The Playgoer: Tonys Broadcast Still Doesn't Know What To Do With Play Nominees

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Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Tonys Broadcast Still Doesn't Know What To Do With Play Nominees

As CBS and the Tony peeps negotiate what goes on the air Sunday night, Variety reports yet another awkward compromise regarding lip service to nonmusical theatre:

In the play sequences -- always a tricky endeavor, since nonmusicals rarely play well on screen -- a slew of thesps are on tap for a "special presentation" of the nominated new plays and play revivals in which they appear. Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, for instance, will talk up "Fences," while Justin Bartha, Anthony LaPaglia and Tony Shalhoub discuss "Lend Me a Tenor," Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson talk about "A View from the Bridge" and Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne appear for "Red."
The exact nature of the presentation has not been confirmed, although it's looking like the sequences will resemble the 2008 ceremony, in which host Whoopi Goldberg talked about each play while the production's set was recreated behind her. This year, it's said the actors (rather than the host) will talk about their respective plays; they will not perform.
Yes, god forbid these master "thesps" would perform on the tv.

In related news, Green Day will perform on the broadcast--even though they don't perform in "American Idiot" on Broadway.

(But hey, neither did Dolly Parton, who somewhow showed up in the kick-line of Nine to Five on last year's show.  Maybe the musical closed when excited ticketbuyers discovered there was no Dolly in the Broadway version.)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

What's a play?

Unknown said...

Perhaps if the 'thesps' were nominated for their play as best actor, then they should perform. If not and they are asked to perform it's kind of like spitting in their faces.