The Tony Awards -- an Insider's Perspective

I'd like to present for the first time a 'guest blog' -- one written by someone besides me.

Millions of us watched the Tony Awards the other night with an outsiders perspective -- probably finding it entertaining as well as offering us an opportunity to see many Broadway shows we won't get to see ( or can't afford to see) in person.

In the same way that many of us may shop at a Walmart or other wholesale outlets, and purchase and eat fruits and vegetables without knowing anything about what goes into their production, so it is true about much of the 'entertainment' we consume, including Broadway plays.

I read a 'review' of the Tony Awards by Fred Barton and asked his permission to reprint it here. 

Fred Barton is an American composer, lyricist, director, actor, singer, arranger, conductor, and pianist. He is  the co-creator and arranger and performer in the original company of the award-winning revue Forbidden Broadway. In 1985,  the show won a Drama Desk Award, and also won a special Tony Award in 2006.

So Mr. Barton is a Broadway insider; he knows what he is talking about. 

Here is his take on the Tony Awards:

"So I know you're dying to know. The fact that I had to run a search on the internet to locate the following information is everything that's wrong with Broadway today, and with the Tony [Awards]broadcast tonight. The unfortunate blonde with the aggressive street London accent, introduced only as "Velma Kelly in CHICAGO" is one Amra-Fay Wright, whose bio states that she has "starred in numerous musical extravaganzas worldwide," as well as the West End CHICAGO and other productions. She has no television credits, which is no disgrace, until you're on national television, and unable to find your teleprompter or have the forethought to memorize your five lines in case there's a fuck-up, and petulantly remark to millions of people that you or someone has fucked up and you don't know what to do. I wonder if she goes all Patti Lupone apeshit if someone misplaces her prop in a stage show, or if her fellow actor misses a cue.

The current Broadway cast members, en masse, should have flatly refused to appear unless they were identified by name, either by announcement or subtitle; my friend Judy McLane is not just some broad on the set in MAMMA MIA, she's fucking Judy McLane and deserves recognition; John Lloyd Young won the damn Tony Award himself, and did not deserve to appear as some anonymous fourth boy from the left in a generic JERSEY BOYS condescension. The producers of the show should be ashamed of themselves, although clearly shame is not on their list of skills. But the performers themselves bear some responsibility for this ignominious treatment; my friends, you're headlining on Broadway and people are paying big money to see you -- and even though Broadway is doing everything in its power to keep you down, to keep you anonymous, to keep you from being stars, and to keep you replaceable, you don't have to help them do it, even for a national TV appearance, which was designed to show you as grunts on a chain gang for the glory of others no more (and in some cases less) deserving."

Obviously, Mr. Barton did not watch the Tony Awards show with the same passive geniality as most. But I feel he makes some excellent points about  workers -- in this case actors -- and their relationship to the 'owners of their labors' that extend beyond Broadway and entertainers.  

I won't do him an injustice by paraphrasing him, so I'll repeat what I feel is the most poignant of his observations: The performers themselves bear some responsibility for this ignominious treatment; my friends, you're headlining on Broadway and people are paying big money to see you -- and even though Broadway is doing everything in its power to keep you down, to keep you anonymous, to keep you from being stars, and to keep you replaceable, you don't have to help them do it, even for a national TV appearance, which was designed to show you as grunts on a chain gang for the glory of others no more (and in some cases less) deserving.

I think we'd all feel better about our work, and create an even stronger economy,  if we heeded his advice to proudly value our work more highly. 

If you'd like to contribute a blog on a topic you feel passionate and informed about,  please message me on my Facebook page: 32 Beach Productions.