Is THE BAND’S VISIT getting the Tony for Best Musical? — Page 2

Yes and it has been the favorite since the start of the new season. Those calling TBV boring are the same people that called ONCE boring! I LOVED both!

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Haven't there been several years where when a big popular commercial thing was up against an "intellectual" musical, they gave best book and score to the "intellectual" show but best musical time the commercial? That's what I'm hoping for anyway. Anything that causes people to defend it by resorting to "if you didn't like it you're just stupid", as done in this thread, is elitist trash. And elitism is pure evil that must be destroyed. Broadway for the masses forever!

I don't think the people behind The Band's Visit intended the show to not be for the general public either. It's not like they got together and said "let's make an elitist musical that only appeals to self-identified 'intellectuals'." So there's no need to root against it because you find it to not be theatre for the masses. Arguably, any show that makes it to Broadway is HOPING and dreaming that it is a hit with the masses. It is a commercial venture after all and putting on a show ain't cheap no matter if it's cheaper than other shows that provide more spectacle.

I agree with you ChildofEarth, but I'm speaking of some very specific criticisms that I've heard about the show. It's fair to say that you understand it and just didn't enjoy it, but most of the criticisms that I'm hearing are about how the show is just boring or that nothing happens. I think this is a BS reason to not like the show. The show is not any more boring than any of the plays on Broadway and tons of things happen. The characters reveal a lot about themselves and they work through lots of high emotions. You not liking the show is not on the show. It's on you. You chose to shut down and shut the show out because those of us that engaged with the show and watched it, loved it. I'm also not saying that the people who don't like it are stupid or shallow, I'm just saying that modern musical theatre audiences have a tendency to shut their brains off before a show. For some shows you can do that and for others you can't. There's a tendency to just lounge in your chair and let it wash over you and then you act like it's an inconvenience when it doesn't do so. You paid the money to see a show. Sit up and watch it.

Updated On: 5/10/18 at 04:24 PM

Dramamama - you are right. I did over-react and I apologize for that. I've deleted the original autistic outburst, and I apologize to GeorgeAndDot for it possibly being too personal. It just really makes me furious when I see statements that imply that certain works are inherently superior and anyone who dislikes them are intellectually inferior. As stated, I've known too many other people who have personally just dismissed me as the r-word just because I didn't like certain shows, and it's perhaps left a grudge.

I personally disagree that fun, commercial works aren't worthy of awards. I consider both types of shows worthy. The ultimate goal is enjoyment, so the show that creates the most enjoyment deserves the award. Of course, that's just my opinion.

BroadwayRox3588 said: "BroadwayConcierge said: "SpongeBob is great theatrically, but devoid of a substantive plot (and has a very disjointed score)."

Huh? While I do agree thatThe Band's Visitis a near sure bet for Best Musical, we must've been watching two completely different shows."

Do you disagree that SpongeBob has a thin plot and a disjointed score? Don't get me wrong, I loved SpongeBob and thought it was fabulous fun. But the plot is pretty predictable (and most of the show is just character vignettes rather than plot development), and the score, while filled with individually excellent songs, sounds very disjointed during a single sit-down evening of theatre—at least I thought it was very clear that 40 different people wrote each song. Again, a truly fun show and theatrically imaginative, but in terms of a cohesive, substantive musical, I think it is lacking.

Robbie2 said: "Yes and it has been the favorite since the start of the new season. Those calling TBV boring are the same people that called ONCE boring! I LOVED both!"

I actually loved Once, but could not stand TBV...I don't need flash and spectacle, I have seen plenty of small intimate musicals that I have enjoyed very much, sadly TBV wasn't one of them

Ah, ok. That's fair. I still disagree personally on this respect only because I think Spongebob is good enough to warrant awards, and may possibly trigger that split that's happened before. I can see how some might think otherwise though.

The vibe I got, which I enjoyed 90% of the time, was that it felt like a play with music, as opposed to a “musical”

poisonivy2 said: "It'll win but not because it's great. It'll win because this has been an incredibly weak year for new musicals. It wouldn't have stood a shot against Hamilton/DEH/Fun Home."

Um, exactly? All three of those shows were in different years. If it was a race between the four shows you're talking about, only one would have won. Lol.

poisonivy2 said: "No I'm saying had it been nominated in 2016 against Hamilton it would have lost easily to Hamilton. In 2015 it would have lost to Fun Home. In 2017 to DEH. It's only "great" because this year the new musicals are so meh."

I think it could've definitely had a shot against Dear Evan Hansen and Fun Home.

poisonivy2 said: "No way. Both Fun Home and DEH packed an emotional wallop the way TBV just didn't. I liked David Yazbeck's score andKatrina Lenk and I enjoyed some of the humor but it was just a pleasant way to spend an evening and nothing more."

Ah, the beautiful subjectivity of art The Band's Visit packed more of an emotional wallop for me than DEH and Fun Home. I think it's a far superior work than the latter two—but we're disagreeing over meaningless hypotheticals!