Could N2N be this year's AVENUE Q?- Page 2

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 1:23pm

What did Avenue Q do to campaign? Some how I don't remember this...

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 1:32pm

The campaign was called "Vote Your Heart."

They sent out campaign packages to voters including posters with artwork parodying the other musicals that were running that season.

Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx also composed a song entitled "Vote Your Heart," sung by the entire cast, about why they felt they should win Best Musical. Those CDs were also included in the campaign packages.

[steven22]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 1:35pm

Q has been running for many years (2003)

lets hope N2N has a similar run

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 1:38pm

I don't get the hate for Billy Elliot. I don't know, maybe I was drawn to it. I was so emotionally invest in that show. I love the haunting opening number, and the Three Kings number. I think the score is perfect for the show. I was bawling my eyes out during the show. Next to Normal is a great show, but I Just don't feel emotionally connected to it in any way. I didn't cry. I didn't even tear up, so I don't know. I think Billy Elliot should win. It's the big, flashy musical of the season, but it's also very artistic. They way it incorporates all the elements is beautiful. And I hope it wins best set as well.

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 1:41pm

I personally think "9 to 5" has the best score. Not to mention Dolly's name attached to it.

I have not seen "Next To Normal" but I really think "Billy Elliot" will take best musical because, as people have said it's been on fire for months.

I'm not too sure about best book...


But as for what people have been saying about past TONY awards, 2007 shocked me!

I thought it would be:
Best Musical: Curtains
Best Score: Curtains or Mary Poppins
Best Choreography: Legally Blonde
Best Book: Curtains

I was shocked with how "Spring Awakening" came out on top, especially for choreography.

Jumping up and down over synchronized jump roping? Really?
It still gets me to this day.

[heo1128]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 1:41pm

^Right, and some people have completely reverse feelings...invested in N2N and not connected with Billy at all.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 1:44pm

I wasn't into BILLY ELLIOT, either. I don't understand the hype. With the exception of the choreography, which was mostly spectacular, there wasn't much of a musical there. I much preferred Elton John's scores to AIDA and LESTAT. His score for BILLY ELLIOT wasn't distinctive enough to stand on its own. I found the book to be choppy, lacking flow.

Just when I thought I was going to walk away and say, "This was an OK musical," that encore happened. This musical wasn't about telling a story. It was about providing spectacle. I very much walked into the theatre wanting to LOVE it, and I couldn't have been more disappointed.

[snl89]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 1:47pm

I don't get the hate for Billy Elliot. I don't know, maybe I was drawn to it. I was so emotionally invest in that show. I love the haunting opening number, and the Three Kings number. I think the score is perfect for the show. I was bawling my eyes out during the show. Next to Normal is a great show, but I Just don't feel emotionally connected to it in any way. I didn't cry. I didn't even tear up, so I don't know. I think Billy Elliot should win. It's the big, flashy musical of the season, but it's also very artistic. They way it incorporates all the elements is beautiful. And I hope it wins best set as well.



See, again I haven't seen BE so I really can't comment on that, but I do know that there are very few shows I have ever been as emotionally invested in as I am with Next to Normal. Literally the ENTIRE second act for me was just... simultaneously gut wrenching and beautiful and ultimately uplifting.

I've always said, for me NtN is like going to a really really good therapy session. haha. It's a complete emotional roller coaster ride, and it's just really really easy to become invested in. For me at least.

I just can't imagine BE being MORE emotional than NtN

Updated On: 4/19/09 at 01:47 PM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 1:49pm

Are you kidding me? The story is killer. Who can't connect with it? Parents not being supportive of the different avenues you want to take in life? Who can't connect to that in some way? I thought it was so full of life and energy. I thought the dad was turning in an excellent performance, and the score worked perfectly. It wasn't this big, flashy score with lots of belting and tight harmonies (like N2N), it fit the scope of the show perfectly. The songs were simple. I just think it's a wonderful show. And while it does provide spectacle, it's not spectacle for spectacle's sake. Like Cats.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 1:51pm

Well, I wasn't into NEXT TO NORMAL, either.

I see BILLY ELLIOT as LION KING, and NEXT TO NORMAL as RAGTIME.

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 1:52pm

really, having a **** load of people come out in tutu's isn't spectacle for spectacle's sake?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 1:53pm

Thank you, ZONEACE.

[heo1128]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 1:55pm

And giant dresses? I did really like Billy Elliot, but when those came out I was a little bit WTF.

My problem with BE's score is that it could have been so much better, had Elton John not done it. It's just pop songs and ballads.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 3:19pm

"Are you kidding me? The story is killer. Who can't connect with it? Parents not being supportive of the different avenues you want to take in life? Who can't connect to that in some way? I thought it was so full of life and energy. I thought the dad was turning in an excellent performance, and the score worked perfectly. It wasn't this big, flashy score with lots of belting and tight harmonies (like N2N), it fit the scope of the show perfectly. The songs were simple. I just think it's a wonderful show. And while it does provide spectacle, it's not spectacle for spectacle's sake. Like Cats."


I honestly don't know how you can describe N2N's score as "big, flashy".

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 3:47pm

Thank you Wanna Be! I completely agree with you.

Not to say that I didn't enjoy Billy - I did. I thought it had its great moments. Especially in the 2nd act. But I left the show thinking "THAT is what everyone was raving about?!" The score is completely forgettable and I wasn't all that connected to the book. However, the choreography was DAZZLING and super creative. It left me breathless. I really wanted to love it overall, but I didn't. I seem to be in the very small minority. Oh well.

Now, I haven't seen Next to Normal yet so I can't comment, but I am in love with the recording! I'm in the process of planning a trip to NYC to see it before Tveit leaves in June.

[snl89]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 3:54pm

I honestly don't know how you can describe N2N's score as "big, flashy".


Yeah, really. I mean, it's pop/rock, so of course there are going to be those moments where it rocks out (I Am The One, for instance), but I wouldn't call that big and flashy. I'd just call it intense!

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 3:56pm

heo, I'm pretty sure Elton John was the only song writer who had the idea of turning it into a musical.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 4:03pm

There was no encore when I saw it during previews so I can't say much about that. I do think the book flows smoothly (even though the dad's sudden transformation is a bit lackluster). I thought the way the book so beautifully and significantly interpolated the miner's political struggle with Billy's more personal struggle (which has its own sort of universal struggles as well) was exactly what I like seeing in a show. The choreography and direction emphasize this tremendously. I think Elton John's score--if lacking at points, which happens to NEXT TO NORMAL as well--manages to capture the book's main points even if the score never truly matches the brilliance of the choreography, which sometimes I think is somewhat intentional or perhaps not completely relevant (I'm one of those people who think that without the Bennett choreography, DREAMGIRLS falls apart). It is my opinion (not trying to present it as a fact, MiracleElixir, thank you) that BILLY ELLIOT is a strong musical. Is it a crowd pleaser? Yes. I don't see anything wrong with that. However, I don't think its crowd-pleasing qualities sacrifice the beauty and pain of the story in ways that a show like CATS, LITTLE MERMAID, MARY POPPINS, et al do. And even if that ridiculous encore is in the show now, the actual show does not end in a happy-go-lucky note.
I'm just discouraging this sort of NEXT TO NORMAL = good artsy show, BILLY ELLIOT = bad corporate machine. Like I said I'd be completely fine with NEXT TO NORMAL winning the top prize (and it definitely deserves Best Score over BILLY ELLIOT), but to say that BILLY ELLIOT is less deserving because it's a crowd-pleaser seems a bit unfair to me.
And may I say that a lot of people bashing BILLY ELLIOT are big RENT supporters, a show that completely Disneyfies the HIV/AIDS experience.

[snl89]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 4:20pm

Oh I'm sure BE is really great! I've heard amazing things about it, and I've never been at all inclined to assume it's some "big corporate machine" type show like Little Mermaid or Shrek or anything.

But about the RENT comparison... may I ask how RENT Disneyfies the AIDS experience?? haha, I've just never thought of it like that at all. To me, what made RENT so incredible was the fact that it was completely raw and gritty and about as un-Disney as you can get in my book. It doesn't sugar coat or glorify anything. The RENT movie is maybe a little bit too pretty and perfected for my taste (although I still love it), but the stage show is anything but Disney for me.


But anyway yeah, I personally don't know enough about BE to comment, except to say that I very much want to see it, and hopefully will sometime soon. But I've just noticed that it seems like most people feel BE and NtN are of about equal quality, if not giving NtN the edge.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 5:00pm

My thoughts on why BE shouldn't win for best musical:

The STAR of the show is the amazing choreography. Regardless of who plays it. In all honesty, I do not want the boys even nominated. They are great dancers, but only adequate singers and actors. Any pathos we feel is simply manipulated by the story not the actors.

Most of the performances are lovely, but lovely isn't good enough.

And to whomever made the comments about:
Random tutu spectacles and dancing giant dresses -- my two favorite criticisms of the show.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 5:31pm

But as for what people have been saying about past TONY awards, 2007 shocked me!

I thought it would be:
Best Musical: Curtains
Best Score: Curtains or Mary Poppins
Best Choreography: Legally Blonde
Best Book: Curtains

You gotta be kidding.

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 5:32pm

They are not kidding. I think they are 8 years old. They like to predict nominees without seeing ANY of the shows.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 5:38pm

True. Although I've been wondering where the fans of ROA and 9 to 5 are lately. The ROA fans swore the show will win everything, even Best Musicals of Musicals.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 5:49pm

I think the question is, could N2N be this year's XANADU?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 5:55pm

XANADU was a jukebox musical. What makes NEXT TO NORMAL so unique and separate from BILLY ELLIOT and any other possible nominees is the fact that it is an original musical with an original book and score.