Should 'Contact' Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Should 'Contact' Won The Tony For Best Musical?
#1Should 'Contact' Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/12/14 at 1:23pm
Updated On: 2/12/14 at 01:23 PM
#2Should 'Contact' Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/12/14 at 1:34pmIt already did, and the voters have chosen.
"When the audience comes in, it changes the temperature of what you've written." -Stephen Sondheim
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#2Should 'Contact' Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/12/14 at 1:47pm
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
BudFrump23
Broadway Star Joined: 5/20/03
#3Should 'Contact' Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/12/14 at 1:51pmDo you mean should "Contact" HAVE won?
I'm as jumpy as a virgin at a prison rodeo!
#4Should 'Contact' Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/12/14 at 1:51pm^Ha - I always wondered how one would spell that!
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
#5Should 'Contact' Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/12/14 at 2:06pmChita says no, so I guess the answer is no.
#6Should 'Contact' Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/12/14 at 3:10pmIt should have won best musical with no live orchestra.
bobs3
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/8/12
#7Should 'Contact' Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/12/14 at 3:41pm
James Joyce's The Dead (slow and boring -- it probably would have worked better as a straight play with music rather than a musical)
Swing! (ugh)
The Wild Party (dreadful despite a wonderful performance by Toni Collette)
Aida (not nominated and there was a Disney backlash that year)
Marie Christine (also not nominated with a good performance by Audra McDonald and an interesting although not outstanding score by Michael John LaChiusa)
So yes, CONTACT should have won.
Stevie72
Stand-by Joined: 1/19/14
#8Should 'Contact' Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/12/14 at 5:18pmWhy are we talking about this this happened in 2000.
#10Yes
Posted: 2/12/14 at 5:54pm
All discussion about whether it's a musical or not, aside (and I admit I have some issue there, although there aren't enough dance/performance pieces on Broadway to really justify their own category) I was cynical about Contact winning. Then I finally saw the PBS taped performance and was mostly blown away. So as much as I love Wild Party, it incredibly polarized people and I think Contact deserved to win.
LaChiusa should have gotten best score though--really for two incredible scores.
Stevie72
Stand-by Joined: 1/19/14
#12Yes
Posted: 2/12/14 at 10:40pmAIDA should have been nominated and won IMHO.
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
Liza's Headband
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/28/13
#17Should CONTACT Have Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/13/14 at 5:30amNo. CONTACT was not a musical, therefore it should not even have been nominated.
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dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#18Should CONTACT Have Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/13/14 at 5:41am
Put it was deemed eligible IN that category, so it is. Just like all the many changes the Tony Awards deems. Their awards, their perogative.
There are detractors every single year that disagree with the nominations AND the awards.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
chewy5000
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/09
#19Should CONTACT Have Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/13/14 at 5:43amIt was clearly the best, or at least most well received piece of 'theatre' at the time, and come award season, it won in the closest category. So yes.
#20Should CONTACT Have Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/13/14 at 6:28am
But it was deemed eligible IN that category, so it is. Just like all the many changes the Tony Awards deems. Their awards, their prerogative.
That doesn't mean they were guided by sense or logic, and just because it is their prerogative does not mean that they cannot be called on their mistakes. This was a major slip up on their part: the show should not have been deemed eligible in the category, as it was not a musical.
Musical Cyberspace | a tribute to the musicals of Broadway and beyond.
#21Should CONTACT Have Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/13/14 at 8:47amPersonally, AIDA should have been nominated, and won for Best Musical. But, it is because of this decision that the Tony committee created the "Special Theatrical Event" award, which was later discontinued. (IMO it should still be a category)
"Ok ok ok ok ok ok ok. Have you guys heard about fidget spinners!?" ~Patti LuPone
After Eight
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
#22Should CONTACT Have Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/13/14 at 8:57am
The Dead should have won for best musical and best score.
It had a number of beautiful songs. It's a shame no recording was made of the score.
Bryan, put this one at the top of your list.
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#23Should CONTACT Have Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/13/14 at 9:39am
When CONTACT premiered for a limited run at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre (the smaller "Off-Broadway" space at Lincoln Center), it was billed as "A Dance Play".
Then the reviews came in. Major critics called it "A Musical" Several called it "the best musical of the year." The NY Times review said it "...brings new life to the tired old genre of musical theatre."
Is a live orchestra the only criteria for a musical? What about shows like Fosse and Jerome Robbins' Broadway, which just re-mounted numbers from old shows? Not only no original score, but no new choreography, and in the case of JRB, no new sets or costumes. How are they "new musicals?" Aren't they really just revivals of sections of a bunch of different shows? It would be like giving "That's Entertainment" the Best Picture Oscar.
The folks at Lincoln Center decided it was a musical after all, and moved it upstairs to the Vivian Beaumont. I'm sure they didn't foresee it running nearly two years when the project started out.
#24Should CONTACT Have Won The Tony For Best Musical?
Posted: 2/13/14 at 9:47am
I love the idea that Chita is the arbiter of theatrical good taste.
Contact was a crowd pleaser, and it surprised no one that it won the award. It would go on to make money as a touring property, and the awards are largely about helping investors make the most money possible.
But it my opinion, it was a theatrical special event. It is bad enough having revues compete against original stories and scores, but pre-recorded dance pieces? It should have been lumped in with the one person shows and other oddities that make up the "special event" category that is trotted out every few years.
I liked The Dead, but it was not a show that will be remembered as a classic. I think The Wild Party could be, and certainly should be remembered. It is a dark show with a challenging score, but it really holds up over time. I was enthralled with the cast and production, and went back twice. Toni Collette was amazing.
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