Norbert Leo Butz quotes about John Lithgow: "He's really clumsy. One of the joys in life is to watch a great big huge man totally wipe out backstage. It takes John about three minutes to hit the floor. It's like watching a Great Sequoia falling gracelessly."
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
I think La Cage Aux Folles is a great musical. It has a great score. I think it's Jerry Herman's best. Though I do like Sunday in the Park with George, my money was with La Cage!
"Love the Art in Yourself. Not Yourself in the Art." -- Stanislavski
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....
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Wow, NYD, I'd agree with almost all of your picks. I'd only choose Once on this Island as best musical that year, just above Secret Garden.
My top disappointment was Sunday in the Park, tho (sorry BSchneid) When they did "Sunday" on the Tony awards, I wept it was so beautiful (it opened just before the Tony's so I hadnt seen anything from it yet) and could not believe LaCage won. I saw both within a few months, and really feel Sunday was far superior. At least Into the Woods won for Book and Score, and Phantom was very well done...that was a more 50/50 for me, like LK and Ragtime.
"Carson has combined his passion for helping children with his love for one of Cincinnati's favorite past times - cornhole - to create a unique and exciting event perfect for a corporate outing, entertaining clients or family fun."
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.
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?
So I am definitely not a huge Wicked fan, as the book has major holes, and some of the acting was sub-par (Idina...*runs and hides*). However, I agree that it deserved to win over Avenue Q. I LOATHED EVER MINUTE OF AVENUE Q! So bad! I didn't see Caroline or Change, but based on the two i did see, Wicked totally deserved it over Q.
Rentaholic...the critics didn't pick what should win, they picked what will win. BIG difference. Everyone pretty much knew Spamalot was going to win.
Don't know how I missed this thread...gee, bet no one knows my answer.
But Munky...just b/c your list was very complete/detailed...care to argue w/ me why Music Man deserved to win over WSS? Either argue or add WSS :-P
Obvious ones--Gypsy, Ragtime.
'91--I actually would pick Miss Saigon over Secret Garden. Both have absolutely gorgeous scores, but if I had to pick, MS is just a little more beautiful, it has an amazing story, and great spectacle that occurs along with the great story, much like Ragtime. Still, I would have much preferred SG to WRF. I'm curious why you guys think it should go SG over MS.
DRS or Piazza over Spamalot.
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli
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
"I believe that art does not exist only to entertain, but also to challenge one to think, to provoke, even to disturb, to engage in a constant search for the truth."
- Barbra Streisand