It All Adds Up

Every time I drive on the New Jersey Turnpike, I see the sign: “Winner of the Most Tonys in Broadway History: The Producers, with 12.” Well, yes and no. Cabaret, Guys and Dolls, and Hello, Dolly! have also won 12 Tonys. Unlike The Producers, they didn’t win them all at once; but if we start an Aggregate Tony Race, they’re right up there.

Let’s do the math: Cabaret landed eight Tonys in 1967 (Best Musical, Featured Actor, Featured Actress, Director, Score, Sets, Choreographer, and Costumes), and while its 1987 Broadway revival came up empty, the 1998 edition added four more to its Tony total (Revival, Actor, Actress, and Featured Actor). Guys and Dolls won eight in 1951 (Musical, Actor, Actress, Direction, Book, Producer, Score, Choreographer), and though the 1976 revival was Tonyless, the show got four more for the 1992 production (Revival, Actress, Director, Sets). Hello, Dolly! won 10 in 1964 (Musical, Actress, Book, Producer, Score; Director, Conductor; Sets, Costumes, Choreographer) and then landed two honorary awards in 1968, which new star Pearl Bailey and producer David Merrick took home.

Other musicals have come close. Fiddler on the Roof now has 11 Tonys: It won nine in 1965 (Musical, Actor, Featured Actress, Book, Producer, Director, Score, Costumes, Choreographer), an honorary award in 1972 for becoming Broadway’s longest-running show, and a Best Revival award for the 1990-91 production. (The current revival added nothing to the total.)

Kiss Me, Kate has 10, evenly split between its original 1948 production (Musical, Book, Score, Producer, Costumes) and its 2000 revival (Revival, Actor, Director, Orchestrations, Costumes). The King and I has 10 as well, spread over three different productions. There were five for the original in 1952 (Musical, Actress, Featured Actor, Sets, Costumes), an honorary award for Yul Brynner in 1985, and four additional trophies in 1996 (Revival, Actress, Sets, Costumes). Damn Yankees also scores a 10 for its nine awards in 1956 (Actor, Actress, Featured Actor, Book, Producers, Score, Choreography, and Electrician!) and one in 1994 (Featured Actor).

A Chorus Line won nine Tonys in 1976 (Musical, Actress, Featured Actor, Featured Actress, Director, Choreography, Book, Score, Lighting), but it too stands at 10 because it received an honorary award in 1984 for becoming Broadway’s longest-running show. (Note that a similar award the powers that be didn’t give the same honorary award to Cats when it passed A Chorus Line on the long-run chart.) Perhaps if the much-talked-about 2006 revival comes to pass, A Chorus Line will eventually end up the new all-time leader.

Another show that has a chance at being the all-time champ is South Pacific. Right now, it “only” has nine Tonys, all from the 1950 awards ceremony (Musical, Actor, Actress, Featured Actor, Featured Actress, Director, Book, Score, Producer). But it’s never had a commercial Broadway revival, and someone has got to do one someday.

My Fair Lady was called “the show of the century” when it debuted in 1956 but it’s only at the nine-Tony mark now: eight for the original and one in 1976, when George Rose won for Best Actor. (Can you believe that a guy playing Alfred P. Doolittle was even put in that category?) The show has had two revivals since: The 1983 edition landed a Best Revival nomination, while the superior 1993 revival wasn’t up for any awards because — for some strange reason — the Tony voters weren’t invited.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum now has nine Tonys as well, stretching over three different productions. It got six in 1963 (Musical, Actor, Featured Actor, Book, Producer, Director), two in 1972 (Actor, Featured Actor), and one in 1996 (Actor). Given that the performer who plays Pseudolus always wins a Tony, it might only need four more revivals to become the all-time aggregate leader. It’s such a great show, relatively inexpensive to produce, and the movie version is so unrepresentative of the stage musical that we undoubtedly will see it on Broadway four more times.

The final niner is The Music Man, a unique case. It took eight Tonys in 1958 (Musical, Actor, Featured Actor, Featured Actress, Book, Score, Producers, Conductor) and then added one more in 1959 for Stage Technician — an award that, in those days, could be won by someone working backstage on a holdover production from a previous season! However, the show didn’t win any Tonys for its revivals in 1980 and 2000.

Four shows have won eight Tonys for their original productions: Sweeney Todd, The Sound of Music, Redhead, and Les Misérables. Wonderful Town won seven on the first go-round, adding a choreography prize in 2004; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying also won seven for its first production, then got an eighth with Best Actor in 1995; and Big River‘s original seven were supplemented with an honorary award for DeafWest’s 2004 production. La Cage aux Folles seized six in 1984 (Musical, Actor, Director, Book, Score, Costumes) and added two more just a few weeks ago (Revival, Choreography) to join the eight-Tony club.

By now, you probably thought that I would have listed Gypsy. Alas, that masterpiece actually has fewer Tony wins (three) than it has had Broadway productions (four). If you don’t believe me, look it up. In 1960, its original outing, the show received not one single Tony; it had to wait until 1975, when Angela Lansbury won for Best Actress. It has only won two since then, for star Tyne Daly and for Best Revival in 1990. With the 2003 revival striking out, Gypsy has scored only three wins for its 21 nominations.

Of course, if the Tonys had started earlier than 1947, Show Boat would have amassed more than four (all in 1995 for Revival, Featured actress, Costumes, and Choreography), just as Anything Goes would have surpassed three (1988: Revival, Featured Actor, Choreography) and Annie Get Your Gun and Oklahoma! would have won more than two each (the former for Revival and Actress in 1999, the latter with an honorary award in 1993 and one for Featured Actor in 2002). All four will likely get additional chances to add to their totals as the years pass.

But don’t you think Chicago would be the all-time leader in the Aggregate Tony Race record had Bob Fosse not had his heart attack in 1974? The show would have then opened on schedule during the 1974-75 season, when its biggest competition would have been The Wiz. A year later, when Fosse was healthy enough to get it on, Chicago was up against A Chorus Line — the main reason why it failed to win in any of the 11 categories in which it was nominated. Considering that the revival won six Tonys, can’t you see the show winning seven that first time around? You sure could if you, like I, had seen the vastly superior original production.

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[To contact Peter Filichia directly, e-mail him at pfilichia@theatermania.com]