Will Hugh Return to Host the 2009 Tony Awards?
GREAT WHITE GAY: Last week gay men and theater freaks in New York got up at a normal time, while those gay and theatrical on the West coast had to get up three horrible hours early to hear the Tony nominations. Since that televised announcement, the community has been up in arms – predicting who will win this or that category, lamenting on behalf those who got bitch-slapped out of a shot at the statuette, or attacking and/or defending Rock of Ages (I’m an attacker, by the way).
This is not what we need to spend our time talking about. While who wins what is an interesting subject to debate, there is a far more important discussion that must be had – what does the Tonys have to do to win? Because, while it’s easy for us Manhattanites to think that we are at the center of the gay (and not gay) world, the television ratings for our cherished theater awards program speak a completely different truth.
It is no shocker to any theater fanatic that the Tonys is in trouble. It has always been a very low-rated program, often losing out to gardening tips shows on HGTV and Snuggie infomercials on Nickelodeon Noggin. Even the Tonys themselves acknowledged this last year when they dramatically retooled their format – breaking from tradition and –gasp- allowing shows that were NOT nominated to perform! They even got Whoopi Goldberg to host the show, randomly and chaotically running on and off screen in spoofs of every show that season, ranging from Spring Awakening to The Lion King. VIDEOS POST JUMP.
