1984 is Benched! first 2018 Tony Eligibility Rulings are a Shocker

The Tony Awards Administration Committee met for the first time, to discuss eligibility rulings for the 2017-2018 Broadway season. The productions discussed in this first round of rulings were 1984, Marvin's Room, The Terms of My Surrender, Prince of Broadway, and Time and the Conways.
The rulings were as follows:

• 1984 has been deemed ineligible. According to a statement, "1984 has been deemed ineligible by the Tony Awards Administration Committee. The show did not fulfill all of the eligibility requirements, as outlined by the Tony Rules and Regulations."

• Celia Weston will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play category for her performance in Marvin's Room.

• David Rockwell and Andrew Lazarow will be considered jointly eligible in the Best Scenic Design of a Play category for their work on The Terms of My Surrender.

• David Thompson will be considered eligible in the Best Book of a Musical category for his work on Prince of Broadway.

• Beowulf Boritt will be considered eligible in the Best Scenic Design of a Musical category for his work on Prince of Broadway.

• William Ivey Long will be considered eligible in the Best Costume Design of a Musical category for his work on Prince of Broadway.

• Steven Boyer, Anna Camp, Gabriel Ebert, Charlotte Parry and Matthew James Thomas will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actor/Actress in a Featured Role in a Play categories for their respective performances in Time and the Conways.

So...if you are scratching your head at that first ruling, you aren't alone. In a bizarre turn, the entire production of 1984 won't be competing for any awards this spring. Huh? To qualify for the Tonys a show must: play in an eligible Broadway house, open during the current Broadway season, provide free admission to the Tony Administration and Nominating Committees. It seemed like the disturbing George Orwell adaptation checked all those boxes.

No further clarification has been given by the Administration Committee, but Jeremy Gerard at Deadline is reporting via anonymous source, that the issue may have arisen because one member of the 51 member Nominating Committee was not able to see the performance. This would be most odd, since attending every show in the season is a requirement for serving as a nominator. In previous years, nominators have had to recuse themselves if they could not attend every show (usually because they found themselves involved in a Broadway project of their own).

It's possible that given the early start date of 1984 (it was the first production of the season, beginning previews on May 18, 2017) that individuals who did not officially become nominators until several weeks into the 2017-2018 season were somehow overlooked in terms of invites. The only other possibility that comes to mind: the failure to submit the show's Tony Compliance Certificate within 16 weeks of opening. Both options for exclusion appear to be silly oversights, but without any official clarification from the Tony Awards, we only have speculation at this time.

As for clarification on what the other rulings mean for Tony eligibility:

• Both Lili Taylor and Janeane Garofalo will be considered under Lead Actress in a Play for Marvin's Room, with the rest of the cast considered under Featured Actor/Actress

• The entire cast of Prince of Broadway will compete in Featured Actor/Actress in a Musical

• Elizabeth McGovern will be considered under Lead Actress in a Play for Time and the Conways, with the rest of the cast competing under Featured Actor/Actress in a Play

RIP to 1984's Tony chances. And my condolences to whomever Scott Rudin is currently screaming at.