Nate Patten Joins WHY I'LL NEVER MAKE IT Podcast To Discuss And Dissect The 2020 Tony Nominations

Music Director Nate Patten (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) is never one to hold back opinions on his own podcast, Booked It. And so along with host Patrick Oliver Jones, Patten addresses some of the confusion, consternation, and controversy created by this year's Tony Award nominations.

From the mostly unpublicized nomination announcement to the as-yet-undisclosed date for the actual Tony Award ceremony, both question the process so far and argue if these awards are even necessary and warranted given the strange and unique year that 2020 has become. Jones and Patten imagine a Tony Award season that resembles closer to the Outer Critics Circle, which chose honorees this past May instead of winners in each of their 26 categories.

The most notable Tony nomination of all went to Aaron Tveit as the lone nominee for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, shutting out The Lightning Thief's Chris McCarrell. Jones imagines a world where Tveit doesn't get the 60% vote required to actually win the award, whereas Patten, who loved Tveit in Moulin Rouge, wonders if he had just turned down the nomination to begin with. "I think he would've been so in the news for being the great American hero to theater if he'd just said, 'Thank you so much. I can't accept this.' And to not take the Tony."

A disagreement arises, though, when it comes to the snubbing or "slap in the face" given to The Lightning Thief, a show completely shut out from the Tonys. While Jones thinks nominations were in order and the 850 Tony voters should decide if it's worthy, Patten upholds the Tonys as an important marker of creative achievement. So even though Lightning Thief was the only original Broadway musical to have opened within the Tony Award eligibility dates, Patten feels that's no reason it should get any nominations by default.

And speaking of those eligibility dates, both question the Tony nominating committee's decision on the arbitrary deadline of February 19th. "I've racked my brain personally for a reason behind that exact cutoff date, and I can't find one," says Patten. It fell on a Wednesday, weeks before the actual Broadway season was stopped by the pandemic, and it just happened to be the day before West Side Story opened. Neither of them feel this is just a coincidence.

Patten and Jones offer a wide-ranging conversation that not only includes other Tony nominees and a few predictions, but they also cover the rise of jukebox musicals and what it says about the fate of original musicals as well as any correlation between the Tony nominations and ongoing social and racial unrest. "I think they just picked who they thought were the strongest ones. I don't think there was any affirmative action when it came to Tony votes."

Listen to the full conversation on your favorite podcast app.

Why I'll Never Make It is a weekly theater podcast hosted by actor Patrick Oliver Jones and features conversations with fellow creatives about the realities of a career in the arts. Previous guests include music director Jeff Theiss (Band's Visit), Off-Broadway composer Jeff Thomson (Mad Libs Live!), and associate director David Ruttura (School of Rock). Find these episodes and more at whyillnevermakeit.com.

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