Best Group of Best Musical Nominees

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 4/30/24 at 7:45pm

What year of the Tonys do you think had the best group of Best Musical nominees? From top to bottom so not just one or even two amazing shows but the whole list. For example, I wouldn't include 1957, which had The Music Man & West Side Story but also... Jamaica, New Girl in Town and Oh Captain. Maybe some of y'all know those last three shows better than I do but still.

A few of my "nominees" would be:
1964 (Hello Dolly, Funny Girl, She Loves Me, High Spirits)
1988 (Into the Woods, Phantom of the Opera, Romance/Romance, Sarafina)
1991 (Once on This Island, The Secret Garden, Miss Saigon, The Will Rogers Follies)
2006 (The Drowsy Chaperone, The Wedding Singer, Jersey Boys, The Color Purple)

My winner though would be 2017: Dear Evan Hansen, Come From Away, Groundhog Day and Great Comet. I don't love Great Comet but for a 4th favorite in the category, it's not bad. And I loved the other three.

A lot would probably say 2005 (Spamalot, Spelling Bee, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Light in the Piazza) but I'm not a big fan of Spamalot or Scoundrels.

Anyway, what's yours?

[kdogg36]

Posted: 4/30/24 at 8:07pm

I'd definitely say 2005, but also 1976 (with A Chorus Line, Chicago, and Pacific Overtures). 

[Ensemble1713124420]

Posted: 4/30/24 at 8:08pm

2004 was pretty good:

• Avenue Q
• Wicked
• Caroline, or Change
• The Boy from Oz (don’t know this show but I suspect it’s the weak link of that year)

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 4/30/24 at 8:15pm

2005 immediately popped into my head, but looking back, 1976 is a really great crop. I’d throw in 1957 (My Fair Lady, Bells Are Ringing, Candide, The Most Happy Fella) and 2002 (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Mamma Mia!, Sweet Smell of Success, Urinetown).

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 4/30/24 at 8:17pm

1976

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 5/1/24 at 12:31pm

1957, 1960, 1972, 1992, 1998, and 2017 for me. 

Updated On: 5/1/24 at 12:31 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 5/1/24 at 1:30pm

Gotta second 2005- Piazza, Spamalot, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Spelling Bee. All had strong claims to Best Musical, all have gone on to establish themselves in the canon, and all were immensely enjoyable productions.

[BeingAlive44Ever]

Posted: 5/1/24 at 1:32pm

1991 is a hard one to beat. 2017 was great too. 

I looked over the whole list, and here's my favorites: 

1960 (though I'm not familiar with Take Me A long)

1967 (not the hugest fan of Walking Happy but literally every other show nominated this year was really amazing) 

 

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 5/1/24 at 1:42pm

One interesting thing to look at is what would have been nominated back when they only announced winners prior to 1956. For instance, 1955 likely would have had a lineup of Pajama Game (winner), The Boy Friend, Silk Stockings and Peter Pan, which would have been a great group. 

[Rentaholic2]

Posted: 5/1/24 at 1:54pm

I think about this all the time.  I've always felt that 2005 is one of the best groups.  Anyone of those shows could have won Best Musical in another year, and each of them could conceivably be revived on Broadway.  It was also a pretty evenly distributed Tony Awards - each of these shows won 1 acting award, and they almost evenly split Musical/Director/Score/Book (Scoundrels came up short, with Spamalot taking both Musical and Director).

There are very few that I would say were truly great "top to bottom," but I would include in the mix years where all but one were great.  Strongly agree with 1991, and echo others with 1957, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1976, 1998, 2004, 2006, and 2017.  If I had to pick 5 nominees, it would be:

 

1964 (Hello Dolly, Funny Girl, She Loves Me, High Spirits)

1991 (Once on This Island, The Secret Garden, Miss Saigon, The Will Rogers Follies)

1998 (Lion King, Ragtime, Side Show, Scarlet Pimpernel)

2005 (Spamalot, Spelling Bee, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Light in the Piazza)

2017 (Dear Evan Hansen, Come From Away, Groundhog Day and Great Comet)

[Wick3]

Posted: 5/1/24 at 1:56pm

Ensemble1713124420 said: "2004 was pretty good:

• Avenue Q
• Wicked
• Caroline, or Change
• The Boy from Oz (don’t know this show but I suspect it’s the weak link of thatyear)

"

I second this but there were no weak links that year. From what I recall, there was no clear frontrunner and any of those shows could have won the Tony. Hugh Jackman made the production of Boy From Oz work.

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 5/1/24 at 2:19pm

Wick3 said: "Ensemble1713124420 said: "2004 was pretty good:

• Avenue Q
• Wicked
• Caroline, or Change
• The Boy from Oz (don’t know this show but I suspect it’s the weak link of thatyear)

"

I second this but there were no weak links that year.From what I recall, there was no clear frontrunner and any of those shows could have wonthe Tony. Hugh Jackman made the production of Boy From Oz work."

Hugh Jackman was phenomenal in Boy From Oz. The show itself? Pretty awful. It really just got in because the other options were Bombay Dreams, Taboo and Never Gonna Dance. But I don't disagree that his performance plus those three other shows is enough to make this one of the top years.

[Sauja]

Posted: 5/1/24 at 2:28pm

I don’t know one of the nominees (Take Me Along), but 1960 gave us The Sound of Music, Gypsy, Once Upon a Mattress, and Fiorello which is a pretty astonishing group.