Usually, the week before the Tony Awards is a joyful time to celebrate the wonderful work of the Broadway season.
Not this year!
Two big shows were fuming Tuesday that they’re being left out of the Tony Awards broadcast on CBS Sunday night: “Boop! The Betty Boop Musical” and “Smash.”
The Post can confirm that both productions asked to perform, were willing to pay the $300,000 or so that an appearance costs and were told “Nope!” by the Tonys’ producers.
Of course, there is no guarantee any show that was not nominated for Best Musical or Best Musical Revival will get to sing and hoof on the telecast.
Neither “Smash” nor “Boop!” are in contention for the big kahuna.
However, the same is true of two productions that will get highly valuable minutes onstage at Radio City Music Hall: “Just in Time,” the sold-out Bobby Darin dazzler starring Jonathan Groff, and the struggling “Real Women Have Curves.”
“It’s bizarre,” said one Broadway producer.
And it’s a pretty catty move. And I’m not talking about Mr. Mistoffelees.
Only three currently running musicals were given the brush by the televised ceremony: “Boop!,” “Real Women” and “The Last Five Years” starring Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren.
“Last Five Years” got squat on nominations morning, so they don’t have a case for crooning Jason Robert Brown’s mopey songs.
But what’s weird is that “Boop!,” with four nominations — including Best Actress in a Musical for its incredible breakout star Jasmine Amy Rogers — has more nods than “Real Women,” which notched just two.
And yet the real women got a slot.
The Post has reached out to representatives for the Tonys for an explanation.
At the Broadhurst Theatre, everybody is Boop-ing furious.
“Why wouldn’t the Tonys want a highly telegenic number from ‘Boop’!?,” said a member of Team “Boop!.”
The show had planned to perform the impressive dance number “Where’s Betty?,” which showcases director Jerry Mitchell’s choreography and Gregg Barnes’ clever costumes.
That would then segue into the 11 O’Clock solo “Something to Shout About” from Rogers, who’s so far won the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards for Best Actress.
She’s in a tough Tony race with Nicole Scherzinger (“Sunset Boulevard”) and Audra McDonald (“Gypsy”), but I’ve spoken to plenty of Rogers voters.
Considering the Tonys begin at 6:30 p.m. on the app Pluto — which I download once a year like a TV Brigadoon — and continue through 11 p.m. on CBS (four and a half hours!), five minutes would go by quicker than you can say “Boop!”
The slight has given fans something to shout about.
“What’s been amazing and eye-opening has been the public response,” a moved “Boop!” cast member said.
“When the Tonys announced which shows are performing, 90% of the comments were outcries about ‘Boop’’s glaring omission. In fact, there is a fan-created petition circling around to include Jasmine in some capacity. The petition has over 100 signatures in the first hour!”
At time of publication, that Change.org petition had secured more than 800 names.
Over at the Imperial, “Smash,” the Susan Stroman-directed musical based on the canceled NBC TV series about Broadway backstabbing, has been quieter. But I’m told they also feel like smashing some things.
Actually, the Tonys’ totally predictable, self-made mess is a plot-line straight outta “Smash”!
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
