2022-2023 Tony Award Eligibility Rulings Thread- Page 7

[lapinitsa]

Posted: 4/29/23 at 12:20am

NYCtheaterguy said: "Playbill is reporting this too:

https://playbill.com/article/tony-awards-admin-committee-rules-on-new-york-new-york-plus-shucked-camelot-life-of-pi-more"

How does Playbill know this and if the committee ruled on it why do they not announce it?

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 4/29/23 at 12:35am

They didn’t technically rule on shows like & Juliet and A Beautiful Noise either. With this score’s heavy use of trunk songs and other known Kander & Ebb songs, the ruling is not surprising. 

I’m hoping KPOP gets into Original Score. It would be an historic nomination and it would be deserved. We won’t hear anything close to that score in a long time, sadly.

[Robbie2]

Posted: 4/29/23 at 12:39am

noahseestheatre said: "No word on NY,NY's eligibility in Best Score?"

Playbill has learned that the score for the new musical New York, New York—featuring several John Kander and Fred Ebb tunes from other works as well as new songs penned by Kander and Lin-Manuel Miranda—will not be eligible for Best Score.

[NYCtheaterguy]

Posted: 4/29/23 at 1:43am

EDSOSLO858 said: "So now, withNew York, New Yorkout of the running for Score, I think we’ll see Prima Facie and Life of Pi join Kimberly Akimbo, Some Like It Hot, and Shucked in this category."

Peter Pan Goes Wrong has I think 3 original songs in addition to underscoring.

[rubytuesday]

Posted: 4/29/23 at 12:28pm

Robbie2 said: "noahseestheatre said: "No word on NY,NY's eligibility in Best Score?"

Playbill has learned that thescore for the new musicalNew York, New York—featuring several John Kander and Fred Ebbtunes from other works as well as new songs penned byKander and Lin-Manuel Miranda—will not be eligible for Best Score."

I wonder of it was even close to the 50.1% threshold.

[JoeW4]

Posted: 4/29/23 at 12:35pm

rubytuesday said: "I wonder of it was even close to the 50.1% threshold."

 

It's less a question of how close they got to the threshold, and more a question of whether or not the trunk songs (many of which were written for un-produced musicals, and re-purposed here), counted as "new" or not. Because if they had counted as new, then the show would've had no trouble clearing the 50.1% hurdle. I think only a handful of the pre-existing songs were used in musicals that had actually been produced.

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 4/30/23 at 3:04am

For what it's worth, the Outer Critics Circle nominated ''New York, New York'' for Score, but the Drama Desk did not nominate it for Outstanding Lyrics OR Music.

Of all the Tony categories, Score has probably seen the most changes. In 1996, they ruled the 4 trunk songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein, and used in the new revival of ''State Fair'' COULD be eligible for Score. Producer David Merrick threatened to sue the Tonys unless it ruled that the original songs from the 1945 and 1962 songs from the film versions of ''State Fair'' could ALSO be Tony eligible. But a judge denied Merrick's request. Anyway, it was moot. ''State Fair'' had no shot at beating ''Rent.'' 

In 2003, ''Urban Cowboy'' opened with a hybrid score of original songs (including some by Jason Robert Brown) and country music hits (by Clint Black, Charlie Daniels, etc.). The Tonys originally ruled it was ineligible. When the show proved that more than 50% of the music was original, the Tonys ruled it WAS eligible. Plus, it said even all the pre-existing country hits were eligible, too.

In the face of more movie musicals being adapted for Broadway, the Tonys came up with a compromise that  the score needs to be at least 50% new. Ever since, I believe only one such hybrid score has won the Tony: Jack Feldman and Alan Menken's ''Newsies,'' which features toe-tapping original tunes from the 1992 movie AND new ones specifically written for the 2012 Broadway show. 

 

Updated On: 4/30/23 at 03:04 AM

[jdrye222]

Posted: 4/30/23 at 4:56pm

I think another point needs to be addressed in regards to the 50.1% requirement …. NEWSIES qualified in a season where ONCE did not, and it makes sense in the narrow view of that requirement.  But - the portion of the score upon which people vote is not required to be ONLY the new (indeed, I don’t believe voters are given that breakdown whatsoever) …. It is entirely likely that NEWSIES won Best Score based mostly upon its OLD material, not its new. If they are going to require this threshold, it seems to me that they need to re-examine what they are voting on. 
I also have no skin in the game, but it would seem to me that the 50.1% for NY NY was easily realized (though mostly with cuttable material in my opinion - in fact, there is a world in which I can imagine that’s why they did NOT cut certain songs that needed to be).  
Lastly - we need to stop putting Music for a Play in the same category.  It’s entirely different as a genre and craft.  They have almost zero similarities.  

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 4/30/23 at 5:45pm

jdrye222 said: "Lastly - we need to stop putting Music for a Play in the same category. It’s entirely different as a genre and craft. They have almost zero similarities. "

I generally agree with that sentiment, however with so many jukebox musicals happening now, I'm afraid eliminating play scores would result in far too few quality contenders to fill a category. And I'd much rather see Life of Pi or Leopoldstadt get a nomination over Bad Cinderella, KPOP or Almost Famous.

Updated On: 4/30/23 at 05:45 PM

[BETTY22]

Posted: 4/30/23 at 5:56pm

jdrye222 said: "Lastly - we need to stop putting Music for a Play in the same category. It’s entirely different as a genre and craft. They have almost zero similarities. "

I agree.

I remember the year 'Once' won Best Musical, the score category had 2 or three plays listed.

It was a very weak years for scores, but I think it's better to admit that instead of padding the category with plays with music and pretending we have a real winner.