Broadway Joey

[epilogue]

Joe, do you care about the Tonys? Ever had the chance to attend?

I have never attended the event, no. I've gone to Tony watch parties put on by the producers of shows I've worked on, but never to the actual awards ceremony.

The Tonys don't mean much to me. Of all the awards shows they are the most "rigged." But I do think it would be fun to go sometime.

[Jorge]

Of all the awards shows they are the most "rigged."

Interesting, care to elaborate? (I don't know anything about how they work)

[epilogue]

Of all the awards shows they are the most "rigged."

Interesting, care to elaborate? (I don't know anything about how they work)

Sure! There's no objectivity. It's literally all about perception and money.

For example, when Wicked was up for best musical, it lost to Avenue Q. Not because critics/The League thought Avenue Q was "better" but because the common thinking was that Wicked would be able to run even without the award but that Avenue Q would close early without winning. This turned out to be exactly true. Wicked is still running and Avenue Q ended up getting more money/exposure with the win and ran another year when it was expected to close.

The same thing happened with Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. I was working on Beautiful at the time and the Broadway League told us (literally told the producers of the show) that we were the critical favorite to win but that they also knew we would run even without winning but Gentleman's Guide was a fan favorite and would close if it didn't win. It won. And Beautiful ran for another 5 years. Gentleman's guide ran for a little longer but closed way before we did.

There have been a ton of shows/examples of people winning, not because they deserve it, but rather because they were promised a win to convince them to come to Broadway. It comes down to what's best for The League overall, not what is necessarily the best piece/performance/etc based on pure artistic merit.

That's not always the case, of course, but that's the default setting. Sometimes things surprise or overcome. Hamilton is a great example. Basically, Hamilton didn't let the Tony voters see the show for free (which is always the case). Hamilton said, nah, you can either come on very specific perfs to see the show for free or you can pay like everyone else. There was a big backlash about it. But in the end it didn't' matter. Hamilton was too big of force to fuck with. It won everything and most Tony Voters actually paid to see it. But Hamilton was a cultural phenomenon. There was no way the Tony committee was going to vote against it.

[Jorge]

That's so interesting. I have also heard that if you're a notable show but you don't get a single Tony win it's basically a death sentence, which tracks with what you are saying. I guess since Broadway is a relatively small and financially volatile industry, the Tonys serve as a strategic lever and marketing tool. I wonder how they decide which shows get "the juice"

[E.H. Ruddock]

Posting here for people who may appreciate this more...

My wife just recently quit her corporate gig and started a local musical theater school to help kids with their growth and auditions in the community. We have a big theater community here in our town. On top of that, we started a non profit theater group for the sole purpose of providing the opportunity for anyone in the community to do musical theater. There is a lot of favoritism and nepotism in this town with theater casting, we (she) wants to get away from that. This past weekend was the opening of her first show, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, for ages 14-18. I had no idea how dark and unhappy this story really was! I'm really proud of her, we've had great turnouts for the first 5 shows and have one more weekend. I'll post a clip from a show later, but the talent she's gotten out of this cast is incredible.

Because it is basically her and I at the moment, we've relied heavily on donations, and people have come through. I built the (minimal) set for this one, including investing in some structures that can be used in the future and also rented out to other theater companies in the area.

We just applied for, and received, the rights to do Come From Away in February, adult cast. She is really begging me to audition for it even though I can't sing. Maybe I'll do an ensemble/non singing part?

Since I've met her, I've come to really "get" the draw to musical theater, the raw emotion of it, and the beauty of the music (when performed well). She is also the drama teacher for a local Arts/STEM private school (grades 4-8) and does two shows a year for them. Most recently were Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and Matilda.

Joey, if you know of anyone that does grants for this type of thing, hit me up!

Anyway, just an interesting little Ruddo tidbit for you all.

[Jorge]

Quisimodo predicted this

[blueviper]

Posting here for people who may appreciate this more...

My wife just recently quit her corporate gig and started a local musical theater school to help kids with their growth and auditions in the community. We have a big theater community here in our town. On top of that, we started a non profit theater group for the sole purpose of providing the opportunity for anyone in the community to do musical theater. There is a lot of favoritism and nepotism in this town with theater casting, we (she) wants to get away from that. This past weekend was the opening of her first show, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, for ages 14-18. I had no idea how dark and unhappy this story really was! I'm really proud of her, we've had great turnouts for the first 5 shows and have one more weekend. I'll post a clip from a show later, but the talent she's gotten out of this cast is incredible.

Because it is basically her and I at the moment, we've relied heavily on donations, and people have come through. I built the (minimal) set for this one, including investing in some structures that can be used in the future and also rented out to other theater companies in the area.

We just applied for, and received, the rights to do Come From Away in February, adult cast. She is really begging me to audition for it even though I can't sing. Maybe I'll do an ensemble/non singing part?

Since I've met her, I've come to really "get" the draw to musical theater, the raw emotion of it, and the beauty of the music (when performed well). She is also the drama teacher for a local Arts/STEM private school (grades 4-8) and does two shows a year for them. Most recently were Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and Matilda.

Joey, if you know of anyone that does grants for this type of thing, hit me up!

Anyway, just an interesting little Ruddo tidbit for you all.

You and your wife are doing great work.

As a dad with a daughter in community college for theater, I’ve seen the struggles with favoritism in casting.

Plays and musicals are great for both the public and the people working on the shows. It benefits everyone.

[epilogue]

That's so awesome, Ruddo. I'm so proud of your wife for diving fully into something she loves and I'm proud of you for supporting her the way you do. It's so moving. Your both an inspiration!

Break a leg with all of it! I'll reach out to some folks I know in the developmental and non-profit spaces and see if I can get you any help or info.

Feel free to PM if you don't want to post it all here but what's the name of the theatre group? It's there a website?

[epilogue]

Going to see Carrie Coon Star in her husband's play "Bug" next Thursday!

Can't wait! It's my favorite Tracy Letts play and I've only read it, never seen a production. Should be epic!

[wease]

Jealous

[epilogue]

I wonder if she'll remember me from The Minutes closing party.

Probably not.

[wease]

You son of a bitch

[epilogue]

Bug was incredible. One of the best productions of a straight play that I've seen in a long time.

Carrie Coon is a goddess.

[wease]

Straight up

Glad you had a good time.

[epilogue]

This is the second time I've seen her on stage. The first was back in 2013. I had never heard of her before. If she'd done any tv/film work at that point, I certainly hadn't seen it. So her portrayal of Honey in Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was my intro to her. WAoVW is one of my all time favorite plays. Honey is pretty difficult role and can be thankless. But Carrie stole the entire thing, and not in a showy, scene-eating way. She was just hands down the best, most compelling, and electric performer on the stage. I remember studying her bio in the Playbill on the way home and telling my wife, "we need to remember her name because she's gonna do great, great things."

I have been a huge fan ever since.

She does it again in Bug. A tremendously difficult (some have said, impossible) character to play. And you just can't take your eyes off of her. She's so honest and generous and present -- she elevates everyone around her. And just like Virginia Woolf? and The Leftovers she delivers a monologue for the fucking ages!

We can debate whether or not she's the straight up best actor of her generation or the best working today, whatever, but there is not debate as far as I'm concerned, Carrie Coon is the best monologuist out there. Certainly, far and away the best I've ever seen.

[E.H. Ruddock]

My wife got the rights to Come From Away for our area. She had way more women than men audition so she asked me to be in it. Said it will be minimal solo singing. I agreed. I’m Claude. Looked at the script yesterday. I start the whole show and some of the opening song is solo. Fml.

[Jorge]

Post videos here of yourself practicing so we can give you some pointers

[E.H. Ruddock]

I don’t think that will be happening

[Jorge]

Let us help you

[E.H. Ruddock]

My wife is the director. I’ll either be fine or out of a part.