Unit 12

Broadway Overview

Step 1

Broadway music has a very slice of life esque to it. The majority of it is very orchestral-oriented music, but there are cases of Rock 'n' Roll music that have come to Broadway. Overall I like the majority, if not all, of the Broadway music that I have heard. It is amazing how it has incorporated the general talk of the characters into music. All sorts of themes are in Broadway, and it is all very unique and beautiful to listen to. The music has definitely changed over time, originally just having the songs not have much speech between characters, besides singing a love duet. As the times have changed, Rock 'n' Roll music and general talk has been included. There has also been added monologue to the music. I have not found any Broadway soundtracks that I have not been uninterested in. Hearing about how quickly some composers made beautiful pieces is absolutely outstanding, and everything has its own creative feeling.

 

Step 2

Episode 1

  • Irving Berlin
  • Fanny Brice
  • "The Great Ziegfeld"
  • WWI
  • "Give My Regards To Broadway"
  • The Follies
  • Florenz Ziegfeld
  • The Red Scare Of 1919
  • Actors Equity ASSN.
  • George M. Cohan
  • Bert Williams
  • Show Boat
  • Oscar Hammerstein
  • 44th Street

Episode 2

  • Shubert Theatre
  • Radio
  • Talking Pictures
  • Jan. 16th, 1919
  • Alcohol Prohibition
  • American Women
  • Cinderella Stories
  • Marilynn Miller
  • Sally
  • Al Jolson
  • Jazz
  • May 23, 1921 - Shuffle Along
  • George White
  • George Gershwin
  • Swanee
  • Lady Be Good
  • Ira Gershwin
  • Broadway Slang
  • Richard Rogers
  • Manhattan
  • Connecticut Yankee
  • Larry Hart
  • The Jazz Singer

Episode 3

  • Crash of the stock market
  • The Broadway Melody
  • Brother Can You Spare A Dime
  • WWII
  • Yip Harburg
  • Americana
  • Ethel Merman
  • Short Skirts
  • Heavy headdresses
  • Poking fun at law/vice president
  • John P. Wintergreen
  • Vaudeville
  • Color line
  • Ethel Waters
  • Africana
  • Rhapsody in Black
  • Bloody 8th
  • Moss Hart
  • Supper Time
  • Cole Porter
  • Let's Do It
  • Paris
  • Anything Goes
  • Night and Day
  • Folk Opera
  • Summertime
  • Porgy and Bess
  • July 11, 1937
  • Federal theatre
  • Labor opera
  • The Cradle Will Rock
  • John Houseman
  • Depression
  • Richard Rogers
  • Larry Hart
  • Pal Joey
  • Gene Kelly
  • Dec. 7, 1941
  • This Is The Army
  • Jul. 4, 1942
  • Irving Berlin
  • Ronald Reagan

Episode 4:

  • Oklahoma
  • My Fair Lady
  • Golden Age of the Broadway Musical
  • Oscar Hammerstein II
  • Musical Comedy end
  • Musical
  • Adolf Green, Betty Comden, Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins
  • Integrated Musical
  • On The Town
  • Carousal
  • Ballads & Love
  • Fancy Free
  • South Pacific
  • Dick Rogers
  • First and Last
  • Musical Fable
  • Petty thefts, tricks, gamblers
  • Guys and Dolls
  • Frank Lesser
  • Ed Sullivan
  • Julie Andrews
  • Allen J. Learner, Fredrick Low
  • Pygmalion
  • Rex Harrison
  • Mary Martin
  • The Sound of Music
  • Adelvice
  • 1940's
  • Call Me Mister
  • Saint Louis Woman
  • Finnian's Rainbow
  • Annie Get Your Gun
  • Irving Berlin
  • Situation shows
  • Hillbilly musical
  • Kiss Me Kate
  • Cole Porter
  • South Pacific
  • Tales of the South Pacific
  • War time love affairs
  • James Michener
  • Josh Logan

Episode 5:

  • Civil Rights Movement
  • Vietnam War
  • West Side Story
  • The King And I
  • Peter Pan
  • Arthur Lawrence, Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein
  • The Music Man
  • Harold Prince
  • Steven Sondheim
  • Gypsy
  • Barbra Streistand
  • Funny Girl
  •  Fiddler on the Roof
  • Rock 'n' Roll
  • Louis Armstrong
  • Cabaret
  • Maxine's
  • Boris Erinston
  • Abortion
  • Contemporary Theatre
  • Public Theatre
  • Hair, 1st with rock 'n' roll score
  • Filled generation gap
  • Cheetah club
  • Company
  • Jungle gym set
  • The Great White Way
  • Big Recession
  • Michael Bennett
  • Leg Warmers
  • I Need This Job
  • A Chorus Line
  • Bob Fossee
  • The Pajama Gang
  • Gwen Verdon
  • Chicago
  • Fosse
  • Imperialism
  • Follies
  • Sweeney Todd
  • I Love New York

Episode 6:

  • New Amsterdam Theatre
  • The Producers
  • David Merrick
  • Hello Dolly
  • Gower Champion
  • 42nd Street
  • Cats (longest running show in broadway history)
  • Cameron Mackintosh
  • Phantom of the Opera
  • Les Miserables
  • Andrew Lloyd Webber
  • Miss Saigon
  • Top on the charts
  • Merrily We Roll Along flop
  • Sunday In The Park With George
  • Palace Theatre
  • La Cage Aux Folles (men singing love songs; first gay musical)
  • Jerry Herman
  • Aids
  • Disney revived by musicals, broadway musicals revived by Disney
  • Revival of New Amsterdam Theatre
  • Michael Eiser
  • The Lion King
  • Beauty and the Beast
  • Johnathan Larson
  • MTV, Rock 'n' Roll
  • One Song Glory
  • Rent
  • Sept. 11, 2001
  • Times Square & Broadway deserted
  • Musical Comedies
  • Hairspray
  • Costs escalating
  • 2003, 14mil gamble, Wicked
  • Marc Platt
  • Stephen Schwartz
  • San Francisco, pre-broadway tryout
  • Jerry Herman
  • Joe Mantello
  • scenes cut, new songs and dialogue, people replaced and cast
  • Recoup investment in 1.5 years
  • Al Hirschfeld, artist of broadway, renamed theatre after him

Step 3

1. What made New York City a likely place for the emergence of new American art forms like the Broadway Musical?

Most people in New York City were middle class industrial workers that got out of work and were exhausted. They would often look for entertainment of some sort, and the Broadway Musical became satisfactory to their needs. The people transitioned from greatly varied entertainment shows to the musical for entertainment, and that's how it got big.

2. What are some examples of 'highbrow' culture and 'lowbrow' culture from the early 1900's?  What are some examples today?

Highbrow culture is usually intellectual in nature, and people in this culture are usually rich and very snobby. The opposite, lowbrow culture, refers to vulgar and unsophisticated people. Some examples of highbrow culture are 42nd Street and The Producers. The Producers are trying to become big rich producers, and 42nd Street has the rich director and the snobby show-business women. Lowbrow culture examples are probably the couple in Oklahoma! and West Side Story. They're not really vulgar, but their locations tend to make an impact of the people they are. Modern examples would be people like Donald Trump or Bill Gates, who are very rich individuals and may be snobby. Lowbrow culture would be exhibited through lots of generic people all around the world.

3. How did the lyricists of the 1920's & 1930's use slang of the period?

Baby became a term used to describe a sweetheart and lover, beat it is a term to tell someone to scram, ciggy was a term for a cigarette, a sap is a fool, a rag-a-muffin is a dirty individual, and Tin Pan Alley was the slang name for the music industry in New York. Lyricists used the slang to make it easier to make terms fit within rhythms and rhyme better than the original terms.

4. Give an example of how musical's of the 1930's were used as vehicles for criticizing the government.

Musicals were usually seen by the middle class workers that wished to go to the theatre for entertainment and relaxation. The musicals ridiculed and made fun of the government at that time, basically a way of indirectly criticizing the government.

5. What literary work would you adapt as a musical?  What parts of the story would become songs? Dances?

I think it would be neat to create a musical adapted from Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat. The parts that would become songs would be: when the narrator is describing the cat, the narrator descending into madness, and his conversation with the policemen. The parts that would become dances would be: scenes where he is much crazier, and the scene with the policemen.

6.  What does "Cabaret" say about Berlin in the 1930's & America in the 1960's?  How does it speak to America today?

Cabaret is about the nightlife of Berlin as the Nazis are rising to power, and shows the relationship between an English performer and an American writer. It was considered the most provocative musical of its time. It shows Berlin as a war place that can also contain a nightlife full of romance. As for America in the 1960's, it shows that people were willing to challenge what musicals should be and are about. This also displays to America today a love story in a sleazy club, which can still be seen today.

Broadway Research

Step 1

1. The Stars

  • Performers: Becoming a Broadway performer has required a large amount of  talent, including skills in singing, dancing, and acting. Some people have been overnight sensations, and others have honed their skills over years. Some of the big stars of Broadway are: Julie Andrews, Gene Kelly, Ethel Waters, Joel Grey, and Fanny Brice.
  • Choreographers, Directors & Producers: "The Producers" raised the profile of the producers of Broadway musicals. The producer provides financial backing, the vision is established by the director with help from the choreographer. Some of these individuals are: George Abbott, Michael Bennett, Mel Brooks, Gower Champion, Agnes de Mille, Bob Fosse, George S. Kaufman, Michael Kidd, Cameron Mackintosh, David Merrick, Trevor Nunn, Harold Prince, Jerome Robbins, Susan Stroman, Julie Taymor, Tommy Tune, George White, and Florenz Ziegfeld.
  • Composers, Lyricists & Writers: You can't have musical without music. Some of the talented people who made the music for musicals are: Richard Rodgers, Leonard Bernstein, Oscar Hammerstein II, Lorenz Hart, Moss Hart, James Lapine, Jonathan Larson, Irving Berlin, Ira Gershwin, Tim Rice, and Stephen Sondheim.
  • Designers & Theater Circle: Designers of the set have helped advance the technology of theatrical design. Broadway musicals are always changing over time, and the set is always changing based on the musical. Some designers are: Boris Aronson, Robin Wagner, Al Hirschfeld, Tony Walton, and the Shubert Brothers.

2. The Shows

Show Boat - The first time serious black and white characters held the stage together was in this musical. It premiered in 1927, and both the lyrics and book are written by Oscar Hammerstein II.

Porgy and Bess - Porgy and Bess is a romance "folk musical" written in a black Charleston ghetto. It displays a woman that has to choose between two men, the man Crown who offers her a glamorous life, and the man Porgy who offers her his pure devotion.

Oklahoma! - The start of the collaboration of Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rogers, who became the next big duo after the debut of Oklahoma!. It is a very simple story about cowhands and farmers finding love in the state of Oklahoma.

Kiss Me, Kate - Kiss Me, Kate is a tryout musical of the Shakespearean story "The Taming of the Shrew". The lovers are based on the idea of "can't live with each other and can't live without each other".

Guys and Dolls - This musical is about a bunch of men who return home for a break, and there's a love story that forms between a gambler and a Salvation Army-type missionary girl. There is also a man named Nathan who is trying to avoid his 14-year engaged fiancee.

West Side Story - A well-known Shakespearean love story put into the gang wars of New York and the starter for the unique dance style and violence in the Broadway musical.

Cabaret - Cabaret is about two lovers in a sleazy club in Berlin during the rise of Hitler's power in Germany. One of them is an English performer, and the other is an American writer. They're caught up in the maelstrom of a changing society. It was a major challenge for the director and producer Harold Prince.

Hair - The first Broadway Musical to include Rock 'n' Roll within its music. It broke down generational barriers and helped parents understand their kids' musical interests.

Company - Company was the start of the series in the 1970s of collaborations between Harold Prince and Stephen Sondheim. The main star is a man in his 30s that is surrounded by 5 married couples, but he is ambivalent about love and completely averse to commitment.

A Chorus Line - The plot is very simple and slim, but it is still a fantastic one. It is about 25 dancers auditioning for 8 jobs on a new chorus line musical. There was no real big sets, costumes, and even no real big star.

42nd Street - 42nd Street started out as a movie musical, but was brought to Broadway by David Merrick. It is about a director preparing for his biggest show during the Great Depression, and his leading lady breaks her ankle at the very last minute. The director goes through many obstacles throughout the musical.

Cats - Andrew Lloyd Webber worked solo on the musical Cats, creating a musical based on a series of children's cat poems. It was a huge hit, and contained intense levels of choreography.

La Cage aux Follies - It has been stated that there have always been gay men within the Broadway business, but they have never been exposed in a musical until La Cage aux Follies. The show contains a middle-aged homosexual couple as well as a lot of drag queens, which was never really seen on Broadway before.

The Lion King - Disney is considered the business that revived Broadway and musicals. At the time they were dying out, Disney came in and turned the tables. The show has a great diversity of age, race, and tastes, and applies to all different types of people.

The Producers - A show made to mock everyone wanting to become Broadway producers, and became one of the biggest Broadway shows ever. It was almost impossible to get into the show and has won 12 Tony Awards.

3. Timeline

1904: Long Acre Square renamed Times Square

1908: Ethel Merman is born

1909: Berlin writes new song in Yiddish for Fanny Brice "Yiddle with a Fiddle"

1910: Bert Williams is the first black entertainer to appear in a Broadway show

1911: The Follies renamed The Ziegfeld Follies

1912: Irving Berlin becomes most famous composer of his day, selling 2million copies of sheet music

1913: Palace Theater built

1919: Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart begin their partnership; Gershwin writes "Swanee"; Actor's Equity is formed

1921: All black show "Shuffle Along" is a Broadway sensation

1922: George and Ira Gershwin collaborate

1924: "Lady, Be Good!" is the first full musical comedy

1927: Movie industry revolutionized by THE JAZZ SINGER, the first movie with singing and dialogue

1930: BROADWAY MELODY is the first musical to win an Academy Award

1931: Rodgers and Hart go to Hollywood

1932: Irving Berlin returns to Broadway

1933: 42ND STREET is released

1934: Cole Porter and Ethel Merman come together to form the big hit "Anything Goes"; Depression hits New York and lots of theaters close

1935: Rodgers and Hart return to Broadway; Folk musical "Porgy and Bess" sends the Gershwins to Hollywood

1937: George Gershwin dies in Hollywood from a brain tumor

1938: First Broadway show to adapt Shakespeare is Rodger and Hart's "The Boys from Syracuse"; Mary Martin makes her debut

1939: New York World's Fair opens; THE WIZARD OF OZ premieres

1940: "Pal Joey" opens with Gene Kelly as the lead; Al Jolson makes his last Broadway appearence

1941: U.S. enters WWII

1942: Scaled down "Porgy and Bess" revived on Broadway; Berlin makes another revue for U.S. armed forces in "This is the Army"; Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II begin adapting "Green Grow the Lilacs"

1943: First Hammerstein and Rodgers collaboration "Oklahoma!" hits Broadway; Lorenz Hart dies of pneumonia

1944: First original cast album to be released; Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jerome Robbins make their debut in the musical "Oh the Town"

1945: "Carousel" reaffirms success of Hammerstein and Rodgers partnership

1946: Irving Berlin writes songs for his first "situational show"; Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer write an all-black musical "St. Louis Woman"

1948: "Kiss Me, Kate", another Shakespeare musical, goes onto Broadway; TV programs are broadcast out of New York and lures away Broadway comedians and dancers; First Tony Awards

1949: "South Pacific" wins the Pulitzer Prize

1950: "Guys and Dolls", Frank Loesser's second Broadway score, is a huge hit; Ethel Merman and Irving Berlin team up for "Call Me Madam"; Kurt Weill dies

1951: Barbara Cook makes her Broadway debut; "The King and I" is a huge success for Hammerstein and Rodgers

1954: David Merrick produces his first musical, "Fanny"; Julie Andrews makes her Broadway debut; "The Pajama Game", the first musical produced by Harold Prince, opens

1956: "My Fair Lady" is the biggest Broadway hit to date

1957: "West Side Story" is Stephen Sondheim's Broadway debut; "The Music Man" beats "West Side Story" for the Tony Award for Best Musical

1959: "The Sound of Music" and "Fiorello!" both win the Tony Award for Best Musical in a tied vote;

1960: Oscar Hammerstein II dies; "Bye Bye, Birdie" is the first appearance of Rock 'n' Roll in a Broadway musical; "Camelot" opens

1962: "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" opens as Sondheim's first show as a composer and lyricist; Irving Berlin's final musical opens, "Mr. President"

1963: Harold Prince has his first success as a director; Cole Porter dies

1964: "Fiddler on the Roof" opens and is a big hit; Barbara Streisand becomes a sensation playing Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl"

1966: Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdor take the town by storm in "Sweet Charity"; "Cabaret" is the first musical to tackle the rise of Nazis

1967: "Hair" opens Off Broadway and is a look at the counterculture of the '60s; David Merrick casts "Hello, Dolly!" with an all-black ensemble; Tony Award broadcast nationally for the first time

1968: "Hair" is the first Off-Broadway show to move onto Broadway despite its controversial production

1969: "1776" is a hit

1970: "Company" is the first collaboration between Prince and Sondheim; "1776" is the first musical to play at the White House

1972: "Pippin" is turned into a major hit by Fosse; "Fiddler on the Roof" becomes the longest running musical of its time

1975: "The Wiz" is a family friendly show that is an all-black version of THE WIZARD OF OZ; "Chicago" and "A Chorus Line" open

1976: ""1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" and "Pacific Overtures" are flops/failures

1977: "Annie" is a huge hit; revivals start appearing more frequently; ticket prices hit $17.50

1978: I "LOVE" NY lures tourists to Broadway and is very successful

1979: "Sweeney Todd" appears and wins 8 Tonys; Richard Rodgers dies; "Grease" passes "Fiddler" as the longest running muscical

1980: Opening night of "42nd Street", Gower Champion dies; Richard Burton revives "Camelot"

1981: Sondheim-Prince partnership dissolves after "Merrily We Roll Along" failure

1982: Three Broadway theaters are demolished; Cameron Mackintosh brings Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Cats" to Broadway

1983: First musical to feature a gay couple as its romantic leads wins the Tony for Best Musical, it is known as "La Cage aux Folles"; "A Chorus Line" becomes the longest running show in Broadway history

1984: Etherl Merman dies; "Sunday in the Park with George" opens with Sondheim and his new teammate James Lapine; Average cost of a new musical production reaches 3 million dollars

1985: Ticket prices reach $33; Number of Broadway shows is 31; "Singin' in the Rain" opens

1987: "Les Miserables" arrives on Broadway; Michael Bennett and Bob Fosse die

1988: "The Phantom of the Opera" opens

1989: Jerome Robbins returns to Broadway; Irving Berlin dies; Sequel to "Annie" flops

1990: "A Chorus Line" closes; 46th Street Theater renamed after Richard Rodgers; Rex Harrison and Mary Martin die

1993: Julie Andrews returns to New York; "The Who's Tommy" is a match for Rock music and Broadway

1994: Disney restores New Amsterdam Theatre; Top ticket price is now $75; Disney's first show on Broadway is an adaptation of the animated film BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

1996: "Rent" opens, but creator of the book, music, and lyrics, Jonathan Larson, passes away before he can see it reach Broadway

1997: "Titanic" is a Tony winner; "The Lion King" opens

2000: "Aida" is written by Elton John and Time Rice, "The Full Monty" introduces leads as five middle-class male strippers

2001: "The Producers" is a must-see on Broadway and wins 12 Tony Awards; 9/11 attacks cause major disturbances in New York

2003: "Wicked" captures audiences of all ages, but does not win a Tony

2004: "Avenue Q" wins the Tony for Best Musical

4. Essays

The essays discuss Broadway and details about it into more depth. Some of the topics are: Elements of the Musical; Operetta; Rise of Revenue; Broadway & the Radio; Broadway & Hollywood; Political Satire; Post-WWI African-American Musicals; Civil Rights Era on Broadway; Broadway & the Rock Score; and Resurrection of 42nd Street.

Step 2

Slideshow

Step 3

History of the award

  • Presented to musicals since 1949
  • 2016 was the 70th year of Tony Awards
  • It is presented by the American Theater Wing The Broadway League
  • The Tony Awards are held in New York City
  • The current holder of the award is Fun Home

History of nominations

  • The nominations were only 1 musical every year up until 1955
  • Nominations have been: Kiss Me, Kate; South Pacific; Guys and Dolls; The King and I; Wonderful Town; Kismet; The Pajama Game; Fanny; Peter Pan; Plain and Fancy; Silk Stockings; Damn Yankees; Pipe Dream; My Fair Lady; Bells Are Ringing; Candide; The Most Happy Fella; The Music Man; West Side Story; New Girl in Town; Oh, Captain!; Jamaica; Redhead; Flower Drum Song; La Plume de ma Tante; The Sound of Music; Fiorello; Gypsy; Once Upon a Mattress; Take Me Along; Bye Bye Birdie; Do Re Mi; Irma La Douce; How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; Carnival!; Milk and Honey; No Strings; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Little Me; Oliver!; Stop the World - I Want to Get Off; Hello, Dolly!; Funny Girl; High Spirits; She Loves Me; Fiddler on the Roof; Golden Boy; Half a Sixpence; Oh, What a Lovely War!; Man of La Mancha; Mame; Skyscraper; Sweet Charity; Cabaret; I Do! I Do!; The Apple Tree; Walking Happy; Hallelujah, Baby!; The Happy Time; How Now, Dow Jones; Illya Darling; 1776; Hair; Promises, Promises; Zorba; Applause; Coco; Purlie; Company; The Me Nobody Kows; The Rothschilds; Two Gentlemen of Verona; Ain't Supposed to Die a Natual Death; Follies; Grease; A Little Night Music; Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope; Pippin; Sugar; Raisin; Over Here!; Seesaw; The Wiz; Mack & Mabel; The Lieutenant; Shenandoah; A Chorus Line; Bubbling Brown Sugar; Chicago; Pacific Overtures; Annie; Happy End; I Love My Wife; Side by Side by Sondheim; Ain't Misbehavin'; Dancin'; On the Twentieth Century; Runaways; Sweeney Todd; Ballroom; The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas; They're Playing Our Song; Evita; A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine; Barnum; Sugar Babies; 42nd Street; Sophisticated Ladies; Tintypes; Woman of the Year; Nine; Dreamgirls; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Pump Boys and Dinettes; Cats; Blues in the Night; Merlin; My One and Only; La Cage aux Folles; Baby; Sunday in the Park with George; The Tap Dance Kid; Big River; Grind; Leader of the Pack; Quilters; The Mystery of Edwin Drood; Big Deal; Song and Dance; Tango Argentino; Les Miserables; Me and My Girl; Rags; Starlight Express; The Phantom of the Opera; Into the Woods; Romance/Romance; Sarafina!; Jerome Robbins' Broadway; Black and Blue; Starmites; City of Angels; Aspects of Love; Grand Hotel; Meet Me in St. Louis; The Will Rogers Follies; Miss Saigon; Once on This Island; The Secret Garden; Crazy for You; Falsettos; Five Guys Named Moe; Jelly's Last Jam; Kiss of the Spider Woman; Blood Brothers; The Goodbye Girl; The Who's Tommy; Passion; A Grand Night for Singing; Beauty and the Beast; Cyrano: The Musical; Sunset Boulevard; Smokey Joe's Cafe; Rent; Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk; Chronicle of a Death Foretold; Swinging on a Star; Titanic; Juan Darien; Steel Pier; The Life; The Lion King; Side Show; The Scarlet Pimpernel; Ragtime; Fosse; The Civil War; It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues; Parade; Contact; James Joyce's The Death; Swing!; The Wild Party; The Producers; A Class Act; The Full Monty; Jane Eyre; Thoroughly Modern Millie; Mamma Mia!; Sweet Smell of Success; Urinetown; Hairspray; Amour; A Year with Frog and Toad; Movin' Out; Avenue Q; The Boy from Oz; Caroline, or Change; Wicked; Monty Python's Spamalot; The Light in the Piazza; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; Jersey Boys; The Color Purple; The Drowsy Chaperone; The Wedding Singer; Spring Awakening; Curtains; Grey Gardens; Mary Poppins; In the Heights; Cry-Baby; Passing Strange; Xanadu; Billy Elliot the Musical; Next to Normal; Rock of Ages; Shrek the Musical; Memphis; American Idiot; Fela!; Million Dollar Quartet; The Book of Mormon; Catch Me If You Can; The Scottsboro Boys; Sister Act; Once; Leap of Faith; Newsies; Nice Work If You Can Get It; Kinky Boots; Bring It On the Musical; A Christmas Story: The Musical; Matilda the Musical; A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder; After Midnight; Aladdin; Beautiful: The Carole King Musical; Fun Home; An American in Paris; Something Rotten!; The Visit; Bright Star; Hamilton; School of Rock; Shuffle Along; Waitress

History of Winners

  • 1949-1954 had only one nominee so they were automatic winners
  • Winners of the Tony Award for Best Musical are: Kiss Me, Kate; South Pacific; Guys and Dolls; The King and I; Wonderful Town; Kismet; The Pajama Game; Damn Yankees; My Fair Lady; The Music Man; Redhead; The Sound of Music; Fiorello!; Bye Bye Birdie; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Hello, Dolly!; Fiddler on the Roof; Man of La Mancha; Cabaret; Hallelujah, Baby!; 1776; Applause; Company; Two Gentleman of Verona; A Little Night Music; Raisin; The Wiz; A Chorus Line; Annie; Ain't Misbehavin'; Sweeney Todd; Evita; 42nd Street; Nine; Cats; La Cage aux Folles; Big River; The Mystery of Edwin Drood; Les Miserables; The Phantom of the Opera; Jerome Robbins' Broadway; City of Angels; The Will Rogers Follies; Crazy for You; Kiss of the Spider Woman; Passion; Sunset Boulevard; Rent; Titanic; The Lion King; Fosse; Contact; The Producers; Thoroughly Modern Millie; Hairspray; Avenue Q; Monty Python's Spamalot; Jersey Boys; Spring Awakening; In the Heights; Billy Elliot the Musical; Memphis; The Book of Mormon; Once; Kinky Boots; A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder; Fun Home