Worst Broadway Musical Season

[Maria Reynolds]

Posted: 11/28/15 at 4:11pm

Not including plays, which season has been the worst for the musicals?

Years that come to mind -

1988 - 1989: Black and Blue, Starmites, Jerome Robbins Broadway, Legs Diamond.

1994 - 1995: Sunset Boulevard, Showboat (revival), How to Succeed (revival), and Smokey Joe's. The only 4 musicals considered for Tony Awards.

 

[BOM]

Posted: 11/28/15 at 4:14pm

I think the season where Memphis won best musical. Pretty lackluster year in my opinion. 

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 11/28/15 at 4:26pm

BOM said: "I think the season where Memphis won best musical. Pretty lackluster year in my opinion."

 

Agreed. 2009-2010 was a pretty bad season.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 11/28/15 at 4:31pm

^ I will third that notion!

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 11/28/15 at 4:32pm

Don't forget 1984-1985 -- Big River and nothing much else; 1985-86 wasn't much better, but it did have Drood and several serviceable things in it. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 11/28/15 at 4:40pm

Do you think the 2009-2010 season was lackluster due to the financial crisis?

[mc1227]

Posted: 11/28/15 at 4:42pm

I agree with the years already mentioned but I also think that the 2001 year was pretty weak with the exception of The Producers, one of the reasons it took all the awards.  The only show other than that worth seeing that year was The Full Monty.  

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 11/28/15 at 4:45pm

Whatever year contact won in. That must've been a lackluster year.

[hork]

Posted: 11/28/15 at 4:48pm

2012-2013 was pretty bad. I disliked the three shows I saw and had little or no interest in anything else that season.

[JenniferCali]

Posted: 11/28/15 at 5:11pm

hork said: "2012-2013 was pretty bad. I disliked the three shows I saw and had little or no interest in anything else that season.

 

last years except fun home

 

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 11/28/15 at 6:18pm

I know I'm probably in the minority on this, but I didn't care for the 2004-2005 season. I HATED Spamalot, disliked Spelling Bee, but I did enjoy Pizza and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I also loved Doubt. It just wasn't the most exciting season.

[sklabam]

Posted: 11/28/15 at 11:20pm

I always loved PIZZA.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 11/29/15 at 9:15am

The 2004-05 season is probably the strongest recent crop of best musical nominees.

The 2009-10 season was pretty meh, especially the lack of original scores. I really loved American Idiot and Everyday Rapture that year, but nothing else was particularly exciting (and I saw every new musical that year except Million Dollar Quartet).

[c0113g3b0y]

Posted: 11/29/15 at 9:27am

sklabam said: "I always loved PIZZA.

 

"

I  enjoyed the mother and daughter characters Philadelphia and Cheddar. And Matthew Morrison was such a sexy Mozzarella. The side characters of Pepperoni and Basil rounded up the perfect synergy of flavours, I mean, cast.

Updated On: 11/29/15 at 09:27 AM

[woeisme3]

Posted: 11/29/15 at 9:33am

Yeah, I don't think 04-05 was a weak season whatsoever. All four best musical nominees were deserving and solid shows.

2000, the year that Contact won was fairly dreadful. As was 2003, where Hairspray swept everything because the competition was so weak. 2010 like previously said was fairly bad, as was 2012 (Any year where Leap of Faith gets a best musical nod is not a good year)

There have also been a few years with two big powerhouse shows and not much else, 2001 (The Producers vs The Full Monty), 2008 (In The Heights vs Passing Strange), 2013 (Kinky Boots vs Matilda)

[GroupAGroup1]

Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:41pm

Ken Mandelbaum on the '84-'85 season: "Things get bad enough musically to require the elimination of the Best Musical Actor and Actress categories, as well as the choreography prize." Also, the Featured Actress/Musical award went to Leilani Jones for GRIND, one of the shows from Hal Prince's awful run in the 80's.

Updated On: 11/29/15 at 08:41 PM

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:44pm

The current season seems like the most exciting one in a long time. Yeah Hamilton may be the juggernaut, but there are so many shows that might be coming in to take many of the awards. 

[Balthazar Chasen]

Posted: 12/1/15 at 1:41pm

Um, I don't live in NYC yet I recall reading in area newspapers that the season with Contact was a rather weak field.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/1/15 at 6:20pm

Are we judging the season based solely on the Tony nominees for Best Musical or on the entire season as a whole?  Because if it's just the nominees, or the number of nominees, then there are numerous seasons to mention going all the way back to 1958-59.  So, what constitutes a "worst musical season"?  Personally, my pick would be 1994-95 because it included a mere five musicals, three of which were revivals (not that I have anything against revivals).  One of which closed in three weeks (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes).

 

Personally, I don't think Contact winning Best Musical is indicative of a "worst season".  It's just a show people resent because it didn't fit neatly into one of two boxes or because the Tony committee didn't create a special bone to toss to a surprise critical and financial hit.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 12/1/15 at 6:22pm

JenniferCali said: "last years except fun home"

Highly disagree, I thought last season was very good.

 

 

I agree 1984-85 seems like it was not so good (I wasn't alive at the time however). I think 8 musicals opened (new/revived) and the only ones which received recordings were Grind, Big River and Leader of the Pack (the last of which is a guilty pleasure of mine).

[brdway411]

Posted: 12/2/15 at 3:51am

Last year including Fun Home. Ugggggh

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/2/15 at 4:12pm

2014-2015 Season:

 

Holler if You Hear Me

On the Town

The Last Ship

Side Show

Honeymoon in Vegas

On the Twentieth Century

Gigi

An American in Paris

It Shoulda Been You

Finding Neverland

The King and I

Fun Home

Doctor Zhivago

Something Rotten!

The Visit

 

In the entirety of Broadway history, how is that the "worst" season?  It had a little bit of everything.  Original books and scores, adaptations, classics, conventional, unconventional, dramatic, comedic, jukebox, dance, and composers ranging from entirely new to beloved legends and a new iconic award winner that managed to shatter the glass ceiling and bring new originality to Broadway (facts that have nothing to do with whether or not one likes the show).  

Updated On: 12/2/15 at 04:12 PM

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 12/2/15 at 4:13pm

^Yup. 2014-2015 was one of the best seasons in recent memory, if not ever. Really quite stellar.

[Anton Spivack]

Posted: 3/30/20 at 12:17pm

I would say 1988-1989. Only six new musicals, none of which turned a buck, and the only two to run long and win Tonys were revues.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 3/30/20 at 1:20pm

Boy, I wonder what's gonna be the worst season now...