What was the worst Tony season?

Well, 1995 was a pretty bad year. Only two Best Musical nominees: SUNSET BOULEVARD and SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE. And Best Actress in a Musical also had just two: Glenn Close for SUNSET and Rebecca Luker for SHOWBOAT.

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I'd submit the 1988-89 season as the all-time worst in my lifetime for anything musical (at least from age 7 onward).

Here were the musical shows that opened with the Best Musical nominees asterisked (the pickings were so slim, there were only three and of those, two were essentially revues and one was altogether ludicrous, though fun in a wacky out-there sorta way):

Canciones de mi Padre
Ain't Misbehavin'
The Georgian State Dance Company
Michael Feinstein in Concert: "Isn't It Romantic"
Kenny Loggins on Broadway
Legs Diamond
*Black and Blue
Cafe Crown
*Jerome Robbins' Broadway
Joan Jett and the Black Hearts on Broadway
Chu Chem
Welcome to the Club
Barry Manilow at the Gershwin
*Starmites

In addition, the categories of Best Book of a Musical and Best Score of a Musical were eliminated entirely.

Mind you, I loved "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" but other than that, and the great Ruth Wilson and dancing of "Black & Blue", it was something of a wasteland. Some enjoyable bits in "Cafe Crown" and "Chu Chem" too but even all of that combined doth hardly an even-marginally serviceable season make.

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Updated On: 3/27/10 at 12:01 AM

It seems like a joke to only have two nominees in the Best Actress and Best Musical categories. What was the reaction at the time?

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Oh, and this season is pretty awful too.

No strong contender for Best Musical, which hasn't happened in a very long time.

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averagebwaynut-
You left Carrie off the list. It opened in May of 1989, and began preivews right before the cut off.

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Actually, if memory serves correctly, Carrie opened in the middle of May in 1988 making it the first musical of the 1988-1989 season.

I would agree 1989 was a lackluster season without any good original shows and two decent revues. Although 1985 was not far behind in my opinion.

Don't forget 1968, with your Best Musical nominees:

Hallelujah, Baby!
The Happy Time
How Now, Dow Jones
Illya, Darling!

I think Hallelujah, Baby! still has the distinction of being the only musical to have been closed when it won Best Musical.

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Are Memphis and The Addams Family the only two shows with eligible scores this year? I wonder if Enron will be in the race for its music. Anyone know if there's a precedent for something billed as a play but having original music being nominated?

The Tonys have yet to rule on the score to 'American Idiot.' I'm guessing there'll be a push to make it eligible, even though it's a 2004 Grammy-winning album that's sold over 14 million copies. The rule of thumb in the past several years is that at least 50% of the score has to be new, to be Tony eligible.

Anyone seen 'Enron'? Does it have many songs? Perhaps that makes it eligible. There are some new songs in 'All About Me'; does that constitute a score? It's also been pointed out that Maury Yeston wrote a score to 'The Royal Family.' If the Tonys go that route, there are a few other possibilities when it comes to music to a play (since Tesori's set a precedent).

So what was the worst Tony season? Various cases can be made for the worst Broadway season, but in terms of the Tonys, I'd agree with Givesmevoice: 1985. That season, they eliminated THREE categories: Best Actor in a Musical, Best Actress in a Musical and Choreography. They've never eliminated so many categories since. (For 1989, they dropped Best Book and Best Score.)

I don't like the idea of dropping categories. Even in 1985, they could've fielded nominees for Best Actor and Actress, instead of relegating them to Featured Actor and Actress. Daniel Jenkins and Ron Richardson should've been up for Best Actor (as the leads of 'Big River'), not Featured, alongside, say, Ben Vereen ('Grind') and maybe Mark Hamill (who got some good reviews for 'Harrigan 'n' Hart'). Mary Beth Peil ('The King and I') and Leilani Jones ('Grind') should been up for Best Actress, not Featured Actress. Or they should've just called the categories: Best Actor and Actress.

Choreography nominees could've been: Janet Watson ('Big River'), Lester Wilson ('Grind') and Michael Peters ('Leader of the Pack'). Oh, well ...

Updated On: 3/27/10 at 11:39 AM

There were several worst seasons in the 1980s, each worse than the one before. Not only were there no good musicals, there were AIDS memorials every week for talented dancers, singers, actors, designers, directors. It was endlessly depressing.

The memorials often featured better performances than the shows on Broadway. More than one quip was made that there should be Tonys for Best Performance at a Memorial and Best Memorial.

My friend Reed Jones's memorial was at the Winter Garden, one of several that inspired the Winter Garden memorial in Paul Rdnick's Jeffrey.

Reed's featured Mandy Patinkin, Betty Buckley, Ashford and Simpson, Debbie Gravitte and a reunion of the cast of the 1980 Broadway revival of West Side Story. Sandy Duncan led a subsequent memorial in Los Angeles.

Reed, who had originated Skimbleshanks in the Broadway Cats with Betty Buckley, had requested that she sing "Memory." She felt that would be too predictable, and instead offered to sing "I'll Be Seeing You." She also said that she should go last, since "No one will be able to sing anything else after that."

She was right. And she could easily have walked away with a 1989 Tony for Best Performance by a Diva at a Co-Worker's Memorial.

It was that kind of decade.

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I was wondering if critics, or even just people you knew, commented on only having two nominees in the categories.

There were stories in the NY Tiems (and other papers) as well as Theatre week.

We didn't have BWW in 1995 but there were internet BBS's and chat rooms and many fans were campaigning to combine the nominees for Best Revival (2 - SHOW BOAT and H2$) with the new musical nominees (SUNSET and SMOKEY JOE'S.) As Tony winner's go, SUNSET was - for me at least - an embarrassment. I enjoyed SHOW BOAT and H2$ much more.

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By the number of seats criteria, it shouldn't be, but those productions aren't eligible for Tonys. (Otherwise, don't you think with the kinds of performances it's had, it would at least have been nominated many times in the past?)

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