‘Virginia Woolf’ revival gets warned after breaking Tony rules

Every award season seems to bring at least one campaign scandal, and Broadway is no different from Hollywood in this respect. Producers behind the recent critically acclaimed revival of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” have received a warning from Tony organizers for sending out campaign material that didn’t receive proper approval.

But Tony organizers said last week that they won’t take further action to penalize the show.

News of the infraction was first reported earlier this month by New York Post theater columnist Michael Riedel. He reported that “Woolf” producer Jeffrey Richards sent a brochure to Tony voters that had not been officially vetted by the Tony organizers.

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Among the infractions was the brochure’s inclusion of quotes from critical reviews. Tony rules require that reviews must be sent in their entirety.

On Friday, Heather Hitchens, executive director of the American Theatre Wing, and Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of The Broadway League -- the two groups behind the Tonys -- issued a statement regarding “Woolf”:

“The Tony Awards Administration Committee met, considered the infraction and have issued a serious warning to the producers of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. The infraction which involved using abbreviated quotes from the critical reviews, were consistent with the overall intent of those reviews, and therefore the committee determined that no further action would be taken on this issue.”

“Woolf,” which originated at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, is nominated for five Tony awards, including best revival of a play, actor (Tracy Letts), actress (Amy Morton) and director (Pam MacKinnon).

It is considered a favorite to win in the category of dramatic revival.

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