"The award for best musical to Sunny Afternoon has all the hallmarks of an imperial British snub of the two big American imports of Memphis and Beautiful. Despite winning the top prize, it would seem an enormous gamble for Broadway producers to bring this distinctly narrow British jukebox over to these shores."
While I agree that it would be a huge gamble on these shores, I don't know that it's necessarily a snub of America. Beautiful is vastly superior to Memphis in my opinion, and then it's another jukebox musical that would be battling Sunny Afternoon. In fact, for that reason alone, I thought Here Lies Love would take it. That said, as possibly the only person who didn't adore that show, I was pleased to see the one show I didn't know grab it.
Also, I love the Kinks. Also also, it won several awards, even where the revivals were eligible. So I think it was just generally well loved.