Tony Awards

[Hokosho]

Posted: 4/18/19 at 7:19pm

This will be the 5th year  in succession that a show that premiered off Broadway will have won the tony for best musical. If commercial theatre actually showed as much effort as non for profit it might actually get the tony for best musical

 

[BritCrit]

Posted: 4/18/19 at 7:36pm

I think we've all noticed that pattern by now. Hadestown has it all sewn up (although the standard this year is slightly above last year's wretched season for new musicals).

Broadway is supposed to house the biggest and the best musicals. However, the film to stage adaptations tend to focus on the former part and not the latter...

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 4/18/19 at 8:41pm

Did Oskar Eustis or Andre Bishop run your pet over?

It's simply an indicator of how new musicals are being developed nowadays: 12 shows in the last 20 years have been developed at not-for-profit theaters prior to their commercial runs on Broadway. Musicals are expensive, they take years to develop, they're not easy to get right, and the nurturing environment of a non-profit is a good way to make a show as good as it can be prior to Broadway.

"If commercial theatre actually showed as much effort as non for profit it might actually get the tony for best musical" doesn't make ANY of sense: The last Best Musical winner to be solo-produced by a non-profit was LCT's Contact in 2000. Sure, non-profits have had co-producer credits on other Best Musical winners, but they didn't finance the transfer or call the shots on Broadway. Those were still commercial productions. (Many commercial producers do offer "enhancement money" to non-profits to develop the show, but that's another topic.)

A Chorus Line and Hamilton started at the Public. Rent and Hadestown started at NY Theatre Workshop. Les Mis started at the Royal Shakespeare Co. Evan Hansen started at 2nd Stage. It's just part of the development lifecycle of some shows.

Updated On: 4/18/19 at 08:41 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/18/19 at 11:07pm

It's not just the last 20 years. SUNDAY IN THE PARK was developed at Playwright's Horizon and most of the Broadway blockbusters of the 1980s were first developed at subsidized theaters in England. INTO THE WOODS was developed in La Jolla.

Broadway is like the Mall of America or Saks. Shows (like clothes) are designed, manufactured, tested and first sold elsewhere. Most of the best may eventually get to Broadway, but even that is debatable.

Broadway is a still a great showcase for work, but as a creative location, Broadway was over decades ago.

[Wick3]

Posted: 4/18/19 at 11:14pm

I thought The Prom musical premiered at the Alliance theatre in Atlanta?

[getupngo]

Posted: 4/18/19 at 11:28pm

Nice try

[Hokosho]

Posted: 4/19/19 at 12:19am

I love off broadway musicals. But am throwing the idea Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations will it get any noms. It would be funny if it did a Jersey Boys. Producers will see it as any easy tour show and that NYT review helps. Nowhere near Tootsie or Hadestown.