Michael Riedel's Views on the Tony Awards — Page 4

Ok, let me end this whole argument right here.

The award for Best Musical does not actually reward the "best" musical. It rewards the best musical that is most marketable and will potentially make money for those same voters. Money makes the world go round...

It would be interesting to see how many Tony voters are direct investors in each show.

I haven't laughed that hard since Sue busted out in Survivor.

So if Passing Strange is a snake, In the Heights is the rat that eats the snake.

The award for Best Musical does not actually reward the "best" musical. It rewards the best musical that is most marketable and will potentially make money for those same voters.

Right. Because Passion was such a cash cow compared to Beauty and the Beast. And let's not forget the hugely marketable Raisin, Two Gentlemen of Verona and Nine. And I can't tell you how tired I am about the endless productions of Applause, Hallelujah Baby and Redhead I keep seeing! If the Tonys have always been about money, Grease, Hair, Miss Saigon, Whorehouse, Joseph and Smokey Joe's Cafe would have all won Best Musical.

Sometimes my choice for Best Musical doesn't win but that is probably due to the fact that the Tony voters are made up of a group of people who aren't me. If I was the only Tony voter, then yes, I would be really surprised if my favorite didn't win. Otherwise, the winner of Best Musical has absolutely nothing to do with want we want to win or not win and the Tony voters can vote however they see fit. If you can't deal with it, then you just need to learn how to live with being unhappy for the rest of your life. Or at least during the years the Tony voters don't choose every single one of your choices. Well, same thing, probably.

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Michael Riedel is such a twat.

I'll issue a clarifying statement.

The show has to be fairly decent as well in addition to being marketable.

Last year Spring Awakening received reviews far and away better than any other show and deservedly won. There would be no justification for the voters to have given the prize to a different show.

This year PS received the best reviews and deservedly so, but because it's not as mainstream ($$$$) as the less critically acclaimed ITH (decently reviewed show), voters opted for the latter.

Could someone point me to something that shows Stew when he is being supposedly "too cool for musical theatre"? I haven't seen that yet. (Note: I haven't seen the Tonys, hopefully will soon.)

I was a little rubbed the wrong way when Stew announced something along the lines of "it's too f***ing early for this!" at the end of his number during the Tony dress rehearsal yesterday. Yes, complain about actual stuff to complain about during rehearsals (see LuPone, Patti during this same rehearsals), but complaining about the time of morning that you are rehearsing to perform on the freaking Tony awards did feel a little 'too cool for all this.'

and back to the Riedel article, was anyone else bothered by this-

"Passing Strange" began life in the downtown rock clubs and first came to the attention of Broadway producers at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater.

"In the Heights" began life at Wesleyan, its creators' alma mater.

Um, ok, so what- because he started writing it at Wesleyan that makes Miranda less capable of writing for/about Latino people? He should have been sitting in Washington Heights while writing the entire thing, over the past how many years? There's just something really off-putting about this juxtaposition of sentences to me, I was wondering if anyone else felt the same.

I've seen both shows and consider myself a pretty openminded theatre goer.

I really liked Passing Strange a few weeks after seeing the show and thinking about the story. I also downloaded the 4 songs that were available and jammed to those for a couple of weeks.

I saw In the Heights and wasn't overly impressed. I liked the music and thought the dancing was fabulous, but that is about it.

I really thought I liked PS much more than In the Heights until the original recordings were released. Then I listened to both shows, and I realized I only like certain songs and parts of Passing Strange.

I think that the voters got it exactly right - PS has the best book. There are some really interesting phrases and stories in this show. However, the In the Heights is a better overall show - the set, the dancing, the music are all superior.

I'm never for the mainstream, and I actually dislike mainstream. However, this is a high quality mainstream show. And the themes are timeless and can appeal to everyone -especially a neglected (and possibly a large) demographic.

And what did Patti complain about during rehearsal? - I've got to hear this!

ETA - Stew's behavior with the glasses was just tacky and kinda made me glad that I chose a second viewing of ITH for my next trip.

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Updated On: 6/16/08 at 05:57 PM

I love that Reidel calls ITH's win an upset when even my GRANDMA predicted that it would win. Can we direct one big BWW eye roll in his direction?

I wasn't amused with any of Stew's antics at the Tony awards. He came off as very pretentious and disrespectful. I'm really glad PS didn't win Best Musical, especially after reading this article.

It is like he is saying ITH shouldn't have won because it wasn't the most off-beat, quirky show this season. I don't know about you, but I like my musicals to carry timeless themes.

I bet Reidel is reading this right now just loving himself.

While i rarely agree with Reidels comments and judgements i think he nailed this one on the head !

mistermatt, obviously you're not reading my posts. I said the show has to be somewhat decently reviewed.

barcelona20 - You're obviously not reading your own posts because this is what you said:

"The show has to be fairly decent as well in addition to being marketable."

I'm surprised you still haven't noticed to correct it.

Your "clarifying statement" did not mention anything about reviews, so my reply was in direct response to your rather subjective qualifiers.

Sliced bread, the light bulb, computers, heart transplants, jazz, ice cream: all of these PALE in comparison with the wonder of PASSING STRANGE.

Except microwaves. Microwaves are still better than Passing Strange.

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Updated On: 6/17/08 at 10:29 AM

Roscoe, I think you are my new favorite poster on this board (well second, sorry, lizziecurry will never cease to amuse me)

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"who seem to dislike the conventions musical theatre that pretty much have defined it for years."

I'll give you that one, ONLY because Sheik has made very snarky comments about it in the past.

But Stew never has. If he did, you know they would be posted all over this board by the pathetic PS haters.