The Tony Awards are selling a Broadway future partly through shows the public cannot currently see. Thursday's paper made the point through Whitney White, whose Liberation closed in February before becoming the prize-season story. The ceremony clock and Radio City broadcast had already been set. [1]

The mismatch is not a scandal. It is an access problem. New York Theatre Guide celebrated Liberation making history with nominations for Best Play and Best Direction. [2] Gold Derby's awards math treats the closed play as a live contender. [3] Playbill's Whitney White page records the career that the Tonys are now selling to a national audience. [4]

But a broadcast is not a memory institution; it is a sales floor. When P!nk stands on the Radio City stage June 7, the audience will be invited to care about a Broadway season whose most serious work may have already ended its commercial run.

X calls that insider theater. MSM calls it prestige. The better phrase is delayed legibility. Broadway can recognize work after the market has closed the door. The harder question is whether recognition without access builds future audiences or merely confirms old ones.

The broadcast will answer in ratings, not applause.

-- MAYA CALLOWAY, New York