But what tends to happen with the contrast between the Best Musical and Best Score and Best Book awards is nearly always consistent--the critically favorite show tends to win the writing awards while the popularly favorite show usually wins Best Musical. Happened with Fosse Vs. Parade, Phantom Vs. Into the Woods, Ragtime vs. Lion King, etc. It kinda happened in reverse the year of Contact.
I'm more than happy to talk about Contact as a piece, but that would take us far from the world of Aida, so I shall say simply this: it is an infinetly well crafted set of one-act dance plays that is very well plotted, structured, and intelligently choreographed. The performances are spectacular (note who won the featured performer Tonys that year), and it is amazingly entertaining and moving. (Just to clarify, there is NO LIP-SYNCHING!)
Now how to tie it into the "how is it a musical?" question: just because it doesn't have singing doesn't mean that it isn't a musical. Some musicals are totally bereft of dancing--yet they are still consider musicals, some ballets are considered musicals, etc. And some shows are mssing all elements of acting (wink, wink). This being said, under the urrent system known as the Tony Awards, we are forced to make what are often random decisions to determine what is a musical and what is a play--I would prefer to suggest that in the future we might combine everything into a single entity known as theatre. When we have shows like The Green Bird, Side Man, and Marlene considered plays even though they require music to move their plots forward more than some musicals just simply because of a definition for an award, well... I'm just not really sure what the point of that is. Is Contact a standard book musical? No, not at all. But I suspect when Matthew Bourne gets his hands on The Little Mermaid you will see something much more akin to Contact than The Lion King or Aida--just a hunch based on his past work--and at the end of the day that will also be considered a musical.
But how can something win Best Musical and not have the best score and book? This question was frequently asked when Ragtime won the writing categories and TLK won the Best Musical Tony--and I would often respond with, "Oh, and how could a show claim to be the Best musical when it failed to win the best direction and coreography?" Blasphemy perhaps, but let's look at whom the award is actually awarded to:
producers (no, not the show, but the people)--the writers do not have any claim whatsoever to the Best musical nod. Therefore, to evaluate this category, one must weigh all components equally and simply judge which show is the best PRODUCTION.
And let's all remember--the winner of the best book that year? The Dead--and that sure didn't win much else!
One quick side not--in the best play category--the playwright shares the award with the prducers as there is no Best Playwright award.
Nick
I'm more than happy to talk about Contact as a piece, but that would take us far from the world of Aida, so I shall say simply this: it is an infinetly well crafted set of one-act dance plays that is very well plotted, structured, and intelligently choreographed. The performances are spectacular (note who won the featured performer Tonys that year), and it is amazingly entertaining and moving. (Just to clarify, there is NO LIP-SYNCHING!)
Now how to tie it into the "how is it a musical?" question: just because it doesn't have singing doesn't mean that it isn't a musical. Some musicals are totally bereft of dancing--yet they are still consider musicals, some ballets are considered musicals, etc. And some shows are mssing all elements of acting (wink, wink). This being said, under the urrent system known as the Tony Awards, we are forced to make what are often random decisions to determine what is a musical and what is a play--I would prefer to suggest that in the future we might combine everything into a single entity known as theatre. When we have shows like The Green Bird, Side Man, and Marlene considered plays even though they require music to move their plots forward more than some musicals just simply because of a definition for an award, well... I'm just not really sure what the point of that is. Is Contact a standard book musical? No, not at all. But I suspect when Matthew Bourne gets his hands on The Little Mermaid you will see something much more akin to Contact than The Lion King or Aida--just a hunch based on his past work--and at the end of the day that will also be considered a musical.
But how can something win Best Musical and not have the best score and book? This question was frequently asked when Ragtime won the writing categories and TLK won the Best Musical Tony--and I would often respond with, "Oh, and how could a show claim to be the Best musical when it failed to win the best direction and coreography?" Blasphemy perhaps, but let's look at whom the award is actually awarded to:
producers (no, not the show, but the people)--the writers do not have any claim whatsoever to the Best musical nod. Therefore, to evaluate this category, one must weigh all components equally and simply judge which show is the best PRODUCTION.
And let's all remember--the winner of the best book that year? The Dead--and that sure didn't win much else!
One quick side not--in the best play category--the playwright shares the award with the prducers as there is no Best Playwright award.
Nick
