Beggars can’t be winners
Letters to Tony voters fall on
deaf ears
HERE’S a tip to producers chasing Tony Awards: Don’t send earnest letters to Tony voters begging for their support. You look desperate, and voters recoil in disgust.
“How many times have you seen ‘Gypsy,’ ‘West Side [Story],’ ‘Chicago’ and ‘Dreamgirls’?” wrote
Tom Smedes, a producer of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s “The Visit” with Chita Rivera.
“These musical theater phenomena . . . have one thing in common: None of them won Tony Awards in the Best New Musical category.
He then went on to describe how “The Visit” related to all those classics, saying it dealt with moral dilemmas, the human condition and themes that “transcend time and place.”
(I thought it was about an old lady who wants to stick it to the jerk who jilted her, but themes that “transcend time and place” usually elude me.)
Smedes concluded with a rousing call for votes: “Now is the opportunity for . . . Tony voters to be on the right side of history and make a choice for a classic that causes audiences to leap to their feet.” He also included tweets from
LinManuel Miranda: “Kander & Ebb will give you the best melodies, and tell hard truths. They step on your throat while they serenade you. And you thank them.” The result? The Tony for Best Musical went to “Fun Home.”
Despite respectful reviews, “The Visit” never really had a chance. But Smedes’ letter didn’t help.
A source told me, “I know of two voters who, for sentimental reasons, were going to vote for ‘The Visit.’ ”
“They switched to ‘Fun Home’ after they got that letter.”
A voter says, “He was playing the ‘vote for the old folks before it’s too late’ card. It should have been on a tombstone. I voted for ‘Fun Home.’ ”
Smedes wasn’t the only scribbler last season. Husbandandwife producers
Howard and Janet Kagan sent voters a letter praising their “On the Town” revival for capturing the spirit of the 1944 original — “the excitement of young firsttime visitors to NYC, the opportunity for fun and the chance for romance. And as is still the case today, the poignancy of sailors on shore leave in NYC before heading back to war.”
The letter was all the more heartfelt because it was handwritten, though Howard Kagan’s chicken scratch, complete with crossouts, gave it the look of something written on stationery from the Gowanda Correctional Facility.
As one voter says, “When I opened it, I thought it was from the guy who kidnapped the Lindbergh baby.”
“The King and I” won the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical.
Like “The Visit,” “On the Town” was a long shot. But the letter did the show no favors.
A veteran press agent says producers should send out invitations to see their show, a souvenir program and a CD. And that’s it. “But sometimes it’s hard to convince them,” he says. “They love their show so much, and they want everybody else to love it, too.”
In that case, break their fingers.