BWW Blog: Tony's Telepathy - Predicting the 2020 Award Winners

How do you run a virtual awards show?

That's the question I'm asking Broadway two weeks after the announcement of the 2020 Tony nominees. The phrase "Tony Awards" actually comes from the Latin term "awardus momentous," which translates roughly to "ignoring the orchestral speech cutoff." While we still don't know exactly what this year's ceremony will entail- or even when it's happening- that doesn't mean I can tap into my inner expert theater geek and take some wild guesses. Here are some of my predictions for what might happen at this year's ceremony- and I've thrown in a few suggestions of my own as well.

To start, The American Theatre Wing adds a Tony for Best Appearance by an Actor's Dog in the Background of a Zoom Benefit. Turns out it's a 600-way tie with all of the dogs that have ever appeared because they are all good dogs! Yes they are! (Note: awards are substituted by peanut butter treats and extra pets, because we can't afford solid gold statuette squeaky toys.)

A special Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre is awarded to TikTok for the creation of Ratatousical: The Ratatouille Musical. It isn't on Broadway yet but producers are expecting a transfer in 2021, because Disney can do whatever they want. Apparently the adaption's being done with a book by Lin-Manuel Miranda and music and lyrics by Andrew Lloyd Webber, so we'll be getting songs like "Rap-atouille" and "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Rats."

The award for Best Costume goes to that one nice sweater in your closet that you throw over your pajamas for work. A close runner up is my sweatpants, because Lord knows I haven't worn anything else since March. The sweater's got the edge though, since it's able to take a just-rolled-out-of-bed person and transform them into a just-rolled-out-of-bed-but-with-hope person.

Audra McDonald has been nominated for the ninth time for her performance in Frankie and Johnny it the Clair de Lune , and Slave Play has been nominated for 12 awards, breaking the record for the number of times I've actually been invested in the Plays categories for a Tony Awards.

This year's Tonys lead to the introduction of a new award: Best Musical on a Streaming Platform. The Wing can't decide on whether to give it to Hamilton on Disney+ or Shrek the Musical on Netflix. Well, personally I can't decide between either: one is a story of an underdog finding his place in the world against a sea of adversity and eventually achieving a place in history, and the other is Hamilton. Either way, Brian d'Arcy James was in both and should get a Tony for Best Actor with A Name That is Also Three Separate First Names.

Even if the Wing doesn't implement my brilliant ideas for this year's awards, the ceremony will hopefully serve as a little reminder of how amazing this industry can be. I do have one last prediction, though: it's last and definitely least. The 2020 Tony Award for Best Play goes to COVID-19, because it definitely played us all.

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