For those who have seen the original musicals this year

Many people are speculating who should and will win during the award season this year, but most have not seen many of the shows. Having seen Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Light in the Piazza, Dracula, Brooklyn, Chitty Chitty, The Frogs, and Spelling Bee, I have my picks, I'd love to hear from those who have actually seen most of the shows. I'm hoping to see Spamalot this week. Piazza is really worthy of all its OCC nominations. The performances are excellent and the show is beautiful. Of the shows I've seen so far, it is by far the best musical. I was very pleasantly surprised with Chitty Chitty, Jan Maxwell could very well walk with the award, she brings so much to the production. In my mind, the only sad omission from Spelling Bee is Deborah Craig. It is an entertaining show, but in no way (in my mind) could it ever be a best musical. Let me know what you think.

So I've now seen Spamalot and I was not impressed. If it were up to me, best musical and score would be between DRS and Light in the Piazza. Chitty will win for Sets. Norbert & Victoria Clark will win leading, and supporting is still a toss up, I think it's between Jan Maxwell and Kelly O'hara and the men's race is even tighter. Book could go to Spelling Bee, and choreography looks like a La Cage win. Any comments?

Updated On: 4/28/05 at 02:50 AM

The OCCA's don't include book and score...

I think most of the nominations are fair...there are a few here and there I would change around, but they're mostly consistant with my opinions. I, too, have seen all the original musicals so far this season (except ...Spelling Bee If I were to rate and rank them, they would go as follows:

(out of 4 stars)

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels ****
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang *** 1/2
Little Women ***
The Light in the Piazza ** 1/2
All Shook Up **
Spamalot * 1/2
The Frogs *
Dracula 1/2
Brooklyn 1/2
Good Vibrations --

REVIVALS:

Pacific Overtures *** 1/2
Sweet Charity ***
La Cage aux Folles 1/2

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That's really awesome Munk, with the omission of the ones I have not seen (that would be from Frogs down, unfortunatly I didn't find TDF until I joined this site)
I think your list is exactly how I would rank these shows. Maybe bumping Spamalot down to 1/2.
I have tickets to Spelling Bee in May!

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I think Spamalot will win too, and I'm alright with that only because I try not to let awards bother me.
It was one of the few times I was actually bored and disappointed in a theatre though.

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To me, the only two shows that should really be in competition for Best New Musical this year are DIRTY ROTTEN..., and PIAZZA. I thought SPELLING BEE was hilarious, but to be honest I thought the score was the shows one weak point. It had some very nice songs in it, but after hearing the lush and gorgeous PIAZZA score, there's really no debate in my mind that it was the best of the year.

As for Actress in a musical, I would still go with Sheri Rene Scott who I think definately still has a chance. Actor is almost guaranteed to go to Norbert as well. Supporting Actress in a Musical is a tough race, but I have to go with Kelli O'Hara, who will most certanly be put in that catagory instead of into Leading, where she belongs. I'm still saying Kudisch for Supporting Actor. But I'm biased.

Book should go to SPELLING BEE or DRS and as I said before, Score needs to be awarded to PIAZZA today. There's really no need to wait until June.

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i would argue that DRS has a killer cast too!! now, even though i haven't seen the others nominated, i think it should win something. norbert's performance itself was award-worthy.

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bwaysinger, as I recall Hallelujah Baby was closed when it won Best Musical...can anyone verify that?

Alright, I got off my duff and looked it up. Yes, Hallelujah Baby closed in Jan after an 8-9 month run, and took the Best Musical Tony in 1968. http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=2940