Contact - 2000 Tonys

[TheSassySam]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 7:01pm

Hello!

I was watching the 2000 Tonys on YouTube and when I heard Contact won, I decided to search YouTube to find more clips of the show. It seemed the only promotion it did was its "Simply Irresistible" number. What was the appeal of the show to let it win the Tony for Best Musical?  Was it well-received by critics? I guess I just never see much about the show anymore, nor see any regional theaters put it on. 

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 7:03pm

It was simply a weak season. There was an array of mediocre shows. 

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 7:10pm

The Wild Party and Marie Christine were both more inventive, thrilling, and deserving of the award. Toni Collette was robbed.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 7:23pm

I'd be interested to see a regional production of CONTACT, but it's hard to remount a dance show. That being said, AIDA, WILD PARTY, and MARIE CHRISTINE are all personal favorites that were overshadowed.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 7:41pm

I LOVED Contact. I also greatly enjoyed Aida & The Wild Party. Tough season, but Contact was more original.

[PatrickDC]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 8:35pm

CONTACT was also the impetus for the Tonys creating the Special Theatrical Event award. 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 9:30pm

contact was not a musical and aida should have won in 2000

[BroadwayMan5]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 10:01pm

I think Aida should have won but at the very least, it should have been nominated. It was not a perfect show by any means, but it had beautiful music, some inventive designs, and some super strong performances from the leads

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 10:07pm

I may be in the minority, but Contact is one of my favorites of the 2000s. As a longtime dancer, I saw Contact as being the ultimate example of what good dance compositions try to do: tell a complete story with motion. The staging, music, and dialogue put together with the dance was such a great night of story telling to me.

The show is rarely staged regionally, but the individual sections are occasionally staged by colleges. I saw a great staging of "Did You Move?" a few years ago and was a background dancer in the second act piece titled "Contact" about a decade ago as a graduation piece that was staged by two original cast members.

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 11:09pm

I agree with BroadwayMan5: ''Aida'' should've won Best Musical.

But I think the Tony nominators were snobs to snub it because it was a Disney show. If it had been nominated for Best Musical, it might've won; the Tony voters were more receptive, awarding it 4 out of 5 nominations: Actress, Score, Scenery and Lighting.

I also thought Sherie Rene Scott should've won Featured Actress, but she didn't even get nominated! ... Happily, ''Aida'' found an audience, running for over 1,800 performances (which was more than the 4 Best Musical nominees - ''Contact,'' ''James Joyce's The Dead,'' ''Swing!'' and ''The Wild Party'' - put together).

Updated On: 5/22/17 at 11:09 PM

[Speed]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 11:38pm

Contact was awesome.  A completely original piece of theater directed/choreographed by Susan Stroman at her best.  There is no point in doing it without Stroman's choreography.  It is her creation.  It's not a book musical open up to other interpretations.  There was talk of a movie but it obviously didn't happen.  To answer the OP 's question, Ben Brantley raved.  One of the most positive reviews I've ever read.

[Speed]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 11:39pm

Contact was awesome.  A completely original piece of theater directed/choreographed by Susan Stroman at her best.  There is no point in doing it without Stroman's choreography.  It is her creation.  It's not a book musical open up to other interpretations.  There was talk of a movie but it obviously didn't happen.  To answer the OP 's question, Ben Brantley raved.  One of the most positive reviews I've ever read.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 11:59pm

I found Contact to be one of the most boring things I've ever seen. I couldn't wait for it to end. 

My favorite musical of that season was Aida, as others have mentioned. A far from perfect show, but it was at times thrilling. And I think it's the best theatrical score Elton John has written to date (yes, far better than Billy Elliott). 

[blaxx]

Posted: 5/23/17 at 2:32am

I can't stand when live performance lovers can't take things that are outside a traditional structure. Contact was an amazing experience with music.The fact that it didn't follow its structure traditionally and by the numbers doesn't make it a non-musical. There were three distinct stories told through music, all awesome in their own way. That is a musical, and it rightly won. It would have done well regardless of the season.


I'm grateful that there are artists willing to push the envelope, mix disciplines and be ahead of their games. Those who claim Contact wasn't a musical sound like bitchy grannies who won't accept anything new.

Funny that no one bitches about Fosse, which won the year before. At least Contact was not just a musical revue. 

 

Updated On: 5/23/17 at 02:32 AM

[AC126748]

Posted: 5/23/17 at 8:35am

James Joyce's The Dead, while not perfect, was the best musical on Broadway that season. It's a crime the original cast was never recorded.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 5/23/17 at 4:23pm

Being bored by CONTACT (as I was) had nothing to do with rejecting a radical new form of musical theater, and everything to do with being faced with cliched characters moving through cliched scenarios that never engaged me enough to care about their stories. For me it was worse than a review like FOSSE, which at least could hook me with the great lyric wordplay and historical interest. Give me the imperfect thrills of THE WILD PARTY and AIDA any day, both of which grabbed me by the heart.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 5/23/17 at 4:52pm

The Wild Party and James Joyce's The Dead were both better than Contact, which really wasn't a "musical." 

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/23/17 at 5:04pm

I'm amazed at the number of posters who've apparently seen The Wild Party and James Joyce's The Dead, which ran for 68 and 120 performances respectively. 

 

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 5/23/17 at 5:09pm

adamgreer said: "I'm amazed at the number of posters who've apparently seen The Wild Party and James Joyce's The Dead, which ran for 68 and 120 performances respectively. 

 What a ridiculous statement.

 

[AC126748]

Posted: 5/23/17 at 5:36pm

adamgreer said: "I'm amazed at the number of posters who've apparently seen The Wild Party and James Joyce's The Dead, which ran for 68 and 120 performances respectively. 

 

 

"

Not everyone on this board was born in 2003. I saw all four of the best musical nominees that year. Plus AIDA and MARIE CHRISTINE. 

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/23/17 at 11:55pm

AIDA was robbed. It was obvious that the Nominating Committee had a bias against Disney. It could easily have won. It's a shame, as this was Disney's first attempt to bring a non-existing film property to the stage, and that should have been welcomed rather than sending the message that they were invading Broadway. AIDA was the third Disney show to exist on the Broadway boards with THE LION KING and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST dominating box office attendance. AIDA has flaws, but forgivable ones. What is good in the show is REALLY GOOD and what needs work in the show is serviceable. The REALLY GOOD certainly outweighs the bad.