Best Score - 2015

Yes. Fun Home will win.

I'm seeing Fun Home tomorrow and have avoided listening to any of the music beforehand, so this may very well change, but so far my favorite score is The Last Ship. I thought Something Rotten was a very forgettable score.

The Last Ship deserves it. Hands down the best score of this season (and the best musical, but when you open and close in the first half of the season that negates any possibility of being honored. Maybe the powers that be should rename the awards Best Plays and Musicals of Spring 2015.).

Jeanine Tesori is long overdue for a Tony and Fun Home is her best work to date. So I think it's inevitable.

I do want Fun Home to win best score but I don't agree with "I think it's certainly the strongest score in the past few years" it's not something I can sing along to everyday.. so I don't think it's like a BIG thing. It's good but it's not "OMG I listen to this all the time" It's just annoying when people say "it's the best since ___" No it's not. Kinky Boots and The Bridges of Madison County get more airtime than Fun Home from me.

The award is for the BEST THEATER SCORE. Not the most "hummable" (whatever THAT means) or the one that makes you want to get up and dance or do another ten minutes on the treadmill.

For my money, the only two nominees that fall into this category are THE VISIT and FUN HOME because they are actual theater scores. They do what wickedfan says--

"...craft at all on the skill that went into a score. ...seamlessly it transitions in and out of its book ...shapes a character's arc or the beauty and intelligence of its lyrics or the dramatic structure of a song"

THE LAST SHIP, as pretty as some of the songs are, is a pleasantly bland collection of pop tunes. It's a nice song cycle in a funny sort of way. It's not a theater score. And SOMETHING ROTTEN is a series of self-referential, loud jokes and endlessly diatonic.

So if we're talking about the Best Score, I think it's FUN HOME, too. And I think the award will go to FUN HOME. There's a lot about THE VISIT I love, and I worship Kander and Ebb, but aside from the fact that it's Tesori's "time" in the eyes of some people (whatever that means, again), it's really dazzlingly crafted, full of surprise, and even...hummable. Not that THE VISIT isn't, but I wasn't as enamored with the Schoolmaster's song as some people.

A lot of people did like the Schoolmaster's song. You can't go wrong with Jason Danieley's voice, but it's just not the best of K&E.

Now, I liked THE VISIT's score and all, but Fantod, to call it the best score in fifty years is a little TOO hyperbolic. And I like hyperbole, too.

Every year someone says "this is best score in ___ years"... like NO.

Not liking a score does not mean it's not a score. It just means it's a score you don't like.

I haven't seen all the shows or heard all the scores, so I'll reserve judgment. I thought The Last Ship was bland and forgettable. I haven't seen or heard the new Visit production, but from the Goodman production, the only songs I found memorable were Yellow Shoes and You, You, You. I remember walking out thinking it was second tier Kander & Ebb, which is not a bad thing. I haven't listened to Something Rotten and I doubt I'll get a chance to see it unless it tours, but I haven't been terribly enthused about it. I haven't listened to Fun Home because I'm seeing the show in July and I really want to wait and take it all in then. But if I had to place a bet, I'd put my money on Fun Home.

FUN HOME!!! Jeanine is finally gonna get her Tony!

It's between FH and TLS, but I'd give the edge to TLS as it seems to have the mojo. It's also my should win choice.