History of the Tonys--or "What the HELL were they thinking?"

Cafe Society
1

So, which Tony awards were so insane that you wonder what the hell the voters were thinking?

Year Title
1949 Kiss Me Kate
1950 South Pacific
1951 Guys and Dolls
1952 King and I
1953 Wonderful Town
1954 Kismet
1955 Pajama Game
1956 Damn Yankees
1957 My Fair Lady
1958 Music Man
1959 Redhead
1960 Fiorello!
1960 Sound Of Music
1961 Bye Bye Birdie
1962 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
1963 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
1964 Hello, Dolly!
1965 Fiddler On The Roof
1966 Man of La Mancha
1967 Cabaret
1968 Hallelujah, Baby!
1969 1776
1970 Applause
1971 Company
1972 Two Gentlemen of Verona
1973 A Little Night Music
1974 Raisin
1975 The Wiz
1976 A Chorus Line
1977 Annie
1978 Ain’t Misbehaving
1979 Sweeney Todd
1980 Evita
1981 42nd Street
1982 Nine
1983 Cats!
1984 La Cage Aux Follies
1985 Big River
1986 Mystery of Edwin Drood
1987 Les Miserables
1988 Phantom Of The Opera
1989 Jerome Robbin’s Broadway
1990 City of Angels
1991 Will Rodgers Follies
1992 Crazy For you
1993 Kiss Of The Spider-Woman
1994 Passion
1995 Sunset Boulevard (Glenn Close)
1996 Rent
1997 Titanic
1998 Lion King
1999 Fosse
2000 Contact
2001 Producers
2002 Thoroughly Modern Millie
2003 Hairspray
2004 Avenue Q

(for nominees, check out this page: http://www.tonyawards.com/p/tonys_search

Ok, actually most of these choices are defensible, but a couple just make one wonder if the voters were on crack. I mean, “Hallelujah Baby”? Granted it was a sucky year (it’s competitors were The Happy Time, How Now, Dow Jones and Illya, Darling, all of which sucked) but still. Talk about forgotten.

On the other hand, it’s not as easy explain stuff like " Two Gentleman of Verona", especially when it was up against “Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death” (which sucked far worse), Follies (!!!) and Grease (which is the most historically significant of them all)

Or what about “Contact” (which was up against “Wild Party” which was awsome) or “Jerome Robbin’s Broadway” or “Fosse”, none of which actually were musicals? (If it doesn’t have a book, it ain’t a musical. Sorry. It’s a revue or a dance-show. Musicals are “Song+Dance+STORY”)

Overall, most of their choices were pretty good, but y’gotta wonder about some of them.

Fenris

2

And how could “Thorougly Mediocre Millie” (with interpolated lyrics plagerized from Gilbert and Sullivan and uncredited) beat the clever, original and witty “Urinetown”?

3

Well, not referencing any bodily fluids in the title might have been the tiebreaker. :smiley:

4

Think of what could have won.

Phlegmalot.

Toe Jamboree.

Spunk? I Hate Spunk! (The musical version of The Mary Tyler Moore Show)

'Snot Gonna Take It No More.

Caca Doodle Doo Doo!

Sweat Charity.

Pus ‘N’ Boots.

A Rheum with a View.

Spew York, Spew York.

PukeBox Hero.

Flatuosity Will Get You Nowhere.

Void Where Prohibited.

Wee-Wee Herman’s Big Discharge!

A State of Bloody Flux.

Vomit Chanted Evening.

The Sound of Mucus.

Number Two with a Bullet.

And of course: Piss of The Spider-Woman.