The cast of "Stereophonic" performing at the Golden Theatre on April 19, 2024 (Photo by Valerie ... [+]
You won’t see the show when you get there.
Despite receiving 13 Tony Award nominations, the cast of the play Stereophonic will not perform a song from its score at the Tony Awards. “We wanted to perform, but they weren’t into it,” revealed the playwright, David Adjmi. “[F]rom what I understand, the musicals and musical revivals will be performing,” he continued.
While other plays with music like Choir Boy have been featured on the awards show over the years, more musicals bowed on Broadway last season than during at least the past 20 seasons. Eclipsing the average of 14.15 musicals opening each season during the period, 21 musicals opened on the Great White Way last season.
Yet, the music from the play has been able to break through the noise.
The Stereophonic cast album on CD is more popular on Amazon than the cast album of any other new show on CD, and its composer and lyricist, Will Butler, secured one of five nominations for the Tony Award for Best Original Score. In addition, the cast performed a song from the play on NBC’s The Tonight Show, and the show put on a concert at a downtown dance club last month.
“I would rather listen to the handful of songs in Stereophonic than the cast recordings of any of the other nominated shows, with the possible exception of Here Lies Love, which closed in November and faces tough odds to win this category,” wrote one theatre critic.
Although some people might prefer to listen to the songs from Stereophonic, the producers of the Tony Awards always struggle to squeeze all of the performances and second group of awards into the three-hour CBS telecast. Several other shows over the years like Big River in 2004 have been refused a spot due to time constraints.
While the producers of the Tony Awards did not comment on the omission of Stereophonic, the executive producer Glenn Weiss stated in 2016 that “[i]t’s an interesting challenge to pick the right number [of musical performances] and showcase [them] properly on television.” There will be eight shows, all of which were nominated for the top musical prizes, performing on the telecast.
The Tony Awards will be broadcast on CBS, Paramount+, and Pluto TV next Sunday, June 16, without a performance of Stereophonic.
Disclaimer: I am a principal of the theatrical production company 42nd.club, which is a co-producer of Stereophonic. However, I am not personally involved in the production.
