Questions

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.

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^Spelling Bee, Avenue Q.

But nothing, besides Drowsy, this season is original.

IN MY LIFE was original.

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..

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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.

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