The Tony Awards are coming up on Sunday, June 10^th. For many of us, this day is a national holiday.

For this holiday, we fill out and share our prediction brackets. We bake themed desserts. We attempt, yet again, to memorize the choreography from the Tony Awards performance of the 2011 revival of Anything Goes. We prepare a speech to give our non-theatre friends at the watch party that there will be absolutely no speaking during performances and acceptance speeches.

The JCA Arts Marketing team is gearing up for the big day by sharing our predictions, reflecting on favorite moments, and indulging our nostalgia. We’d love to hear your responses, too! Tweet your Tony thoughts to us.

Steven Roth
President

Steven and his wife, Ellen, at the 2017 Tony Awards

What predictions do you have for this year’s awards?

• Best Play: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
• Best Musical: The Band’s Visit
• Best Play Revival: Angels in America
• Best Musical Revival: It’s a toss-up between Carousel and My Fair Lady
• Best Leading Actor in a Play: Andrew Garfield, Angels in America
• Best Leading Actress in a Play: Glenda Jackson, Three Tall Women
• Best Leading Actor in a Musical: Ethan Slater, SpongeBob SquarePants
• Best Leading Actress in a Musical: Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady

What are your favorite Tony Awards moments/performances?

That’s a tough one. Here are a few:

• At the 2017 Tonys (at Radio City), Cynthia Erivo and Leslie Odom sang “New York, New York” backed by the Rockettes—it still brings goosebumps watching it.
• I was at the 2016 Tonys—this was the year of Hamilton and the Pulse nightclub shooting. James Corden hosted and, right before the show was due to air, he came out solo and delivered a heart-breaking, yet affirming, speech about the Broadway community providing support to the Pulse community. “Hate will never win.”
• Michael Bennett’s acceptance speech for Best Director for A Chorus Line in 1976. “I only wanted one thing, to be a Broadway director, and I am. And I only wanted one moment, and I have it. Thank you.”

What was your first Broadway show?

Oklahoma at New York City Center. I was probably around 8 years old. Tickets cost about $5.

Any other Tony-related nostalgia to share?

• Springsteen on Broadway is great. According to the New York Times, Bruce (for the amount I paid, I deserve to be on a first-name basis with him) had the option to submit his show for a competitive award, such as Best Musical, Best Leading Actor in a Musical, etc. But he decided to opt-out of the competitive categories and accept a special Tony award this year to avoid giving away free tickets to the 800 or so Tony voters. By my rough math, the show grosses about $3 million per week. And assuming he doesn’t become ill or decide to turn the Tony down, he will become the 13^th EGOT—someone who has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.
• My first job was Marketing Director for the Shubert Organization. I went to the Tonys multiple times as a “seat filler.” In those days (early 80s), the Tonys were broadcast live from one of the theatres. Because they didn’t want to show any empty seats when the cameras panned the audience, they kept a few of us (in tuxedos and gowns) on hand, and when they broke for commercial we had to rush down and fill the seats vacated by the most recent award winners (who were backstage getting pictures taken and doing interviews). The nominees’ seats were always on the aisle. Upon rushing into an empty seat, I always got this nasty look from the winner’s date. I quickly learned to say, “I’m here so the seat won’t be empty when we come back from commercial. Your date will be back at the next break, and congratulations.” Then off to piss off the next winner’s date at the next commercial break. It was fun!

Timmy Metzner
Senior Consultant

Timmy with his mother and sister outside of last year’s Best Musical, Dear Evan Hansen

What predictions do you have for this year’s awards?

I’m fairly certain The Band’s Visit will win Best Musical. I also enjoyed Once on This Island immensely, but I have a feeling it will lose out to Carousel. I think the most interesting category is Best Lead Actress in a Musical with six nominations. I can’t decide which one I want to win though—they’re all so amazing!

What are your favorite Tony Awards moments/performances?

I distinctly remember being 13 years old and watching the opening number to Ragtime on the Tonys. I was so captivated! I knew I liked musicals, but this was a moment I really fell in love with them.

What was your first Broadway show?

I had just turned 19 and my college friends scrounged together the money to take me on my first NYC trip. We saw the 2003 revival of Little Shop of Horrors and I loved every second of it!

Any other Tony-related nostalgia to share?

In 2005 the Tony Awards created a new category: Best Performance by an Actor/Actress in a Recreated Role to give awards to great replacements. But it was never awarded and less than a year later abandoned altogether. My theater nerd sensibilities kick in every year and create lists of nominees for a category that I wish still existed. This year is easy, though. We all know Bernadette Peters would have won this year for Hello, Dolly!