If Any Other Musical Were To Win The Pulitzer... — Page 2

The year in which they were eligible is beside the point. GREY GARDENS and CAROLINE OR CHANGE would be dull unimaginative and uninteresting showcases for divas in search of a Tony in any year, and neither was worth the space they took up in their respective theatres.

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Without a doubt, CAROLINE.

It's a much more complex and intricate piece of work than GREY GARDENS. There is no comparison, in my opinion. CAROLINE is a far better show than GREY GARDENS.

HOTT FEET, clearly.

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I think GREY GARDENS didn't win a Pulitzer at least partly because its author had recently won an equally undeserving Pulitzer for another wildly undeserving play, I AM MY OWN WIFE.

I wonder if the play's nearly verbatim lifting of much of the second act from the vastly superior film wasn't also a concern. If Doug Wright was going to get the Pulitzer again, wouldn't the Mayseles and the Beales themselves be deserving, since they came up with fully half the dialogue?

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Yeah, it is restructured all right, best. Wright takes a fascinating and moving and disturbing film and turned into an unfascinating, unmoving and undisturbing weepie of a show.

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Yeah, yeah, Roscoe. You lost me when you called CAROLINE, OR CHANGE unimaginative and uninteresting.

Besty, I very much agree with you re GREY GARDENS. The way Wright used the dialogue from the film and weaved it into a haunting, humorous, and creative storyline was fantastic. I would have been pleased if it had won a Pulitzer, but in that case I don't think it was as much of a travesty as when CAROLINE, OR CHANGE didn't even get nominated (I believe it was eligible for the year that ANNA IN THE TROPICS won).
CAROLINE, OR CHANGE is easily one of the most poignant and painfully real plays about America and American issues that are still incredibly relevant today. Tesori's music is truly brilliant and Tony Kushner proves that he is probably the best American playwright alive. His lyrics are poetry. I can't listen to "Lot's Wife" without getting chills, it's just perfection.

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Ray, honey. You lost me when you called CAROLINE OR CHANGE poignant and painfully. To you it was. To me it was a bore, a big uninteresting bore, complete with singing appliances. How imaginative. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

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Well, the qualifications are pretty loose, and can be disregarded if the judges decide to. The work should preferably address American themes. Accent on "preferably" rather than "must."

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Falsettos! Indeed! I'd take Rent's away and give it to Falsettos if I could.

Folks, just be patient. Roscoe has to post at least 1000 times his epic disdain for each particular great film or musical he despised. This too shall pass.

I'll add to the Falsettos love as well.

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Another vote for Caroline or Change. And it should have also won the Tony that year for Best Musical. The show just blew me away.

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Updated On: 9/22/08 at 05:45 PM

I think that "Oklahoma!" won an honorary Pulitzer in 1944. I think the reason it had to be honorary was because it wasn't eligible for a regular one, being an adaptation of a theatrical work. Does that sound right?

Falsettos for addressing such emotional and, at the time, fairly taboo topics with such wit, humor, and heart. In terms of musicals dealing with AIDS, give me Falsettos over RENT any day. In fact, I'd say give me Falsettos over many musicals.

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