As everyone who owns it knows, the "In the Heights" OBCR is beautifully written, sung, played, produced and packaged. While there were two (or three) other recordings which were Grammy-worthy this year, it is a thoroughly deserving choice. Congratulations to Lin-Manuel, Alex, Kurt and everyone!
As I noted in my series of articles for BWW a year ago (February of 2008 ), the Tony-winning Best Musical wins the Grammy Award about half the time. The current string of four straight shows getting the double ("Spamalot" through "ITH")has occurred only once before ("Annie" through "Evita").
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Best_Musical_Tony_vs_Grammy_Part_1_20080224 https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Best_Musical_Tony_vs_Grammy_Part_2_20080225 https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Best_Musical_Tony_vs_Grammy_Part_3_20080225 It also helps to have a Tony-winning leading female performance, the involvement of recording industry personalities, a 1970s African-American cast, a hit song or an innovative recording technique. (These are just statistical trends, not preferences, mind you.)
While it is fascinating that the only show that has won the Pulitzer, Tony and Grammy for its original production is "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," the weirdest thing I noted in these articles is that every Broadway production of "Gypsy" has produced either a Tony-winning star performance or a Grammy-winning cast album, but never both. Fittingly, this year continued that tradition. Angela, Tyne and Patti won Tonys, but Ethel's and Bernadette's recordings won Grammys. Go figure!
And to answer a question, the London recording of "Billy Elliot" was already eligible, so it cannot be nominated next year. Beside, no London cast album has ever won the Grammy, not even "The Phantom of the Opera." The category for 2009 seems wide open at this point. Let the speculation begin!
Updated On: 2/9/09 at 12:46 PM