I forget from whom along the way I learned this, but "when you add one thing, you tend to diminish everything."
The clarinet was mostly a joke so I am glad you at least recognized it was odd. :-)
If I were the Emperor of the Tonys, I would do something more similar to the OG Obies [hereinafter referred to as the OGOBs, hereinafter pronounced OGG-OBBs]. No forced categories, few other rules, and booze. That would certainly solve the heinous male/female/neither dichotomy easily.
Regarding the clarinet, although perhaps not as common in musical theatre, in classical music there are certainly orchestral pieces in which a single instrument and player "stars" and these are routinely honored from the podium. That said, obviously I am not advocating that. |
