Swing Joined: 5/11/03
Predicted winners in all categories are now posted at http://www.tonycentral.com/. Enjoy! :)
It'll be interesting to see what wins the play revival category since everyone seems to agree it's a close race...
I LOVE the OscarCentral website and have visited for years.
VERY excited to see TonyCentral!!
Leading Actor Joined: 5/16/03
I would love to see "Virginia Woolf" win that one
aww the term "dark horses" is so sad. i wish they used something more encouraging like "not this year, sutton, you already won one, you're fine."
HAHAHAHA...I agree kitkat...and yet, I think dark horse is probably better than DEFINETELY GOING TO BE THE LOSER.
:)
hahaha true that.
too bad audra isn't nominated for anything this year. they could put up "enough!! stop being such a tony hog already!"
Mark, do you run this site? I remember reading an article about you getting totally screwed out of involvement in some Sondheim festival or something years ago and your name has stuck with me ever since.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
Idina was considered the dark horse last year who didn't stand a chance against the Big Hitters. We all know how that turned out. I still would like to see Christina walk away with it since Sutton seems like a long shot.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
PJ--
Why no love for Victoria?
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
Margo, I don't know. There's just something about her that doesn't sit right with me. If she wins, I'll be seeing the show in mid June and I could very well be eating my words. But for now, I'm rootin' for Applegate.
Swing Joined: 5/11/03
I do run the site, as well as OscarCentral. EmmyCentral is next up for us, as well. Thanks for the kind words about my projects.
As for Idina being considered a darkhorse last year... not by http://www.TonyCentral.com. Idina was in third place in our final predictions, listed as possible following a very close near-tie between Pinkins and Murphy. Dark horses were Chenoweth and d'Abruzzo.
yeah i never remember people thinking idina didn't have a chance ...
Except whomever wrote the article in the NY times the Sunday of the Tonys last year (the one which focused on the cometitive year for women). I remember that article downplaying Idina's chances of winning, and giving Stephanie D' no chance at all.
oh right, the times hated wicked ... i think at the time, i'd been reading this board too much.
I have to say...
it just makes no sense to me that you could predict (or if it ends up being the case on Sunday) Piazza to win for score, Spelling Bee to win for Book...and the show that wins neither to be deemed the best musical.
What then do they base that on if not the book or the music, y'know? or is it supposed to be understood that it's one of those things that the show won with the best combination of the two or something?
I've never understood that. I thought that was a big reason people were upset when Millie beat Urinetown - because Urinetown had won the two awards that are the components of a musical but yet did not win for best musical.
I'm not trying to sound b*tchy or anything, just dunno if I'm missing something here that goes into consideration for Best Musical if not Book and Score...
anybody know? or is it a politics thing?
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
Politics can play a role. The only award that really means anything by itself box-office-wise is Best Musical and many voters (including the 150 or so road presenters who will be the ones booking the tours of the shows and have a financial interest in the outcome) want the biggest, most popular hit to win Best Musical. For many voters (though not all), the Tonys are not about "excellence" but are a sales tool. So, their attitude might be fine: give Piazza score and Spelling Bee book, but for the BIG prize, they vote their wallets.
I should also point out that the critical consensus is also split on these categories. At the Drama Desks remember Spamalot took best musical, Spelling Bee book and direction, and Piazza score -- and obviously the voters there aren't voting their wallets (they're critics and journalists). It looks like this may be a year to spread the wealth.
Broadway Star Joined: 3/27/04
There always seems to be confusion about this. I think it would be clearer if the award was called "Best Musical Production (of a non-revival)" - yes, it's a bit clumsy, but that is basically what the award if for - which show is the best overall. The score and book awards are for the material. The Best Musical award is for which show combined all it's different elements - material, direction, performances, choreography, set, lights and costume, etc. - to create the best overall experience. I'm one of the few people who had no problem with Ragtime getting the awards for it's material, but Lion King winning for overall production - the direction and visual elements took lackluster material and made it into something truly magical and theatrical.
Overall, I don't think it's much different from when one film wins a best screenplay Oscar and another wins the best picture Oscar. There never seems to be any confusion in that case. Why is so much with the Tonys?
Good point, joniray.
When the awards are spread around the controversy is slight. It's only when the awards for book, score, and direction go to one thing, and the production fails to win best musical (as was the case with Urinetown, and the only production I can recall in which all three awards went to a losing show).
The Tonys are usually spread around, with individual categories won by the 'best'-- or shall we say, more deserving -- not the landslide candidate. And then every now and then, breaking that pattern, comes a show like THE PRODUCERS, which won everything but best seating by an usher, when many of the elements (the sets and costumes,say) were simply of a high standard and not exemplary. I don't think there's a landslide show this year, with SPAMALOT's score hardly noteworthy, for example. But who knows? I still remember the gasps when TWO GENTS OF VERONA beat FOLLIES. Could that happen today? Probably.
The only locks I see this year: Clark and DOUBT for best play. But I could be wrong.
I think Norbert is a lock as well.
Interesting predictions, though.
I would love some surprises, though.
~Steven
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