Did the Tony's get it right? 1988- Page 2

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 11:27am

MAMMA MIA is still playing. PIAZZA is not. What's a better musical?

PLEASE.

[SweMozArt]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 11:36am

I haven't seen "Into the woods" or "Sarafina" so i can't have an opinion regarding whether an injustice was made that year. I haven't however heard a musical with as many musical styles and as many show stoppers as Chess. Not that every musical score should be versatile but it sure makes for a good evening of entertainment and it also describes well the differentiated world that we live in. Since my knowledge about musicals is limited, can you recommend a musical with the same characteristics?

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 11:37am

I am sure ITW got plenty of votes. I've said this before, Sondheim could write a show that appealed to the masses, but he won't and he would hide in shame if he ever did.

West Side Story
Gypsy
Company - 3rd time on Braodway
Sweeney - 2 revivals
Follies - 1 revival, 1 star studded concert and another on the way

Plenty of people see Sondheims work.

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 11:38am

"I haven't however heard a musical with as many musical styles and as many show stoppers as Chess."

Go pick up "Follies".

[SweMozArt]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 11:42am

How do you think the end result would be if Sondheim choose the subject and wrote the lyrics but Andrew Lloyd Webber or Benny Andersson composed the music?

[erikaamato]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 11:46am

For clarity's sake:

West Side Story - Music by Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Gypsy - Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

[ahmelie]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 11:47am

"I haven't however heard a musical with as many musical styles and as many show stoppers as Chess."

Go pick up "Follies".

Company as well, many different styles of music and you've got so many songs that stand out in your head.

I hate POTO. I love ITW. And I was apalled to learn that producers voted for the Tonys, that makes no sense to me at all, but I can't think of a better solution, so I can't complain.

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 11:47am

How do you think the end result would be if Sondheim choose the subject and wrote the lyrics but Andrew Lloyd Webber or Benny Andersson composed the music?

You mean if ALW didn't steal from other composers? Hmmmmmm I think it depends on what the show was about. If it were the webber of the 70's I would say it could be pretty great. I don't know about now though.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 11:56am

The Tonys are always political, but they are also a barometer of what was "exciting" during the actual season. Sure, INTO THE WOODS is the "better" musical, but you simply can't discount that when it opened, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA was the kind of big, bonafide Broadway phenom that hadn't been seen in decades; indeed has only been seen a few times in Broadway history. It would have been very difficult for voters to over look that.

Sure too: GRAND HOTEL, FOLLIES and THE SECRET GARDEN were all the best musicals of their respective season: but there is no denying that at the time, audiences preferred CITY OF ANGELS, TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, and WILL ROGERS FOLLIES (all of which are still quite good musicals).

As far as CHESS goes - it will never work on stage. I don't care how much tinkering they do to it. The Broadway staging was dull, drab and unfocused. Judy Kuhn's performance, however, as evidenced on the video at the Lincoln Center archives was extraordinary, particularly her final moment in the show where she is left devastated but resilient. She absolutely deserved her nomination.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 11:56am

I think ALW is sh*t without Rice, but if he worked with Sondheim... I don't know. I don't know his musicals just getting worse and worse is his fault or the lyricists he works well and he just doesn't make a team with anyone except Rice.

It'd be an interesting sight, but I enjoy Sondheim most when all alone.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 12:01pm

I adore POTO. I adore the music, sets, costumes, the story. I cried when it won. I remember that night and Michael & Sarah's performance vividly to this day. I love that it won and am proud to be a lifelong Phan

But...

INTO THE WOODS. The music, sets, costumes... The lessons you learn, the things you feel while watching it. It had a more "whole" package. It is certainly as visual and the music as lush- if not more- as PHANTOM. The story and characters journey's and face value of the evening has much, much more emotional depth and meaning...

I'm saying I would not have minded if ITW won

PS- Joanna won, though, and that was a happy time for me as well

PPS- Once again, Michael Bennett, you hit the nail on the head regarding Judy/CHESS. We/I can always count on you for informed, intelligent input and reviews.

Updated On: 10/19/06 at 12:01 PM

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 12:01pm

"Judy Kuhn's performance, however, as evidenced on the video at the Lincoln Center archives was extraordinary, particularly her final moment in the show where she is left devastated but resilient. She absolutely deserved her nomination."

I saw her. I hated her! However, i've never been a fan. She always makes that same sad face and whines when she sings.

[Jon]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 12:32pm

Everyone is forgetting Sondheim's most successful, mainstream show - A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM.

[SweMozArt]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 12:35pm

I second that you come with many intelligent and knowledgeable opinions on this board. However i think you are wrong regarding this matter. Chess has success written all over it if it would be revived today.

Have you seen any clips from the swedish version of chess? Even though i don't like the change of the story in this version (the action and consequently also the love affair takes place during four days)many of the scenes are very well designed by Robin Wagner. There were no stupid chess pieces and the sets were more lavish and beautiful than what they were on Broadway (have only seen bad video clips).

During endgame they had a huge mobile Ikea bookshelf with four floors and several sections on each floor which represented a chess board turned on the side. In each hole their was a member of the choir singing and looking down on the two players.

During mountain duet and the first version of You and I they had two trapeze artists (one man and one woman) who were doing a dangerous and sensual number up in the air choreographed to the music.

Before Nobody's side there is now an added choir piece sung in hungarian. It is showing Florence's memory of the hungarian revolt. You see a tank on stage and people being thrown aboard trucks. A little girl who is separated from her father. In the air they had white sheets with black and white video projections showing pictures from the real revolt.

Ok just three examples of scenes with more drama in them than in earlier productions.




Updated On: 10/19/06 at 12:35 PM

[PitPro2004]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 12:40pm

Well said Eponine. I am also a lifetime Phantom Phan, but I ADORE ITW, and finally got to play it last summer!

Thank heavens Sondheim doesn't write for the masses!

As for Chess, I happen to love that show too. Okay, maybe it won't work as a stage production (a movie perhaps with amazing locations and cinematography?) but I can't help but get caught up in it everytime I hear Pity The Child or the finale.

As for producers, I don't think they should have any involvement in the Tony process at all. Leave it to the artistic people to champion their peers. Producers only know $$ signs and that's it. Perfect example? The Weisslers! They keep Broadway going, but they don't always keep it tasteful or artistic.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 12:47pm

I think the biggest upset that people always seem to miss is The Wild Party vs Marie Christine vs Aida vs Contact.

OK, because of the people who I have talked to who don't usually see Broadway shows but loved Contact - I can see how it one (not to open the IT'S NOT EVEN A MUSICAL! debate).

But for score!?

The fact alone that LaChiusa wrote two completey different pieces should have been a clue that one deserves. I like to believe he split the Tony voters due to this, leaving Aida with the win.

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 12:57pm

Judy Kuhn is like Patti Lupone. She is always playing herself. She was no different in "Chess" than she was in "Les Mis".

[SweMozArt]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 1:08pm

I think Judy Kuhn does a good rendition of heaven help my heart but she is not in the A+ league overall. I think she has a somewhat disturbing vibrato which makes it sound like if she has stomach problems. I'm not saying that she is bad or anything, she is very good, but she doesn't belong in the highest league. At least not from what i have heard.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 1:09pm

And who pray tell is in the "highest league?" Talk about subjective...

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 1:10pm

If Chess came back to broadway with Emma Kershaw I would go see it.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 1:10pm

Kuhn has one of the best ranges and most beautiful voices to grace broadway in the last 20 years.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 1:13pm

"I haven't however heard a musical with as many musical styles and as many show stoppers as Chess."

"Go pick up "Follies"."

Also check out JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT.

[SweMozArt]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 1:18pm

"And who pray tell is in the "highest league?" Talk about subjective..."

Well one of my requirements is that i don't want to feel slightly sea sick when i hear someone sing and i think judy kuhns vibrato has that effect on me. She is a good singer, beautiful and seems to be an adorable person but she is not in the highest league if i am the judge.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 1:25pm

Go pick up "Follies".

No thanks. Not a fan.

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/19/06 at 1:28pm

Also check out JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT.

But only if you're looking to take a nap. =)