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re: Herman's LA CAGE Score Tony

Posted by: perfectlyfrank 12:14 pm EDT 04/03/14
In reply to: re: Herman's LA CAGE Score Tony - AlanScott 06:42 pm EDT 04/02/14

Yes, I didn't mean to imply that I personally feel one is heart and one is head (although Sondheim's works are all very cerebral but I don't personally feel they lack heart). In the case of SUNDAY, it's a very heartfelt show. As Chazwaza said so well, LA CAGE wears its heart on its sleeve while SUNDAY wears it UNDER it's sleeve.

Of the two shows, SUNDAY affected me more but I liked both shows and certainly understand why LA CAGE won the awards. For me, each show had two pivotal moments that brought a tear (there are more but for me, these were the two big moments): When Dot joins George for "Move On" (chills!) and when Jean-Michel apologizes to Albin in the reprise of "Look Over There". Years later I took my mother to see the LA CAGE revival and that same moment affected her, as I think it must all parents who often wait a lifetime for their children to realize the sacrifices their parents have made for them.

So, for me, both shows evoke strong feelings. Then again, while it's fun to play the award game, most great shows don't need to compete. CHICAGO and A CHORUS LINE are great shows. GYPSY and THE SOUND OF MUSIC are classics. WEST SIDE STORY and THE MUSIC MAN are worthy of praise. And SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE and LA CAGE AUX FOLLES are both wonderful shows from two beloved composer-lyricists. It's all good. How lucky we are to have so many shows to love.


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re: Herman's LA CAGE Score Tony / Tony vs Pulitzer Prizes for musicals

Posted by: Chazwaza 02:50 pm EDT 04/03/14
In reply to: re: Herman's LA CAGE Score Tony - perfectlyfrank 12:14 pm EDT 04/03/14

So true.

I am just glad that year both shows got important awards, La Cage with the Tony and Sunday with the Pulitzer. I think Sunday got the higher, rarer, and more important honor, and it was well deserved. Rarely in other years where great shows compete are both given their due with two such awards... (but maybe I'm in the minority in thinking that Carousel, Gypsy, West Side Story, Follies, Assassins and Caroline or Change all deserved to win the Pulitzer Prize...

though I wouldn't give it to WSS over Long Days Journey which won that year...

but I would have given it to:
Gypsy over J.B.
Carousel over Harvey
Follies over the Effect of Gramma Rays...
Assassins over The Piano Lesson
Caroline over Anna in the Tropics.

Of course none of these were even finalists as far as I can tell.

Hell I'd also have given it to Hair over nothing (if it were eligible in 1968, i'm not sure), and to Into the Woods over Driving Miss Daisy. I'd also have given it to Grey Gardens over nothing (and over the 3 finalists of 2006, and I might have made Passing Strange a finalist). And I'd have given it to Violet in 1997 over nothing. And I would have found a way to give it to Cabaret over nothing, even though it's not "about" America. I also think I would have at least made The Scotsboro Boys a finalist, if not a winner over Next to Normal.


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re: Herman's LA CAGE Score Tony / Tony vs Pulitzer Prizes for musicals

Posted by: perfectlyfrank 03:46 pm EDT 04/03/14
In reply to: re: Herman's LA CAGE Score Tony / Tony vs Pulitzer Prizes for musicals - Chazwaza 02:50 pm EDT 04/03/14

I agree that many musicals should have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize or at least been in contention.

HAIR, like ASSASSINS, were probably too controversial at the time to give it such an award (although I would say that HAIR especially deserved it - there was no award for drama that year.)

I do like that the Pulitzer can elect not to make an award on any given year. I think that keeps the standard higher than not.


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re: Herman's LA CAGE Score Tony / Tony vs Pulitzer Prizes for musicals

Posted by: Chazwaza 04:36 pm EDT 04/03/14
In reply to: re: Herman's LA CAGE Score Tony / Tony vs Pulitzer Prizes for musicals - perfectlyfrank 03:46 pm EDT 04/03/14

It does keep the standard higher, but often they neglect to give it in years when there is at least one worthy play or musical... and sometimes when they do give it they do not choose one worthy over the other eligible selections that year. So I'm not sure they have really kept the standard high.

And if any musicals were brilliant looks at American culture and the American experience, expressed through drama, it is Assassins and Hair. (i've certainly never seen the american dream so thoroughly and interestingly analyzed AND within the generally untold/unexplored parts of history as in Assassins, and the fact that they did it as a musical is all the more daring and apt)


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