Exactly. The Oliviers are a straightforward award ceremony - the host's banter is the closest thing that passes for 'entertainment' on the show. Otherwise they're just shoveling out gongs.
The Tonys, by contrast, incorporate production numbers from each of the nominated musicals (and sometimes scenes from the nominated plays). So not only do you need space on stage to recreate (in some scale or fashion) the real set for each musical, you have to have wing/fly space to support all of the scenic elements. Working around another show is virtually impossible, which is why the Tonys are never broadcast from an active Broadway theater. The only alternative that would allow use of a smaller on-stage space would be to pre-tape the musical segments on the muscials' home stages. In theory, the TV audience would never know the difference, but the live audience would be bored to tears watching a monitor for 10 minutes at a stretch. IIRC, they tried this a few years back at CBS's request and it failed miserably. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
