ElephantLoveMedley said: "I might get crucified for asking this, but are we all really so confident that Maybe Happy Ending is the heavy frontrunner for Best Musical? Death Becomes Her and Buena Vista got the same number of nominations as MHE. Death Becomes Her also edged out Shen in Best Actress to get both of their leads nominated. Buena Vista even got a Special Tony. I honestlythink Best Musical is much more competitivethan some on here believe."
I don't know if it's the heavy frontrunner but MHE is very much the frontrunner right now. Again, nominations =/= voter support. And nomination counts can be very deceptive- it's not always a sign of strength or love, but rather that a production simply has a lot more going on in it. Modest productions aren't going to rack up the numbers in design categories against bigger productions, for instance.
There are many reasons nominations are given and they run the gamut from belief they should win, to honoring a person generally, or to shut out another production the nominators would rather not see honored at all.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."