So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?- Page 2

[mormonophobic]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 2:31pm

While I normally wouldn't want American Idiot considered eligible, this is such a weak year for new scores I think it has to. Had Green Day only included songs from American Idiot, I would buy the theory that it was always intended for the stage. With the addition of songs from an entirely different album, the argument makes less sense.

If it is only Memphis and The Addams Family, Memphis will win. Heck, if it was only The Addams Family and Carrie, Addams would still lose. I can't recall a show in recent memory where the score was more of a problem than with Addams. "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" comes to mind. Or, to be truthful, the Futurama version "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised" came to mind.

I honestly don't think The Addams Family was a bad show, save the score. The book wasn't good, but it wasn't exactly terrible. And although no one (except Hoffman, Lane, and MAYBE Carmello) is exactly giving a noteworthy performance, even those weren't particularly bad. I actually liked Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia, although I'll admit it was more excitement at finally seeing Neuwirth on stage than anything else (and also excitement that with her, I got to see both Lilith and Frasier in something, PLUS both award-winning Velma Kellys...yes I know I'm a nerd). So it was like seeing all these talented people on stage, wanting to do good work, and even trying to. But with a show that relies so heavily on its score, you'd think said score would be something better. Then I remember that with Lippa we're dealing with someone known for adding songs (good ones, but still) to Charlie Brown and for penning the inferior Wild Party. Not really sure why I was surprised.

Anyway, that tangent aside, I will eat crow if Addams wins Best Score.

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 2:46pm

Though the Tonys would like each category to be filled, they do not normally drop categories if there are not enough entries. In that same season of 1995, there were at least 3 categories in which there were only 2 entries: Best Musical ('Sunset. Blvd.' and 'Smokey Joe's Cafe'); Best Musical Revival ('How to Succeed' and 'Showboat'), and Best Actress in a Musical (Glenn Close and Rebecca Luker). And in 1985, there was a Best Score category with only 3 nominees ('Big River,' 'Grind' and 'Quilters'). Interestingly, there WAS a fourth nominee that they could've included, but chose not to: 'Harrigan N' Hart' (which they nominated for Book, but not Score).

Also, Jeanine Tesori's Tony nomination (1999) for 'Twelfth Night' proves that music for a play CAN be nominated. There's been some buzz for Maury Yeston's music to 'The Royal Family.' Similarly, Adam Cork wrote music to 'Red,' and Branford Marsalis has provided a score to 'Fences.'

And there are some songs in 'Enron' and 'All About Me' that could be considered Tony-eligible, too. Only time will tell.


Updated On: 4/16/10 at 02:46 PM

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 2:52pm

Yes to this: Then I remember that with Lippa we're dealing with someone known for adding songs (good ones, but still) to Charlie Brown and for penning the inferior Wild Party.

I don't think the Tonys will eliminate the category. They'll just do something wild and either include American Idiot or plays like Wayman suggests.

~Steven

[newintown]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 2:57pm

I think Steven is right, but, either way, color me bored.

It seems pretty lame to nominate a score that probably won't be commercially released for people to listen to.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 3:01pm

Memphis definitely deserves the award.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 3:43pm

I pray that American Idiot is deemed eligible, so that it wins and Memphis doesn't.

It will be a shame to have to refer to that cliched piece of dreck as a Tony-award winning musical.

[tazber]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 3:53pm

I think the category should be discarded. It loses credibility when they nominate two really inferior scores just because that's all there is.

How can the Tony's claim to celebrate excellence and then honor whatever happens to fit the technical criteria regardless of quality?

Of course we all know it's not necessarily about honoring excellence though.

My prediction: the Tony Committee will find a way to shoehorn in AI and it will win the prize. That is most logical choice commerically speaking.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 6:40pm

Well if they do that, why not declare Sondheim on Sondheim eligible and reward something good?

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 6:45pm

I will literally cry if this wins Best Score.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cn21D52Sj8

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 7:06pm

While I thought the score was absolutely fantastic, it was clearly not from a "concept album" or written with the specific intention of being adapted as a stage show. In fact, Green Day has spoken extensively in the press about how they always thought the album could maybe be turned into a movie but never even thought about the idea of it being on stage until Michael Mayer approached them

Actually, on the MTV special Billie Joe just mentioned he always had the idea that it should be on stage.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 7:14pm

Green Day has given every impression that the idea that the music could be strung together as a stage adaptation happened after the album was released, not while it was being written.

MM: When you first made the album, did you visualize it happening on a stage?
BJA: Yeah! I visualized the characters in my head, and starting thinking, "Wow, this could totally be staged...it could be something."

http://www.playbill.com/features/article/138328

Updated On: 4/16/10 at 07:14 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 7:15pm

Let's hear it for Memphis

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 7:17pm

Okay, I meant to specifically address this "never even thought about the idea of it being on stage until Michael Mayer approached them" because they have stated otherwise on the documentary on MTV and before in places I can't remember.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 7:20pm

This is the quote I was talking about where Armstrong says point blank that it was Mayer who gave them the idea to put it on stage. They'd been marketing it as a possible movie all along prior to that.

For his part, Armstrong says he knew all along the story was there. "Originally, we thought about doing a movie version of it," he says. "I always thought it should be staged in some way. Then we took some meetings and realized the movie industry makes the music industry look like a mom-and-pop store. When I talked to Michael, I sensed immediately that he got it."

http://www.billboard.com/features/the-billboard-cover-story-green-day-s-american-1004083918.story?tag=hpfeed#/features/green-day-s-american-idiot-play-the-billboard-1004083918.story?page=2

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 8:34pm

I will literally cry if this wins Best Score.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cn21D52Sj8

That is unfair. I too thought they were kind of bad on the CD, but in the show they actually make sense. They're songs that Huey plays on his records. The same goes for Scratch My Itch.

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 8:38pm

I've seen the show. They were just as bad live.
Now THIS is a real winner!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR9VeBK8Lak
Updated On: 4/16/10 at 08:38 PM

[theatreguy]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 9:00pm

tazber said: "I think the category should be discarded. It loses credibility when they nominate two really inferior scores just because that's all there is."

The Tonys honor the best of the year and, of course, some years are better than others. If everything that's eligible sucks, one of them probably sucks a little less than the others and therefore it is the best for that season. Doesn't mean it would be the best (or even close to it) in another season though.

[MEMPHIS10]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 9:34pm

So was anyone on this thread alive during the 60s when this was set?
I was saying to some folks just the other day, the reason people are so over opinionated about this show is total fear.
Fear that it is as great as it is...
Bitter out of work actors do not make a fair and balanced blog.
I have seen the show many times as i do with all of them, and yes it will win, but not by default, but because it deserves to.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 9:36pm

LOL

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 10:17pm

What is a 'superior' score or an 'inferior' score is always going to be subjective. Some of us love the score to 'Memphis'; some of us don't. Some of us love the score to 'Addams Family'; some of us don't. And so it goes. There are 'strong' years. There are 'weak' years. If we went through the Tony archives, I'm sure we would not necessarily agree on which ones were worthy to win.

Having said all that, the Tony eligibility ruling will not be a qualitative one, in terms of whether it's a 'good' score or a 'bad' score. It will not be whether they need to fill four slots in a category. It will be based on whether it meets the criteria of the Tonys. Is it, as the title of the award, goes: 'an original score written for the theater'? Is it in line with their most recent rulings for Best Score? And if not, what would be any special circumstances to allow an exception?

[MEMPHIS10]

Posted: 4/17/10 at 12:19am

You could more wrong about what last season was.
Geez...do your homework

[BwayTday]

Posted: 4/17/10 at 1:00am

"the reason people are so over opinionated about this show is total fear.
Fear that it is as great as it is.."

Huh? Afraid of a great show? I think people don't like the show because of many reasons, but not that. I mean I enjoyed it, but there are obviously flaws.

[MEMPHIS10]

Posted: 4/17/10 at 1:09am

Wow..I really did Overstate that and did not mean too...
I guess i mean when people see something really good, and a
group of talented people in like Memhpis or N2N or whatever...
it tends to intimidate them and they get a little bitchy
about it.....
and just maybe, they are a little jealous...
so lets pick pick pick away....
I just think this blog is not an honest representation of
NYC based people, who have a vast enough knowledge of the theater..
(i e some guy is saying last years musicals were Catered Affair,
Shrek, and Cry Baby !!!)
What part of Nebraska is he from?
I have sat by for the last 5 years and read this clap trap and decided not to stay quiet anymore....

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/17/10 at 1:10am

This is not a blog. And why did you just write a poem?

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/17/10 at 1:11am

Why are you writing like it's Rosie O'Donnell's blog?