Was Contact the Trump-win of Tony history?

[rg7759]

Posted: 5/24/17 at 6:41pm

Unspeakable

Updated On: 5/24/17 at 06:41 PM

[ChgoTheatreGuy]

Posted: 5/24/17 at 7:13pm

First of all, it wasn't really a musical due to all of the pre-recorded pop songs.  Second, the story was pretty bad.  They should have Senate hearings and make the producers give back their Tony.

[JudyDenmark]

Posted: 5/24/17 at 8:19pm

Huh? Contact wasn't the greatest show ever (or even that year) but it's harmless. No comparison.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 11:27am

Nope.  It was an evening of three short ballets (and three separate stories).  All were brilliantly staged, choreographed and performed.  Since there was no category for Best Ballet and its music and choreography were critical to the construct of the show, it was placed in the Musical category.  There were two buckets shows could be placed in: Play or Musical.  Which bucket did you believe it should fall into?  

Of the nominees, I agree with its win.  Apparently, the voters did as well.  I loved everything about it.  Saw the tour twice and watched the PBS broadcast countless times.  The only other nominee I felt came close was Wild Party, but its quick closure and troubled production made it the long shot of the four.  Swing was a fair revue that was doing fair business, safe with the middle-of-the-road tourist crowd.  The Dead was essentially a play with music, but like Contact, the music was critical to its construct (and yes, performed live), but the lyrics were not really integrated into the narrative as with a book musical.  But it was a solid and pleasant show, and clearly quite forgettable.  Aida was the youthful fan favorite, but as a Best Musical contender, at best, it was in fifth place, so it's not likely voters would have been inclined to award it the top prize had it replaced Contact as a nominee.  Personally, I found Aida to be a bright colorful mess of a show featuring impressive singers (most of whom were clearly not hired for their acting skills) an uneven score of some memorable pop tunes and a bunch of design elements that had little to do with the story.  It looked like none of the designers or creators ever met until opening night.  The spectacle and some of the songs were fun and Sherie Rene Scott was a hoot.