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So, the Tony Awards’ last best hope is . . . Pink?
When the “Get The Party Started” singer was announced this month as the host of the CBS award show on June 7 that celebrates Broadway, not aughts pop hits, theater pros were gobsmacked.
“Ridiculous!,” one texted me.
“Honestly brilliant though,” dashed off another within seconds.
I would call it neither ridiculous nor brilliant. Desperate is the word.
They’ve got Trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with D and that stands for Desperate!
The Tonys, which, let’s be honest, honors a handful of often tiny plays and musicals scattered around 13 blocks of Midtown Manhattan and Lincoln Center, scored just 4.9 million viewers last year.
Sure that’s a post-COVID best, but still far lower than the 8.4 million who watched in 2016 when “Hamilton” took home Best Musical.
Even “Ham”’s number — the highest since, gulp, 2001 — wouldn’t have cracked the top 100 broadcasts of last year. Folks at home would much rather watch CBS’ “Tracker” starring Justin Hartley instead.
But there’s major change afoot, coming from people who I bet have never heard of “Caroline or Change.”
This year, longtime Tonys producers White Cherry Entertainment, who’ve been at it since 2004, were replaced with Raj Kapoor, the man who’s helmed the past two Oscars (uh oh!).
Pink is Kapoor’s first big move. Perplexingly, mystifyingly big.
She’s the rare Tonys host — in fact, the only host, so far as I can tell — with no tangible connection to Broadway. Pink has never performed on the Great White Way, she’s never co-produced a show, she’s never been an usher, she’s never sold $40 wine in a sippy cup.
She makes Keanu Reeves look like Angela Lansbury.
One of her songs is used in “Moulin Rouge: The Musical,” yeah, yeah, yeah, but so is one of everybody’s.
Pink acknowledged her unusual fit in a statement.
“I’ve never been on Broadway, and shouldn’t you have to have been on Broadway in order to host?,” she said.
Great question, Pink.
“That seems fair and right. But when I asked my daughter, she was really excited about being able to have a ticket to go to the Tonys, so I’m hosting the Tonys.”
What a reason. Actually, one of the sad realities of the Tonys is that anybody can buy a ticket for $731 to sit in Radio City Music Hall’s nosebleeds with some of Men’s Wearhouse’s finest customers.
But will Pink really bring any more eyeballs to the show?
It’s extremely hard to believe she was the producers’ No. 1 choice. ABC has a hard enough time getting anybody to agree to host the Oscars, and CBS’ Tonys aren’t exactly a plum gig next to those.
Plus Pink hasn’t released a new album in three years.
Anyway, I’m sick of the whole “star power gets ratings” line. It’s antiquated and no longer true. Award shows just aren’t draws, no matter who attends or emcees them.
The best case scenario for the telecast is that the musicals are the real stars, as in the “Hamilton” year.
But this season has perhaps the weakest crop of new musicals since “Sunset Boulevard” and “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” were the only two nominees in 1995. Nobody’s tuning in for “Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York).”
I’m not holding my breath for Pink super fans to skyrocket Tonys ratings to new highs.
The Tonys are niche. There’s nothing anybody can do to make them mainstream. If 5 million viewers aren’t worth the network’s time and resources, it’s conceivable that the Tonys won’t be on CBS much longer.
Yet Broadway needs those five million or so older-skewing viewers who know Audra, Patti and Bernadette by their first names in order to sell tickets. It’s their biggest showcase.
If CBS’ effort to sex up the Tonys with Pink doesn’t work, Broadway will need to contemplate the possibility of what’s happening to the Oscars in two years — Willkommen, bienvenue, YouTube!
English (US)