Shows that should have won best musical? — Page 2

Follies is in my book the biggest mistake ever- there is no way Two Gentleman of Verona should have won.

I will forever be baffled as to how Contact won Best Musical. I pretty much feel the same way about Fosse.

For those who feel Nine should have lost to Dreamgirls, I have 10 or so good friends who saw both, and these people usually do not agree on ANYTHING, that being said they have all said that Tommy Tune's NINE was one of the few Musical Masterpieces they ever saw on a stage. I wish I had seen both myself, but that was just a bit before my theatre going days.

As much as I'm a Sunset fan, I'm kinda shocked that no one is harping about Smokey Joes...

Interesting to see so much support for Caroline, or Change! Did you guys all see the Broadway production or are you just basing your choice on the CD? I personally found the book and much of the score great, but found the show onstage rarely caught fire for me. Loved Tonya Pinkins (and Anika Noni Rose) but was left with a pretty cerebral experience rather than a visceral one.

Updated On: 6/4/11 at 11:15 AM

I'll put a word in Ain't Misbehavin's behalf over On the Twentieth Century, having seen both OBC shows. On paper (and CD) OtTC is a winner, and yes, the set was brilliant along with much of the cast. But for me, that was a show that ran out of steam well before the train pulled into Penn Station. The show left you exhausted (even exhilarated), but not at all moved.

Ain't Misbehavin', on the other hand, just seems like a light and jaunty review on the CD. But WOW what happened onstage was astonishing and constantly involving between those 5 performers and the band. Full arcs of character development were acted out from song to song. And when they got to Black and Blue in the 2nd act, the hair on the back of your neck stood on end! We couldn't applaud loud enough by the curtain call.

I saw Caroline, Or Change on Broadway and loved it. I listen to the recording regularly as well.

Taboo - I found Memphis to be pretty painful. I would say the same for Million Dollar Quartet. I never saw Fela! so can't vouch for it, but it seems pretty uninteresting. I thought American Idiot was, albeit nontraditional, a pretty interesting musical and probably the best of its kind that really captured my generation. (I'm in my early 20's)

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Thank you, charles, for defending Ain't Misbehavin'. For anyone who doubts its merits as a Best Musical winner, go on youtube and watch the televised version of the original production with the original cast and just watch yourself be proven wrong.

I also want to add that Contact was by far the most deserving winner in 2000. Swing! was fun, but empty, James Joyce's The Dead was boring and The Wild Party, while having flashes of brilliance, was pretentious. All four productions had nearly perfect original casts, but that isn't enough. Contact may not fit the standard mold of a musical, but it was incredible and thrilling. Totally deserved.

In regards to the main subject of this thread, so many, but I'd have to say:
Flower Drum Song over Redhead
Gypsy over Sound of Music/Fiorello
She Loves Me over Hello Dolly (I just don't care for Hello, Dolly)
Seesaw over Raisin
Sunday in the Park with George over La Cage Aux Folles (though I understand La Cage's historical significance at the time)
Into the Woods over Phantom of the Opera
Miss Saigon over Will Rogers' Follies
Smokey Joe's Cafe over Sunset Boulevard
Ragtime over The Lion King
The Full Monty over The Producers
Caroline or Change over Avenue Q
Light in the Piazza over Spamalot
Grey Gardens over Spring Awakening
American Idiot over Memphis

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"CAROLINE, OR CHANGE is, hands down, one of the best musicals ever written. I sat behind Tony Kushner tonight at the theater and it took everything I had not to bow to him for giving it to us."

I would have! Caroline or Change is the best musical I have seen since the original Broadway production of Sweeney Todd.

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Yea, I hate when people call Q a puppet show or Wicked a show a bout some green girl. They try to make their point sound smarter by making the other shows sound stupid. You could call Caroline, or Change a show about a sad black woman but it is so much more then that.

"For those who feel Nine should have lost to Dreamgirls, I have 10 or so good friends who saw both, and these people usually do not agree on ANYTHING, that being said they have all said that Tommy Tune's NINE was one of the few Musical Masterpieces they ever saw on a stage."...

I saw both shows that year and NINE was a total "huh?" for me...DREAMGIRLS of course lives on and on because it was and is a better all around musical...while both made for horrible movies, NINE truly was a piece of s**t as a movie, and DREAMGIRLS gave us at least JENNIFER HUDSON...

I never said she was fat.

Steel Pier fan...Threads like this seem to exist only to promote heated arguments, and if that was your goal you have succeeded.

Even the critics seldom agree on what is the very best play or musical of a given season, and Tony voters are not given any guidelines to help them evaluate each show. In the end they go with whatever show gave them the most personal pleasure (and, on reflection, maybe that is not such a bad idea.) I dare say most Tony voters (and their kids) had more fun at LION KING than at RAGTIME (which explains that upset). I DO wish Tony Voters had a "no Award" selection on their ballot so that in really poor years they could elect NOT to give a Tony if no show is deemed worthy. That would spare us the embarassment of having to label CONTACT or SUNSET BLVD as "Tony Award winning musicals."

Many theatre fans (not to mention the AP Theatre writer) were furious when the Tony for Best musical went to what AP decried as a "gloomy new Stephen Sondheim musical (PASSION) instead of to the glittering BEAUTY AND THE BEAST." YES.. that is eaxactrly what the article sent out by AP said! The writer's argument was that Brodway had deliberately ignored the Disney extravganza. Nonsense, of course but many BATB fans were miffed at the lack of awards for the lavish show.

Fans of any show can get violent when their fave doesn't win. (Look at the reaction of WICKED fans to AVE Q) but the only way you can fairly judge the merit of the awards is to see ALL of the nomnees yourself, which is what the league intends when the nominations are announced: Its just another way of increasing ticket sales, at least for a few weeks.

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People argue, steel pier fan. It's part of the human condition. Just because you ask for people to not argue doesn't mean that they won't. In fact, on this board, by telling people not to argue, you're pretty much inviting them to do just that.

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Nice attempt at being witty Jordan. I feel hypocritical for telling people not to argue.