Should WICKED Have Won Best Musical Over AVENUE Q?

I recognize that this is a highly prickly topic, but I wasn't remotely in the theatre world in the 2004-ish era when this conversation was happening in realtime.

I've seen both shows. Many times. I love them both. A friend of mine just returned home from a New York trip after seeing both, and lamented to me that Wicked was "clearly" the superior production. Obviously, Avenue Q is now off-Broadway, so to say the productions are comparable would be incorrect, but I've been thinking about the question all day...  

Looking back from the lens of 2016 now, should Wicked have won the Tony Award for Best Musical over Avenue Q? Or was the award rightfully given? What about Best Score? Book?

Updated On: 12/8/16 at 04:02 PM

I love Wicked, but no. The right decision was made. Would we have gotten Mormon on Broadway had Avenue Q not won the Tony? Probably not.

Caroline, or Change

You might as well have just asked which show people like more, because you are not getting any answers that are any more intelligent than that. 

Just interested in the discourse, HogansHero!

Oh, I would love a Caroline, or Change revival in the near future. So many people on here write about the show with such passion and fondness, and I'm sad to not have had the experience of seeing a production of it. I'd love it to come back sometime soon.

God, I hate the word "discourse."

Avenue Q is a tighter and more cohesive show than Wicked, even if the jokes get stale the more you see it. Regardless, it deserved the win, and Caroline, or Change deserved it even more. 

Because it didn't make any money the first time?

It transferred because a group of people that I respect greatly for what they sometimes do felt it should be seen on Broadway. And I agree with many here that it did. But that production proved beyond any doubt that the show is not commercially viable, and the motivation to produce it once does not extend to producing it again. And there is no non-profit that would consider doing it.

if every person on here who has said it could be revived chips in a million dollars, I will produce it for free.

Assassins should have won - to hell with the classics rule.

I would say if Wicked was in another year it totally could've won.

 

Avenue Q is incredibly smartly written and I've never laughed harder in a musical ever. That being said I've always felt it would work even better as one act, and a little bit shorter.

longevity does not correlate to awards

I think we also need to consider that, in awards shows especially, "best" is totally subjective and open to interpretation--best can be best artistically, economically, politically, etc.