An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race: Michael Riedel- Page 2
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race: Michael Riedel
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#25
Posted: 4/15/15 at 12:33pm
Has the Tony committee voted on The Visit yet? Do we know it will be in the new musical category or will it be a revival? I am always at a loss for understanding how this distinction is made.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/11/14
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#26
Posted: 4/15/15 at 12:57pm
Jeff - a critics reviews have 0.0000000% to do with Tony nominations. All they are is someone's opinion on a show written for massive publications for the general public to read.
There is no correlation between the two and I have no idea who or what made you believe that. None. Zero. Zip.
On another note, I would LOVE to see FN get bumped out of the fourth (or fifth) slot for ISBY or TLS.
And as for The Visit: it's being considered new, no?
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#27
Posted: 4/15/15 at 12:58pm
The Visit is an original musical. Why on earth would it be a revival? Because of Williamstown? It would only be under a revival if it had been performed by a professional company (Bway, Off-Bway, Regional) in New York over 3 years ago. Its eligible under Best Musical, never was a doubt about that.
And yes. Critics are not nominators. Sometimes reviews are useful as a gage, but nominations come out of a very small body of voters. Their interests often differ from critics.
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#28
Posted: 4/15/15 at 12:59pm
They haven't announced its eligibility yet, but THE VISIT will 100 percent be in the new musical categories. The musical is by no means a "classic."
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#29
Posted: 4/15/15 at 12:59pm^ Exactly. Sometimes being a key word. For example, you are writing off The Last Ship, whereas many people in the industry that I know personally feel much warmer to The Last Ship than they do to Honeymoon in Vegas. I'm just saying.
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#30
Posted: 4/15/15 at 1:05pm
Yes. I dont think either Honeymoon or Last Ship should be completely written off. But there are enough still-open shows of quality to fill out the nominations slots, so Im not sure the nominators will dip into the closed shows (they vote for what they like, but they absolutely know the benefit they can give open shows with a nomination). With both musicals "on the bubble", I fear neither will make the cut. They appeal to different tastes, so I cant see either getting enough votes. ...they certainly didnt rally behind Bridges last year when it could have used the Best Musical nomination, so why would the favor JRB's closed effort now?
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#31
Posted: 4/15/15 at 1:25pm
HONEYMOON IN VEGAS got stronger reviews than THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, and it's a much more award-friendly show.
Also, the talk about THE VISIT as a revival is confounding. It is in every way a new musical that has been in development for a number of years. It's no different from something like NEXT TO NORMAL.
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#32
Posted: 4/15/15 at 1:36pm
And yes. Critics are not nominators. Sometimes reviews are useful as a gage, but nominations come out of a very small body of voters. Their interests often differ from critics.
This reminds of a discussion on Theater Talk's Tony Prediction show back in 2010...
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#33
Posted: 4/15/15 at 2:24pm
^In that video they are talking about the voting process after the nominees have been decided. Where yes, critics can have a bit of sway over the masses of voters (and for many years some critics were included as Tony voters). I was referring to nominators. Which is a separate group from the voters. They are only about 40 or so people who decide the nominees (and do not include critics). A smaller group, imo, is less susceptible to outside influence. They are enlisted and contracted to see every single Broadway performance in the season. So they go with their gut and what they truly thought was best. This is why closed shows/performances can get nominations, but then frequently fail to win when the much larger group of voters comes in to determine the winners.
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#34
Posted: 4/15/15 at 3:32pm
^I do see what you're saying as we've in the past, there's been plenty of shows that weren't exactly critical darlings that end up getting a Best Musical Nomination.
*The Wedding Singer got in over Lestat and Tarzan
*Mary Poppins got in over Legally Blonde
*Cry-Baby got in over A Catered Affair, The Little Mermaid, and Young Frankenstein
*Rock of Ages got in over 9 to 5
*Million Dollar Quartet got in over The Addams Family
*Catch Me If You Can got in over Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
*Leap of Faith got in over Ghost and Spider-Man
*Bring It On got in over Motown
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#35
Posted: 4/15/15 at 4:19pm
"there's been plenty of shows that weren't exactly critical darlings that end up getting a Best Musical Nomination."
...which is what we were saying and you were arguing with us.
Updated On: 4/15/15 at 04:19 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#36
Posted: 4/15/15 at 5:40pm
As nice as a few Tonys would be for Honeymoon, it will not bring it back
I would rather they go to a running show that would really need it & that would be The Visit
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#37
Posted: 4/15/15 at 5:52pm
Closed shows have been nominated for Best Musical before (Side Show, Parade, The Scottsboro Boys, Bring It On, A Christmas Story, etc.).
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#38
Posted: 4/15/15 at 6:47pm
If HONEYMOON IN VEGAS is nominated for Best Musical I will eat my shoes.
Broadway Star Joined: 3/5/04
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#39
Posted: 4/15/15 at 10:49pm
Reidel knows everybody connected to Broadway and he probably got the heads up regarding the disastrous reviews that Finding Neverland has received....hence his statement of AAIP being the frontrunner. I am still rooting for The Visit to pull an upset. It deserves the honor because it is the most intelligent and theatrical of all of the new musicals. I don't think they will honor AAIP because although it has marvelous dancing, it does not have an original score.
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#40
Posted: 4/15/15 at 10:57pm
I predict AAIP will get 10 Tony nominations for:
Musical
Book
Direction
Choreography
Orchestrations
Sound Design
Leading Actor
Costume
Scenic Design
Lighting
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#41
Posted: 4/15/15 at 11:04pm
Totally agree. I saw the first preview and was wowed every second. An extraordinary achievement, despite all the hate on this site for it. Go figure.
Updated On: 4/15/15 at 11:04 PMAn American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#42
Posted: 4/16/15 at 12:18am
I saw AAIP and was bored to tears. But then again I was bored with On the Town and On the 20th Century too. So what do I know. Also found Something Rotten fun for the first 30 minutes and then the jokes got old. Enjoyed Finding Neverland and the critics hated it. Would have loved to seen JJ in the lead. I also enjoyed Honeymoon. I saw Fun Home at the Public and didn't love it then so I am not wasting my time seeing it on Broadway.
Best 3 things I have seen this season are 2 plays and they are Curious Incident and Hand to God and 1 musical Side Show. Almost everything else was meh.....
Updated On: 4/16/15 at 12:18 AM
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#43
Posted: 4/16/15 at 1:04am
Riedel originally ascribed It Might As Well Be Spring to Rodgers and HART and went on and on about HART's lyrics. After heavy derision on multiple other sites, his column has been considerably revised without acknowledgment. Why is his opinion taken seriously here? Even without this latest embarrassment?
Updated On: 4/16/15 at 01:04 AM
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#44
Posted: 4/16/15 at 4:53am
@Robbie2, Have you forgotten that the Sound categories have been removed this year?
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/10/04
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#45
Posted: 4/16/15 at 8:19am
Something rotten seems like the favorite to me to win the best musical category. This might be a Urinetown Millie year..where Urinetown won best book, director and millie won the tony.
i think fun home will win the more artistic awards and something rotten will win the 'this show will tour better" award.
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#46
Posted: 4/16/15 at 8:23am
^That really hasn't seem to have been the case in recent years with Once beating Newsies and Gentleman's Guide beating Beautiful.
An American In Paris Looks Strongest In Tony Race#47
Posted: 4/16/15 at 9:12am
Roxy, I would rather the nominators go with quality and not base their selections on a show because it is still running. That really negates the word best from the equation.
If they announce the winner as "the show still running on Broadway with the most votes
is --", that would work, I suppose
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