Awards News

Producers of top new tuner "In the Heights" touted a $1 million haul in Monday's wraps, while Lincoln Center Theater estimated its winning revival of "South Pacific" scored some $700,000 from Sunday evening until the end of Monday.

Producers for play winner "August: Osage County" estimated the show pulled in about $370,000 during the same frame.

Production reps also reported unspecified gains at "Gypsy" -- which doubled its daily biz after picking up three thesp awards -- as well as at "Passing Strange" and "Boeing-Boeing."

Around town, legiters seemed generally pleased by the inclusive ceremony, which this year tried to punch up the proceedings with 13 musical perfs, an unusually large group that encompassed all the season's new tuners along with well-known long-runners "The Lion King" and "Rent." In past years, only the shows nominated in the night's leading categories were given the opportunity to perform during the telecast.

Kudocast also had a single host in Whoopi Goldberg, following two years in which the ceremony was emceed by a rotating cast of performers.

Only real grumbling to be heard was provoked by the decision to award the play revival Tony, which went to "Boeing-Boeing," during the untelevised first hour of the awards. Many in the industry said the move deprived the winner of the marketing benefits of national TV exposure.

Although generally well reviewed by legiters, the broadcast still was clobbered in the ratings competish with the NBA Finals and the U.S. Open. Tonys' tally of 6.2 million viewers was on par with last year's low.

And despite diminishing ratings returns, a musical performance on the telecast remains an expensive proposition for producers.

Bernard Gersten, exec producer at LCT, pegged the cost of the "South Pacific" medley, including scenery and personnel expenses, at around $240,000.

"Our number on the telecast cost more than double the title of the song," said producer Kevin McCollum of the "In the Heights" on-air performance of tune "$96,000."

One of the interstitial segs for a show from a prior season was said to have cost nearly $70,000.

Still, legiters largely agreed there remains value in exploiting one of the few instances when national television attention is turned to Broadway.

Disney Theatrical Prods., for instance, didn't win any awards for "The Little Mermaid," but all three of the org's Rialto shows featured on the telecast registered bumps in daily sales on Monday, according to a rep.

Many legiters pointed out that 6.2 million pairs of eyeballs, while miniscule by TV standards, still reps a huge boost in profile for an industry in which individual productions generally can't accommodate more than 800,000 theatergoers each during an entire sold-out year.

"You can't always draw a straight line between appearing on the Tonys and what you get afterward," said Drew Hodges, topper of Rialto ad agency SpotCo (which worked on "August," "Boeing" and "Heights"). "It's a really strong awareness tool even if you don't get sales immediately. For introducing people to your show and to your branding, there's no doubt it's effective."