Tony Award Upsets?- Page 2
Tony Award Upsets?
purpleprince101
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#25re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 9:36pmwild party can't compare to Aida, though i liked both
#26re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 9:37pm
NINE beating DREAMGIRLS might've been upset. But ANYBODY can tell you, NINE is a much better show. Absolutely amazing. The score is breath-taking. And those performances. Raul Julia, Anita Morris, Karen Akers, and Liliane Montevecchi. Wow.
While DREAMGIRLS and Jennifer Holliday were quite fantastic. NINE is clearly the stronger score and overall show. And deserved to win.
#28re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 9:48pm
I wasn't around in 1982 but from what I've read (particularly Ken Mandelbaum's books and articles), DREAMGIRLS and NINE just had a strong competition going on, so NINE wasn't an upset as much of the winner between two great musicals that had great things going on for both.
Perhaps someone who remembers the buzz for both shows can shed more light on the "upset." I do remember reading that Michael Bennett did all he could to convince Tommy Tune to open NINE after the Tony deadline so it wouldn't compete with DREAMGIRLS.
I have to say I'm quite glad NINE won and that Maury Yeston took home the Best Score award that year.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#29re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 9:51pm
^ I totally agree, Ray.
I love BOTH scores. Dreamgirl's score is so fun and catchy. But NINE's score is so beautiful and dramatic. The complexity and beauty of Yeston's music, is just wow.
Updated On: 4/2/07 at 09:51 PM
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
#30re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 9:54pm
La Cage aux Folles winning over Sunday in the Park With George (...the hummable showtune is alive and well....)
Nine winning over Dreamgirls
Two Gentlemen of Verona winning over Follies (....I don't know what to say...I invested in Follies!)
Avenue Q, the little show that could, winning over Wicked, the megahit.
Sweeney Todd losing was most definitely NOT an upset. Sweeney was a brilliant recreation, but the award isn't for "best recreation," it's for best revival. Pajama Game was just that.
#31re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 9:56pm
^ Regarding your last paragraph. It's all a matter of opinion.
People will say NINE was really the best musical that year.
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
#33re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 9:58pmI like DREAMGIRLS and disagree with some of the critique the show got during its original run about being all glitter without substance (if this were true, those of us who never saw the perfect Bennett staging wouldn't be able to be moved and affected by the material). However, Tommy Tune's great crafting of NINE, Arthur Kopit's concise and compelling (if sometimes confusing) book, and Maury Yeston's flawless characterization of those magnificent women and Contini (a score that Ken Mandelbaum rightly described as a series of showstoppers) create one of the best post-modernist musicals of the past 30 or 40 years, IMO.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#34re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 9:59pm
I have to disagree with the following:
La Cage over Sunday. La Cage, while not as sophisticated a score, had a more solid book and story. Sunday falls apart in Act 2, mainly because there isn't a lot of story there. And, if done wrong, Act 2 will drag into eternity.
Bernadette loosing as Mama Rose to Marissa Jouret Winkour. Bernadette just wasn't as stellar as Mama Rose as she could have been.
To me one of the big upsets is Spamalot winning over both Piazza and Spelling Bee. Closely followed by LaChanze winning over either Patti or Kelli O'Hara (Although, it was really Patti's Tony).
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
jbdc
Leading Actor Joined: 3/17/07
#35re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 9:59pm
Absolutely Brenadette Peters losing for Gypsy.
Also, when Avenue Q won. Wicked got mixed to negative reviews as a show. Really, only the technical elements and performers got high marks. Anybody who thought Wicked was going to win is crazy. 13 year old girls don't vote for Tony Awards. And Caroline, Or Change should have beaten both, like it did in London.
What about Natasha Richardson beating Marin Mazzie for Ragtime and Skinner/Ripley for Side Show?
Matthew Bourne beating Hal Prince for Best Director (Swan Lake v. Parade) for a Musical.
Heather Headley over Marin Mazzie, Rebecca Luker, Audra McDonald, and Toni Collette.
Aida probably wouldn't have been nominated for best musical even if here were five nominees, because Marie Christine would have taken that slot. Also, Elton John only won b/c Michael John LaChiusa's votes were split between Marie Christine and Wild Party.
Updated On: 4/2/07 at 09:59 PM
jbdc
Leading Actor Joined: 3/17/07
#36re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 10:02pmSunday in the Park With George won the Pulitzer. It was a huge upset when it lost.
#37re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 10:04pmI think it was probally a bigger shock/upset that Sondheim lost for Sunday's score. More-so than losing Best Musical.
husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#38re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 10:08pmI actually really wanted "Wicked" to win, of the shows that season (Which the only two I did NOT see were "Caroline" and "Boy From Oz"), it was the only one that really moved me. However, the cd for "Caroline" bored me...immensly.
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
#39re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 10:09pmIf you're going to play the SUNDAY... Act Two card, may I remind you that LA CAGE... falls apart in Act Two as well, so there goes that argument. At least Act Two of SUNDAY has genuine emotion going for it. Oh, and so does Act One. Hmmmm...
Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)
jbdc
Leading Actor Joined: 3/17/07
#40re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 10:13pmI see why Avenue Q won, and I was delighted when it happened. The real crime wasn't so much it winning Best Musical, but Score and Lyrics over Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori. Much like La Cage beating Sunday in the Park, it's ditties beating out actual musical and poetic composition.
husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#41re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 10:15pmI'm probably the outcast here, but I really dislike Act 2 of Sunday. It falls flat for me, and I find little emotion to it. Both Georges read as whiny. However, this might easily be due to Mandy Patinkin's falsetto rather than the book and score.
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
#42re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 10:16pm
To be honest, I can't think of too many legitimate Tony upsets. It's not like the Oscars... where I can think of quite a few.
Perhaps that's because the Tonys are voted on by committee, not by a larger body of voters.
Don't know.
The most recent that come to mind was Miss Saigon losing out, and Wicked losing out. But I can't say that either were truly "upsets."
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#43re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 10:19pm
I think the second act of SUNDAY is haunting and beautiful. CHILDREN AND ART, LESSON #8, and MOVE ON are 3 incredibly moving songs. Plus IT'S HOT UP HERE, and PUTTING IT TOGETHER are so much fun.
People just don't like how disconnected it feels from act 1. But the end of act 2 brings the whole show together. For me, atleast.
jbdc
Leading Actor Joined: 3/17/07
#44re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 10:25pmJanie Sell for Over Here! as featured actress. Ernestine Jackson from Raisin was ROBBED!
FutureAladdinOnB'Way
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/21/07
#45re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 10:29pm
Am I the only one besides Sherie who was shocked about her not being nominated for Best Featured Actress in 2000? I mean she could have won, she had great critical praise for her role
Updated On: 4/2/07 at 10:29 PM
#46re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 10:31pm
(...the hummable showtune is alive and well....)
The most ill advised boomerang pat on one's own back to ever be spoken for any award....including cook-offs in Tuscaloosa.
#47re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 11:09pm
I'm probably the outcast here, but I really dislike Act 2 of Sunday. It falls flat for me, and I find little emotion to it. Both Georges read as whiny. However, this might easily be due to Mandy Patinkin's falsetto rather than the book and score.
You're not, I agree wholeheartedly. I really don't think that Sunday is one of Sondheim's best, there are some great songs, but not a lot and most fall in the first act. And Patinkin's falsetto drives me insane!
Theatre is a safe place to do the unsafe things that need to be done.
-John Patrick Shanley
#48re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 11:11pmI like Mandy's falsetto...
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
#49re: Tony Award Upsets?
Posted: 4/2/07 at 11:30pm
Mandy has an incredible voice, I don't know how people can deny that.
Doesn't Sondheim consider Mandy to be one of only 3 people to have actual voices touched by God? (The others Barbara Cook and Streisand)
I know I read that somewhere. And I totally agree with him.
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