Well, the Tony Awards have been presented and there were the big winners (Ragtime, Schmigadoon!), the ones that picked up a few really big prizes (The Lost Boys, Cats: The Jellicale Ball), and a bunch that left totally empty handed. This has been a difficult season, with a small number of new shows compared to other years, and a number of new shows have struggled to find an audience. So let's take a look at how the Tony results might impact these shows.
New Shows:
Schmigadoon!: Obviously this was the big winner of the night, getting Best New Musical, Best Book and Best Original Score. This will only help a show that has yet to crack the $1M mark at the box office and get butts into seats. It's a crowd pleaser kind of show and I think the tourist crowd will start to fill the theater. The Tonys gave this show credibility and it will be seen as more than just the Apple TV musical.
The Lost Boys: While they missed out on Best Musical and Book, they picked up awards for Best Scenic Design, Best Lighting Design, and most importantly both nominees for featured actor in a musical (Shoshana Bean and Ali Louis Bourzgui). The wins tell an audience that this is a big spectacle show with amazing acting, which will also help pull in an audience. This is a show that very much appeals to younger theater-goers and while the show has done relatively well since opening, it should benefit from its wins.
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York): This is a show that has not been doing great since opening and has been losing steam over the past few months. They very much needed a win at the Tonys and did not get it, so I do think that they are in danger of closing sooner rather than later. The one saving grace it has is that it's running costs are lower than many other shows, but it's not really making money. If that doesn't change, I expect to see a closing notice.
Titanique: This is another show that has been struggling at the box office, and leaving the Tonys with no wins isn't going to help matters. Maybe audiences are starting to tire of jukebox shows, but like Two Strangers, they very much needed a win to start putting butts in seats. They didn't get it and I do expect to see a closing notice shortly.
Revivals:
Ragtime: As the best selling show of the season (new & revival), they certainly didn't need to win but they won big. Best Revival and both acting awards (Joshua Henry & Cassie Levy). With the show selling out nearly every week, this hopefully will lead to an extension past the planned closing on August 2. The wins will make tickets even harder to get. This will certainly help sales for the tour set to start in 2027.
Cats: The Jellicle Ball: They didn't leave empty handed and picked up a big win for Direction, along with Costume Design and Choreography. I don't think that these awards will necessarily help at the box office, but they'll have some benefit of being able to advertise as a Tony winning production. They're doing relatively well at the box office, but not great and did need the boost. I don't think that they're in any immediate danger of closing anytime soon, but how much longevity the production has remains to be seen.
Chess: Totally shut out and closing. Nothing more to be said.
The Rocky Horror Show: They also went home empty handed, but I don't think it's going to hurt them (at least in the short term). They're selling very well currently (breaking the $1M mark every week since May) and they're in no danger of closing anytime soon. How much longevity the show has is an open question, but unless sales really dip, I expect them to remain open at least through the summer.
This was a strange year, with a relatively small number of musical opening. In a stronger year, I don't think shows like Titanique would have gotten a nomination. And even with the small number of musicals, shows like Chess were shut out of must of the big catagories (leading to an early closing notice). And we've seen before that while winning can give a boost to a show struggling to find an audience, there are many long-running shows that missed out on winning Best Musical. I think that this will be the same moving forward. Shows that are selling well will continue to sell well, at least in the immediate future. Show that struggling a bit might get a badly needed boost. And the weaker shows that were holding out to see if they could score a win and didn't will be gone in the near future. So if you're at all interested in seeing either Two Strangers or Titanique, I urge you to get your tickets as soon as possible.
