Did Urinetown Deserve Best Musical?

[ji813]

Posted: 11/29/15 at 11:21pm

I think Urinetown deserved it since it pioneered modern satirical musicals. I think Urinetown is better than TMM and deserved best musical. What do you guys think?

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 11/29/15 at 11:36pm

That is rather subjective. Urinetown is a fun show with an enjoyable cast, but it had some great competition that year. Thoroughly Modern Millie had a great star, an with great sets, a fun score, amazing choreography, and was a very good production. Urinetown, while a great little musical was not quite as good of a production as TMM. Perhaps in another year it would have succeeded in taking the big prize, but not so much in the 2001-2002 season. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/29/15 at 11:47pm

Yes. Yes, it did.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 11/29/15 at 11:49pm

Please keep in mind that it was the first Tony Awards post-9/11. So at a time like that, I think voters really embraced Thoroughly Modern Millie for it's classic feel-good musical enjoyment that was also a love letter to New York City.

 

I think if we had that Thoroughly Modern Millie vs. Urinetown race now, Urinetown probably would've had a better chance of winning.

[massofmen]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 12:00am

It won best director best book and best music but lost the tony? #politics.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 12:16am

There was actually a really great thread a few months back on this very topic, really great insights if i recall correctly.

 

There was no real consensus though.

[ZellMorrowsPledge]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 12:18am

No, no it didn't. But Matilda did:)

[haterobics]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 12:50am

ZellMorrowsPledge said: "No, no it didn't. But Matilda did:)"

 

Pretty much sums it up. If you like the decision, it is correct. If you don't, they are morons driven by politics.

[theatreguy12]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 6:11am

Subjective question, indeed.

I tend to prefer more lavish, light-hearted, dance heavy musicals that bring to mind the flashy, classic musicals of the past.  Because of that I would normally lean toward a TMM.

But I also enjoy musicals with a message, as well. Those that might not be as dance-inclined, but instead focus on the music, and the message behind the music.    I was moved by Next to Normal.  I loved RENT.   I enjoyed Fun Home.  

That being said, Urinetown is the only musical I ever left at intermission.    It really did nothing for me.  

It's been a while since I've seen it though, so I can't pinpoint exactly what it was that I disliked about it.  But I was seeing it with three friends, and they felt the same way.  It just wasn't resonating with any of us.

It all depends on personal taste, and what moves you at a given time.  

 

[aj88]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 8:58am

I really need to revisit URINETOWN because I seem to recall going into that show with extremely high expectations and left feeling a little underwhelmed. MILLIE, on the other hand, surprised me. Sure, it isn't exactly an amazing show but it did succeed well at what it sought out to do...and it certainly did help with the timing of its opening with what was going on in NYC.

I do think if the race occurred in recent years that URINETOWN would take Best Musical, especially when shows like Gentleman's Guide and Fun Home were able to take down Beautiful and An American in Paris...although I still think MILLIE was a better show than either Beautiful or Paris.

[newintown]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 9:14am

"...it pioneered modern satirical musicals."

 

Kids are so cute. Urinetown  was an awfully good show, but it really didn't pioneer anything.

 

However, to answer your question, I would say yes. I found it to be a far more interesting show than Millie, which was perfectly entertaining, and operated on one semi-glittery superficial level throughout. I always felt that The Drowsy Chaperone was the musical that Millie should have been - something slightly more than just a cute singing/dancing light comedy in drop-waisted skirts.

[yfs]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 9:18am

The question of whether Urinetown is a better show than Millie is obviously subjective -- to me there's no contest between them. I could barely sit through Millie. But that's not the point. I think at the time it was generally believed that the voters from the touring world (the road) felt strongly that Millie would be an easy show to sell in their markets and Urinetown would not, and they probably voted almost unanimously for Millie. That is a much less powerful bloc today, which probably explains Fun Home beating American in Paris. The Tony Award itself  shouldn't be considered a general acclimation of excellence by experts -- it's a political and business affair (though not solely) and the winners and losers have, from time to time, been chosen based on matters other than quality. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 9:36am

Oh Matilda deserved the tony no doubt.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 9:40am

It also seemed that because Broadway was struggling for so long, Tony voters really embraced the commercial juggernauts because they knew those shows would keep Broadway alive.

 

La Cage aux Folles>Sunday in the Park with George
The Phantom of the Opera>Into the Woods
Crazy for You>Falsettos
The Lion King>Ragtime
Thoroughly Modern Millie>Urinetown
Monty Python's Spamalot>The Light in the Piazza
Jersey Boys>The Drowsy Chaperone
In the Heights>Passing Strange
Memphis>Fela!

 

But since Broadway has become the #1 tourist attraction in New York City, voters have lately been voting for shows that weren't the most commercially viable. Probably because they knew the bigger hits were going to do just fine without the Tony.

 

Once>Newsies
A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder>Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Fun Home>An American in Paris

[Kad]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 11:19am

While Urinetown didn't pioneer anything, I think a case can be argued that it is the bellwether for the modern, extremely self-aware musical, which is the prevailing style for musical comedy on Broadway.

[undercoveractor]

Posted: 12/1/15 at 7:18pm

I think that it did. I really disliked the first act of TMM, but found Act 2 entertaining....and Sutton Foster genuinely deserved to be the talk of the town. It was a star-making performance and the standing ovation after 'Gimme, Gimme' was earned as opposed to encouraged.

My Best Musical vote would have gone to the more original,far more clever URINETOWN

[woeisme3]

Posted: 12/1/15 at 7:55pm

I think Millie was seen as a very old-school return to the style of old musicals, as opposed to commercial juggernauts now like Newsies and Beautiful. I think it was a hard race, and I understand why they gave Millie Best Musical. I do think something winning book, score, and direction but not musical is silly, but I would've kept book/direction to Urinetown and given Millie score.