Among the issues buzzed about at the Helen Hayes party and afterward was why the Ford's Theatre production of 1776 was nominated in the non-resident musicals category. It was pretty much a home-grown effort, right, even if much of the cast was imported?
Was it a Helen Hayes fuckup? A fumble at Ford's?
Here's the deal, straight from the boss lady:
"Immediately following the nomination announcement, the management of Ford's Theatre brought to our attention that 1776 was in fact a resident musical, not a non-resident production, as it had been listed in the nominations.We pulled the original notification form that the theatre had submitted for this show. Someone other than a member of the artistic leadership had completed this information and, in fact, indicated that the show was a non-resident production.
Ford's assumed complete responsibility for the error and said they would accept whatever the Helen Hayes Awards deemed an appropriate outcome. We sent this issue to the tabulators to evaluate if in fact the scores for the three nominees in [the categories for] which 1776 was cited fell within the range of all nominee scores in those categories. In each of the three categories - outstanding resident musical, outstanding supporting actor, resident musical, and outstanding lead actor resident musical - the scores legitimately qualified the artists and the production as nominees. They have been moved to the appropriate categories."
That's a neat-enough solution, Tboy thinks. Though as one correspondent pointed out, it doesn't help the show's designers, who might have rated nominations in the resident category. Or did HH make that calculation as well?
"Since the show was balloted as a non-resident production, for which design categories are not a part, the judges did not evaluate the work of any designers or directors. As the discovery was made long after the show closed, it would not be fair to re-ballot the show to include an evaluation of other work eligible for resident categories.While we have never encountered this situation before, it has prompted us to require that theatre information sheets must now be signed by either an artistic or managing director to verify designations such as resident/non resident; musical/play; and whether the show is a world premiere."
--Linda Levy Grossman
Sounds like a sensible fix. Next question?
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