Picture this: You’re the artistic director of a regional theatre, one with a pretty good reputation for doing new musicals. Hundreds of scripts and demos cross your desk every year. It’s a burden to read them all, because, new musicals being what they are, so many of them are awful. So, with nobody looking over your shoulder, you cheat a little: You decide not to read the musicals that haven’t been done in New York. You feel you can do that because you’ve great faith that if a show can make it there, it can make it anywhere. Whoa, there’s still too many musicals on your pile. Look around again. Nobody’s looking over your shoulder, so you decide to read ONLY those musicals produced in New York that have won awards. Doesn’t matter if the award was given by a panel of experts or just friends and relatives, if it’s won one, you’re going to read it. If it hasn’t, doesn’t matter if it’s West Side Story, it’s not going to get read.
Still think awards are meaningless?
I Wish It Could Be Otherwise…