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So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

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#1

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:02pm

With only MEMPHIS and THE ADDAMS FAMILY being considered for best score this year according to the Wall St. Journal, I can see this happening. Thoughts?


Backstage Drama at the Tonys
"Movies will make you famous; television will make you rich; but theatre will make you good." - Terrence Mann.

Updated On: 4/16/10 at 12:02 PM

#2

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:09pm

God I hope not. I would take a straight up showtune over a showtune TRYING but failing to be "Memphis soul" any day. Strictly musically speaking, Addams Family is at least authentic to what it is trying to achieve. To me, Memphis is the Broadway equivalent of a Pat Boone cover.
#5

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:20pm

I really hope AMERICAN IDIOT isn't eligible.

While I thought the score was absolutely fantastic, it was clearly not from a "concept album" or written with the specific intention of being adapted as a stage show. In fact, Green Day has spoken extensively in the press about how they always thought the album could maybe be turned into a movie but never even thought about the idea of it being on stage until Michael Mayer approached them.

Considering that songs from their other albums are incorporated into the show as well, I think the producers will have a hard time convincing the committee otherwise.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.

Updated On: 4/16/10 at 12:20 PM

#6

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:34pm

If 'Memphis' wins Best Score, it won't be by default. It'll be because it was chosen to be the best of the field by Tony voters. And it also had gotten its share of raves. Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press: 'Joe Di Pietro and David Bryan have managed to create a dandy original score that is as tuneful as it is theatrical, the very essence of what a Broadway musical should be.'

Meantime, let's not get ahead. Let's see if 'American Idiot' submits its score, and what the Tonys decide.

Updated On: 4/16/10 at 12:34 PM

#7

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:35pm

I wouldn't be surprised if they make American Idiot eligible just so one of those two won't win. I mean, they bumped Lynn Redgrave to Leading Actress in a Play for The Constant Wife so they wouldn't have to nominate Julia Roberts. Next to Normal won the Pulitzer without being nominated. So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default? Or maybe this would be the first year music from a play would win, like Enron or Maury Yeston in The Royal Family.

~Steven
#9

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:44pm

The nominating committee, in its various incarnations, has done strange things. But I can't imagine how they could justify saying No to Fela but Yes to Idiot.

However, I find it very difficult to care this season. It may just be the first year I find something more interesting to do than watch the Tony show - something like washing my hair or sorting my underwear alphabetically.
#11

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:53pm

I, personally, find the score to Memphis laughably awful and my vote would go to Addams family which, despite it's mediocrity, at least did not make me cringe.
#13

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:58pm

What's going to win?

Whichever producer who puts the most money out there.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali
#17

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 1:23pm

Just looking back... there are only 8 new "musicals" this season (not a revue or a revival): Memphis, Fela!, Come Fly Away, The Addams Family, Million Dollar Quartet, American Idiot, All About Me, Everyday Rapture (Do the last 2 count? Was AAM more a revue? Does Rapture open this season?).

Only 2 of those 8 have a new score, writing expressly for its characters and narrative.

I don't think it's a trend - last season featured 12 new musicals, only one of which had old music (A Catered Affair, Cry-Baby, Glory Days, [title of show], A Tale of Two Cities, 13, Billy Elliot: The Musical, Shrek The Musical, The Story of My Life, Rock of Ages, Next To Normal, 9 to 5).

No need to discuss perceived quality of those shows and scores... but at least producers were trying.
#18

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 1:27pm

Everyday Rapture is opening just in time for the Tony cutoff I think, but the score isn't original.

Also it really has been a sad year for musicals with an original score, though didn't A Catered Affair and Cry-Baby open the season before last?
#19

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 1:28pm

Crucify me, but I kind of like the Memphis score. Groundbreaking it is not, but I enjoyed it.

It's really sad that of the new musicals this season, only two of them don't use previously existing music. REALLY sad.
A work of art is an invitation to love.
#21

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 1:37pm

As much as I love attending the Tony's....I will probably have to sit this one out. This is probably one of the greatest years for Revivals though.
Herbie: "Honey, Don't you know there's a depression?"
Rose: "Of Course I know, I Watch Fox News"
-(modified)Gypsy
Broadway Schedule
December 5th- Hamilton, On Your Feet
December 19th- Noises Off, Edith Piaf Concert at Town Hall
#22

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 1:43pm

I had thought that earlier in the season, but not really, considering that two of (arguably) the best ones are no longer open and thus barely stand a chance of being strong contenders.
A work of art is an invitation to love.
#23

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 1:51pm

This is probably one of the greatest years for Revivals though.

And yet two lauded but closed musical revivals will have to duke it out for a spot not filled by something currently open that may not have gotten as good reviews.

~Steven
#24

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 2:09pm

Normally if there are not enough nominees to fill a category (minimum 3) the category is eliminated. In 1989, for example, there were no nominees or awards given for Best Book or Best Score.

But in 1995 they allowed ALW's score for SUNSET to win uncontested (there was no other new score that season.) A double travesty because most of the songs in SUNSET were recycled out of ALW's trunk and not written specifically for the show.

Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

#25

So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?

Posted: 4/16/10 at 2:16pm

Will none of the plays with original music be eligible?
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad

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