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Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

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#1

Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:24pm

If Assassins had transferred to Broadway in 1990, assuming it would have opened before the Tony deadline, how do you think it would have fared?

The nominees that year were:

Aspects of Love
City of Angels
Grand Hotel
Meet Me in St. Louis

with City of Angels taking the Best Musical prize. Any thoughts?

(This is what happens when I let my mind wander on the bus ride home.)
"You mean what was the best picture of the year or what did they pick as the best picture of the year?" - California Suite
#2

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:25pm

ASSASSINS would most likely have been nominated for Best Musical. But I think CITY OF ANGELS still would have won.

The score is brilliant - but Sondheim's score might have posed a threat to Cy's score.

Updated On: 7/27/07 at 08:25 PM

#3

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:27pm

City of Angels would have lost Best Musical to Assassins. Meet Me in St. Louis would not have been nominated. Sondheim and Weidman would have taken their respective prizes for Score and Book. I honestly believe that. Okay, maybe not book. But everything would have remained the same.
#6

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:49pm

Things wouldn't have changed much. Even if ASSASSINS had opened on Broadway, it would have still opened to an unreceptive audience, given the Cold War situation.

No, CITY OF ANGELS would have still taken the prize - especially for its book. There was no way the book was going to lose.
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#10

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:21pm

I think Assassins woulda won score and maybe an acting prize but that's pretty much it. Most critics (kinda unfairly) gave much of ANgels success to its book, not score, so it woulda kept that prize
#11

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:22pm

^ Many consider 'Angels' Coleman's best score.

I love Sondheim to death. But I don't think he would of beat Cy that year. He would have posed competition. But I personally prefer Cy's score.
#12

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:26pm

Angels isn't in my top three Coleman scores and Assassins is probably just outside my top three SOndheim scores so for me it has the edge--but I think you're right, it woulda been the main competiton *for sure*. I just think, from the critics at the time, that the score was severely underappreciated and even taken for granted and never got its props so I wouldn't have been too surprised if that woulda been the same at the Awards

E
#13

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:26pm

Ugh, CITY OF ANGELS is one of my least favorite Tony-winning scores. I know I'm in the minority here but I would have given the Best Score Tony to GRAND HOTEL over both CITY OF ANGELS and ASSASSINS.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#15

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:28pm

To be fair, I don't know the "Grand Hotel" score at all (just the famous quote about being in pictures), but I think Best Score would have been very close between "Assassins" and "City of Angels." A true toss-up. Like Joanna Gleason vs. Patti LuPone!
-Benjamin
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
#17

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:32pm

Well, LJay, SEESAW and SWEET CHARITY are two of my favorite Broadway scores so it really isn't anything against Mr.Coleman, I just passionately dislike the CITY OF ANGELS score.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#18

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/27/07 at 11:27pm

ASSASSINS played at Playwrights Horizons in January 1991 ... so IF it had transferred to Broadway it would NOT have been up against CITY OF ANGELS, GRAND HOTEL, MEET ME IN ST LOUIS and ASPECTS OF LOVE which were in the 1989/90 season.

If it opened on Broadway in the spring of 1991 it would have competed against MISS SAIGON, THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES, THE SECRET GARDEN and ONCE ON THIS ISLAND. (Season 1990/91.)

SO the question really is: Do you thing ASSASSINS would have beat WILL ROGERS FOLLIES to win Best Musical in 1991?

(And what lamebrain posted the question with ASSASSINS in the wrong season? Look at the opening dates in the CD booklets!!)

Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

#19

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/27/07 at 11:29pm

^In that case, I think "Assassins" would have replaced "Will Rogers" or "Once On This Island." If it replaced "Will Rogers," who the hell knows
-Benjamin
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
#20

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/27/07 at 11:32pm

Well, ASSASSINS is far superior to all of those shows, IMO. I more or less enjoy WILL ROGERS FOLLIES but I think it's not Coleman's best achievement and well, THE SECRET GARDEN is yet another one of my least favorite Broadway scores, I consider the cast recording to be a snooze-fest.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#21

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/28/07 at 12:15am

Oooohhhhh...

Well, in that case, ASSASSINS would have given the voters the perfect excuse to snub MISS SAIGON and not feel bad.
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#22

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/28/07 at 12:28am

Wow. I don't know why I posted 1990. I knew it was 1991, but for some reason posted 1990 and let the idea run like that. On the bus I even thought about Will Rogers Follies and Miss Saigon But, hell, my screwup was kinda fun.

(p.s. It really was just a simple mistake.)
"You mean what was the best picture of the year or what did they pick as the best picture of the year?" - California Suite
#23

re: Had Assassins transferred to Broadway in 1990...

Posted: 7/28/07 at 12:32am

Had Assassins competed against Miss Sagion, Will Rodgers, Secret Garden and Once on This Island, it wouldn't have been competing against Miss Saigon. It would have taken its spot and would have won Best Musical. I think so at least.

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