How the Tony Awards Showcases Theater for Millions

The Tony Awards were last night, which got me thinking about how televised and streamed performances make professional theater more accessible to everyone.

Last year the Tony Awards reached 3.5 million people in the U.S. That’s down over past awards shows, but it’s still 3.5 MILLION people. My local performing arts center (the Tanger Center) where Broadway tours come to Greensboro, seats 3,000 people. It would have to sell out every night for more than 3 YEARS to reach 3.5 million people, so let’s not wring our hands too much over ratings.

Just this past Saturday, Good Night and Good Luck, a Broadway show starring George Clooney, was broadcast live on CNN (of all places) on Saturday reaching a staggering (Updated as of June 11) 7.3 MILLION people.

PBS has long been a champion of accessible theater. Just in the past few weeks they’ve released several productions for viewing on Great Performances: Yellow Face, Kiss Me, Kate, Girl from the North Country, and Next to Normal. Great Performances also acts as an important archive for performing arts.

Many people in theater are frustrated that streaming and “pro-shots” of currently running or recently closed shows aren’t more readily available. During the pandemic we saw an explosion of streaming and recordings, most notably Hamilton. And we have a two-decade track record of the Metropolitan Opera and other performing arts like the National Theater streaming and sharing high quality recordings.

I’m not a purist about streaming or recording theater. In fact, it’s important to remember that in the current era of the arts, which began in the late 1950s, theater on television was common. Whatever can get the arts out to more people to enjoy, learn from, and be inspired by, I’m for it.

P.S. If you haven’t seen Neil Patrick Harris’s opening number from the 2013 Tony Awards (written by Lin-Manuel Miranda), please do yourself a favor and watch it. I watch it whenever I need to renew my inspiration and good feelings about the arts.