So, is MEMPHIS going to win BEST SCORE by default?- Page 4

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 10:23am

It's always gonna be a matter of taste. I happen to love the score to 'Memphis,' as I love many of the past Tony winners in this category: 'Next to Normal,' 'Spring Awakening,' 'Aida,' 'Avenue Q,' 'The Producers,' etc. (OK, there are a couple I wasn't crazy about, like 'The Drowsy Chaperone' and 'Urinetown,' but that's showbiz.)

[newintown]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 10:42am

Funny - the two you don't like (Drowsy & Urinetown) were my favorites in your list, with Avenue Q. Best lyrics, most adept composing. The others are fine, but nothing adroit.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 10:59am

After Eight, your list of "if these scores won" is entirely ridiculous. All of those scores are either good, wonderful, or brilliant in their own way. Surely you could have found other winning scores that are more universally disliked to make your point (and to make you sound less catty). But those four have their many fans, and deservedly so.

~Steven

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 11:44am

And frankly, when one sees that things like "Aida," "Parade," "The Light in the Piazza," and "Spring Awakening" won for best score, then "Memphis" is more than deserving of the award.

With Marie Christine and The Wild Party being the same season as Aida, I would agree with you on that one. The show was something of a conceptual mess and the light score was hummable, but nothing near the mature artistry of both La Chiusa's scores that season. And I'm not a fan of Spring Awakening, but I can understand why its score is admired.

Not sure what you mean about Parade or Piazza, though. Or what you thought should have won those seasons. Parade was up against Footloose, Civil War and Twelfth Night. And honestly, I would rank Parade amongst the top 5 musical theatre scores of the last 25 years. Piazza was a tighter race against Spelling Bee, Spamalot and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, but considering the mature complexity of the score and the enthusiasm for the score by musical theatre fans and critics alike, it's sort of difficult to understand why it isn't considered worthy of the award.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 12:06pm

Very well said, Mister Matt.

~Steven

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 12:15pm

Meantime, 'The Addams Family' is recording its cast album today (April 19), and Andrew Lippa (whose 'Wild Party' score I love) promises that bonus tracks will be available digitally. I wonder if the extra cuts will be the songs that were in Chicago. Can anyone compare and contrast the music that was in the Windy City with what's on Broadway? I never heard 'Second Banana,' but I like Bebe Neuwirth's catchy 'Just Around the Corner.'
Playbill.com: 'Addams Family' ' records cast album

[phantom39]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 12:26pm

This award is going to go to ALL ABOUT ME before the dreadful score to The Addams Family gets it.

Updated On: 4/19/10 at 12:26 PM

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 12:31pm

Exactly. It wasn't a concept album, like EVITA. It was an album, that Mayer thought should be on stage.

American Idiot was a concept album- like Tommy or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or Dark Side of the Moon. "Concept album" is not an exclusively musical theatre term invented by 1980s British composers.

[newintown]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 12:41pm

Whatever gets you through the night. Clearly, there are quotes out there from the creators that prove both stories: 1) Yes, we always intended this to be a show, or 2) We never thought of this as a show.

All I know is I have no interest. Unless it's a revue, I want a show with a grown-up, well-developed book, intrinsically married to a specific score, written by a composer/lyricist who understands how to write a song that artfully defines character and situation. Idiot, to me, isn't that.

[Brick]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 12:59pm

^ Here, Here!

[ALittlePriest]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 3:13pm

If American Idiot wins best Score it will not only be the death of the Original American Musical, it will be the obliteration of anything sacred in art. If anyone tries to say the American Musical is already dead, then you are naive, at least Legally Blonde has an original score, and Mamma Mia had an original book. American idiot has Neither, since the music came from an album, and the book is based on characters and messages in that album. (concept[album] is just a term people are raping in order to try to give this "show" some illusion of artistic credibility) The whole package exploits the fans of the original rock musicals that preceed it.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 3:33pm

If American Idiot wins best Score it will not only be the death of the Original American Musical, it will be the obliteration of anything sacred in art.

Really? All art will immediately cease to exist? This should be interesting. That's giving American Idiot far more credit and power than any Tony award could.

Back in the real world, Broadway is still a commercial venture, so it's not like it holds some sort of invisible responsibility to maintain an impossible level of artistic integrity by those who place unnecessary expectations on it based on a misconception of its history.

American idiot has Neither, since the music came from an album, and the book is based on characters and messages in that album.

Just as over 90% of all Broadway musicals have books adapted from one source or another. Legally Blonde and Mamma Mia both had adapted books. One from a novel and a film (Legally Blonde), the other inspired by a film (Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell). Generally, original books are those not adapted from previously existing material, but written directly for the musical itself. And they have always been extremely rare.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 4:37pm

My thoughts exactly, Mister Matt. Well said.

[mybigsplash]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 4:50pm

I agree with Matt about Original books, but I agree with Priest that considering American Idiot to be an original Score is just stupid. And sets a bad standard for future considerations of original scores.

[Brick]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 8:59pm

Didn't they change the rule following TOMMY?

So, even if is like EVITA or TOMMY, didn't they change the rule and decide the music must be composed for the stage?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 10:46pm

The best Score of the season - original or otherwise - is American Idiot.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 10:59pm

Yeah, but the award is for 'Best Original Score'...

[After Eight]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 11:28pm

Hi Steven. Always good to hear from you.

"After Eight, your list of "if these scores won" is entirely ridiculous."

Thanks for letting me know. But I guess if one is going to be ridiculous, one might as well go all the way and be "entirely" ridiculous, as opposed to partially so.


"All of those scores are either good, wonderful, or brilliant in their own way."

Case closed.

"Surely you could have found other winning scores that are more universally disliked to make your point (and to make you sound less catty)."

Are there any scores that are universally disliked?


"But those four have their many fans, and deservedly so."

Yes, deservedly so. Their many fans deserve them entirely.


Mister Matt:

"Piazza was a tighter race against Spelling Bee, Spamalot and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, but considering the mature complexity of the score and the enthusiasm for the score by musical theatre fans and critics alike, it's sort of difficult to understand why it isn't considered worthy of the award."


I didn't feel it was worthy of the award for the simple reason that I thought it was lousy.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 11:51pm

Don't even know how to respond to that... so I won't! :)

Good ol' BWW...

~Steven

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 4/20/10 at 9:16am

American idiot has Neither, since the music came from an album, and the book is based on characters and messages in that album. (concept[album] is just a term people are raping in order to try to give this "show" some illusion of artistic credibility)

You just contradicted yourself. The book is based on the characters and messages in the album. A concept album is an album has a theme and a message, and tells a story. A concept album is not Andrew Lloyd Webber releasing a recording of Phantom of the Opera in advance to hype the upcoming musical.

Read the reviews of the American Idiot CD- music critics referred to it as a concept album. It's not something a bunch of teenybopper Broadway fans made up 2 months ago, or something Michael Mayer convinced Green Day to call it lat year. The CD has been out for almost 6 years- whether elitist musical theatre fans like it or not, it has always been the definition of a concept album.

[newintown]

Posted: 4/20/10 at 9:21am

I didn't feel it was worthy of the award for the simple reason that I thought it (Piazza) was lousy.

Wow. I can see saying, "The Piazza score didn't appeal to me," but saying it's lousy? That's like saying Spem in alium is lousy, or I Concentrate On You is lousy. You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but when you ignore impressive talent, craft, and ability, you don't do your argument any favors.

[ALittlePriest]

Posted: 4/20/10 at 9:48am

And because its a concept album, that means its ok to call AI an original score? The point is, its not an original score BECAUSE it was an album before the musical came out. And people like you are saying, "But its a CONCEPT album..." which means its an ORIGINAL score in the musical? How? What? Good thing they changed the rule after Tommy to ban "concept albums" from being considered for Original scores.
Updated On: 4/20/10 at 09:48 AM

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 4/20/10 at 9:52am

This: You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but when you ignore impressive talent, craft, and ability, you don't do your argument any favors.

Exactly, newintown.

~Steven

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 4/20/10 at 10:15am

And because its a concept album, that means its ok to call AI an original score? The point is, its not an original score BECAUSE it was an album before the musical came out. And people like you are saying, "But its a CONCEPT album..." which means its an ORIGINAL score in the musical? How? What?

If you would actually read my posts, you would see that I never argued that it was an original score. I haven't said anything about the Tonys in this thread. I was responding to people like you, who said that fans calling American Idiot a concept album was "raping" the term. Instead of admitting you were wrong, you're now twisting my words around to claim I'm arguing something that I'm not. I haven't seen American Idiot. I might, eventually. I don't care whether or not the Tony Awards consider it an original score. But to try to claim it's NOT a concept album to defend your own biased agenda is patently false.

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 4/20/10 at 10:25am

I'm not sure why so many of you seem to think American Idiot lacks aristry. It is, in my opinion, the most artistically, theatrically staged production of the season. Whenever it was written, whyever it was written, it is a piece that is telling about a piece of our culture through music, dance, and acting. Just because something is based on something else doesn't mean it should be ignored. Nor does it mean it is easy to do. Plenty of plays go on to become movies, does that mean those movies can't have artistry? Some don't, and some do and go on to win Oscars. No one calls that the death of the art of filmmaking. there have been plenty quite a few successfully artistic musicals based on existing stories or music as well (hairspray and movin out are the first examples that come to mind)
American Idiot, as a theater piece,should be judged on its own merits, of which there are an awful lot, more than either of the two shows with "original" scores IMHO.