Hollywood & The Tonys

The 64th Tony Awards were presented last Sunday. Winners included Red, Memphis, Fences, La Cage aux Folles, Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Douglas Hodge, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Eddie Redmayne, Scarlett Johansson, Levi Kries and Katie Finneran. The post-Tony dissection seems to be less about the winners, the Broadway season was a little lackluster this year with the most critically-acclaimed revival (Finian's Rainbow) shuttering in the autumn due to lack of commerical sales, but more about where the winners were from. By this, I mean what background the winners have, and by that I mean, are they established Broadway 'names', television stalwarts or Hollywood stars. Denzel Washington (Best Actor in a Play), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Best Actress in a Musical) and Scarlett Johansson (Best Supporting Actress in a Play) are all more known for their work on film and television than they are for their work on Broadway. Washington has appeared in numerous blockbusters and is an Academy Award winner for Training Day, Zeta-Jones is also an Academy Award winner for Chicago, and Johansson has been working in film since a young age in The Horse Whisperer.

Other non-Broadway types present included producers of the musical Fela Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Beyonce & Jay-Z, award presenters including Daniel Radcliffe, Katie Holmes and a sports guy Mark Sanchez, performances from Glee stars Lea Michele & Matthew Morrison and also from Green Day, whose music forms the new musical American Idiot.

Looking at that information, it would seem that the famous and talented Hollywood & smallscreen people are looking at Broadway and are taking an interest in performing in plays, producing shows and even writing musicals. What on earth is wrong with that, I hear you ask. And that is a question which I find myself being an increasingly lone voice is saying (well apart from on this thread on Broadway World). Within the theatre community, a new level of vitriol has been unleashed against the famous who 'dare' to perform on stage well and gain critical recognition for it. Numerous 'fans' and even theatre professionals have attacked Zeta-Jones' win, seemingly based solely on her not so great performance on the Tonys (which I think is due to the fact that Radio City is a HUGE space for her to perform a number from an intimate production of A Little Night Music). Others have dug into Washington, for forgetting the American Theatre Wing's proper title (maybe because he was suprised at having won?). More have suggested it is all Johansson's fault that the A View from the Bridge revival didn't extend as she had films to promote and so had divided loyalties-or something. Others have declared Green Day's performance to be overlong and out-of-place, whilst some have criticised this poor Mark Sanchez guy as having 'nothing to do with Broadway'.

All this has been spured on by Hunter Foster beginning a Facebook group named 'GIVE THE TONYS BACK TO BROADWAY!!!' this group is apparently about giving the Tony ceremony a facelift and an overhaul, making it more theatre-centric; yet the response from theatre-lovers, and theatre professionals-including Foster himself, suggests that it is mostly about shunning anyone whose main profession is within film, television or popular music-or in some people's comments if people are British. As I have said on the group, show business is a BUSINESS. It is about making money and turning a profit, which today is harder and harder (unless you're Les Mis, POTO or Wicked) and the Tony Awards are an event which can attempt to gain interest in the new openings each season. In order to draw in viewers, people like Green Day, Will Smith, Beyonce, Lea Michele etc are touted so that their fans can be shown another art form, and the developments within it. This happens in the hope that said fans will buy tickets to see Fela! or American Idiot and will then explore other theatre productions, should they like what they see.

American theatre is lucky in that their networks give them the chance to have a primetime awards show-which isn't something us in the UK are privy to. It is rare that new musicals or plays get much coverage on television-unless the play features someone like David Tennant or the musical is family-friendly like Hairspray or to some extent Legally Blonde.

Theatre is viewed by many people as a exclusivist art-form, full of middle-aged and older men bemoaning the fact that 'so-and-so' wasn't anywhere near as good in 'Role X' as 'older actor/ress'. This belief, that theatre is hostile to new blood in any way, will not go away as long as people continue to feed the fire, and is less likely that the likes of Johansson and Washington (who was snubbed in Julius Casear a while back) will return if they are aware of the prejudice against them from both theatregoers and theatre professionals.

All highly ironic after Johansson said in her ('overlong') acceptance speech that she is thrilled to have been so welcomed by the Broadway community.

(My favourite moment of the Tonys? Can't tell you. Kind of liked Eddie Redmayne's acceptance speech though)