Old Frank Gets Nominated

[Mr Roxy]

Imagine if old Frank wins for B/C.

A sure sign the end is near for a number of people on the board.If it were still running, would it have gotten nods for Jordan & Best Musical over Leap?

[ljay889]

I thought B&C was a mediocre show. But honestly, the logical choice would have been to nominate it for Best Musical over LEAP. Either they didn't want to nominate a closed production or they chickened out.

[Mr Roxy]

I think the latter. How is Leap (which I liked) nominated for musical & overlooked in every other catergory? It makes no sense

[broadwaydevil]

If it was still running the whole season would be different because Jordan wouldn't be in Newsies. At that point, I'd have to assume he'd have a good chance at a nomination but it's hard to say. I wonder why all these musicals keep opening up in the fall as most of them seem to be tremendous flops. I really wish we could have a solid fall season but it doesn't seem meant to be unless a show comes in with a huge amount of press like Billy Elliot from the West End. The fall's a tough time to open because it's followed immediately after December by very few tourists and the winter of death for several months and it's way too far away to hope for some Tony love to help sales.

[SondheimFan5]

I thought you meant Langella. That too is a surprise.

[goldenboy]

Bonnie and Clyde got the short end of the stick all the way around. It opened to early in the season.

It was far better than Ghost, Leap of Faith and even even Newsies.
Newsies had that great choreography going for it and the Disney Machine.

The Bonnie and Clyde cast album is great. Shows what a great score it is. It would have done well to open later after those awful musicals.

If it were still running.. Jeremy, Osnes and Melissa Van Der Piel (whatever her name is)
would have gotten nominations as well as the show.

[thespian geek]

Melissa van der Schyff*

[Jon]

I thought you meant Geoffrey Horne, who played Old Frank in the opening graduation scene of the original MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG!

[dramamama611]

I'm not sure if B&C would have been more successful AUDIENCE wise (or financially, obviously) but yes, if it had opened in the spring it would have gotten that 4th nomination.

What would Newsies have looked like? I'm sure the would have found SOMEONE that could the job Jordan is doing.

[PalJoey]

[castlestreet]

Old Blue Eyes getting some love on Broadway World from PalJoey- I love it!

[Ed_Mottershead]

RE: Dearth of New Musicals in the Fall. I believe the pressure to put everything close to the Tony deadline is the culprit. During my sandbox days of going to the theatre (late 50's/early 60's), a worthy show could open any time and attract audiences (well, not so much in the Summer months). Yes, the Tony's were there and the publicists made due hay should their show win some awards. However, once they started being broadcast nationally, the whole thing changed. Given that they were now being broadcast nationally and operating on the theory that Tony voters have a short memory span, it became a given that any show that opened closer to the deadline had a better chance of winning (yes, I know that Fiddler opened in September). As an example, in the 84-85 season, a modest musical named Quilters opened to so-so reviews in the Fall and had a short run. However, the season was so bad, musical-wise, that when Big River opened to modest reviews in late April, it was considered the best of a bad lot and won. I would be wiling to bet that if Big River had opened in the Fall and didn't last through the end of the year and that if Quilters had opened in late April with the same reviews, it would have won. For what it's worth, I just got the CD of B&C and have thoroughly enjoyed it -- and I didn't care for the show when it opened last year. For my money, it's the best new score of the past season, whatever other shortcomings it may have had.

[Matt2]

Oh my gosh Jon! I saw the thread title and immediately also thought of the opening number from Merrily!

"How did you get there from here, Mr. Shepherd?"

[EricMontreal22]

Ha I thoght they meant Geoffrey Horne, or maybe some other actor who played Old Frank in Merrily back when they used the original framing, was who was being discussed too. (Funny too since in the OffTopic thread forum people are discussing Bonjour Tristesse which featured Geoffrey Horne).