Only 2 Best Score Tony Nominees?

[Basely Tearful]

Posted: 11/4/09 at 6:11pm

Am I missing another show? Memphis and Addams Family have new scores. Fela!, Sinatra, American Idiot, Sondheim on Sondheim, and Million Dollar Quartet do not. Hope something else sneaks in.

Updated On: 11/4/09 at 06:11 PM

[Pgenre]

Posted: 11/4/09 at 6:13pm

SPIDERMAN.

It is STILL scheduled to start previews in Feb.

I still say there's a better chance for SPIDERMAN this season than AMERICAN IDIOT, though I wish CMIYC could sneak in and we'd finally have a wonderful, worthy new smash hit musical on Broadway this season.

Oh, and PUTTING IT TOGETHER was eligible for Best Score so I see no reason why SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM or even AMERICAN IDIOT (which has a song or two not on any of the Green Day albums) wouldn't be. I don't AGREE with it, but there it is.

P
Updated On: 11/4/09 at 06:13 PM

[Basely Tearful]

Posted: 11/4/09 at 6:16pm

Ah, yes, how could I forget Spiderman?

American Idiot is said to be waiting for a specific space. By all accounts it is happening.

Catch Me if You Can isn't happening this season. Neither is Minky's.

Is Lincoln Center aiming for Women on the Verge for the Spring?
Updated On: 11/4/09 at 06:16 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/4/09 at 6:47pm

Why in the world was PUTTING IT TOGETHER eligible for best score??????

[theatreguy]

Posted: 11/4/09 at 7:16pm

If Tommy can win the Tony for Best Score, I don't see why American Idiot shouldn't be eligible.

[DCS]

Posted: 11/4/09 at 7:27pm

I don't believe that Putting It Together was eligible for Best Score. In regards to Tommy, the Tony Admin committee ruled that since the Who had written the score intending it to eventually be a stage production, it was deemed eligible. That being the case, I suspect there will be a similar ruling regarding American Idiot. It's also way too early to be guessing what will be eligible since we have no idea what other musicals may be floating out there for a Spring opening -- a year ago, none of us would have predicted that Next To Normal would be coming in.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 11/4/09 at 7:33pm

Both PUTTING IT TOGETHER and THE FROGS were both deemed eligible by the Tony committee, though neither was nominated.

As we know, the TONYs never make ludicrous decisions... ::coughCONTACTcough::

P

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 11/4/09 at 7:40pm

"Million Dollar Quartet" can also be nominated.

Also, are we positive "Catch Me if You Can" won't happen this season?
Updated On: 11/4/09 at 07:40 PM

[Basely Tearful]

Posted: 11/4/09 at 8:53pm

The Tony committee wrote stricter rules after State Fair got a Best Score nomination. A certain percent of the score has to be brand new (written specifically for that production),

Isn't Quartet a jukebox musical?

Catch Me isn't happening this season. O'Brien and Mitchell are busy in London with Love Never Dies. It is aiming for the Fall of 2010 from everything I've heard.

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 11/4/09 at 9:40pm

My friend's step mom is in the ensemble for Catch Me, and it is apparently trying to book a theater for this Spring.

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 11/5/09 at 12:37pm

Unless the Tonys change their rules again (which wouldn't be unusual in this category), the score needs to be at least 50% new and written for the stage production. This is how 'Mary Poppins' was able to be Tony-eligible; Anthony Drewe and George Stiles wrote enough new songs and rewrote enough of the Sherman Brothers' original songs to be considered (even so, they didn't earn a nomination). More recently, Alan Menken and Glenn Slater wrote enough to supplement the original Howard Ashman-Menken score for 'The Little Mermaid' to be Tony-eligible (and they did get a nomination, over a wholly original score by John Bucchino, 'A Catered Affair').

Based on this current criteria, the only Original Score possibilities (so far) appear to be: 'The Addams Family,' 'Memphis' and 'Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark.'

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 11/5/09 at 12:41pm

But if the rules got so strict after State Fair, how did Lion King get nominated for Best Score?

[Fosse76]

Posted: 11/5/09 at 2:00pm

"But if the rules got so strict after State Fair, how did Lion King get nominated for Best Score?"

Half of it was a new score...and so boring I almost fell asleep three times.

[minicko88]

Posted: 11/5/09 at 2:05pm

They should just put Ragtime back in, because no doubt it would win again!

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 11/5/09 at 7:27pm

I'm guessing that the reason Putting it Together was eligible for the Tony was because they rewrote a lot of the lyrics to fit with the story and characters.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 11/6/09 at 3:21am

Are there any plays with original music? Jeanine Tesori was nominated for Twelfth Night in 1999. Or maybe some of the jukebox musicals rewrote 50% of the lyrics? Remember, the category is called "Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre."

~Steven

[dramamama611]

Posted: 11/6/09 at 5:57am

According to Riedel....Spiderman won't open in time to be eligible. He reported that it now wont' open until June/July.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 11/6/09 at 6:29am

"They should just put Ragtime back in, because no doubt it would win again!"


Ummmmm.

[LaCageAuxFollesFan]

Posted: 11/6/09 at 7:47am

Actually, Maury Yeston wrote the new score for THE ROYAL FAMILY, so there is a play with music. I thought his music added such a nice layer to this already great chestnut. It has heart, soul, and everything you'd want from a play that has music. If there are only 2 musicals eligible, I would fully hope Yeston receives a much deserved nod for this beautiful music.

Here's a link to a montage video of the play with one of Yeston's compositions being used.

http://mtc-nyc.org/current-season/theroyalfamily/reviews_video2.asp


Updated On: 11/6/09 at 07:47 AM

[Pgenre]

Posted: 11/6/09 at 1:23pm

Wow, it's always feast or famine for Yeston it seems... NINE in 1982 and (almost) his QUEEN OF BASIN STREET shortly thereafter, and then, what, 15 years til his next Broadway show, TITANIC, with DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY announced but falling to the wayside, and now 12 years later TRF within months of the film version of NINE with a bunch of new songs.

PHANTOM and IN THE BEGINNING are fine, but have no place on B-way... I wonder why he hasn't written more, or at least had more produced, with NINE and TITANIC both Best Musical Tony-winners?

P

P.S. GOYA and DECEMBER SONGS are best left on the albums, methinks.
Updated On: 11/6/09 at 01:23 PM

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 11/7/09 at 1:46am

Then I would say Yeston looks good for a nomination if nothing else comes up. He could have Oscar and Tony nominations in the same year.

~Steven

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 11/7/09 at 8:15pm

LaCageAuxFollesfan, you make a good case for Maury Yeston's music to 'The Royal Family.' It's rare when music from a play gets a Tony nomination, but if there are only two new musicals with original scores ('Memphis' and 'Addams Family'), they might include the work of a past Tony winner, like Yeston. But who would get the fourth slot? Looking thru recent Playbills:

'A Steady Rain' - Original music by Mark Bennett
'After Miss Julie' - Original music by David Van Tieghem
'Hamlet' - Original music by Adam Cork

Interestingly, all three of them also did the Sound Design for their respective shows. Cork got a Drama Desk nomination for his music to 'Frost/Nixon,' and Bennett won a Drama Desk Award for his music to 'The Coast of Utopia.'