The Bests, Worsts, Mosts, and Leasts of the Tony Awards
'Twas a show without writers, but still a night full of stars.
Last night’s Tony Awards gave us a glimpse of what can be done with an award show during a prolonged Writers Guild of America strike. To recap: The scribes who would normally write a show’s opening monologue, presenter banter, and any other cues that appear on a teleprompter1, are not available to come to the phone right now because they would like improved wages and working conditions, and not to be replaced with robots. The WGA requested that its members not participate, but agreed not to picket the event -- a precedent set during the 1988 strike -- out of what we assume is a show of solidarity for the arts. The Tonys are vital to Broadway, both for keeping the lights on via ticket sales, and for inspiring interest in national tours of the nominated shows. Broadway is still struggling post-Covid, so why drive in the stake any deeper? It’s already the first time in decades where no Andrew Lloyd Webber show is running there. We do not need to get closer to a theater apocalypse than tha…