Tony Awards need to get beyond the street where they live

I’m a big fan of Broadway shows. So I should enjoy the Tony Awards show. And I do — last night’s show had particularly good performances from La Cage, Memphis and Million-Dollar Quartet. But something always bothers me about the Tonys. More than any of the other award ceremonies – the Oscar, the Emmy, the Grammy, even the MTV Awards  – the Tony is an “insider” occasion. The speeches of presenters and award winners both are laced with inside references, and even more with insider “emotions” — a frequent assumption that everyone listening to them understands their cultural references, and maybe even that those who don’t understand don’t count.

It’s easy to understand the homogeneous nature of the Broadway community. They work hard to get to the top — usually a lot harder than in the other popular entertainment forms — and the financial rewards and recognition generally don’t match movies, TV etc.

But a speech isn’t just an opportunity to connect with people who share your perspectives. More importantly, it is an opportunity to build bridges to people who don’t share them. In fact, it is more important to communicate with people who don’t immediately or intuitively understand us than those who do. It is to them that ‘attention must be paid’.