The importance of winning Tony: The brand-name factor

At the beginning of the 1950 film classic “All About Eve,” drama critic Addison DeWitt describes the Sarah Siddons Award for Distinguished Achievement. The theater’s highest honor, he explains, is perhaps unknown to the general public, because “it has been spared the sensational and commercial publicity that attends such questionable ‘honors’ as the Pulitzer Prize -- and those awards presented annually by that film society.”

The Sarah Siddons is a fictional stand-in, of course, for the Tony Award, the statuette that will be handed out tonight at Radio City Music Hall in a three-hour telecast on CBS.

And as for the derided honor given by “that film society”?

Well, what could that be but the Oscar, which has long been looked upon with envy -- and occasional condescension -- by the theater community? Talk to theater producers, actors and others about what distinguishes their highest award from the others, and the words that come up most often are “class,” “prestige” and “peer recognition.”

“There’s something elitist about our little award, something terribly special,” says Chita Rivera, 70, who has previously been nominated seven times, won twice (“The Rink,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman”) and is up again tonight as a featured actress in the musical “Nine.” “I see some of these crappy award shows that are constantly on and some 22-year-old gets up there who isn’t old enough to know what the award is all about.”

“The Tony gives you more credibility in the theater, but the Oscar, well, the Oscar is all about the Oscar,” says producer Martin Richards, who recently carried back to Manhattan an Academy Award for “Chicago” -- the film adaptation of the 1975 Broadway musical that he also produced. The Bob Fosse musical garnered 11 Tony nominations, only to be shut out that year by “A Chorus Line.”

Richards’ Oscar now sits in his library opposite a shelf full of Tonys he won for the musicals “Sweeney Todd,” “The Will Rogers Follies” and “La Cage aux Folles.” “The thing about the Tony is that it does help your show run, and everything in the theater is about making the show go on.”

Conventional wisdom says there are really only two Tony Awards that really matter: best play and best musical. Winning the best musical Tony can further validate a big hit -- like “Hairspray,” which is considered the likely winner tonight -- or help a struggling one find its feet, as with last year’s winner, “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”

The rule of thumb is that winning either of the top awards could add a year to the run of the show. But that value has been called into question recently as productions that have won those awards, such as Stephen Sondheim’s “Passion” or Edward Albee’s “The Goat,” have closed without enough of post-win bump to recoup initial investments.

So as the Tony celebrates its 57th year, what is the value of the Tony: merely prestige? Or can it be translated into heftier, if less quantifiable, economic terms?

Courting the upscale audience

“The award really is about excellence, and the television show is about marketing,” says Peter Schneider, who co-produced with Thomas Schumacher “The Lion King” (2000 best musical winner) and “Aida” for Disney. “For the individual theater artists, the award is personal recognition for the tremendous effort that goes into making these shows. But the Tony is also a brand name, the most valuable brand name that the theater has.”

In some ways, adds Schneider, the award is as “prestigious as ever.” But the changing dynamics of marketing on Broadway has altered just how producers can exploit their Tony Awards.

Indeed, CBS has recognized that brand name in spite of declining ratings. (Last year’s Tonys averaged just under 8 million viewers, far fewer than the estimated 20 million tuned to the Emmys or Golden Globes, and less than a fifth of the audience for the 2002 Academy Awards.) The producers of the telecast -- a joint effort between the American Theatre Wing and the League of American Theatres and Producers -- are hoping to reverse that trend with tonight’s host, Hugh Jackman, the “X-Men” star who began in theater in his native Australia and who will star in “The Boy From Oz” this fall on Broadway.

In addition, the telecast will feature other crossover personalities, such as ‘N Sync’s Joey Fatone, who appeared in “Rent”; Billy Joel, whose “Movin’ Out” is up for 10 Tonys, including best musical; and Melanie Griffith, who will be appearing this summer in “Chicago” and whose husband, Antonio Banderas (“Nine”), is locked in a tight race with Harvey Fierstein (“Hairspray”) for the lead actor in a musical.

Given the declining ratings, some industry pundits were surprised when CBS chose to pick up the hourlong pre-show ceremony, which in previous years had been telecast on PBS. “The Tonys are still an upscale show that attracts an upscale audience and brings upscale advertisers to the party,” says Jack Sussman, a CBS senior vice president, noting that American Express, Visa and Chrysler look to the telecast for that older, wealthier demographic. “The day we announced the third hour, we were sold out by the end of the day.”

The Tony brand name, Schneider says, is particularly potent for marketing a show to non-New Yorkers and to audiences for touring productions. He points out that the Los Angeles production of “The Producers” is heavily touting the fact that the show won “the most Tony Awards in history” -- even though those were for the original Broadway production.

“I believe those [ticket buyers] go for what is new and what has won the award -- most haven’t seen the reviews -- and it means a lot to them,” he says.

Like the Oscars, the marketing campaigns organized around the Tony Awards are aimed as much at the general public as they are at the 720 Tony voters (producers, board members of the American Theatre Wing, various members of theater unions and members of the press). In contrast to the Oscars, vastly less money is expended on advertising. For Tony nominees, more effort is placed on media exposure and personal appearances at luncheons and other social events.

Clever marketers can capitalize on Tonys won by a production -- even if the top prize proves elusive. “Urinetown” was struggling at the box office last year just before it won three honors: best direction, best book and best music. It lost best musical honors to “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”

Since then, the producers of “Urinetown” have been effective in promoting its “Triple Crown Tony” win. The once-struggling show has announced a touring production that will include stops in Los Angeles, Boston, Toronto and several other cities.

Four make-or-break minutes

Ultimately, Tony Awards appear to be only as effective as the show’s potential commercial appeal. The telecast provides a national showcase that best-musical nominees can exploit -- each receives about four minutes of air time for a production number.

In 1994, “Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ ” won only one relatively minor award for best costumes, losing the top award to “Passion.” Yet the following day, due largely to its galvanizing production number on the telecast, “Beauty and the Beast” enjoyed record-breaking ticket sales, leading some wags to quip, “Well, just goes to show what a best costume Tony will do for you.”

The impact does seem to underline what Jed Bernstein, president of the League of Theatres and Producers, says about the interdependent relationship between the award and the telecast: “If you enhance the value of the telecast by attracting wider audiences, you will enhance the value of the award.”

Generally speaking, to actors, the Tony Awards represent the acknowledgment of their peers. But the statuette’s cachet goes well beyond praise; for some it means they can get their projects off the ground. Brian Stokes Mitchell says that after he won the Tony for the revival of “Kiss Me, Kate” two years ago, he started casting around for his next play. He landed on “Man of La Mancha.” “The Tony Award was intrinsic to making it happen,” says the actor, who is nominated for the revival of “La Mancha,” which also received a nod.

“I was able to put this show in motion and to attract a very high caliber of talent,” Mitchell says. “It gives you some extra clout in an industry that is very unsure.”

Marissa Jaret Winokur of “Hairspray,” who is locked in a tight race with Bernadette Peters (“Gypsy”) for leading actress in a musical, says that while winning a Tony Award would be “a dream come true,” she doesn’t expect it to have much of an impact. She already has a series development deal with ABC.

“I never grew up wanting an Emmy or an Oscar, but I dreamed about winning the Tony,” she says. “I don’t think the award itself would change my life. Everything that could have happened with ‘Hairspray,’ in terms of my career, has happened.”

The Tony is more of an artistic award than a commercial one, concurs Winokur’s manager, Michael Valeo. “I don’t think it will affect her paychecks.”

Like Winokur, Mary Stuart Masterson grew up thinking of the Tony as the highest accolade for an actor. But there was an even greater personal resonance because her mother, actress Carlin Glynn, won a Tony, and father, writer-director Peter Masterson, was nominated for “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”

Masterson’s nomination for a featured role in “Nine,” her Broadway musical debut, feels to her like “a very nurturing invitation into the Broadway community.”

“I think there is probably a greater compassion and mutual respect among theater actors because, unlike in film or television, we have to do this night after night and we know how hard it is to keep it going,” says Masterson, known for the films “Fried Green Tomatoes” and “Benny & Joon.” “Sure, it’s a commercial venture, but the Tonys feel somewhat purer, more about the work.

“Hollywood is like having affairs, and doing a Broadway show is like having an alternate family. It is a marriage and so you have to pick your partners carefully and be on your best behavior because you’re going to be there for a while.”

One of Masterson’s partners in “Nine” -- and competitors, along with Jane Krakowski (“Nine”), Ashley Tuttle (“Movin’ Out”) and Tammy Blanchard (“Gypsy”) -- is Rivera, who’s been around long enough to see nominations and the award itself as an opportunity to “be in on a wonderful party.”

She sees the Tonys’ value as encouragement, particularly for actors who are newcomers. That’s why she hopes her “Nine” co-star Antonio Banderas will have something to celebrate tonight. “It’s his first time here, he’s a hot Latin man, he’s kicking butt out there and I think we should keep him here. I know I’d keep him,” she says with laugh. “I don’t think he’ll leave the theater if he doesn’t win. We’re having a wonderful time with the show, but we need leading men like him in the theater.”

Win or lose, the stage veteran says with a sigh, “once you’re out of Radio City Music Hall, you’re back to work. You continue to do what you’re really there for. And, sure, I’ve said, ‘Screw art, I want some money.’ But like most of the nominees, I’ve chosen a theatrical life. And it’s sure not about money or awards, honey.”