Tonight’s broadcast of the TONY Awards on CBS and Paramount + are recognized as the ultimate awards for live theater in the country. But they are limited to about a total of about 40 theaters in a narrow strip of land on a narrow island at the center of New York City. When I lived in the Big Apple, attended many of the shows there and even attended a few TONY awards celebrations live, this was the most important annual event on the theater calendar.

While many of these shows will filter down to touring shows and local productions in the coming years, this showcase is much less central to my attention span than it was while I was in the midst of it all. I’m not at all saying the productions and artisans and press attention are not important to the theater industry. Just that it is less vital to my current interests.

Yes, I will watch it this evening and enjoy the pageantry and the suspense but without the personal stake of what I will be watching there in New York as I get there much less often nowadays. Perhaps that may change again in the future but I will be paying special attention to the venue. For a brief period while I lived in New York I was the Managing Director of the New York State Theatre (since renamed David H. Koch Theater) at Lincoln Center. Even in those far off days we discussed the possibility of presenting the awards at the venue but it would take much renovation to make it palatable.

I featured some photos and history here on my blog recently on the 60th anniversary of its opening with some great photos that are still in the archives of this blog. I will be watching tonight with keen interest to see the new configurations that made it possible and how nicely it shines on camera. Enjoy the show.