Tony Award For Best Arrangments?

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 7/14/20 at 4:55pm

When the Tony Awards eventually come back, a new award I'd like to see them add is one for Best Arrangements. We have an award for Score and an award for Orchestrations. It feels like there should be one for what goes on in the middle. Often this job is performed by the composer or orchestrator, but there are many arrangers like Glen Kelly, Ron Melrose, and Tom Kitt that I don't think get enough credit for the work that goes into turning a composition into a Broadway musical number.

Even if there isn't a stand-alone award, it would stand to reason that they are included in the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations.

[itsjustmejonhotmailcom]

Posted: 7/14/20 at 5:19pm

Alex Kulak2 said: "When the Tony Awards eventually come back, a new award I'd like to see them add is one for Best Arrangements. We have an award for Score and an award for Orchestrations. It feels like there should be one for what goes on in the middle. Often this job is performed by the composer or orchestrator, but there are many arrangers like Glen Kelly, Ron Melrose, and Tom Kitt that I don't think get enough credit for the work that goes into turning a composition into a Broadway musical number.

Even if there isn't a stand-alone award, it would stand to reason that they are included in the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations."

I think one issue is that the vast majority of the 800+ Tony voters wouldn't be able to tell the difference between arranging and orchestrating. They'd like do the same as they did with Sound Design and Orchestrations - have a smaller subset of voters who are more familiar with those categories vote for them. They almost certainly wouldn't be on the televised ceremony.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 7/14/20 at 6:39pm

PREACH IT! And while we're on the subject, bring back Best Music Director/Conductor as well.

[whatdoesntkillme]

Posted: 7/15/20 at 11:50am

Jordan Levinson said: "PREACH IT! And while we're on the subject, bring back Best Music Director/Conductor as well."

I love celebrating Music Directors and Conductors, I think they're definitely underappreciated. But I can't fathom how one votes for the "best." Without having been in rehearsals for a show, how would a voter know where one person in the music department's job ended and another's began, and what exactly the MD/Conductor contributed to the production? Thinking about some of the musicals I've seen recently, sure, the band and singers at some sounded better than others, but that could be due to the arrangements, the vocal arrangements, the orchestrations, the sound designer, the sound engineer, where I was sitting in the audience... I feel like there's no good way to judge the MD/Conductor's job and to compare them to other MDs/Conductors in other shows. 

Like I said, I'm all for celebrating this important and underappreciated work, but I have no clue how one would assess, compare, and vote on who does the job best.

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 7/15/20 at 12:12pm

whatdoesntkillme said: "Jordan Levinson said: "PREACH IT! And while we're on the subject, bring back Best Music Director/Conductor as well."

I love celebrating Music Directors and Conductors, I think they're definitely underappreciated. But I can't fathom how one votes for the "best." Without having been in rehearsals for a show, how would a voter know where one person in the music department's job ended and another's began, and what exactly the MD/Conductor contributed to the production? Thinking about some of the musicals I've seen recently, sure, the band and singers at some sounded better than others, but that could be due to the arrangements, the vocal arrangements, the orchestrations, the sound designer, the sound engineer, where I was sitting in the audience... I feel like there's no good way to judge the MD/Conductor's job and to compare them to other MDs/Conductors in other shows.

Like I said, I'm all for celebrating this important and underappreciated work, but I have no clue how one would assess, compare, and vote on who does the job best."

This, exactly.  I of course would love to see arrangers, music directors, conductors, stage managers, master electricians, publicists, company managers, etc. recognized as they do some of the most important work on Broadway.  But how do you vote on those awards?  Do we really think the average Tony voter will be able to look at a show and definitely say "this was stage managed the best" or "this was conducted the best?"  We've seen by their own admission that voters had no idea how to vote for sound design (hence the elimination and then reinstatement with different voting rules) and that seems significantly easier to accurately vote on than a lot of the above categories.  So while I hate that someone who devotes their career to being an arranger or a stage manager or a music director can't ever win a competitive Tony award for their work, I also feel like if we did have those categories, they would never actually go to the most deserving artists because voters wouldn't know how to determine who that is.

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 7/15/20 at 12:26pm

The Tony Award I still want to see more than any other is Best Original Song

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 7/15/20 at 1:37pm

Mr. Wormwood said: "The Tony Award I still want to see more than any other is Best Original Song"

This is obviously a very popular opinion as a lot of people have suggested it, but I personally really hate the idea of Best Original Song at the Tonys.  The reason being that Original Score already is recognizing those songs and if a score as a whole isn't worthy of a Tony, I feel just having one great original song isn't either.  (I've seen people mention the Oscars where they have both, but this is really an inaccurate comparison as Original Score means something completely different at the Oscars.  Score at the Oscars is specifically for the underscoring (usually by a different person than the one who would write any individual songs), not the collection of original songs in the movie, therefore is recognizing something completely different than Original Song).  So for the Tonys, where Original Score is defined by the collection of original songs, to give out both a Score and Song Tony would basically be the same as giving out both Best Actor and Best Monologue.  And in the same way that I don't think an actor should be rewarded for giving one great speech or scene if the performance as a whole isn't award-worthy, I don't think any composer should get an award just for writing one great song when the rest of the score isn't worthy.

And besides, while it's great to think maybe a stellar song from a different score would be recognized, realistically I can't imagine voters would regularly give it to something that isn't either a) Best Musical or b) Best Score already.  I mean, looking at the last five years, I can't imagine anything other than "Wait For Me", "Omar Sharif", "Waving Through A Window" or maybe "You Will Be Found", either "My Shot" or "The Room Where It Happens" and "Ring of Keys" winning.  So it would really just be double-dipping.

But obviously a lot of folks want there to be an original song category--just my personal opinion on the matter.

Updated On: 7/15/20 at 01:37 PM

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 7/15/20 at 2:27pm

Broadway61004 said: "Mr. Wormwood said: "The Tony Award I still want to see more than any other is Best Original Song"

This is obviously a very popular opinion as a lot of people have suggested it, but I personally really hate the idea of Best Original Song at the Tonys. The reason being that Original Score already is recognizing those songs and if a score as a whole isn't worthy of a Tony, I feel just having one great original song isn't either. (I've seen people mention the Oscars where they have both, but this is really an inaccurate comparison as Original Score means something completely different at the Oscars. Score at the Oscars is specifically for the underscoring (usually by a different person than the one who would write any individual songs), not the collection of original songs in the movie, therefore is recognizing something completely different than Original Song). So for the Tonys, where Original Score is defined by the collection of original songs, to give out both a Score and Song Tony would basically be the same as giving out both Best Actor and Best Monologue. And in the same way that I don't think an actor should be rewarded for giving one great speech or scene if the performance as a whole isn't award-worthy, I don't think any composer should get an award just for writing one great song when the rest of the score isn't worthy.

And besides, while it's great to think maybe a stellar song from a different score would be recognized, realistically I can't imagine voters would regularly give it to something that isn't either a) Best Musical or b) Best Score already. I mean, looking at the last five years, I can't imagine anything other than "Wait For Me", "Omar Sharif", "Waving Through A Window" or maybe "You Will Be Found", either "My Shot" or "The Room Where It Happens" and "Ring of Keys" winning. So it would really just be double-dipping.

But obviously a lot of folks want there to be an original song category--just my personal opinion on the matter."

I respect that opinion but disagree. I think there can certainly be cases of beautifully written songs even when the score as a whole isn't anything special and I think it's ok to reward that.

In the cases where the song winner is already a score or musical winner, which I agree would be more often, I think that's ok. I would be interested to see what the voters and nominators think is the best of the best. I don't think it is double dipping, it's a different animal.

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/15/20 at 2:55pm

The issue with Best Arrangements is that you get into a No True Scotsman issue with it. Arrangements, vocal arrangements, dance arrangements, reorchestrations, etc. Sometimes they're all under one person. Sometimes they're under multiple. Sometimes the composer or the orchestrator wears multiple hats.

Costumes are always costumes. Sets are always sets. Orchestrations are always orchestrations. Arrangements can be more chameleonic and difficult to pin down.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 7/16/20 at 11:44pm

Conductors win Grammy Awards.
Music directors win Emmy Awards.
I would think there’s enough criteria for the Tony Awards to figure something out for that category, especially since the other two in the trio that makes up the creative team already gets Tony Awards (director, choreographer).

I think arranging is a big task and deserves recognition. However, many composers and/or orchestrators already contribute to this. While separate vocal and dance arrangers do tremendous jobs, I think perhaps a broader category would work better and could include arrangers and other members of the music team, like the music supervisor. So maybe a music contribution award? I don’t know, it needs more thought and a workshop for the name. Music departments definitely deserve more love. There’s much more to the music of a musical than just composing and orchestrating. There’s no award that recognizes the actual musical experience of a show.