There is no rule that a show without a book can't win Best Musical - Ain't Misbehavin' is Exhibit #1. The "bunch of moments from other shows all thrown together," as you describe it, makes Jerome Robbins' Broadway sound artless, which it wasn't. Sure, the West Side Story, Fiddler, The King and I and Gypsy numbers had all been seen before and were well documented, but Robbins went to elaborate lengths to recreate the numbers from On The Town, Billion Dollar Baby, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and High Button Shoes, among others, with a massive company, huge orchestra, and the original sets and costumes recreated on a gargantuan scale. Fosse (Exhibit #2), it wasn't.
And Rathnait, were you saying that Black and Blue (also bookless) or Starmites were more deserving of Best Musical?
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
Updated On: 7/6/04 at 04:09 PM