Following the information Friday that the Writers Guild of America had denied a waiver request that will enable the Tony Awards to be televised on June 11, New York’s theater communities are grappling with the implications of the choice for business solidarity amid the strike.
Forward of the GLAAD Media Awards in New York on Saturday — the place a number of presenters, honorees and the present itself made statements in assist of the work stoppage — Fats Ham co-producer Colman Domingo informed The Hollywood Reporter on the occasion’s crimson carpet that the present’s destiny is “within the palms of creatives and with artistic folks, we will do something.”
“I’m very a lot in assist of the WGA strike. It’s simply an unlucky scenario for all of us, for everybody within the business who need issues to be equitable, however who additionally need to assist Broadway,” he stated. “I’m hoping to seek out an incredible answer in a roundabout way to amplify these Broadway exhibits to have moments. Perhaps it’s some form of hybrid that we haven’t thought of but.”
Broadway icon and singer Idina Menzel appeared on the occasion for a particular efficiency of her new single “Transfer,” off her upcoming album Drama Queen. Whereas there to “have a good time all my pals on this neighborhood who educate me methods to dwell an genuine life and courageously in their very own lives,” she additionally shared that regardless of the Tony Awards end result is, “I simply need all my pals to have the ability to have a good time and be pleased with what they did this yr.”
The televised ceremony, which was set to be produced by White Cherry Leisure’s Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, has traditionally supplied nationwide publicity for performs and musicals searching for a bump in ticket gross sales — in some circumstances, to assist keep away from closure. (Kimberly Akimbo, Some Like It Sizzling and Leopoldstadt are among the many musicals and performs that would profit.)
This yr’s occasion was scheduled to be broadcasted on CBS and streamed on Paramount+ on June 11, with a pre-show set for Pluto TV. However with the awards presentation scheduled greater than a month after the Alliance of Movement Image and Tv Producers and WGA failed to succeed in a brand new contract settlement by their Might 1 deadline, the producers of the Tonys would have required a waiver to proceed on as deliberate with a televised ceremony.
THR reported Friday that the waiver submitted by the eight-member Tony Awards Administration Committee was denied a number of days earlier than an emergency assembly had been scheduled to debate methods to transfer ahead with the present for this yr. (The WGA beforehand granted a waiver to the Grammy Awards throughout 2008’s strike and to the Tonys in the course of the 1988 strike.)
On the GLAAD Awards carpet, Bob the Drag Queen — who took dwelling a win within the excellent actuality collection class for the HBO collection We’re Right here — addressed one of many complexities of the ceremony not being televised.
“I simply came upon in the present day that the Tony Awards gained’t be televised this yr, which was wild as a result of one in all my pals, [Shucked‘s] Alex Newell, has damaged some obstacles as the primary nonbinary performer to be nominated in the very best actor in a featured position in a musical class. And we would not even be capable to see it apart from a few photos, which actually harm,” he stated. “However I additionally perceive that it’s greater than simply people. That is a kind of issues the place folks now could also be taking a pay minimize or shedding cash, however down the road, we’ll reap the advantages, and that’s actually vital.”
On social media, others have spoken up, sharing their assist for the strike. Truthful Wage Onstage, a set of Off-Broadway Actors’ Fairness members, despatched a transparent assertion on Twitter, writing, “Solidarity means by no means letting employers flip employees in opposition to employees.”
“The one and solely purpose the WGA is on strike is as a result of the AMPTP refuses to offer writers a good contract for his or her work,” the tweet continued. “Any and all penalties of the work stoppage sit squarely on the AMPTP.”
Douglas Lyons — Parade star, the playwright of Broadway’s Hen & Biscuits and a WGA author, additionally spoke up on Instagram, in a lengthy statement during which he declared he stands in “full solidarity with WGA,” however that he additionally acknowledges “that the cancellation of the Tonys hurts my Broadway neighborhood immensely.”
He pointed particularly to the theater business’s ongoing pandemic restoration, which noticed numerous exhibits shut, an 18-month business shutdown and new exhibits struggling to remain open as each home and worldwide theatergoers trickle again. It was additionally the impetus for his transfer into TV writing.
“Individuals are allowed to be mad as a result of the Tonys are the most important worldwide business to maintain the field workplaces of our struggling business afloat. It’s an enormous evening for the long run and sustainability of hundreds of jobs in Theatre,” he wrote. “However allow us to bear in mind this isn’t the WGA’s fault. That is the AMPTP’s greed that has pressured this rippling impact all through the business.”
“Hopefully a decision will likely be met the place writers are paid the due royalties they’ve earned,” he continued. “I don’t have an answer, however I do have empathy.”
Mark Harris, journalist, writer and husband of playwright Tony Kushner, responded to a bigger dialogue in regards to the strike that was kicked off by A.J. Holmes. The Kimberly Akimbo standby initially tweeted that “this lovely present is caught within the crosshairs of the WGA strike” earlier than including that “by not signing a waiver, the WGA is sentencing many to demise.”
Whereas the since-deleted tweet was met rapidly with criticism, Harris noted on Twitter — in response to a WGA author who replied to Holmes that “the AMPTP can finish this strike tomorrow” and to “blame the accountable events” — that each stances “may be true.”
“If the Tonys can’t occur, I hope everybody tweeting in assist of the WGA strike may also tweet in assist of the affected exhibits in a badly jeopardized business dealing with yet one more damage,” he continued. “Broadway, its exhibits and its employees are under no circumstances the enemy.”
For Fats Ham‘s Domingo, there’s additionally hope that audiences will present their assist even regardless.
“I believe that Broadway is an unbelievable place proper now, and I believe that individuals are coming again to the town,” he informed THR. “I’m hoping that love for Broadway — folks will gas themselves to come back right here and participate in what we’ve been creating.”
