The Tony Awards Just Made a Huge Mistake—and They Only Have 5 Days to Fix it

Despite their "best efforts," the Tony Awards have really stepped in it (not quite as hard as Patti LuPone, but still).

Okay, so not every new musical can be nominated for Best Musical. Do I think BOOP! The Musical should have made the cut? Sure. But that's not what I'm here to gripe about—or why fans are up in arms. The Broadway show's incredibly talented star, Jasmine Amy Rogers (who plays the titular character), is nominated for a Best Lead Actress Tony. And yet, she is the only Lead Actress nominee not scheduled to perform live at the Tonys this coming Sunday. And people are mad.

As Deadline points out, "Performances will include the casts of Buena Vista Social Club, Dead Outlaw, Death Becomes Her, Floyd Collins, Gypsy, Maybe Happy Ending, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical, Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Sunset Blvd., Just in Time and Real Women Have Curves." If all of these had been nominated for Best Musical or Best Revival of a Musical, the choices would have made sense.

But instead, as the outlet continues, "While neither Just in Time and Real Women Don’t Have Curves received a Best Musical nomination, their respective stars Jonathan Groff and Justina Machado are nominated in performance categories." Wait. So if those non-nominated musicals are performing, why isn't BOOP! The Musical? This has sparked enough backlash that a petition to let Rogers and the BOOP cast perform on Sunday's telecast has been circulating.

And while the Tonys' slight certainly got my blood boiling (I thought Rogers was unbelievable in her role and should definitely have the chance to reach the live TV audience), things have only gotten worse with theater fans.

The New York Post writes, "The Post can confirm that both productions [BOOP and Smash] asked to perform, were willing to pay the $300,000 or so that an appearance costs and were told 'Nope!' by the Tonys’ producers."

So let me get this straight. BOOP wants to perform, is willing to pay and yet the Tonys are snubbing them in favor of other non-Best-Musical-nominated shows? Seems fishy—and seems like an unforced error the Tonys are now going to have to deal with.

Social media posts like the one above have been going viral in the days leading up to the awards show. Many point out the myriad reasons there are to let Rogers perform—not least of which involves her winning other prestigious awards for her performance.