A Tony Timeline Trivia Quiz

The Best Musical Award was awarded for the first time at the third edition of the Tony Awards, held on 24 April 1949. The award went to Saint Subber and Lemuel Ayers, the producers of the show, to whom this award is given. This was the first time that winners were awarded the now-familiar silver medallion, with the obverse featuring comedy/tragedy masks, and the reverse Antoinette Perry's profile.

To be eligible for a Tony, the show must have officially opened (and been running on a regular performance schedule) by March 1 of the relevant year, in one of the theatres defined as constituting Broadway. This involves being in Manhattan and having a minimum seating capacity of 500 (which has increased over the years, but without removing the eligibility of older theatres that only seat 499, the previous requirement). There are currently 41 theatres in the list. The musical that was to win Best Musical in 1950 ('South Pacific') had opened just too late to qualify for the inaugural award.

'Kiss Me Kate', with book by Bella and Samuel Spewack and music & lyrics by Cole Porter, opened in 1948 at the New Century Theatre, then transferred to the Shubert in June of 1949, where it completed its eventual run of 1,077 performances. It was Cole Porter's first musical to integrate the musical and dramatic aspects, rather than just using the musical numbers to provide entertaining interludes. The premise is that a theatrical company is staging a performance of 'The Taming of the Shrew', with the offstage conflicts of the actors reflecting the onstage antics of their characters. And then there is the complication for one of the actors that her gambling boyfriend has run afoul of some gangsters. In addition to Best Musical, the show won Tonies for Best Author (Musical), Best Original Score and Best Costume Design.

This fifth musical from the team of Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics) was based on the 1944 novel 'Anna and the King of Siam', which was in turn based on the memoirs of Anna Leonowens regarding her time as a governess to the King of Siam in the 1860s. It was developed specifically by Rodgers and Hammerstein to be a vehicle for Gertrude Lawrence. The producers hoped to get Rex Harrison to play the king, as he had done in a 1944 movie based on the same book. Since he was unavailable, the part went to Yul Brynner, in what came to be a career-defining role - he won an Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Mongkut in the 1956 film adaptation of the musical, and has performed it in numerous revivals and adaptations. Both of the stars won Tonies for their performances, and it was also awarded Best Scenic Design and Best costume Design.

The show opened in March of 1951 (hence too late for the 1951 awards) in the St. James Theatre and ran for 1246 shows. Subsequent productions around the world were also highly successful, with lengthy runs and multiple awards. The 1996 revival featuring Lou Diamond Phillips and Donna Murphy won a Tony for Best Revival of a Musical.

'South Pacific', 'Guys and Dolls', 'Wonderful Town', 'Kismet', 'The Pajama Game', 'Damn Yankees', 'My Fair Lady', 'The Music Man' and 'Redhead' were the other Best Musicals of the 1950s, in that order.

I chose the '50s as the decade from which I would select two shows, as there were so many classics, and the two selected were fairly well separated from each other.

'My Fair Lady', with book & lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, was based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play 'Pygmalion' (incorporating some modifications from the 1938 film adaptation), itself inspired by Ovid's story of a Greek sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved. It opened in March 1956 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, before moving first to the Broadhurst Theatre and then the Broadway Theatre, where its run of 2,717 performances ended in September of 1962. Herman Levin produced, and received the recognition for Best Musical.

The original cast included Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins, a phonetician who undertakes a challenge to develop a cockney flower-seller (Eliza Doolittle, played by Julie Andrews) into someone who could pass herself off as a member of the aristocracy. Stanley Holloway provided comic relief as Eliza's father. All three of these repeated their roles in the similarly successful West end production that followed the Broadway run. Julie Andrews was replaced by Audrey Hepburn in the 1964 film adaptation, because the producer wanted someone who was already established as a film star in the role. This left her free to take the title role in Disney's film of 'Mary Poppins'.

Touring shows, international productions and revivals have kept 'My Fair Lady' almost constantly in the public eye ever since its initial success.

Inspired by the slapstick comedy of the ancient Roman playwright Plautus, this musical had music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim (his first Broadway production) and a book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. It was directed by George Abbott and produced by Hal Prince, who won the fourth of his eight Tonies for Best Musical. The show opened at the Alvin theatre in May of 1962, later moving to the Mark Hellinger Theatre and then the Majestic Theatre before closing in August of 1964.

The plot is pretty convoluted, with lots of amorous intrigue and misunderstandings. The show is held together by the character of Pseudolus, a slave who is trying to gain his freedom by assisting his master to win the hand of the girl next door. Zero Mostel, who played the role both on Broadway and in the1966 film adaptation, was not the first choice for the role - that was Phil Silvers, who reputedly turned it down because he would be required to perform without his glasses, and he felt that was verging on dangerous given his poor eyesight. He did play Pseudolus in a 1972 revival - with glasses.

'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' was nominated for six Tony Awards (seven if you include the fact that then there was still a separate award for Best Producer of a Musical, which automatically went to the producer who also received the award for Best Musical) and won four: Best Musical, Best Author, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (to David Burns, who played Senex, an elderly henpecked Senator), and Best Direction of a Musical.

'The Sound of Music' and 'Fiorello' were joint winners of Best Musical in 1960. The rest of the decade saw victories for 'Bye Bye Birdie', 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying', 'Hello Dolly', 'Fiddler on the Roof', Man of La Mancha', 'Cabaret', 'Hallelujah, Baby!' and '1776'.

Ken Harper produced 'The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"' (to give its full title), an adaptation of that classic story published in 1900 by L Frank Baum that gives it a 20th century Black American cultural setting.

Just in case you don't know the basic plot, a young girl named Dorothy is transported by a tornado to the magical land of Oz, then tries to return home. Along the way, she gathers some companions who also need to have some wish fulfilled, and they battle against a series of problems. Everybody ends up happy.

'The Wiz' opened on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre in January of 1975, to initially mixed reviews. However, things picked up due to a television ad campaign featuring one of the songs from the show ('Ease On Down the Road') which was also released to become a hit single. This production won six Tony Awards in addition to Best Musical: Best original Score (Charlie Smalls), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Ted Ross as The Lion), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Dee Dee Bridgewater as Glinda), Best Direction of a Musical (Geoffrey Holder), Best Choreography (George Faison) and Best Costume Design (Geoffrey Holder).

A 1978 film version featuring Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow was a critical and commercial failure, despite an abundance of stars in the cast.

'Applause', 'Company, 'Two Gentlemen of Verona', 'A Little night Music' and 'Raisin' won Best Musical in the years immediately preceding 'The Wiz'. The rest of the decade saw wins for 'A Chorus Line', 'Annie', 'Ain't Misbehavin'' and 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'.

Inspired by the life of Eva Perón, the second wife of Argentine president Juan Perón, this musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and book & lyrics from Tim Rice began life as a rock opera concept album, released in 1976. the album's success encouraged producer Robert Stigwood to develop a full show, and the West End production opened in June of 1978 for a run of 3,176 shows before it closed in 1986, receiving multiple Olivier Awards, including Best Musical.

The Broadway production opened at the Broadway Theatre in September of 1979 and ran until June of 1983. It became the first British musical to win the Tony Award for Best Musical. That was only one of the seven awards it received from eleven nominations: Best Original Score (Webber/Rice), Best Book of a Musical (Rice), Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Patti Lupone as Eva Perón), Best Performance by a featured Actor in a Musical (Mandy Patinkin as Ché Geuvera; Bob Gunton was also nominated in this category for his portrayal of Juan Perón), Best Direction of a Musical (Hal Prince) and Best Lighting Design (David Hersey).

Nearly fifty years later, international productions, touring companies and revivals are still going strong. The 1996 film adaptation was 20 years in the making, with a lot of complications along the way to finding a suitable actress to portray Eva. The final selection of Madonna was distinctly controversial, but her performance of 'You Must Love Me' (a new song written specifically for the movie version) was a best-seller and award winner.

'42nd Street', 'Nine', 'Cats', 'La Cage aux Folles', 'Big River', 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood', 'Les Misérables', 'The Phantom of the Opera' and 'Jerome Robbins' Broadway' were judged to be the Best Musicals for the rest of the '80s.

As it is usually stylized, 'RENT' is a rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Jonathan Larson that about the struggles of a group of impecunious artists living in the East Village in the shadow of the AIDS epidemic that hit that community in the 1980s. This was an update from its inspiration, Puccini's 1896 opera 'La Bohème', which was set in the artistic circles of Paris, and saw tuberculosis taking the life of the central character.

Larson started work on the concept in 1989, and it went through several forms as it developed in workshops. It was produced by Jeffrey Seller, Kevin McCollum, Allan S. Gordon and New York Theatre Workshop. After an off-Broadway debut in January of 1996 (the day after Larson's unexpected death from an aortic dissection), the show moved to the Nederlander Theatre in April of that year, where it started a run that would last until 2008.

the show was nominated for ten Tony Awards, of which it won four: Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Wilson Jermaine Heredia, who played the role of Angel). Acting nominations also included Adam Pascal for Roger, Daphne Rubin-Vega for Mimi and Idina Melzel for Maureen.

'City of Angels', 'The Will Rogers Follies', 'Crazy for You', 'Kiss of the Spiderwoman', 'Passion' and Sunset Boulevard' were awarded Best Musical in the years preceding 'Rent's win; the decade then saw 'Titanic', 'The Lion King' and 'Fosse' as winners.

If you hadn't already picked up the reference, the full title of this show gives you a pretty good idea of where it is coming from: 'Monty Python's Spamalot: A Musical (Lovingly) Ripped Off from the Motion Picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail' was developed by Eric Idle from the 1975 film spoofing Arthurian legends. With musical assistance from John Du Prez, the show opened at the Shubert Theatre on 17 March 2005 (qualifying for that year's Tony Awards because it had been in previews at the same theatre from the middle of February). Directed by Mike Nichols, it featured Tim curry as King Arthur (one of the few roles that did not require the actor to play multiple parts, as had been done when the Python team members portrayed multiple characters in different scenes), David Hyde Pierce as Sir Robin / 1st Sentry / Brother Maynard / 2nd Guard, and Hank Azaria as Sir Lancelot / 2nd Sentry / The French Taunter / Knight of Ni / Tim the Enchanter.

The show received 14 Tony nominations, winning three. In addition to Best Musical, it was awarded Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Sara Ramirez, portraying the Lady of the Lake) and Best Direction of a Musical (Mike Nichols). Other members of the Monty Python team had mixed reactions to the show, considering it somewhat boring in concept (we did it in the movie, why do it again on the stage?), but also pleased to see audiences enjoying it and very happy to collect the royalties.

The 21st century started with 'Contact' judged the Best Musical, followed by 'The Producers', 'Thoroughly Modern Millie', 'Hairspray', 'Avenue Q', 'Spamalot', Jersey Boys', 'Spring Awakening', 'In the Heights' and 'Billy Elliot the Musical'.

This was the second show from Lin-Manuel Miranda to win Best Musical, the first being 'In the Heights' in 2007, for which he was awarded Best Score. This time he produced not just the concept and the music, but also the book and lyrics (oh yes, he also played the leading role) for a show about colonial America which he described as being about "America then, as told by America now". Hamilton's status as an immigrant is played up, to make it clear that the show is about the multicultural nature of the nation, despite the colonial era often being portrayed as culturally monolithic. The original cast was a mixture of Black, Latino and Asian performers, and Miranda has indicated that he would consider casting women in the roles of the 'Founding Fathers' to be quite appropriate.

Based on a 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton, the show is completely sung (and/or rapped), incorporating a range of musical genres, especially hip hop, in addition to traditional musical show tunes. The show was developed a number of years, starting with the development of the songs (based both on the book and on Hamilton's own writings) before drawing things together in several workshop productions. It opened off-Broadway in January of 2015, and moved to the Richard Rodgers Theatre later in the year.

'Hamilton: An American Musical' set a record for the most Tony Award nominations with 16 (although since several of them involved multiple actors in the same acting category, the maximum number that could have been won was 13), and won 11, only one fewer than the record, held by 'The Producers' in 2001. It also won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the original cast album won a Grammy for Best Musical Theatre Album. The show was recognised in the 2018 Kennedy Center Honors for its contribution to American culture.

'Memphis', 'The Book of Mormon', 'Once', 'Kinky Boots', 'A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder' and 'Fun Home' preceded 'Hamilton'; 'Dear Evan Hansen', 'The Band's Visit' and 'Hadestown' rounded out the decade.

Due to COVID-19 disruptions during 2020, the Tony Awards that would usually have been held in that year were deferred until September 2021. 'Moulin Rouge!' opened at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in July of 2019, making it eligible for the 2020 awards. It received 14 nominations, and won 10, including Best Musical. Most of these were related to production values - the show has a lot of wizz-bang energy and spectacular production numbers.

Based on the 2001 film of the same name directed by Baz Luhrmann, the show is set around the turn of the 19th century in Paris. It follows the relationship of a young composer (Christian, played by Aaron Tveit in the original production) and a courtesan (Satine, played in the original production by Karen Olivo) who stars in the floor show at the famous nightclub called the Moulin Rouge. Like 'Rent', the storyline owes a great deal to Puccini's 'La Boheme'.

The show is an example of the jukebox musical genre, which means that the music was not written specifically for this show. Rather, the show draws on previously (or currently) popular music that fits into the story that is being developed. The music selected for the film was mostly from the end of the 20th century; the musical kept many of these songs, while adding more from the intervening 20ish years.

Since this quiz is being written shortly after the 2025 Tony Awards, the list of other winners in this decade will be short: 'Moulin Rouge!' was followed by 'A Strange Loop', 'Kimberly Akimbo', 'The Outsiders' and 'Maybe Happy Ending'.