CMU School of Drama


Thursday, May 04, 2017

My Reactions to the 2017 Tony Award Nominations.

The Producer's Perspective: It seemed like just yesterday that the big question about the Tony nominations was how many Hamilton was going to get.

That’s right, my dear readers, a year has already come and gone, and just yesterday the 2017 Tony Award nominations were announced. (And I wouldn’t have been surprised if Hamilton had sneaked one in this year, somehow – Best Ridiculous Amount of Gross Box Off Receipts perhaps?)

So what did I think of the nominations this year?

Well, as a co-producer of Groundhog Day, I was pretty pleased. 🙂

8 comments:

Claire Farrokh said...

This is the first year in a while that I have not been very invested in the Tony Awards, or the nominations for them. The only show I've seen on the entire nomination list is Falsettos, which mind you is a very good one show to see, but it makes for a less exciting award season. I also have not been keeping myself really up to date on any of the shows on Broadway right now, and there are a large number of shows on this list that I have never heard of before. It feels strange to be relatively disinterested in what is arguably the biggest deal in theatre. It is especially weird that I don't know anything about these shows, as I thought going to theatre school would give me more investment in the Broadway season. When I get home, I will be seeing Miss Saigon and Amelie, so hopefully that will make me a little bit more interested. However, from what I hear, Amelie got majorly snubbed so who knows. It's great that Comet and Evan Hansen are leading the noms, but since I have no chance of seeing either, that's a little less exciting.

Emily Lawrence said...

lI really liked that this article pointed out what everyone was thinking. When I first read the list of the nominations, I wondered if there were really not that many shows that were produced this past year. And when the author listed out all of the shows that did not get nominations, I was amazed. I feel like there were so many good shows this season, but only a small few got chosen to be nominated. I do like that the author chose to include how Tony nominations work, because I did not know this originally. I do agree that the 3 or fewer votes restriction could be taken away, especially to show more shows that were produced in the year. I feel like right now there are so many shows that get over looked simply because they were not nominated. There can only be one winner, so why only have four nominees? Yes to make it easier in the long run, but I do know some people who will only see shows that get nominated, which heavily limits their shows this year.

Cosette Craig said...

This year is going to be a dull Tony’s (besides Kevin Spacey’s opening number, of course). I do think Come From Away, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, and Dear Evan Hansen were all worthy of their recognition, but the complete dismissal of Amelie has left me pretty salty. The show is terrific and the set and costumes, both by David Zinn, are inventive, vivacious, and original. The compositions are not up to par with this year but they are certainly on the same level as Dear Evan Hansen. The book is a proven success as a foreign film so I don’t know what made it slip under the radar. The one I’m most upset about getting so many nods is Groundhog Day. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great movie. Bill Murray gave a timeless performance. But unoriginal recreations of things we’ve already seen are yesterday’s news. I don’t want anymore movie reboots to hit the stage.

Alex Talbot said...

I have seen absolutely none of the shows on this year's list of nominations, but from what I've read and heard, it isn't an overly impressive lineup following Hamilton. Natasha Pierre will sweep, as it did with nominations simply because it is a creative, new piece of theatre--which based on the list seems like something that is few and far between on Broadway these days. Groundhog day is just a remake of the hit movie as a musical, which in my opinion is rather uncreative and dull, though I'll admit I actually haven't seen the movie. I'm surprised that shows like Amelie and Anastasia didn't get nommed, as I had heard good things, but I don't know enough to say more on the topic. In general, considering this lineup, I feel this will be a boring year for Tony viewers, considering the amazing pieces that were nominated last year.

Zak Biggins said...

I have been blessed to see a majority of the musicals (and some of the plays) nominated. In my opininon the Tony Voters could not have been more wrong with under representing Amelie. I am sorry, but I need to use some of this comment to talk about how Phillipa Soo was ROBBED of a nomination. She was breath taking and embodied the character so so well, after the nominations came out the show declared it was closing. Therein lies the problem- the Tony Awards should not determine the success of our industry, this thing has become entirely too commercial versus artistic.
Okay now about the nominations.
For the Best Musical category I think this was pretty predictable. Unlike my classmate Alex, I don't actually think Natasha Pierre will sweep as much as Dear Evan Hansen will. Now, I don't agree with DEH winning the Tony Award for best musical (its basically just the Ben Platt show) however, I do think it will win. The true winner in my opinion is Come from Away, a fantastic ensemble show that capitalizes the importance of story telling.
I am excited to see what happens.

Evan Schild said...

This year’s tony nominations were very surprising. I was shocked to see that so many good shows had gotten left out of any tony nominations. Just like the article says that a show with a lot of nominations gets an increase in ticket sells it also happens for the other side. Shows that don’t get any nominations clearly see it in ticket sales. Already announced to close is Amelia who was struggling in the box office and received 0 nominations they had no choice but to close. Bronx tale and Amelia were two shows that surprised me that they didn’t get any nominations. I saw Bronx tale and it was a very well made show. I thought something would et nominated. The biggest shock to me was that Mike Faist from Dear Evan Hansen got a nomination. Out of everyone playing a featured role he was the last person I thought would get the nomination. His part just doesn’t seem very nominations worthy.

Emma Reichard said...

Some of my initial reactions to the Tony Award Nominations this year:
•Wow that’s a lot of white people
•There’s not a lot of nominees for best play
•Comet was really good, it deserved it’s nominations
•But Dear Evan Hansen will catch the snitch
•Still so so many white people
•Thank god The Encoutners sound designers are getting recognized
•Thank god the sound design Tony is back
•How many CMU alumni are nominated this year
•Eh, ok, not as many as last year but still, that’s not bad
•Again, so many white people
•Seriously, didn’t we have the most diverse Tony’s in history last year?
•Why did we fall back?
•Also where are the women? Do they only exist in costume design?
•But that’s not new
•Why do people still even care about the Tony’s
•It’s proven to not really be a great measure of artistry
•Will I even watch this year?
•Probably, because I’m Broadway Trash
•Also, what even is Groundhog Day? I thought that was a joke

Antonio Ferron said...

Like the author, I am also a bit disappointed in the nominations this season. Keeping in mind I have seen none of the shows this season, I do feel as though the diversity of the shows selected is a little lacking. Even though I haven't seen it, I am very familiar with Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812's music, concepts, and director Rachel Chavkin. I think it is a well-deserved front-runner. Where I am really dissapointed is in the nominations for the Best Set Design awards, particularly Best Set Design of a Play. Again, I haven't seen any of these designs within the full context of their shows, but one issue has really stood out to me between this year and last year. The nominees this year seem to all be chosen based on who could design the most hyper-realistic set on stage. I don't know much about the other plays this season but I'm sure there were other with stronger visual and artistic concepts. I had the same issue last year with The Humans winning the award against Hugie and Therese Requin, both of which told amazing visual stories. The Humans, which I actually happened to see last season, just seemed like a very detailed multi level box set that ultimately lacked dimension as the actors were forced to play in front of the scenery rather than interacting within it.