SOUND OFF Special Edition: 10 Biggest & Bloodiest Tony Awards Best Musical Battles

By: May. 20, 2015
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Bloodshed is par for the course during Tony Awards season, especially as it reaches its peak in the last handful of weeks leading up the big annual ceremony feting theatre's best, so today we take a look back at some of the absolute most brutal and perilously tight Tony Award races for Best Musical in history. Although comparing a group of musicals - alike as dissimilar as they may be - may be an unfair proposition in practice, there is really only one way a winner is decided when the Tony Awards roll around and it unfortunately always finds fan favorites, critical darlings and a few commercial hits vying for top honors, no matter their respective merits. After all, there can only be one Best Musical per year - well, except for 1960 when there were actually two mainstage entertainments given the prize to share; THE SOUND OF MUSIC and FIORELLO, with no less than GYPSY ending up an also-ran. Who will claim the trophy on June 7 - will it be AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, FUN HOME, SOMETHING ROTTEN! or THE VISIT? Be sure to tune in then to see!

1. 1988. Broadway babies and Tony Awards prognosticators are still discussing the epic match-up of Andrew Lloyd Webber's mega-musical apotheosis represented in romantic horror musical THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA being pitted against Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's cerebral fairy tale examination INTO THE WOODS. Although PHANTOM took top honors in 1988 and still runs on Broadway to this day, the awards were spread around quite a bit in its premiere year, allowing INTO THE WOODS a few choice categories, as well, including Best Book and Best Score.

2. 1976. A CHORUS LINE vs. CHICAGO. Two American musicals that would eventually go on to claim the titles as longest-running productions of their ilk in all of theatrical history, a major face-off was featured on the Tony Awards in 1976 when Bob Fosse's dark vaudeville tale of murder and showbiz accented with a Kander & Ebb score squared off against Michael Bennett's masterpiece, showcasing a sparkling songstack by Marvin Hamlisch and Ed Kleban. In the end, A CHORUS LINE was the one, taking home nearly every award it was nominated for, including Best Musical.

3. 1984. LA CAGE AUX FOLLES vs. SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. Perhaps the most hotly discussed and frequently debated of all Best Musical battles, the placement of two theatrical titans going head to head with new musicals in 1984 is unquestionably one for the record books - Jerry Herman's fabulous and fearless LA CAGE up against Sondheim's inventive and intellectual SUNDAY. And, while LA CAGE won the big prize at the Tonys, SUNDAY went on to take home the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

4. 1969. 1776 vs. HAIR. Two musicals more unalike would be difficult to comprehend in any year, let alone such a transformative time in American history as 1969, yet presumedly preemptive bicentennial fever pushed Sherman Edwards's historical musical 1776 ahead of the game-changing and revolutionary rock sounds of Galt MacDermot and James Rado's HAIR, though both are similarly celebrated nearly 50 years later.

5. 1972. TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA vs. FOLLIES. Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's vaunted and vivid depiction of showgirls and their beaus recounting lost love and time gone by lost out on taking home top honors in 1972, with the Galt MacDermot rock musical TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, based on Shakespeare's classic comedy, swooping in in an unforgettable and historically head-scratching coup.

6. 1982. NINE vs. DREAMGIRLS. The student became the master when acclaimed producer, choreographer and director Michael Bennett's protégé Tommy Tune brought in his new musical NINE right under the Tony Awards cut-off wire at the very last possible moment in 1982 and swept many categories at that year's ceremony, ultimately winning Best Musical. Federico Fellini and The Supremes should never have to battle it out, but if they must, it's certainly best to have two masters prepping the fighters.

7. 1991. THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES vs. MISS SAIGON. The mega-musical had dominated the Great White Way for a decade by the time Boublil & Schonberg's MISS SAIGON arrived with much controversy and bravado, and, with a red, white and blue extravaganza as only Tommy Tune could dream up as its main competition, tensions were high going into the ceremony in 1991. Ultimately, WILL ROGERS won big, but MISS SAIGON laid claim to several acting categories and kicked off a trio of big Best Musical battles that would continue for the next two years with CRAZY FOR YOU up against FALSETTOS and KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN versus THE WHO'S TOMMY, the latter sharing Best Score in an extremely rare tie.

8. 1998. RAGTIME vs. THE LION KING. More than BILLY ELLIOT versus NEXT TO NORMAL or MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT versus THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, one of the most memorable Best Musical fights to the finish in the last two decades is undoubtedly the year Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty's Americana paean RAGTIME went up against Disney's daring adaptation of international hit film THE LION KING, shepherded by visonary director Julie Taymor. Of course, THE LION KING was crowned the champion, but RAGTIME still managed to bring home Best Book (Terrence McNally) and Best Score (Ahrens & Flaherty).

9. 1973. PIPPIN vs. A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. Bob Fosse made literal magic out of thin air at the very start of Stephen Schwartz and Roger O. Hirson's sardonic musical comedy PIPPIN with the catchy and visually striking "Magic To Do" opener, yet Hal Prince's masterful premiere production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Ingmar Bergman adaptation A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC managed to waltz voters all the way to Best Musical - who knows, perhaps it had a little to do with that instant earworm tune "Send In The Clowns".

10. 2004. WICKED vs. AVENUE Q. The green lady may still be belting to the rafters and flying high at the Gershwin Theatre on Broadway, but AVENUE Q stunned many viewers at home and insiders in the audience when it successfully lobbied with the "Vote With Your Heart" Tony campaign and eventually took home the Best Musical prize in one of the tightest and brightest seasons to date - lest we forget THE BOY FROM OZ, CAROLINE, OR CHANGE and TABOO. Proving the appreciable durability of both generally strong shows, AVENUE Q enjoys an Off-Broadway iteration still to this day, while WICKED continues to pack them in on Broadway, on tour and around the world. Goodness knows - and audiences usually know what's good.


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