Tony Awards

[BlantonRK]

I'm usually very sympathetic to our brethren in other production departments, but the audio at the Tony Awards has almost always been dicey. Tonight was no exception. I hope that the experience was better in the hall than on the broadcast. On the other hand, watching (but not always hearing) so many production numbers made me want to go see the shows.



Your thoughts?

[Bwoodbury]

I am just always shocked at how messy things seen. Chief offenders: as you mentioned, audio cuts in and out, but a bigger problem for me is that people aren't sure what comes next. That seems like such an easy fix! Award shows like the Oscars, Grammys, and MTV Movie Awards seem to run so much more smoothly. Seems like the Tonys should be the best, given that live performance is what we do!

[ericjames]

The Tony's are supposed to be the biggest night to show off the best of the best for the American theatre industry.   Unfortunately, the last two years in particular were awful from the production side of things.  (personally, I was also unimpressed by many of the people as well... but that way off topic).  I know people that have worked on the Tonys in the past and they always say that everything is crazy, but it seems pretty simple to do a sound check, make sure people have the right mic, etc... and then to make sure that everyone know the running order.  A lot of this just seems like Theatre 101 type stuff...

Congrats to all the winners, and hopefully things will go better next year.

[dallas10086]

Did you see the massive list of stage managers? That's a clue as to just how much is going on backstage...

Maybe if they tried paring things down, go for a more simple format, they could concentrate on improving the sound (which was an improvement over last year...which still isn't saying much...)

[NomieRae]

It was an exciting night for our industry-can't say that I agreed with all the awards but definitely love seeing everyone celebrating the season..

I can't seem to find the credits for the lighting/sound/sm's on the Tony's tonight..anyone find that info mind posting it? It's not anywhere on the Tony's website

[babens]

Having just worked the CFDA Fashion Awards earlier this week I have a new appreciation for what goes in to getting these types of shows off the ground, and it certainly isn't easy.  You have some presenters who never rehearse, others who change things up until the last minute, want to stay in their seats as long as possible, want to be backstage long before they are needed, and who will inevitably change their mind at the last second as to what they actually want.

[loebtmc]

we were commenting that this year the presenters were from TV/Film and some of the awards seemed to be on name value rather than performing skills - but the mistakes were legendary - posting the wrong winner while Ms Finnerman was talking, the sound glitches etc - YIKES - this used to be the smoothest running show with the cleanest speeches. What happened (she asked semi-rhetorically)

[KMC]

Everyone's a critic it seems.

How often does your first preview go off without a hitch?  These guys get almost no rehearsal time; enjoy the show for what it is.

[loebtmc]

Oh, we did enjoy - but knowing that the SM was prob going wacky when so many sound cues got dropped at the top, and then mislabelling the awardee....

and being prepped for 4 different endings based on who won Best Musical - Yikes! I can imagine the conversation on headset after that one...

it just seems to me that the Tony's always had less glitches than the other award shows since, well, live shows is what we do. But, for example, this year, sound problems have plagued every award show I've seen (granted, I don't see that many) so it makes me wonder what the heck is goin' on???

[ericjames]

There were a lot of stage managers listed for the Tony's... but its also important to remember, that in this case the stage managers will function more as a "TV/ Movie" stage manager than a traditional theatre SM.  Although I do not know for sure, I would bet that there is no stage manager calling cues for the Tony awards.  (at at least not 1 single person).      The majority of the audience is viewers at home, so the jobs are broken down following the TV protocols.  There were 10 stage managers listed, but they were really acting more as deck managers... trying to wrangle everyone into their correct places.  The lighting cues are all being called by the lighting director in the production truck, the video cues by the video, etc, etc. 

[nmno]

My favorite job title from the list of credits "Queen of Talent".

[dallas10086]

My favorite job title from the list of credits "Queen of Talent".

I noticed that too! Wonder what kind of credentials you need to get that title...

[bethanyb5]

From what I heard from people who were at the Tony's last year the sound was only a TV issue. Not sure about this year though. If that is the case again then the problem isn't with "us" its with the TV people. But it was encouraging to me that my Off Off Broadway sound problems are nothing in comparison.

[RuthNY]

I spoke to one of the Production Supervisors of the Tony Awards today and she she said that the sound in the theatre itself, run by a theatre sound guy, was just fine. It sounded great IN Radio City. The TV sound, she said is done by TV guys from the remote truck outside the theatre. No one inside has any control as to what hits the airwaves and what we hear at home!  I hope this clarifies it a little!

[LizzG]

Thanks RuthNY for that info, it's very comforting to know that the theater professionals actually do put on a great live show, and that it was just the TV broadcast that was funky!