or Ann Reinking wasn't available?
- more theatrical legends as presenters and performers (Stritch, Cook, Rivera, etc..)
- put it back in a theatre. Radio City is too big for the performances/speeches and and it looks too glitzy. Put it back in a Theatre. It always felt more refined.

[DirtyRottenMemberName]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 12:32pm

maybe the people who vote should see the shows because apparently they got a bootleg of grey gardens that was labled spring awakening and got confuzified.

[jv92]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 12:38pm

"no more "nobodys" as presenters. who was that greek woman from Cabaret? Yes, she had a mild connection with K&E, but what, Joel Grey or Ann Reinking wasn't available?"

They could have gotten Liza or Chita or somebody! Lauren "Jimmy" Bacall even! Kander didn't even look like he knew who she was, nor did she look like she knew who John Kander was.

I think the best bet for The Tonys is PBS. It'll get done right on that station. I thought this year's ceremony was fairly good, but it's been better in the past and the only way you can get something that good on the air nowadays is to put it on PBS.

[bwaygal1]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 12:43pm

I think they needed the intros for the shows. I know them up and down and I was at the awards in the orchestra sitting next to people who had no idea what Grey Gardens or Curtains really was about (that one surprised me.). Also-it allows people to understand the songs in context, particularly in the case of GG. (Even SA might not be as well known except to those of us in Radio City last night.)

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 12:44pm

I think they were perfection. It went by so quick, so fun, great performances, it can't get much better.

[ben4]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 1:15pm

I still think the most egregious mistake is having the designer/tech awards seperate. At that point, it's like why even give them the award. Tony voters clearly think their categories are inferior to the others, so why the charade?

[bundy5000]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 1:17pm

have Conan or Ellen host

[americanboy99]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 1:20pm

NEW SET!

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 1:23pm

I actually enjoyed the awards a lot more this year than last year. Some of the speeches were hard to listen to, but you know that going in.

I agree about getting more theatrical legends and getting a good host to liven up the proceedings.

[xbRadxx]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:26pm

a host.

[unckristen]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:37pm

I also enjoyed the character intros. And while having every new musical perform may be too much, I do think it would improve the show to allow performances from shows that have a nominee for lead actor or actress. As a practical matter, you're probably only talking about adding one or two more performances each year - and that can be balanced out by eliminating whatever "extra" performance gets thrown in to the telecast (whether that be Fantasia, Tony Bennett or whomever).

I liked including the recorded bits from the play nominees. Shave off bits of the stupid presenter-banter and include more from the performances of actors/actresses in a play. If people want to label the technical award winners as the redheaded-stepchildren of the Tony's, don't forget to include the plays in that forgotten category too.