The Final Best Musical Spot

Gettin' the Band Back Together. (sorry, I had to......)

At the moment, BMC has the edge but only because it's actually open. If critics genuinely like Ain't Too Proud and Beetlejuice, one of those could sneak ahead. Also helpful to think of what other nominations the shows will get, and working your way up from there.

Might be better to wait 10 days to have this convo: BJ starts previews 3/28 and ATP opens 3/21.

Updated On: 3/19/19 at 11:12 PM

Though I remember just as the eligibility period ended last year, the administration committee announced that if there are at least nine eligible candidates in any given category, then there would be five nominees. I don’t know if it’s going to be like that again this year yet.

Theatrefanboy1 said: "It is too bad to hear that no one thinks the Cher show could be a contender. 1) the tony awards viewership would see a bump with a Cher appearance. 2) I really thought it was better than the prom.

I really hope they don’t just do one of those paid for 60 sec slot like they’ve done in the past. None of those to me left anything to be remembered."



I personally don't count The Cher Show out of this one as others do. I don't know, this last slot is really hard to pin down because everything fighting for the slot has drastically different pros and cons it's bringing to the table. Ain't Too Proud has some great performances but comes off as super safe both in it's story structure and it's design. It's been done before, it's been seen before but it's not bad it's just super safe. The Cher Show took some big risks and floundered because of it BUT at least it took the risk in the first place and has some exciting things going on to show for it as well as one of the front runners for Best Leading Actress killing it nightly. Be More Chill is a miss with the average Broadway audience but it's an original work and after the backlash against commercial works from LAST season, something original even if it's kind of juvenile might be rewards simply for being original. However I can already hear and see the rage all over social media is Be More Chill does get the slot because it will not win and the teenage angsty that will flood ever corner of the Broadway internet as well as the hate against whatever does win is not something I want to see again. Spongebob loosing to The Band's Visit was not pretty on my social media for like a MONTH.

And then again Beetlejuice could start previews in a few days and blows us all away with the changes made and end all this questioning. But is also hangs in that space like Spongebob did last season. It's a very commercial piece so unless it's something that is so good that it's glory just CAN'T be denied, it will be rejected simply for existing.

Also, don't forget that shows CAN still perform now even it they are not nominated so I am sure with or without a nomination we will see The Cher Show and Beetlejuice performing. Maybe not so much the others.

I couldn't believe how vicious people got about TBV over SpongeBob. Audience social media responses does not a Tony Award winner make (if that makes sense). It was absolutely ridiculous! What was worse: TBV vs. SpongeBob or Avenue Q vs. Matilda? Although there was less of a social media presence when that was around?

Scarlet Leigh said: "It's a very commercial piece so unless it's something that is so good that it's glory just CAN'T be denied, it will be rejected simply for existing."

Just for argument's sake, what makes Beetlejuice different from something like Tootsie, which is also a commercial movie adaptation but is seemingly only getting very positive buzz? Why reject Beetlejuice for existing?

I think we have the numbers for five nominees, so I'm going to go with:

Hadestown
Tootsie
The Prom
Ain't Too Proud
Beetlejuice

I think Ain't Too Proud is super-safe, but I also think it was super-entertaining. The audience went absolutely ballistic at the end when I saw it... so I'm really anxious to see what the critics' take is on it. Also worth pointing out that this isn't exactly a very diverse season on Broadway, and that's something that voters may take into consideration.

For Beetlejuice (which I haven't seen yet so just going on buzz), I think the innovative technical design may help it secure an overall nomination, especially if they're working to fix whatever the problems were that people seemed to have a problem with in DC. I think this might be a dark horse. (Not necessarily to win, just to get better reviews than people are expecting. But obviously that's a random prediction, haha.)

Lord help us all on social media if BMC gets that nomination and inevitably doesn't win. Funny to see the comments here about SpongeBob, because in my feeds it was mostly the Mean Girls stans who were being absolutely awful about Band's Visit.