It’s a month now and people are still reeling over the results, some exulting; some in shock. And many shows have bit the dust or soon will by failing to win the coveted award.

The “shocks”: Imagine people running to see the Best Musical and finding Fun Home, a mediocre, miniscule, morsel of a musical, vis a vis the rhapsodic, romantic, rousing American in Paris. (Note: veteran theater critic John Simon called it “a perfectly boring, mediocre, dishonest little thing with terrible music”)

Or the darling of the theater world Robert Fairchild, a lead ballet dancer making his Broadway debut singing and acting in the Gene Kelly role vs. Michael Cerveris, a traditionally powerful actor/singer now repressed in a tiny role, with not much to do who was audibly and visibly embarrassed when he picked up the award for Best Actor in a Musical, actually stating that the award should have gone to one of the others. Or the powerhouse performance of Christen Chenoweth in On The Twentieth Century losing to Kelli O’Hara, 6 time nominee – but is that reason to give it to her – magnificent as she was in King & I?

Regionals Rule: Granted one third of the Tony voters are from the touring hoses throughout the country. It is less expensive to produce  the slim production  with its minimal sets, small cast and orchestra than the musicians, sets, stagecraft of Paris but how many times can you fool the public on the road or tourists who buy their tickets in advance to come here and see the “Best Musical” to endure the Fun(eral) while all around them are the biggest happiest shows that typify the art form created here on Broadway – Happy nights for the tired businessman, or reluctant husband, or a client who only gets the best. I am reminded of Spring Awakening a dour piece of masturbation, suicide, sadism, incest, murder among repressed German highschoolers and the quirky X rated puppet show of Avenue Q that skipped out of a deal to tour and went directly to Vegas where it flopped altogether and returned to Off Bway where it started. (Similarly Hand To God, an innovative raucous puppet driven show that traveled from Off Broadway and should ultimately return there)

Money Talks: The Tonys are the most commercial of all the awards organizations Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk are made up of theater critics and journalists – impartial and objective, Drama League of audience members; Tony voters are all in the industry and connected to one production or another. Road shows are the ambassadors of Broadway and how many will be inspired to travel to Broadway after Fun Home? Commercialism is evident in the awarding of Skylight for best Revival of a Play (Over Elephant Man, the zany, wonderful You Can’t Take It With You) simply because it is still running and will profit from the award where the others can’t.

Timing: This brings up the reason for the celebrated race to be the last to open on Broadway. The clumping of the shows trying to be the last because of the memory span of voters, On The 20 Century was a cinch for Best Revival of a Musical along with Chenoweth for Best Actress in a Musical but it opened in March, a month too early for votes with long term memory problems and was overshadowed by King & I.  And Elephant Man which opened in December and also was considered a shoo-in for Best Revival of a Play and Bradley Cooper for Best Actor in a play was but a distant memory in April.

Sometimes you can be too late as with Something Rotten last to open when all the hype was already predetermined. Its opening number a huge advertisement for the show but too late for the buzz and Tony voters are notoriously lazy about seeing all the shows.

Legendary Musical Theater Composers rolling in their graves: In a season brimming with the greats: Gershwin (American in Paris), Bernstein (On the Town), Lerner & Lowe (Gigi) Rodgers & Hammerstein (King & I) what would they think of Jeanine Tesori’s pitiful score with its simplistic melodies and minimal lyrics,  meaningless vowel sounds repeated over and over? Best Score? Have the voters developed a tin ear? Is this the end of the line for musicals?   Fun Home should have been a play!

Mean to Outsiders: The incestuous Broadway community has traditionally excluded (to put it politely) those from other genres. Just remember how disdainful they were when Disney arrived on Broadway – Lion King one of the consistently biggest money makers. Fish in the Dark, TV  biggie Larry David’s foray into the forbidden territory was soundly ‘buked and scorned (What is that sitcom doing here?)  and Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, deservedly or not, was similarly snubbed by the critics with Finding Neverland yet both are selling out while other struggle.

And……..I had to laugh to see a fashionista Anna Winotour in the audience who made news trying to dress the stars most of whom (Helen Mirren excluded) cannot put an outfit together offstage without the aid of a costume designer. (ever see them on talk shows? Appalling)

And legendary Tommy Tune getting short shrift for his well earned Lifetime Achievement award while a misplaced Josh Groban took up valuable time?

I could go on – but heck, it’s a new season already!