| re: Which was the toughest competitive year for Best Musical? | |
| Posted by: | Yikes11 06:29 pm EST 01/16/14 |
| In reply to: | Which was the toughest competitive year for Best Musical? - Chazwaza 06:20 pm EST 01/16/14 |
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| Don't forget Music Man vs. West Side Story. Shockingly, the former, milk toast prod. won. 1958: The Music Man – Book by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson. West Side Story – Book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. New Girl in Town – Book by George Abbott, music and lyrics by Bob Merrill. Based on the play Anna Christie by Eugene O'Neill. Oh, Captain! – Book by Al Morgan and José Ferrer, music and lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. Based on the movie The Captain's Paradise. Jamaica – Book by E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy, music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E. Y. Harburg. | |
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| re: Which was the toughest competitive year for Best Musical? | |
| Posted by: | Page 07:10 am EST 01/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Which was the toughest competitive year for Best Musical? - Yikes11 06:29 pm EST 01/16/14 |
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| When I was 4-years-old my parents took me into the city of Chicago to see Forrest Tucker in The Music Man, which had just opened at the Shubert Theater. My first time ever seeing a new Broadway show on national tour. I was too young to comprehend the synopsis but just old enough to know how much fun all those kids were having on that stage. The acting bug had struck and I knew on that night how I wanted to spend my life. I have the Shubert Playbill & souvenir program from this production in my enormous collection of theatrical memorabilia. | |
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| re: Which was the toughest competitive year for Best Musical? | |
| Posted by: | MikeR 06:35 pm EST 01/16/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Which was the toughest competitive year for Best Musical? - Yikes11 06:29 pm EST 01/16/14 |
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| I bow to no one in my love for West Side Story, but The Music Man is one of the finest musicals ever written. There is nothing shocking about its Tony win. (FYI, the word you're looking for is "milquetoast," and it means "a timid, meek, or unassertive person." I can't see how that word can be applied to a production of any musical.) | |
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| re: Which was the toughest competitive year for Best Musical? | |
| Posted by: | keikekaze 12:57 am EST 01/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Which was the toughest competitive year for Best Musical? - MikeR 06:35 pm EST 01/16/14 |
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| I bow to many in my love for West Side Story, which I've always found excessively bombastic and self-important, and I'll flatly state that The Music Man is, all things considered, a better musical. It may not be a better dance performance, or a better "conception by Jerome Robbins," or Stephen Sondheim's Broadway debut--but it is a better musical. Don't let it's (perfectly deliberate) corniness fool you, folks. It disguises its craft very craftily. | |
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| re: Which was the toughest competitive year for Best Musical? | |
| Posted by: | Chazwaza 04:18 pm EST 01/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Which was the toughest competitive year for Best Musical? - keikekaze 12:57 am EST 01/17/14 |
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| I don't think it is *better*... I think they are both in a short list of the greatest musicals ever written. I don't know what makes you so confident as to declare it "better", but it's not true just because you think it or say it. They couldn't be more different, and they are two of the most acclaimed and beloved and popular shows ever... I don't think one has a point over the other in any category. At that point it's just about preference. | |
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| re: Which was the toughest competitive year for Best Musical? | |
| Posted by: | enoch10 11:59 pm EST 01/16/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Which was the toughest competitive year for Best Musical? - MikeR 06:35 pm EST 01/16/14 |
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| >> There is nothing shocking about its Tony win. oh, i don't know. MM has many wonderful things going for it - a big one for this production being an indisputable star turn in robert preston - but it pales in comparison to WSS, which even in retrospect seems groundbreaking and revolutionary on almost every level. though ultimately you're right. 9 times out of 10 - and now that the pesky critics have been removed in favor of out of town bookers it can only get worse - the TONY tends to go to the commercial and conservative and very recently, more often than not, to the downright mediocre. | |
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| but that was really between two musicals | |
| Posted by: | dramedy 06:32 pm EST 01/16/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Which was the toughest competitive year for Best Musical? - Yikes11 06:29 pm EST 01/16/14 |
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| the other nominees didn't have a chance. the original post was looking for seasons with at least 3 potential winners. | |
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| re: but that was really between two musicals | |
| Posted by: | Chazwaza 06:40 pm EST 01/16/14 |
| In reply to: | but that was really between two musicals - dramedy 06:32 pm EST 01/16/14 |
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| Exactly. I mentioned this year in my listings of the big two-fer years, but none of the other nominees stood a chance nor have they stood the test of time. | |
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| I can do that | |
| Posted by: | chrismpls 07:44 pm EST 01/16/14 |
| In reply to: | re: but that was really between two musicals - Chazwaza 06:40 pm EST 01/16/14 |
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| I'm surprised more have not spoken up for 1976. Two of the longest-running musicals ever, both pretty much certified classics, as well as one of Sondheim's most beautiful scores in a show that is not constantly revivable but is also a classic of a kind. | |
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