Tony Committee Axes Journalists
I’ve just been informed by the Broadway powers-that-be (the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing) that I and all other theatre critics have been booted off the roster of Tony voters. Apparently, it’s quite enough that we reviewers make judgments about Broadway shows in print; being allowed to vote on them is a privilege too far. I can’t get too upset about my ouster; casting my ballot, after all, didn’t prevent many of this year’s Tony winners, such as the groaningly poor play “God of Carnage,” from taking home their trophies. What’s more, reviewers and journalists have plenty of their own honors to bestow (Drama Desk, New York Critics awards, etc.), so it isn’t as if we journalists aren’t remaining in the laurels game. Still, it was fun every spring to sit down with a cocktail and mark my Tony ballot. I’ll have to find another excuse to have that margarita.
