Two weeks ago, I wrote an article about the 40% (!) increase in the number of new musicals in the last two seasons on Broadway, compared to the 10-year average of new musicals pre-Covid. If you missed that article, click here to read it – cuz the data is a doozy.  

It’s an exciting time.  Some might even call it a Renaissance (I’m one of them.  When I gave my keynote at the TheaterMakers Summit in September of 2020, I bet this would happen, because previous renaissances – including the big one – were born out of similar issues the world faced in 2020-22).

Creators and Producers have pushed boundaries, taken risks, and introduced brand-new talents.  We’ve also had musicals that had just given the audience what they often want – a great time that lets them forget about everything else.  

Whenever industries like ours go through this kind of shift, and more product is being created, a lot of things are going to be impacted.  And, I’d argue, some things should change.

One of the questions I’ve had as I’ve watched the last two Tony seasons . . . is whether five nominees for Best Musical is enough anymore?  

(Note: For the “Best Musical, Play, etc.” categories, the number of nominees varies between 3 and 5.  Only when there are more than 9 potential nominees can the final number of nominees be 5 – and that is the result of some math, as you can read here.)

And why stop there?  Do we have enough nominees for Best Actor and Actress?  Director?  Designers?  

With the sheer number of new musicals entering the market each year, the Nominators have an even tougher job than they ever had before.  (I don’t know how they do it, to be honest.)  Narrowing down such a large volume of unique shows and talented performers has to be quite a daunting task.  And I don’t want anyone or any show to get overlooked because there are so many to choose from.  

Getting a Tony nomination can be a life-changing event for anyone who receives one, and a business-changing event for any show that receives one.  Now that we’ve entered this renaissance – this new era of diversity, creativity, and sheer quantity when it comes to new musicals – could we expand the number we’re honoring?  

Our sister industry, Hollywood, expanded their number of nominees for Best Picture, as the democratization of film production put so many more options forward for the Academy to consider.  I don’t think the Academy Awards have suffered as a result.  In fact, I enjoy seeing more options up there each year. 

Am I talking about doubling or tripling the number of nominees?  No way.  But it seems like we could add an, “If there are more than 11 potential nominees, there can be 6 nominees,” type of thing – don’t you think?  It wouldn’t be a guarantee – only if the Nominators voted accordingly – again, the math would solve it.  (I sometimes wonder if that rule that capped it at 5 if we had 9 candidates was only because we never thought we’d produce so many more so consistently!  I mean, who knew we’d go through a pandemic and have a Renaissance?)

Flexibility with our number of nominees in the Best Musical category, and in all categories, feels like a wonderful way to celebrate the breadth and the brilliance of what’s being created on our Broadway stages.  For me, that’s what the Tonys are about. 

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