Biggest Tony upset of all time? - Page 4

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 11:06pm

BroadwayNoob said: "I went to theAvenue Q reunion panel atBroadwayCon this year and the actors had even said how astounded they were that they won best musical. They had even said that Nathan Lane had read it funny because literally, no one was expecting it. I think they had even said that the screens announcing who had won best musical lit up Wicked for a split second before they were changed"

The look of shock on Lane's face and in his voice is indeed noticeable and he even does a kind of "Well how about that" raise of the eyebrow before the camera cuts to the audience. Even Sarah Jessica Parker's face is pretty "wait what" beside him as she looked at the winner's name before Lane did. You just see her kind of smiling through it https://youtu.be/ypf7DhKWgKs?t=88

[After Eight]

Posted: 3/20/19 at 9:51am

JayElle wrote:

"The Band's Visit over anything else that could've won."

Yes, indeed. But it wasn't an upset. It was, unfortunately, the shoo-in of shoo-ins.

"Even the post Tony newspaper and magazine reviews of the Tony Awards show wrote about how many voters cast protest political votes for it to show their disgust w/Disney, Univerrsal, theme park type shows. "

Sobering, isn't it?

The same situation occurred when the ghastly Passion won over Beauty and the Beast. I cringed when I thought of the people who would buy tickets to that thing based on that award. Those poor souls. They didn't know what they were getting themselves into. To be sure, the public caught on soon enough, but unfortunately, not soon enough for those who had wasted their money on  the thing.

What a state of affairs.

 

 

 


 

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 3/20/19 at 11:00am

I’m forever so thrilled Avenue Q won over Wicked.


Wicked is a gigantic juggernaut that is a money printing machine. It’s fine. It’s fun.

Avenue Q at the time was the most I had ever loudly laughed in a broadway theatre. I was sobbing laughing throughout at least the first hour.


The true upset for me was Raul Esparza losing to David Hyde Pierce. I mean, Raul Esparza kinda began fading into obscurity after that and that could have been a huge moment for him and him starring in stuff going forward.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/20/19 at 11:06am

Looking back at the articles from 2004, it seems like it's easy to forget that though Wicked was considered the favorite, Idina Menzel was not  the favorite to win to Best Actress. And that Assassins, which ended up being the most awarded show that year, was not the favorite to do so well, either. 

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 3/20/19 at 11:41am

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "The true upset for me was Raul Esparza losing to David Hyde Pierce. I mean, Raul Esparza kinda began fading into obscurity after that and that could have been a huge moment for him and him starring in stuff going forward. "

He hasn't been back to Broadway in a while, but if being a series regular on one of the hottest shows on TV for 6 seasons is fading into obscurity, then I'm more than willing to fade into obscurity.

 

[east side story]

Posted: 3/20/19 at 11:42am

Wicked losing to AveQ was a huge shock. The conversation that season tended to be "Q should win, but Wicked will." I remember being truly gob smacked. Also, everyone predicted Donna Murphy to prevail that year, but her shellacking at the hands of Riedel in the NYP that season cost her a third Tony. Idina was able to prevail as a result.

Esparza losing to DHP was on par with AveQ/Wicked in terms of surprise. It seemed to be Raul's turn, after several nominations, and no one thought DHP would win. 

No one to my knowledge ever expected O'Hara to win for South Pacific. Especially after LuPone took the Drama League, it was pretty apparent that she was going all the way. 

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 3/20/19 at 11:47am

Me, when Raul Esparza lost in 2007. In fact, I'm still upset.

[bdn223]

Posted: 3/20/19 at 12:29pm

Kad said: "Looking back at the articles from 2004, it seems like it's easy to forget that though Wicked was considered the favorite, Idina Menzel was not the favorite to win to Best Actress. And that Assassins, which ended up being the most awarded show that year, was not the favorite to do so well, either."

Avenue Q 's win over Wicked  was a shocker even to the Tony Awards Producers. The New York Times reported:

"In the moments after the announcement that ''Avenue Q'' had won, two giant video screens inside the hall read, ''Best Musical: Wicked.''

Embarrassed Tony officials said the mistake was a result of a ''technical glitch,'' but you could hardly blame them for it. For weeks ''Wicked'' had been considered a prohibitive favorite to win the award, the evening's top prize."

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/08/theater/avenue-q-tony-coup-is-buzz-of-broadway.html

Producers may have claimed otherwise, but I would bet good money they were just trying to save face with "The technical glitch" comment.

[Lot666]

Posted: 3/21/19 at 9:15am

Vinosippycup2 said: " I 100% agree that Kinky Boots over Matilda was a terrible decision for Best Musical. For it to win Best Music and Lyrics over Matilda - it was a crime."

I've long been a fan of both Harvey Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper, and while I really wanted to love Kinky Boots, I thought it fairly forgettable, aside from the conveyor belt choreography. On the other hand, I went into Matilda knowing very little about Tim Minchin and I was blown away. His music and lyrics were simply brilliant and I became an instant fan.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/21/19 at 9:31am

I still believe that Matilda lost at least a few votes for Score due to the bad sound design. I know for sure that at least a couple voters said they couldn’t understand the show due to how muddy it sounded in the theatre (a complaint that has plagued the show from the start) and I’m sure they weren’t alone in that regard.

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 3/21/19 at 6:00pm

Kad said: "Looking back at the articles from 2004, it seems like it's easy to forget that though Wicked was considered the favorite, Idina Menzel was not the favorite to win to Best Actress. And that Assassins, which ended up being the most awarded show that year, was not the favorite to do so well, either."

I was gonna bring this up as well. Donna Murphy was the favorite all season long and as I recall won all the awards of the season leading up to Tony's night. So.... one has to wonder it the Idina win could be possibly drawn back to the Avenue Q campaign as well as a side effect. If some voters decided to vote for Avenue Q because of the influence they were exposed to BUT still wanted to give Wicked SOMETHING, they might have voted for Idina when they might not have otherwise to give Wicked some credit.

[The8re phan]

Posted: 3/21/19 at 7:11pm

the original production of Miss Saigon losing Best Musical to The Will Rogers Follies

Updated On: 3/21/19 at 07:11 PM

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 3/22/19 at 12:18am

In Saturday Night Fever, when Tony’s friend, Bobby, slips and falls to his death from Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

[Soaring29]

Posted: 5/6/19 at 10:05pm

Was Avenue Q favored to beat Wicked in both the book and score categories? I've seen predictions from back then predicting a split between them for the most part and it seems that odds were tipped in favor of Q winning book but Wicked winning Score?

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/6/19 at 10:22pm

darquegk said: "At the end of West Side Story, when Doc says that Maria is dead and Tony freaks out, that's probably the biggest Tony upset I've ever seen."

This made my day.

 

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 5/6/19 at 10:27pm

The8re phan said: "the original production of Miss Saigon losing Best Musical to The Will Rogers Follies"

Was that considered an upset at the time? SAIGON opened with a lot of controversy (about Jonathan Pryce being cast as the Engineer, though he still won the Tony) and some people felt it was overblown and weaker than other Cameron Mackintosh shows. Whereas WILL ROGERS was an all-American musical with a dream team of legendary people who had all won recent Tonys -- Tommy Tune, Cy Coleman, Comden & Green, and Peter Stone.

Updated On: 5/6/19 at 10:27 PM

[Here I Am]

Posted: 5/6/19 at 10:32pm

Pippin said: "Bernadette losing to Marissa is my biggest personal upset.

Close second goes to jersey boys winning over drowsy chaperone. "

YES! Both of these!!

[Music_Maker42]

Posted: 5/6/19 at 10:38pm

Jersey Boys over Drowsy Chaperone was an upset (Drowsy won book and score after all) and personally I thought Drowsy was absolutely brilliant.

[tomwsjr]

Posted: 5/7/19 at 12:19am

Um, I loved Passion

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 5/7/19 at 12:24am

LuPita2 said: "Tony Shalhoub winning over Joshua Henry. He hadone song that he spoke, what a joke. Joshua was the only good thing about Carousel (besides the choreography). His "Soliloquy" alone made him deserving. Laziest year for the American Theater Wing I have ever seen."

 

I saw both performances and Tony Shaloub deserved the award.

 

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 5/7/19 at 8:18am

Soaring29 said: "Was Avenue Q favored to beat Wicked in both the book and score categories? I've seen predictions from back then predicting a split between them for the most part and it seems that odds were tipped in favor of Q winning book but Wicked winning Score?"

I think it was actually closer to the opposite of that. Wicked was favored in both categories, but there was some thought that Q could win Score as a way to recognize the show (presuming that it wasn't going to win Musical). But Winnie Holtzman was heavily favored for Wicked's book, and if there was an upset, many people thought it would be Tony Kushner for Caroline or Change.

Updated On: 5/7/19 at 08:18 AM

[Wick3]

Posted: 5/7/19 at 8:37am

South Fl Marc said: "LuPita2 said: "Tony Shalhoub winning over Joshua Henry. He hadone song that he spoke, what a joke. Joshua was the only good thing about Carousel (besides the choreography). His "Soliloquy" alone made him deserving. Laziest year for the American Theater Wing I have ever seen."



I saw both performances and Tony Shaloub deserved the award."

I'm happy Tony won. However, the main reason I think a lot of people thought it was an upset is because no one was expecting him to win. If you watch any of the paul wontorek/broadwaycom or theater talk youtube videos on 2018 tony predictions, they mostly talked about Ethan Slater or Joshua Henry winning (it was rare to hear Shalhoub in the conversations.) Also, Tony only performed a handful of times in the month of May and I doubt all Tony voters got to even see him perform. Even Ben Brantley and Jesse Green from NY times both predicted Ethan Slater would win the Tony. 

 

Updated On: 5/7/19 at 08:37 AM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/7/19 at 9:10am

Wick3 said: "South Fl Marc said: "LuPita2 said: "Tony Shalhoub winning over Joshua Henry. He hadone song that he spoke, what a joke. Joshua was the only good thing about Carousel (besides the choreography). His "Soliloquy" alone made him deserving. Laziest year for the American Theater Wing I have ever seen."



I saw both performances and Tony Shaloub deserved the award."

I'm happy Tony won. However, the main reason I think a lot of people thought it was an upset is because no one was expecting him to him. If you watch any of the paul wontorek/broadwaycom or theater talk youtube videos on 2018 tony predictions, they mostly talked about Ethan Slater or Joshua Henry winning (it was rare to hear Shalhoub in the conversations.)Also, Tony only performed a handful of times in the month of May and I doubt all Tony voters got to even see him perform. Even Ben Brantley and Jesse Green from NY times both predicted Ethan Slater would win the Tony."

Many voters saw the show before Shalhoub left (very few productions wait until after nominations to begin offering invites to the voters, especially those that open in the fall) and those handful of performances he did in May were scheduled specifically to make those the performances that the remaining voters who had not seen the show yet were invited too.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 5/7/19 at 9:13am

"The look of shock on Lane's face and in his voice is indeed noticeable and he even does a kind of "Well how about that" raise of the eyebrow before the camera cuts to the audience. Even Sarah Jessica Parker's face is pretty "wait what" beside him as she looked at the winner's name before Lane did. You just see her kind of smiling through it https://youtu.be/ypf7DhKWgKs?t=88"

Just a question. Should it have been that much a shock to them since "Avenue Q" had already won  "Best Score" and "Best Book" earlier in the evening? 

[Wick3]

Posted: 5/7/19 at 9:27am

yankeefan7 said: ""The look of shock on Lane's face and in his voice is indeed noticeable and he even does a kind of "Well how about that" raise of the eyebrow before the camera cuts to the audience.Even Sarah Jessica Parker's face is pretty "wait what" beside him as she looked at the winner's name before Lane did. You just see her kind of smiling through ithttps://youtu.be/ypf7DhKWgKs?t=88"

Just a question. Should it have been that much a shock to them since "Avenue Q" had already won "Best Score" and "Best Book" earlier in the evening?"

Winning Best Score and Best Book doesn't usually guarantee a Best Musical win at that time. Just a few years before, Urinetown won Best Score and Best Book yet Thoroughly Modern Millie won Best Musical. 

A few years before that, Parade won Best Score and Best Book yet Fosse won Best Musical.