All tagged Tony Award

Predicting the 2019 Tony Winners

As I typically do, I have made my pre-Tony Award predictions, my educated guesses as to who will win in each category. This is not particularly my forte, but I am going to do my best here. If anything, it should at least make for some entertaining reading to see just how wrong I can be about what the masses like. How do I reconcile that perception with my own personal opinions and come up with a choice in each category? I just listen to my gut that will most likely be bursting with crow on Monday morning. 

The Best Musical Tony Award Debate: 2005

The 2005 Tony Awards represented a season where all four Best Musical nominees could have easily walked away with the Best Musical prize, each show offering something very different and special. It will make for a great debate. The nominees that season were Monty Python’s SpamalotDirty Rotten ScoundrelsThe Light in the Piazza, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, so you can see how this would be a contentious season. I’m also going to say in advance of discussion that I definitely have my favorite amongst these shows and I will try to remain unbiased.

The Best Musical Tony Award Debate: 1961

1961 was an interesting year in Tony history for a couple of reasons. First, it was a year where there were only three Best Musical nominees instead of four, and second because there were plenty of shows that could have filled a fourth category, but were left out of the running. The nominees that year were Bye Bye BirdeDo Re Mi, and Irma La Douce, with Bye Bye Birdie ultimately taking home the Best Musical prize. For this week’s installment, I am going to do things a little differently. After looking at the three nominees, I want to take a minute to examine a couple of shows that should have qualified, but somehow didn’t make the final cut. 

The Best Musical Tony Award Debate: 1987

In writing about these the Tony-nominated Best Musicals of various seasons and making a judgment as to which nominee deserved to win, I take full ownership of my opinion and realize that many of you will disagree. In fact, I invite the debate and am always interested in hearing your opinions as well. Theatre is obviously subjective, and what appeals to me might invite disdain from you. Contrarily, what I detest might be something you are passionate about. When I write these pieces, I do try to keep by opinions balanced, supported with reasoning, while trying to find that good and the challenging in each musical I dissect. That being said, I often find myself at odds with my own determinations, loving one show more, respecting another, while ultimately conceding that yet another deserved to win. 1987, which featured Les MisérablesRagsStarlight Express, and Me and My Girl as the Best Musical nominees, is a year that leaves me so divided, as each of them offered something very different and each excelled in very different ways.