Tony Baloney

This year's nomination list for the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Broadway Theatre has been released. Having only seen one of the shows in contention, I have no particular opinions on their merits. But I do see, of course, a lot of online chatter expressing outrage and/or amazement at who or what was "snubbed."  I wish we could find a better word than that to describe not being nominated for an award.

This kind of competition works like this: They pick an arbitrary number as the maximum number of nominations that will be in each category. In this case, it's five unless there's a tie for the fifth spot, in which case the list includes whoever or whatever tied for that place. One assumes that's what happened this year in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play, where there are six names.

We never know how many votes any nominee received but two of them got the same number to tie for fifth so they both got nominations. If someone received one vote less, that lady did not get a nomination and we somehow don't say, "She didn't make the cut." We say she was "snubbed," like the judges all sat around a table and someone said, "Hey, how about a nomination for Betsy?" and a majority of them said, like stuck-up frat boys, "Naw…let's not give it to her!" And then they all laughed an evil laugh, savoring the hurt she would feel when told her performance was utterly worthless.

And some would say she was robbed because the committee didn't take a nomination away from someone else to give it to Betsy. Then they could say that other person was robbed.

Look: Once you decide you're going to have five nominees, someone has to be in sixth place…and probably seventh place, eighth place and so on. If there are ten outstanding performances that year in the eyes of the judges, five outstanding performances get "snubbed." And I suspect that if there are three outstanding performances, they get nominated as do two that even the judges think aren't nearly as good.

In the category of Best Revival of a Musical, there are but two nominees since this year, there were only two revivals of musicals — Kiss Me, Kate and Oklahoma! This is one of the more controversial categories since Kiss Me, Kate is a rather traditional revival and Oklahoma! is a complete deconstruction or rethinking of the show. It has been celebrated by some but it has a number of folks wondering how the hell the Rodgers and Hammerstein Estate could have approved it. (Again, having seen neither I have no opinion on this but I've never been that fond of Oklahoma! in any form. I mean the show, not the state.)

Anyway, it always strikes me that "snubbed" is the wrong word. If I order a meal in a restaurant and I have to pick two sides…and I pick beans and fries, did I "snub" the mac & cheese and the creamed corn, both of which I would have liked?

The dictionary defines that verb as "to rebuff, ignore, or spurn disdainfully." It's definitely a negative. If there are nine great actors on Broadway and I have to pick five, how do I not "rebuff, ignore or spurn disdainfully" four great actors? I'm not suggesting we expand the nominations to nine or ten or any number. I'm suggesting we not act like you got slapped in the face to not be one of the five. Someone decided there could only be five.

The awards are, by the way, the opinions of a rather small group. The nominating committee is made up of 50 or less theatrical professionals who meet in secret to decide who and what to nominate and, of course, who and what to "snub." Less than 850 theatrical professionals vote on the final ballot and they're asked not to vote in any category where they haven't seen all the nominees.

I guess that's enough to do a proper job but I'll bet most people think the Tonys are the consensus of the entire theatrical community. That community is way larger than 850 people so maybe the real answer is that we shouldn't take awards like this that seriously. But of course, we will.