For the first time ever, we were reminded endlessly in promos, the Tony show featured a live excerpt from an oceangoing musical: the Royal Caribbean cruise line’s Broadway-at-sea production of Hairspray. The breakthrough was a little tarnished after the steady stream of commercials for Royal Caribbean cruise lines, one of the show’s chief sponsors. In another part of the television world, this might be known as an infomercial.
(MORE: That Old Feeling: Let Us ‘Spray’)