The Committee

Just so you know who you can praise or blame, here is the Tony nominating committee. I must say I was surprised by the strong presence of non-Broadway personnel.

Victoria Bailey – Executive Director, Theatre Development Fund
**Joe Benincasa – Executive Director of The Actor’s Fund of America
Susan Birkenhead – Lyricist
Edward Burbridge – Scenic Designer
**Robert Callely – Theatre Executive
**Ben Cameron – Program Director for the Arts, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Betty Corwin – Retired Director of the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts
**John Dias – Producer, Dramaturg, Educator
Mercedes Ellington – Choreographer
**Sue Frost – Producer/Company Manager
**Joanna Gleason – Actor
**David Henry Hwang – Playwright
Andrew Jackness – Scenic Designer
**Betty Jacobs – Script Consultant/Theatre Historian
Robert Kamlot – Retired General Manager
Todd London – Artistic Director, New Dramatists
Brian Stokes Mitchell – Actor
Jon Nakagawa – Producer of Contemporary Programming, Lincoln Center
Lynn Nottage – Playwright
Gilbert Parker – Retired Senior-Vice President of the William Morris Agency
Jonathan Reynolds – Playwright & Screenwriter
**Steven Suskin – Theatre Author
Jac Venza – Retired Executive, WNET
**Tom Viola – President, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
Franklin Weissberg – Retired Judge of the New York State Court of Claims

**New Committee Members Beginning a Three-Year Term

So, I'm glad folks like Todd London, Lynn Nottage, and John Dias (former Publc dramaturg) are there...But who the hell is this "Retired Judge of the New York State Court of Claims"???

In any case, this composition may help explain why the most explicitly commercial musical, "Legally Blonde," did not get a Best Musical nod--even though, as Riedel reported Friday, the "road" constituency were lobbying for it.

Now they're going to have to root for "Poppins." Or hope "Spring Awakening" doesn't get banned across the country by Jerry Falwell--oops, scratch that.