What if? Best musicals from 1940-1948
Understudy Joined: 4/30/05
What if? Best musicals from 1940-1948#1
Posted: 3/29/18 at 6:43am
The first Tony Award for a musical was awarded in 1949.
For those theater historians out there, what musical do you think would have won the Tony Award for best musical for the years 1940-1948 if the award was in existence then?
What if? Best musicals from 1940-1948#2
Posted: 3/29/18 at 7:40am
1940: Pal Joey
1941: Best Foot Forward
1942: By Jupiter
1943: Oklahoma!
1944: On the Town
1945: Carousel
1946: Annie Get Your Gun
1947: Brigadoon
1948: Kiss Me, Kate
What if? Best musicals from 1940-1948#3
Posted: 3/29/18 at 7:44am
Done!
Well that was a short thread.
What if? Best musicals from 1940-1948#4
Posted: 3/29/18 at 7:50am
1940: Pal Joey
1941: Lady in the Dark
1942: By Jupiter
1943: Oklahoma!
1944: On the Town
1945: Carousel
1946: Annie Get Your Gun
1947: Finian's Rainbow
What if? Best musicals from 1940-1948#5
Posted: 3/29/18 at 8:08am
Assuming the 1940 season is spring 1939 to spring 1940 (etc.), per ibdb:
1940: DuBarry Was A Lady
1941: Lady in the Dark
1942: Let's Face It!
1943: Something For the Boys (Oklahoma! opened late in the season, and I wonder if it was immediately recognized as the hit it was)
1944: One Touch of Venus
1945: Carousel
1946: Annie Get Your Gun
1947: Finian's Rainbow
What if? Best musicals from 1940-1948#6
Posted: 3/30/18 at 6:47pm
@henrik
I was back and forth between Lady in the Dark and Best Foot Forward, but taking into consideration WW2, I went with the idea that the happier musical comedy would win over the darker, seemingly ahead-of-its-time Lady in the Dark.
Brigadoon was one of the first classics I learned when I was in a community theatre production as a teenager and is a sentimental favorite, tho I do also love Finian's..
@newintown-
I definitely went calendar year, not the June 1939-May 1940 breakdown which would shift some of my selections, but I do think Oklahoma and Something for the Boys would have been a close race..
What if? Best musicals from 1940-1948#7
Posted: 3/30/18 at 7:42pm
Perhaps the Donaldson awards can clue us in:
1944: Carmen Jones
1945: Carousel
1946: Show Boat
1947: Finian's Rainbow
1948: High Button Shoes
What if? Best musicals from 1940-1948#8
Posted: 3/30/18 at 9:33pm
What would have been the nominees?
What if? Best musicals from 1940-1948#9
Posted: 3/30/18 at 10:42pm
RoadGypsy2010 said: "1940: Pal Joey
1941: Best Foot Forward
1942: By Jupiter
1943: Oklahoma!
1944: On the Town
1945: Carousel
1946: Annie Get Your Gun
1947: Brigadoon
1948: Kiss Me, Kate"
Kiss Me, Kate was the first awarded Best Musical in 1949.
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