@chrishuyen
Technically, the category is called "Best Score (Music and/or Lyrics Written for the Theatre)" - emphasis on the "OR"
It's hard to make predictions about the "Best Book" or "Best Musical" categories without getting caught up in individual tastes. Personally, while I think the book for JLP was certainly more ambitious than the other 2, I found it to be infuriatingly inept in so many ways. A part of me would be extremely irritated if it won, because I hated it with such a passion, but another part of me would rather see the award go to someone who was actually trying to tell a story, and not just stringing a bunch of songs together while adapting from other sources (in the case of MR, the film, and in the case of Tina, the real events of her life). Plus, many people also love the book of JLP, and that's fair. But it's hard to predict where the Tony Voters will land.
Even before COVID, this year's Best Musical race was extremely difficult to predict, because almost all of the eligible shows were highly divisive in some sense or another. Even Girl From the North Country (which many predicted as the potential winner) had a lot of dissenters. And Six, while generally enjoyed by most, was not necessarily seen as serious enough to take home the top prize. And while the field has cleared somewhat, I think the same holds true of these last remaining shows. Awards are always subject to the taste of the voters, but in this year in particular, I think it's really tough to predict what those tastes will be. Jagged Little Pill is closer in style to the kinds of shows that have recently won Best Musical (in the sense that it's more dramatic and story-driven, and not adapted from a blockbuster film), but if the voters don't like it, they don't like it. Moulin Rouge, while filled with flaws, and devoid of any soul, MIGHT be more widely liked on the whole than JLP, which seems to have a smaller, but louder, group of supporters. But it's really tough to say.
Updated On: 10/17/20 at 01:14 AM
.jpg?format=auto&width=365)
