BEST Musicals that DIDN'T win BEST MUSICAL — Page 6

Before I list this, up until the 60's or 70's they had two awards for best musical...one for the producer and one for the actual show. I think this should be re-initiated because some excellent shows are produced poorly....hence the reason why they lost. Anyhow...here's my list:

1958 - West Side Story over The Music Man
1959 - Flower Drum Song over Redhead
1960 - Nothing should be changed....but man, what a year! Sound of Music, Fiorello, and Gypsy(would have won another year....hell even Once Upon a Mattress would have won another year)
1968 - No-one
1969 - Hair over 1776(A move for patriotism during the Vietnam War..go fig)
1970 - No-one
1972 - Follies over Two Gentlemen of Verona
1974 - No-one
1983 - No-one
1984 - Sunday in the Park with George(It won the Pulitzer for Christ's sake!) over La Cage aux Folles
1986 - No-one
1988 - Into the Woods over Phantom of the Opera
1989 - No-one
1991 - The Secret Garden over Will Rogers Follies(American sentiment won this because of Gulf War)
1992 - Falsettos over Crazy For You, just because Crazy For You is more of a revival than a new musical to me since it's basically Girl Crazy re-vamped
1993 - The Who's Tommy over Kiss of the Spider Woman - The Musical
1995 - No-one
1998 - Ragtime over The Lion King (This is the best example why there should be two different awards for Producer and Musical...well...almost)
1999 - Parade over Fosse (Because this is the best example why there should be two different awards....Fosse isn't a real show!!!!)
2000 - No-one, unless you could have given the award to The Wild Party Off Broadway
2002 - Urinetown The Musical over Thoroughly Modern Millie
2005 - The Light in the Piazza over Spamelot

nydirector2---The old award for Best Producer was given to an individual or producing team responsible for producing the show. It wasn't a second award for the Best Musical (aka "best overall production").

I agree that the deliniation is questionable now, however. For "Best Play" the award goes to the producers AND the author.

For "Best Musical" the award goes to the producers (only). There are separate awards for the writing.

Since a straight play's physical production value has just as much of an impact as a musical's production value, these awards should be evenly matched. Either give "Best Musical" to the producers AND the writer(s), doing away with the separate awards for book and score... or create a new "Best Author of a Play" award (as they used to have), separate from the overall Best Play award (which should be for the overall production).

It's always been very confusing as to WHAT the awards are actually for: The writing? A specific producing effort? Everything it total? Hmmm....

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Updated On: 11/9/05 at 02:59 PM

CoC is a show definitley strictly for some people while not others' favorites. My mom saw it and thought it was boring, bland, and drawn out but I thought it broke a barrier in musical theater history and that Tonya Pinkins was nothing short of a revelation.

Parade, hands down.

How does a musical win best book and best score but not best musical?? It still boggles my mind.

Riddle me this...

Most people seem to agree that ANY of the other nominees of last year should have beat Spamalot. But according to Broadway.com, the major critics were in 100% agreement that Spamalot would win. Why is that? If most of us can see how the other three shows are obviously better, what was so different for the Tony voters?

while i think The Lion King is theatrical genius, i hate Disney so i'm gonna go on the Ragtime bus.

Caroline, or Change (better than Avenue Q, better than Wicked, better than the other show that was nominated that year).


Best musical of the last 10 years (possible the last quarter century.)

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Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk

Ground breaking.

That is all.

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I am still VERY VERY bitter about THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA not winning!!

What is so special about Spamelot????

1969- Hair
1984- Sunday in the Park with George
1998- Ragtime
1999- Parade
2002- Urinetown
2004- Wicked
2005- The Light in the Piazza

Parade, Ragtime, and The Light in the Piazza being my three biggest upsets.

1958
Winner: The Music Man
SHOULD HAVE WON: WEST SIDE STORY

1960
Winner: The Sound of Music / Fiorello!
SHOULD HAVE WON: GYPSY

1964
Winner: Hello, Dolly!
SHOULD HAVE WON: FUNNY GIRL / HIGH SPIRITS
*I'm sure there will be quite a few people that disagree with me on this one. Don't get me wrong, I love "Hello, Dolly!" but "Funny Girl" and "High Spirits" are both superior (in my opinion) and I would have been happy had either one won.

1966
Winner: Man of LaMancha
SHOULD HAVE WON: SWEET CHARITY / MAME
*I'm not a fan of Man of LaMancha, and would have rather seen either "Sweet Charity" or "Mame" win that award.

1975
Winner: The Wiz
SHOULD HAVE WON: MACK AND MABEL

1983
Winner: Cats
SHOULD HAVE WON: ANY OF THE OTHER SHOWS!!!

1984
Winner: La Cage aux Folles
SHOULD HAVE WON: SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, although I wouldn't have been disappointed had "Baby" won, but "Sunday in the Park with George" is truly one of the greatest musicals ever written.

1988
Winner: The Phantom of the Opera
SHOULD HAVE WON: INTO THE WOODS

1991
Winner: The Will Rogers Follies
SHOULD HAVE WON: ANY OF THE OTHER SHOWS. I feel all three were a whole lot better than "Will Rogers Follies," although they themselves weren't spectacular. I would have liked to see "The Secret Garden" win, followed by "Miss Saigon," and then "Once on this Island."

1998
Winner: The Lion King
SHOULD HAVE WON: RAGTIME

1999
Winner: Fosse
SHOULD HAVE WON: PARADE! PARADE! PARADE! PARADE! PARADE! PARADE! PARADE! PARADE! WHO GIVES A FLIP ABOUT STUPID FOSSE!!! IT'S NOT EVEN A REAL MUSICAL AND IT'S A STUPID PIECE OF TRASH, AS IS EVERY OTHER SHOW THAT SEASON COMPARED TO PARADE!!! AGH! THAT PISSES ME OFF SO MUCH, EVEN NOW!!!

2000
Winner: Contact
SHOULD HAVE WON: The Wild Party

2001
Winner: The Producers
SHOULD HAVE WON: ANY OF THE OTHER SHOWS! I think the best show that season, however, was "Seussical," which was nominated for Best Musical. If I had to choose out of the nominees, I would choose "The Full Monty."

2002
Winner: Thoroughly Modern Millie
SHOULD HAVE WON: URINETOWN

2004
Winner: Avenue Q
SHOULD HAVE WON: CAROLINE, OR CHANGE

2005
Winner: Spamalot
SHOULD HAVE WON: LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA

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