What if Hamilton Wasn't Around this Season?

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 6/7/16 at 2:55pm

No one can deny that this season would have been drastically different if Hamilton had arrived late LAST season as many people thought that it would. But how different? 

 

After seeing Randy Rainbow's "Sorry You're Not Hamilton" parody video (if you have not seen it yet, go look, it's pretty darn funny), it got me thinking about just what this season MIGHT have been like without Hamilton around. 

 

Would shows like Tuck and American Psycho have survived longer? What shows would be going head to head for the awards that Hamilton is currently a lock for on Sunday like Best Musical and Best Score? Not to mention all the other ones it's favored to win. What would have filled up those record 16 nominations slots that Hamilton has?

 

What WOULD Broadway look like right now without Hamilton?

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 6/7/16 at 2:56pm

NERDS would be a massive hit!

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 6/7/16 at 2:59pm

Shuffle Along would win best musical. Otherwise it would be the same.

[ebontoyan]

Posted: 6/7/16 at 2:59pm

Who has time for what ifs??!

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 6/7/16 at 3:02pm

ebontoyan said: "Who has time for what ifs??!

 

"

Ask the people who saw If/Then

Posted: 6/7/16 at 3:03pm

I really don't think Tuck would have been a hit in any season. The fact that it flopped had nothing to do with Hamilton, it's just wasn't a good show. American Pyscho might have done better in another season, but I don't think it would have garnered the attention that Fun Home did last year, for example. To be honest, the other original musicals this year that aren't Hamilton just aren't that great in general. None of them would have been good enough to beat Fun Home last year or Kinky Boots in 2013 (I think they may have been able to compete with Gentlemen's Guide in 2014, which was a weak season for new musicals imo). I think (I hope) that there are great new musicals out there that were just too afraid to come to Broadway this season because they didn't want to compete with Hamilton.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 6/7/16 at 3:11pm

Scarlet Leigh said: "No one can deny that this season would have been drastically different if Hamilton had arrived late LAST season as many people thought that it would...What WOULD Broadway look like right now without Hamilton?"

I'm confused. are you implying that if Hamilton had moved to Broadway last spring it wouldn't still be open? that it wouldn't have been a big hit? I agree that waiting to open and therefore being eligible for Tonys this year has obviously kept it in the national spotlight longer and probably helped it become the phenomenon it is, but I think it would still be a huge hit if it had happened last year.

as for awards...i'd say best musical would be Shuffle Along or Waitress, score would be Waitress, choreo Savion for Shuffle, direction maybe John Doyle or George C Wolfe, actor Danny Burstein, featured actress perhaps a Color Purple lady or Jane Krakowski (with probable noms for Keala or Kimiko from Waitress). featured actor...someone from Shuffle Along perhaps. many of the technical awards I could see Hamilton not winning this season already (I think it will wil between 7 and 10 Tonys or so). maybe one or two of the closed shows could have snuck in for some noms (possibly with several additional noms for Spring Awakening, like Krysta Rodriguez perhaps). The Tonys last year were already very exciting in my opinion, much more so than this year. Hamilton having been in the mix would have been kind of insane. this year's Tonys would be kind of mediocre (or maybe Shuffle and Waitress would have been an exciting battle without Ham).

Updated On: 6/7/16 at 03:11 PM

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 6/7/16 at 3:24pm

gypsy101 said: "I'm confused. are you implying that if Hamilton had moved to Broadway last spring it wouldn't still be open? that it wouldn't have been a big hit?.

No. Sorry. I will re-word it. What would it be like without Hamilton in the mix for this season's awards? As well, I suppose as just with the attention that is given to the show. It would certainly still be open but I suppose that also brings up the question of what would have become of it IF it has to come in last minute last season to face off with Fun Home? Would it have become AS BIG with something else there to challenge it early on? As it is not, it went unchallenged by any other show for so long into the season that by the time the next closest contender's showed up to the party, it was already a MASSIVE hit unlike anything we've seen in years.

"

[evic]

Posted: 6/7/16 at 3:32pm

People would have a lot more money in their pockets

[haterobics]

Posted: 6/7/16 at 4:40pm

What is playing at the Richard Rogers in this fantasy? Hard to answer without that piece of information...

[HogansHero]

Posted: 6/7/16 at 4:40pm

it's hard to say without knowing what would have come in but didn't. But assuming the fiction that nothing else would have come in, then the awards for which Hamilton was excluded provide some measure, although complicated by the fact that the presumptive winner was excluded from the major award you would look to. I think it would have been one of those off years in which the jukebox show wins for lack of a quality alternative.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 6/7/16 at 4:41pm

If Hamilton wasn't around this season I would be denied the displeasure of some of you BITCHING, MOANING and WHINING.

Oh wait, that's what some of you do anyway regardless of what's playing on Broadway.

My bad!

 

 

[Broadway Forever2]

Posted: 6/7/16 at 5:10pm

CarlosAlberto said: "If Hamilton wasn't around this season I would be denied the displeasure of some of you BITCHING, MOANING and WHINING.

Oh wait, that's what some of you do anyway regardless of what's playing on Broadway.

My bad!

 

 

 

"
This is true

Updated On: 6/7/16 at 05:10 PM

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/7/16 at 11:06pm

Even if it had opened last season, the grotesque, gargantuan overhype on the part of the mega media machine would have continued to obliterate everything else in sight  and suck the air out of any other room where things hoped to happen. 

 

But I'll take the liberty of extending the OP's conjecture to what if it hadn't been presented at all? Imagine:

 

No  $850 orchestra seats, with the attendant dire ramifications for shows in the future.

No relentless media hype promoting an overblown, self-important bore.

No "arbiters of culture" lecturing us on why we need bow and scrape before it.

No being subjected to repetitious babble about having one's shot, or being in the room where it happens.

Imagine a season without all that, if you can. Seems like paradise, no?

[HogansHero]

Posted: 6/7/16 at 11:41pm

@After Eight "No 'arbiters of culture' lecturing us on why we need bow and scrape before it."

Yes, imagine a world in which the only arbiter of culture was that posturing toll, After Eight.
 

"Seems like paradise, no?" 

No, seems like hell. 

[mamaleh]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 12:33am

The NY Times would run out of feature pieces.

[pupscotch]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 12:41am

Scarlet Leigh said: "gypsy101 said: "It would certainly still be open but I suppose that also brings up the question of what would have become of it IF it has to come in last minute last season to face off with Fun Home? Would it have become AS BIG with something else there to challenge it early on? As it is not, it went unchallenged by any other show for so long into the season that by the time the next closest contender's showed up to the party, it was already a MASSIVE hit unlike anything we've seen in years.

"

 

"

Yes, I've always wondered about these things. Would Michael Cerveris have beaten Leslie Odom Jr? Would Christian Borle have beaten Daveed Diggs? It's fun to think about I suppose, though personally I believe Cerveris would have still won, but Daveed would win over Borle.

[¿Macavity?]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 2:17am

I'd like to think that American Psycho would have done better, but I don't think it would have. I mean, maybe a little bit better, but not by much. It probably would have been nominated for more Tonys, so that's something.

[KCW]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 7:11am

Next year is going to be competitive, with a strong face off of three great musicals: Dear Evan Hansen, Nattasha. Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, and Nerds

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 8:29am

If not for Hamilton, I would again wish that the TONY awards would separate music and lyrics into two categories. In my opinion, Bright Star's score is second to Hamilton's, but Waitress has the better lyrics. 

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 9:08am

Nerds is coming next season?

[HogansHero]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 10:30am

KCW said: "Next year is going to be competitive, with a strong face off of three great musicals: Dear Evan Hansen, Nattasha. Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, and Nerds"

if that's the face-off we are in trouble.