Show Showdown's Tony Picks (Not All of Which Are "Hamilton")

If you are a reader of this blog, we probably don't have to tell you that early June means the annual Tony awards. Even if you are not a reader of this blog, we also probably don't have to tell you that Hamilton is up for a record-breaking 16 awards, and that it will very well end up getting most of them. But wait! That doesn't mean the broadcast will be dull! There have been some remarkable shows and performances on Broadway (and beyond) this year, and we’re looking forward to seeing excerpts on tv--and finding out who wins in some of the non-Hamilton categories. Plus, who knows? Major upsets happen sometimes, so it's not over 'til it's over--or at least 'til Burr takes deadly aim.

Without further ado, then, Show Showdown's humble contributors offer you our Tony predictions--and much, much more!---after the jump and this fetching picture of James Corden holding a Tony and maybe talking or singing to it.

Post-Tony Snark

The Tony Awards are always my favorite awards ceremony, but this year they really pissed me off. And while I am the first to argue that the Tonys are never an accurate barometer of the broader state of commercial theater in New York or anywhere, I was nevertheless dismayed by the direction last night's broadcast chose to take.

Generally speaking, Broadway has been in a weird place for the past, oh, near-century or so. Once an epicenter for popular culture in this country, Broadway has been struggling to reclaim its legitimacy since at least the 1950s, when rock and roll came along and sent Tin Pan Alley packing. I sympathize--it's tough to be made to feel like you're past your prime. Thus, while I can be snarky and loudly critical sometimes, I'm nevertheless fairly supportive of whatever the theater industry chooses to do to keep musicals alive and relevant, not only because I love and believe in the theater (commercial and otherwise), but because, selfishly, I want to patronize it as much as I possibly can and would have to find something else to do with my life were it to go away.

That being said, last night's ceremony seemed to be imitating the bigger ceremonies--the Academy Awards, specifically--in ways that it shouldn't. I hope that next year's broadcast doesn't think these things were worth revisiting: