Can Billy Elliot still claim they are a Tony Award Winner? Can N2N steal back the prize?

[binau]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 2:15am

Obviously I am joking but I feel kind of annoyed that Billy Elliot will claim its show is a Tony Award winner still after they make their obnoxious changes, when it wasn't *this* show that won the prize.

N2N should have won those awards in the first place.

Yay for bitterness :P.

[winston89]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 2:23am

Well, with that logic can Les Miserables still claim that they are a Tony Award winning best musical? After all, just like Billy Elliot, there were cuts made to the show after it won the award. And, surly, the cut and edited version was not the version that won the show the Tony.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 2:23am

I love Billy Elliot, but I did not like the changes for the tour, and I'm pretty irked that they are implementing them on Broadway. The profanity is relevant to the story in that it reflects the tension and severity of the situation at hand. Solidarity felt "dumbed down" without it there.

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 2:26am

Lord knows they didn't deserve it to begin with.

[gypsy4]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 2:29am

Look at all the changes mad for The Lion King.

[steven22]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 2:41am

After seeing BOTH productions, NEXT TO NORMAL is far better.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 2:51am

Maybe there should be a rule that requires shows to forfeit their best musical tony should they decide to make changes to the show after the win.

[TheHappyPhantom]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 4:01am

Next to Normal is absolute CRAP! It's horribly written and anyone who falls for its cliche, generic fodder knows nothing about theatre. There, I said it. Billy is FAR superior and deserved every award it got, with or without cussing.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 4:16am

And Billy Elliot AVOIDS being cliche and generic? Bwahahaha. It was one of the most manipulative things I'd ever seen. Cue ghost of his dead mum.

You are entitled to your own opinion sir, but please do so without crapping on others' opinions.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 6:21am

CATS cut the whole "flash back" scene on the pirate ship with Gus the Theatre Cat, after they opened.

"The Mystery of Edwin Drood" changed their name to "Drood" after it opened.

People "tinker" with shows while they're running, even Tony-winners.

[After Eight]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 7:36am

"Next to Normal is absolute CRAP! It's horribly written and anyone who falls for its cliche, generic fodder knows nothing about theatre. There, I said it."

Considering your propensity for denigrating other people's intelligence and knowledge, and seeing how little you have evidenced of either in your short time here, I would say you might do both yourself and us a favor by not "saying it." Try to satisfy your cravings for putting down others by just "thinking it," though I know it will be hard.

[Patronus]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 8:06am

I think every show should lose the right to call itself a Tony Winner once a member of original company changes the way a line is delivered, leave the performance or ages in any way.

[mikey2573]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 9:54am

N2N was a Lifetime made for TV movie put to music. It was dull and unmoving and I was able to figure out the plot twist long before it was revealed.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 10:21am

Obama hasn't done half the shlt he campaigned on. Can we still call him the president?

[kdogg36]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 11:39am

It was dull and unmoving and I was able to figure out the plot twist long before it was revealed.

People seem to make a big deal of the "plot twist" (assuming you're talking about what's revealed in the first-act birthday cake scene), but given how early it is in the show, it seems clear that the creators didn't feel there was a lot riding on it. I had kind of figured it out just from watching videos on the show's website before it even opened, but that didn't stop me from finding the show moving and effective.

Incidentally, in Finishing the Hat Sondheim discusses the fact that lots of people figure out who the Beggar Woman is in Sweeney Todd long before they're meant to. He concludes it doesn't matter a lot, and I think he's right.

[TheHappyPhantom]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 1:38pm

"N2N was a Lifetime made for TV movie put to music. It was dull and unmoving and I was able to figure out the plot twist long before it was revealed."

Definitely. Utter crap that a general audience is buying into, but I'm shocked how many theatre people are even remotely impressed with it. Especially the amateurish song that don't rhyme 90% of the time, aren't personalized to the characters, use every cliche in the book and can barely be distinguished from one another. Granted Elton John's music isn't the strongest part of Billy, but the book blows the hell out of any moment in Next to Normal. It was like something out of a college writing course.

[eman02]

Posted: 9/5/11 at 8:44am

Both Next to Normal and Billy Elliot were they greatest theater experiences I ever had. There different stories, it's sort of unfair to compare them.

Everyone who hates either has no taste and can go back to watching the the horrible shows taking up theater space on Broadway.