Let me give you all my thoughts on some of these 'controversial' Best Musical winners:
*The Phantom of the Opera-It being one of my all time favorite shows, I absolutely think it deserved to win. Into the Woods is a show I personally admire more than I actually like it. Not that I have problems with it, it's personally just not one of my favorites.
*The Lion King-A show I know a number of you just love to hate on, but please keep in mind that this was considered to be a huge artistic undertaking for Disney as they were just coming off of Beauty & the Beast, a hit that was criticized for being way too overproduced. Yet, (almost) everyone in the industry felt that every bit of hard work on The Lion King had paid off.
*Thoroughly Modern Millie-An old fashioned musical comedy which also happened to have been a love letter to New York City in the wake of 9/11?
*Avenue Q-There was that story about how the producers tried to gain some support from the road voters by announcing a national tour, but after winning it was revealed that they only made an exclusive deal with Las Vegas, which irritated a lot of voters. As much as I am a bigger fan of Wicked (another show I know a number of you love to hate on), I actually think Avenue Q did deserve to win for its relevance and originality.
*Billy Elliot-In the race between this and Next to Normal, Billy Elliot was so much more of a juggernaut. As someone who has seen both shows, I'm much more in favor of Billy Elliot as it is another one of my all time favorite shows.
*Kinky Boots-There was that story about how the Royal Shakespeare Company apparently pissed off a lot of theatre producers who literally went after Matilda with their best possible offers as an effort of bringing it to Broadway. But with that being said, I actually think Kinky Boots deserved to win for its heart and relevance.
*A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder-I haven't seen it (yet), but I do think it looks so overhyped. Of course, it opened in a very mild Broadway season (some shows were more well received than others).
Updated On: 8/24/15 at 11:52 PM