A Tale of Two Cities: The Tonys VS The Jeff Awards

The past four days have been a HUGE deal in the performing arts communities. This past Sunday were the 72nd Annual Tony Awards, and Monday night were the 45th Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson Awards. For those who are not aware, the ‘Jeff’ Awards are a staple of the Chicago theater scene. Think of them as the Chicago version of the Tony Awards, a giant post-production awards ceremony and party all in one. Like the Tony Awards, both plays and musicals are Jeff eligible-- as long as they meet a long list of criteria. I won’t go into all the details, but for the sake of the curious, you can read more about the rules and guidelines here.

This was the first year I was able to watch both ceremonies all the way through, and I was struck by how profoundly different they were. While both ceremonies celebrated outstanding performers and their achievements, the tone of them and the manner in which they were executed were drastically different.

The Tonys have long been touted as the cream of the theatrical world’s crop, a top honor amongst theater professionals. It’s an evening of spectacle and celebration as the formal Broadway season rolls to a close. After a season full of long, hard work, the theater scene gets to let its hair down a little on prim

e time television and share some antics with the viewers at home. The ceremonies’ overwhelming attitude has always been just that---formal, but celebrational. The red carpet is shared by guests in gorgeous gowns and tuxedos as well as the feather boas and spangles of the evening’s performers. Energetic Broadway regulars have fought for the honor of hosting the historic event. These chosen few have traditionally opened the ceremonies with giant, over-the-top musical numbers. In past years, these openers have poked fun at the overwhelmingly open and accepting NYC theater scene. In 2012, Neil Patrick Harris launched everyone into laughter with his declaration, ‘Broadway--it’s not just for gays anymore’. In 2016, James Corden created a magical montage of his favorite Broadway productions, waxing poetic about how ‘the magic of the stage inspired a chubby little kid’ to follow his dreams. The explosion of light, sound, color, and the outlandish costume changes have always set the tone for the rest of the evening: witty and lighthearted, full of color and light, music and stage magic. The performances, sarcastic remarks and jokes have always been made in good fun. This is the Tonys we all know and love, the Tonys that inspired us to laugh, dream and reach for the stars.

Fast forward to the 2018 Tony Awards, and the contrast is not only striking--it’s disturbing. The far-reaching effects of our current uber-conservative political fervor seemed to have finally spilled their influence all over the famed red carpet. In the past, CBS has attempted to broadcast the Awards without delay, allowing viewers at home to ‘experience’ the Awards in real time. In direct contrast to past years, CBS openly acknowledged that its 2018 Tony telecast viewers would experience a delayed signal. The station claimed that this delay, equaling up to at least ten seconds, had been intentionally pre-programmed ‘for editing purposes’. This proved necessary, as actor Robert De Niro stepped onstage to introduce Bruce Springsteen’s performance and announced ‘FUCK TRUMP’ not once, but twice to the audience at Radio City Music Hall. The crowd reacted with wild approval, jumping to its feet with more enthusiasm than had previously been shown all evening--but audiences at home were left bewildered. The CBS Program Practices executive who was monitoring the show quickly pushed a delete button, which dropped the audio feed entirely from the telecast. Audiences at home could only guess what the famous actor said, as the camera angle quickly deflected to show his back--at-home viewers could not even attempt reading De Niro’s lips. While this move saved the station millions of dollars in FCC fines, it served as a dark reminder that ‘the powers that be’ were watching, and all was not as it seemed.

Indeed, it almost appeared as if everyone involved with the ceremonies had be warned by the network: behave, or we WILL cut the feed and put an end to your evening. Gone were the elaborate and whimsical opening performances. Gone were the kicklines and glitter bombs, and the gorgeous overtly-gay dancers doing their kicklines? One might assume they had evaporated into thin air. Instead, the hosts, Josh Groban and Sarah Bareillis, sang musical tribute to those who wouldn’t be winning awards that evening--a sweet sentiment, if not slightly cloying. Compared to previous years, Bareillis and Groban seemed an odd choice for hosts. While they both have composed and sung on Broadway, the duo are more closely associated with the popular music scene. It appeared that CBS was attempting to pander to its at-home audience rather than its Radio City attendees. The opening number was just one in a series of events that just felt ‘off’. The Lifetime Achievement Awards, presented to Broadway megastars Chita Rivera and Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, were not even televised. Instead, CBS chose to air a Cialis commercial and offered a quick recap to at-home audiences; for an award that supposedly honored a lifetime of artistic devotion, this felt rather disrespectful to me. The oddities rolled over to the presenters themselves. The Award presenters for the Tonys are actors by nature; they are usually vivacious in their speeches and dressed in daring, brightly-colored evening wear. This year, the presenters entered and approached the podium almost cautiously, speaking in carefully-measured tones that matched their gowns’ high-necklines and muted colors. It was as if at-home audiences were glimpsing at a tamped-down version of their former stars. Even the audience itself seemed to be on edge--gone were the brightly colored evening gowns, and the gentlemen were overwhelmingly dressed in black on black (on even more black). For all events and purposes, it appeared we were attending a funeral for the Tonys we knew before. There was a foreboding sense to this year’s ceremonies, a muted, conservative edge that didn’t feel natural or appreciated.

An evening later, I attended the Non-Equity Jeff Awards...WOW.

The difference between the two events could NOT have been more striking--it put one in mind of black-and-white Dorothy’s first timid steps into the technicolor World of Oz. While the Tonys touted an audience full of the rich and famous, the Jeffs’ audience was flooded with the friendly and familiar. Local and regional artists greeted each other loudly and joyfully in the lobbies, the hallways, even the restrooms! While the Tonys’ audience members were clad in an endless sea of black, the Jeffs were an EXPLOSION of color and texture and, frankly, glitter. There was a TON of glitter. And sequins. And neon pleather, and faux fur, and tulle--one woman went so far as to create an enormous gown entirely out of hot pink tulle (she is now my personal spirit animal). There were non-binary people dressed in short velour skirts, heavy eyeliner and combat boots. There were powerful women of color in pleated pantsuits. There was even one little girl in an adorable formal plaid ball gown, complete with an enormous bow on her back--and her male escort dressed in kind. There was an overwhelming sense of vibrancy and pure joy, a veritable movable feast for the eyes. It was as if the evening’s event was making a powerful statement in the attendees’ wardrobe choices alone: Chicago artists are present, we are vibrant and vivacious, and we are very-much here to stay.

The contrasting celebratory feel to the Jeffs didn’t end with the attire alone. When it came to the actual awards themselves, the Chicago theater scene came through with flying colors. No quiet, polite Tony Award applause here-- the Chicago scene loudly roared its approval for the nominees, performers and award winners alike. Throughout the evening, artists came onstage to announce milestones that the theater scene had accomplished within this past season. This was a conscious effort on the part of the Committee. The Committee was aware that the Chicagoland community ‘was seeking unity’ amidst the country’s current political climate. They responded in kind by preparing a thoughtful, inclusive awards ceremony, as stated later in the evening by an actual Committee member. A trans artist came onstage to personally thank the Jeff Committee for formally abolishing the restricting labels of ‘actor’ and ‘actress’ in each of their categories. This was a beautifully-encompassing move on the Committee’s part to show solidarity for Chicago’s local trans artists. A young female artist came onstage to plead for activism on the part of immigrant artists. She herself later went on to win ‘Best Featured Artist in a Play’, an event she claimed would ‘look amazing’ on her own green card application. Overwhelmingly, the Award presenters were female, with at least a 50/50 representation for POC. The representation did not stop throughout the evening, including within the categories themselves. This year, the Jeffs created a new category for Best Ensemble in a Musical, a category that’s sorely lacking in the Tony Awards. The first Best Ensemble Award was hotly contested for amongst the outstanding Chicagoland ensembles, a trend that is sure to continue. Upon accepting their awards, every single winner added a sentence or two encouraging hope, determination, acceptance and inclusivity among their fellow artists. The ceremony ended with the award-winning ensemble from the Griffin Theater’s production of Ragtime singing their soulful rendition of ‘Til We Reach That Day’; there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Overall, the Non-Equity Jeffs were the MOST inspirational awards ceremony I have ever had the honor of attending. Audience members left the Awards reinspired to fight for a brighter, more inclusive future for ourselves and our communities.

While our nation’s current political climate has begun to show its influence in the most seemingly-innocuous of events, the Jeffs proved that grassroots movements and local artists can still make a difference. And while I might fast forward through some of the Tony Awards, I will definitely be buying my 2019 Jeff tickets well in advance.