Tony Awards 2023: How did the show address writers’ strike?
After all, from the start of Ariana DeBose’s opening number tonight it was clear that there was no script — and that was reiterated further by the host during her opening monologue. She praised the WGA for allowing the show to go on without any picketing or interruption. However, everything over the course of the night would be totally unscripted. That means that in theory, just about anything could happen.
Also, we tend to imagine that this was going to put quite a lot of responsibility on DeBose, who had to figure out how to fill enough time for her remarks while also not going over. She showed us that the only thing on the screens pointing towards the stage were countdown clocks — just in case they were needed.
Even without scripts, we do tend to think that the bulk of the show should be able to move forward without many interruptions. After all, the Broadway community is a pretty tight-knit bunch, and thanks to over 70+ years of this show going on, we do tend to think everyone is aware of how to make this show as exciting as possible for audiences at home.
While it is a night celebrating the best that the stage has to offer, we should also recognize here, as well, that it is a night all about advertising to the home audience. Broadway needs this in a time when they are still trying to recover from the global health crisis. It is one of the reasons why they fought so hard in order to make sure that the Tonys still happened — there are not a lot of chances that they have to reach an audience all over the globe.
Related – Get some more news on the Tony Awards, including our take on the opening
What did you think about how the 2023 Tony Awards handled the writers’ strike?
Go ahead and share right now in the attached comments! Once you do just that, remember to also come back for some other updates.
(Photo: CBS.)