Questions

[bwayboi4life42]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 10:15am

Why have most people and critics narrowed the Best Musical category down to "Drowsy Chaperone" and "Jersey Boys?" Why have they exluded "Color Purple" and "Wedding Singer?" Personally, if we're going to narrow this down to two shows, I would narrow it down to "Drowsy Chaperone" and "Color Purple."

Also, I don't understand the appeal to "Jersey Boys," could somebody explain this to me.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:14am

The four musicals this year are so very, very different.

CHAPERONE is totally and completely original. Something Broadway needs desperately.

JERSEY BOYS has become somewhat of a sleeper hit seeing as how LENNON, ALL SHOOK UP and the Beach Boys shows all tanked. It is/was a surprize to see how well the show is doing and the quality of the performances and the show itself.

[Fabrizio2]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:34am

I pretty much agree with EponineAmneris...


TDC is a completely ORIGINAL musical...Original book and original music. Try and find at least two other musicals that arent based on anything and or don't use someone elses music.

[ILoveMyDictionary]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 12:14pm

^Spelling Bee, Avenue Q.

But nothing, besides Drowsy, this season is original.

[Fabrizio2]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 12:25pm

Yeah you are right about those two, but I was thinking in specific this season...

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 12:27pm

IN MY LIFE was original.

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 12:30pm

Yes, sadly, IN MY LIFE was an original musical.

I think Drowsy will win, but who knows, the road people might sway this one towards Jersey Boys...

[allofmylife]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 1:17pm

You may have touched the third rail here, asking what's so special about The Jersey Boys. There seems to be a small group of ultra-loyalists on this site, similar to the "I LLLLLOOOOOOVVVVEEE WICKED, IDINA IS A GOD" crowd. You might see a few flames over this.

Personally, I think it's strange to have an awards show that has as its main recognition a prize for best musical that can be won by a show that contains not a single note of music originally written for a musical. As a member of the Writer's Guild of America, I like our method of giving out awards. We have "best original" screenplay and "best adapted" screenplay.

Maybe, if there is going to continue to be a large number of "jukebox shows" (and producers love shows where they can just license the music and not have to deal with composers and lryicists) there should be a "Best Original" and "Best Adapted" musical. People say that then there would only be two or three shows in the running in each category but I believe the lure of another Tony would tempt more producers to fill the void..

[.LittleWing. 0224]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 1:24pm

maybe this is selfish but, besides the fact that i didn't really loooove jersy boys (i did like it, just didn't adore it like some on this board)... i think even without a TONY win, it will continue to do great at the box office. Whereas w/out a TONY win Drowsy (a far superior show in my book) will suffer after 8 or so months. With a win it still probably won't last longer than a year and a half at most... but cmon. spread the TONY love to drowsy!

[bwayboi4life42]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 2:43pm

allofmylife, I completely agree with you. I don't like musicals whose scores consist of songs from the songbooks of singers or bands and have a story put around them. That just doesn't appeal to me.

I also agree with everyone about Drowsy. I was glad to see a completely original show on Broadway, but I still don't think it's fair to already exclude Color Purple and Wedding Singer.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 5:15pm

And I agree with you both. If anyone cares to check, I have been utterly enthusiastic about Drowsy since the day a Broadway run was announced, not because I'm originally from Toronto (I am), not because I loved it in Los Angeles (I did), not because I used to work at Second City where most of the originators are from (I did) but because it is so fresh, so vital and so damn funny. Bob Martin truly is the best actor in a musical this year. And if Jersey Boys, a show without a single original song can be in therunning for best musical, then Bob Martin, who doesn't sing in the show deserves to be in his category as best actor. Good luck to Bob et tous les Canadiennes.