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What show do you think came in 5th (or in some cases, 6th) place for a Tony nomination for Best Musical? Below, I’ve listed rankings of other musicals from their respective seasons as well as nominations they actually did receive (or in some cases, good will they might’ve had) in order from most likely to least likely. For this post, I’m focusing on the 2010s. I’ll get to more later.
2019:
1. The Cher Show – Three nominations, two wins for Lead Actress and Costume Design
2. Be More Chill – Best Original Score nominee
3. King Kong – Three design nominations2018:
1. Summer: The Donna Summer Musical – Two acting nominations
2. Prince of Broadway – Revue about a giant of the theater
3. Escape to Margaritaville – The only other new musical of that season…2017:
1. Bandstand – Two nominations, won Best Choreography
2. War Paint – Four nominations, two for Lead Actress
3. Anastasia – Two nominations, including Featured Actress
4. Holiday Inn – Best Choreography nominee2016:
1. On Your Feet! – Best Choreography nominee
2. Disaster! – Best Featured Actress nominee
3. American Psycho – Two design nominations
4. Tuck Everlasting – Best Costume Design nominee2015:
1. Honeymoon in Vegas – Well reviewed by critics
2. The Last Ship – Two nominations, including Best Original Score
3. It Shoulda Been You – Maybe?2014:
1. The Bridges of Madison County – Four nominations, won Best Original Score
2. Bullets Over Broadway – Six nominations, including Best Book of a Musical
3. If/Then – Two nominations for Best Lead Actress and Best Original Score
4. Rocky – Four nominations, won Best Scenic Design
5. A Night with Janis Joplin – Best Lead Actress nominee2013:
1. Hands on a Hardbody – Two acting nominations, plus Best Original Score
2. Motown: The Musical – Four nominations, two for acting
3. Chaplin – Best Lead Actor nominee
4. Scandalous – Best Lead Actress nominee2012:
1. Bonnie & Clyde – Two nominations for Lead Actress and Original Score
2. Lysistrata Jones – Best Book of a Musical nominee
3. Ghost the Musical – Three nominations, including Best Featured Actress
4. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark – Two design nominations2011:
1. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson – Two nominations, including Best Book
2. Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – Two nominations, including Best Lead Actor, won Best Costume Design
3. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown – Two acting nominations, plus Best Original Score
4. Baby It’s You!/The People in the Picture – Best Lead Actress nominees2010:
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1. Everyday Rapture – Two nominations for Best Lead Actress and Best Book
2. The Addams Family – Two nominations for Featured Actor and Original Score
3. Six By Sondheim – Two nominations, including Best Featured Actress
4. Come Fly Away – Two nominations for Featured Actress and ChoreographyNow onto the 2000s…
2009:
1. 9 to 5 – Four nominations, all in major categories
2. (title of show) – Best Book of a Musical nominee
3. White Christmas – Two nominations, including Best Choreography2008:
1. A Catered Affair – Three nominations, two for acting*
2. Young Frankenstein – Three nominations, two for acting
3. The Little Mermaid – Two nominations, including Best Original Score*In Michael Riedel’s coverage of the 2008 Tony nominations, he reported that at first, there was a tie for the fourth slot in Best Musical. So the nominators had to take a second ballot where Cry-Baby ended up taking the fourth slot by just one or two votes ahead of A Catered Affair.
2007:
1. Legally Blonde – Seven nominations, six of them in major categories
2. LoveMusik – Four nominations, three for acting
3. Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me – Best Featured Actor nominee
4. High Fidelity – Best Scenic Design nominee2006:
1. Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life – Best Lead Actress nominee
2. The Woman in White – Best Original Score nominee
3. Lestat – Two nominations, including Best Featured Actress
4. Tarzan – Best Lighting Design nominee2005:
1. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – Five nominations, three for acting
2. Little Women – Best Lead Actress nominee2004:
1. Taboo – Four nominations, three of them in major categories
2. Never Gonna Dance – Two nominations for Best Featured Actress and Best Choreography
3. Bombay Dreams – Three nominations, including Best Choreography2003:
Urban Cowboy – Two nominations for Best Original Score and Best Choreography2002:
Thou Shalt Not – Two nominations for Best Featured Actor and Best Original Score2001:
1. Seussical – Best Lead Actor nominee
2. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Two design nominations2000:
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1. Aida – Five nomination, four wins, including Best Lead Actress and Best Original Score
2. Marie Christine – Five nominations, three of them in major categories
3. Putting It Together – Best Lead Actor nomineeIf I had to take a guess for the 2010s, I’d assume:
2010: The Addams Family
2011: Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown
2012: Bonnie & Clyde
2013: Motown: The Musical
2014: The Bridges Of Madison County
2015: Honeymoon In Vegas
2016: On Your Feet!
2017: Bandstand
2018: Prince Of Broadway
2019: Be More ChillNot going to bother trying with the 2000s; I don’t know enough background information to make guesses.
ReplyCopy URLHere’s my thinking behind some of my guesses:
2010 – Looking back at Michael Riedel’s coverage prior to the nominations announcement that year, he said that “For Best Musical, Come Fly Away, Fela!, and American Idiot are sure bets. The fourth slot is up for grabs. Believe it or not, a couple of nominators like The Addams Family (a momentary lapse of taste, I guess) and there’s good will toward Sherie Rene Scott and her show, Everyday Rapture, which opened last night. But I think the fourth slot goes to Memphis.” He ended up being so off in his predictions as he thought the eventual Best Musical winner was vulnerable for a nomination, and that Come Fly Away was a lock. He didn’t even consider Million Dollar Quartet (which ended up taking the fourth slot) as a possibility. Still, I’m leaning more towards Everyday Rapture given how that show came in at the last minute and earned quite a bit of good will.
2011 – When Michael Riedel gave his nomination predictions prior to the announcement that year, he reported that “The fight for the fourth slot is between Catch Me If You Can, which disappointed the nominators, and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which gave some of them a disco ball-size headache. It’s a close call, but I’ll tip it to Priscilla, which aims low and succeeds.” I doubt Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown had that much of a shot. The musical was seen as a failure all around both critically and commercially. Though the reason why I’m guessing Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is because it appeared to have been the more artistically ambitious musical that those snobby nominators would prefer to champion.
2013 – While the other awards groups don’t overlap with the Tonys, it is worth noting that Hands on a Hardbody did manage to receive Best Musical nominations from the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards while Motown did not. It also appears to me that the former show probably had much more snob appeal than the latter.
2018 – I went with Summer: The Donna Summer Musical simply because it was the only one of the other three new shows that season to have been nominated at all. Though with that being said, I’m guessing that the close race for the fifth slot in Best Lead Actress that year was between LaChanze and Jessie Mueller (for the Carousel revival), which of course was what led to six nominees. Both of those ladies were probably just there as filler as Ariana DeBose and Renée Fleming probably were in Best Featured Actress. Maybe 5th place for Best Musical was close between Summer and Prince of Broadway? Who knows.
2019 – While a number of people were predicting Be More Chill to take the fifth slot for Best Musical last year, the fact that it way underperformed in nominations gives me doubt that it even came close. It’s also worth noting that the show only received one nod for Best Original Score in a field of six contenders. I’m guessing the fifth slot in that category was a close race between Be More Chill and To Kill a Mockingbird. I’m leaning more towards The Cher Show given how big of a crowd-pleaser that proved to be (throughout the beginning of its run). Michael Riedel even reported in his column prior to the nominations announcement that “two of the people behind it — writer Rick Elice and costume designer Bob Mackie — have a lot of fans around Shubert Alley.” Not to mention that The Cher Show managed to win two out of its three nominations despite not being up for Best Musical. I have this theory where if a certain something was able to overcome a major stat that was not in its favor at any award show, then it must’ve been close to securing the important nomination it needed to get, but didn’t. Like when Ben Affleck famously failed to receive an Oscar nod for directing Argo back in 2012, yet the film itself still managed to win Best Picture, he clearly must’ve been on the cusp of a Best Director nomination given that he was recognized (and awarded) at every major precursor.
ReplyCopy URLAnd for the 1990s:
1990: Dangerous Games
1991: Shogun
1992: Metro
1993: My Favorite Year
1994: The Red Shoes
1995: None, since there were only two new musicals and both were Best Musical nominees
1996: Big
1997: Jekyll & Hyde
1998: Triumph of Love
1999: FootlooseAnd the rest:
1956: The Vamp
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1957: L’il Abner
1958: Shinbone Alley
1959: Goldilocks
1960: Greenwillow
1961: Camelot
1962: All American
1963: Tovarich
1964: The Girl Who Came to Supper
1965: The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd
1966: On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
1967: A Joyful Noise
1968: Golden Rainbow
1969: George M!
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