Because, weirdly, a Cirque du Soleil production is a better revenue-getter for Radio City Music Hall than the one-night, rehearsal-intensive
Tony Awards ceremony (imagine that!), the Broadway industry hardware-distribution telecast is being booted from its longtime venue, forced to move (gulp) to the Upper West Side's significantly smaller Beacon Theater. Culture Monster
notes that Cirque's
Zarkana production takes the Radio City stage three days before the 2011 Tony Awards on June 12, which will, as usual be broadcast live on CBS with a West Coast delay much to the indifference of everybody who isn't at the Beacon Theater during said event. Radio City has some 5,600 seats to the recently revamped Beacon's 2,900, but at least they didn't move to the long-rumored back-up venue, Washington Heights' United Palace Theater at Broadway and 175th.
