# History of the Tonys--or "What the HELL were they thinking?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-tonys-or-what-the-hell-were-they-thinking/249226 "2004-06-08T03:16:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-tonys-or-what-the-hell-were-they-thinking/249226/1 "2004-06-08T03:16:36Z")
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](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 ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2004, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-tonys-or-what-the-hell-were-they-thinking/249226/2 "2004-06-08T03:28:35Z")
And how could “Thorougly Mediocre Millie” (with interpolated lyrics plagerized from Gilbert and Sullivan _and uncredited_) beat the clever, original and witty “Urinetown”? ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-tonys-or-what-the-hell-were-they-thinking/249226/3 "2004-06-08T03:33:36Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > And how could “Thorougly Mediocre Millie” (with interpolated lyrics plagerized from Gilbert and Sullivan _and uncredited_) beat the clever, original and witty “Urinetown”? Well, not referencing any bodily fluids in the title might have been the tiebreaker. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-tonys-or-what-the-hell-were-they-thinking/249226/4 "2004-06-08T04:07:50Z")
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.