CMU School of Drama


Sunday, April 11, 2010

Tonys issue eligibility rulings

Variety: "Christopher Walken is the sole cast member of Broadway play 'A Behanding in Spokane' who will be considered eligible for a Tony nom as a lead thesp, according to the third of four periodic eligibility rulings issued each season by the Tony Awards Administration Committee."

3 comments:

MONJARK said...

I always find it funny to see how much bureaucracy is behind award shows like this. Everything has to be an argument, often rooted in the politics of the industry, instead of common sense. We should be debating over who deserves to be nominated or who should win, not who is eligible to compete. Silly outdated rules should not supersede logic and common sense, but then again, I wouldn't want to change society too much. It wouldn't be the America I know and love then, no would it?

ewilkins09 said...

This is very hard to believe and there shouldn't even be any controversy over this. From the outside it just looks as if the tony committee named the more well known actors as leads. Is this a good thing? I guess it depends on the reasoning behind the decision. Was it just because their names are more recognizable or is it because this play is so great that more actors from it in more categories means more tonys? I don't even know if that is a reason but you like to think the best of people.
I wish that everyone could just be fair and nice but some things just don't work that way. This is an example and something like this could cause major problems with the cast of this show while they are working together.

Anonymous said...

Well I suppose when you do decide to put on something like the Tony's, or anything that is complicated for that matter, it's going to become attached with some rules. I mean yes, we would like to think that all people can just be rational and realize that just because they HAVE to put Christopher Walken's name at the top because he's a big name, it doesn't mean he's a "lead" vs. all the other actors, but you're right, we do live in America. I still think the rules bit is important though, because everything always has to get complicated. Truth be told, Walken probably does deserve a Tony because he was probably amazing, but that's not the point. Also...getting nominated for either lead or supporting is a good thing. Winning for supporting has this connotation that you were 2nd best, but that's SO not it. Being the lead comes with a different set of...I guess you could say, "jobs" attached. Being a supporting doesn't make you any less of an actor, so this conversation is really irrelevant.