Tony Awards anger journalists

"The decision to revoke the fourth estate's Tony voting privileges has spurred an outcry from disenfranchised journos and other legiters.
The Tony Award Management Committee announced via email Tuesday evening that members of the so-called First Night Press List -- the group of critics, reporters and editors invited to see Broadway shows on or before opening night -- would no longer be allowed to vote for the legit world's highest-profile kudos.

Journalists have been included in the voting pool since the 1963-64 season, the same year members of the League of New York Theaters and Producers -- the org that later became the Broadway League, now a co-presenter of the Tonys -- were invited to vote.

Move reduces the pool of Tony voters by about 100, or down more than 10%, to approximately 700.

As soon as the email went out, those affected voiced skepticism regarding the stated rationale behind the move, with some viewing the change as an effort by producers, presenters and promoters -- who make up the majority of the voting pool -- to tighten control of the Tony Awards, widely regarded as a top marketing showcase for Broadway fare.

Other critics took it as a slap in the face that further marginalizes their standing in the Gotham theater community. Irked members of the New York Drama Critics Circle soon launched into a debate regarding a variety of potential responses, including lodging a formal complaint to reopen negotiations, as well as prompting talk of expanding the NYDCC's annual awards to counter the exclusion from the Tonys.

The Tonys were the only kudos among the major entertainment industry laurels to have included press among voters. There's no significant critical presence among voting bodies for Grammys, Emmys or Oscars.

The severance letter, sent out by the Tony Awards' press agency, PMK/HBH, reasoned that the impartiality of journos might be compromised by their direct involvement in the selection of Tony winners. Announcement also noted that the press has plenty of opportunity to make critics' opinions known via the media outlets that run their theater coverage, as well as through the annual awards roundups in which various groups participate, such as the NYDCC Awards, Drama Desks and Outer Critics Circle Awards.

Decision also repped an effort to pare back an expanding first-night list, which has grown over the years to include a wide array of assignment editors, bloggers, TV bookers and others. Generous estimates peg the actual number of legitimate first-night press at 30-40, leaving 60 or so other media professionals who may or may not cover theater directly and in many cases don't see a large number of the eligible shows.

"It was not a desire to insult the press in any way but to address the fact that the criteria for inclusion on the first-night list was not coincident with any criteria for why one should or should not be a voter," said Howard Sherman, exec director of the American Theater Wing, co-presenter of the Tonys.

Rather than risk the controversy of disenfranchising only some of that press list, the management committee decided to revoke the vote for the entire group.

Some in the industry said they viewed the measure as throwing the baby out with the bathwater."