Did 'The Producers' deserve all those Tonys? : Revisiting the 2001 Tony Awards
(Gary Beach, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, and Roger Bart in The Producers Photo: Paul Kolnik)
Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder
One of the most highly anticipated Tony Award ceremonies was its 55th in 2001. This was largely due to the fact that audiences were tuning in to see just how many awards ‘The Producers’ would win. The show, based on the Mel Brooks film, was a massive crossover hit on Broadway. It was the show to see if you could get tickets. And its impact on popular culture had only been seen a handful of times in the decades before and only ‘Hamilton’ has seen since.
By the end of the night, the show won 12 of its 15 nominations. Most impressively, it won in every category it had nominations. The only folks who lost were those to other folks in ‘The Producers’.
The telecast also scored one of its highest ratings of all time at 8.9 million. For comparison’s sake, 8.7 tuned into ‘see ‘Hamilton dominate in 2016, and 3.9 million tuned into the 2022 telecast.
But did ‘The Producers’ deserve all those Tony wins? Or were some of them given the award for simply being an element of the show? Also, was ‘The Producers’ truly the best musical of that season?
Given that it’s been over twenty years, let’s dig in and discuss. We’ll go category by category.
Best Choreography
The nominees:
Susan Stroman – The Producers
Jerry Mitchell – The Full Monty
Jim Moore, George Pinney, and Jonathan Vanderkolff – Blast!
Randy Skinner – 42nd Street
Should have won - Randy Skinner – 42nd Street
While the producers certainly had some great dance moments(Springtime for Hitler", “Along Came Bialy”), it doesn’t rely or require on dazzling choreography. ‘42nd Street’ did and Richard Skinner did a great job. I remember seeing that production and being blown away by the scale and creativity. He should have won this one.
Best Lighting Design
The nominees:
Peter Kaczorowski – The Producers
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer – Jane Eyre
Paul Gallo – 42nd Street
Kenneth Posner – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Should have won - Peter Kaczorowski – The Producers
Kaczorowski is a legend in this industry and his work rightfully won. Having said that, can we just take a moment to sit in awe of Jules Fisher who had seven Tonys before The Producers and has added two more since?
Best Orchestrations
The nominees:
Doug Besterman – The Producers
Larry Hochman – A Class Act
Jonathan Tunick – Follies
Harold Wheeler – The Full Monty
Should have won - Doug Besterman – The Producers
No issue here. Besterman’s work on this should be taught in Orchestration textbooks if it’s not already.
Best Costume Design
The nominees:
William Ivey Long – The Producers
Theoni V. Aldredge – Follies
Roger Kirk – 42nd Street
David C. Woolard – The Rocky Horror Show
Should have won - Theoni V. Aldredge – Follies
Controversy aside, Long’s work was second best to Aldredge that year. Yes, Long did good work here(especially with most of Gary Beach’s costumes) but Aldredge turned in her usually legendary work with the costumes being one of the many highlights of that revival.
Best Scenic Design
The nominees:
Robin Wagner – The Producers
Bob Crowley – The Invention of Love
Heidi Ettinger – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Douglas W. Schmidt – 42nd Street
Should have won - Robin Wagner – The Producers
No problem with this one either. Wagner’s work was fantastic, despite Crowley’s very interesting work on ‘The Invention of Love’ (see below)
(Richard Easton and Robert Sean Leonard in ‘The Invention of Love’)
Best Book of a Musical
The nominees:
Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan – The Producers
Linda Kline and Lonny Price – A Class Act
Terrence McNally – The Full Monty
John Caird – Jane Eyre
Should have won - Terrence McNally – The Full Monty
I get why Brooks and Meehan won, but the actual book of ‘The Producers’ isn’t really that impressive when you stack it up to the other nominees. I could make the case that every other nominee in this category should have won instead of Brooks and Meehan but McNally’s work is truly excellent on the much underrated ‘The Full Monty’.
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
The nominees:
The Producers – Mel Brooks (music and lyrics)
A Class Act – Edward Kleban (music and lyrics)
The Full Monty – David Yazbek (music and lyrics)
Jane Eyre – Paul Gordon (music and lyrics)
Should have won - The Full Monty – David Yazbek (music and lyrics)
I don’t think this is a hot take but there is nothing groundbreaking or interesting about the score of ‘The Producers’. It’s all very basic and relies on the talent of its performers to make the songs soar. Meanwhile, just listen to Yazbek’s work on ‘The Fully Monty’. In my opinion, it’s one of the best scores of the 21st century.
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
The nominees:
Cady Huffman – The Producers as Ulla
Polly Bergen – Follies as Carlotta Campion
Kathleen Freeman – The Full Monty as Jeanette Burmeister
Kate Levering – 42nd Street as Peggy Sawyer
Mary Testa – 42nd Street as Maggie Jones
Should have won -Cady Huffman – The Producers as Ulla
Huffman was an absolute delight in this role and deserved to win. How I wish you all could have seen Kathleen Freeman steal every scene she was onstage for in ‘The Fully Monty’. Missing from this list was Janine LaManna as Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical.
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
The nominees:
Gary Beach – The Producers as Roger DeBris
Roger Bart – The Producers as Carmen Ghia
John Ellison Conlee – The Full Monty as Dave Bukatinsky
André DeShields – The Full Monty as Noah "Horse" T. Simmons
Brad Oscar – The Producers as Franz Liebkind
Should have won -Gary Beach – The Producers as Roger DeBris
Beach was perfect in this role. It’s a lesson in how to throw 100% of yourself into a performance. If you don’t believe me, just watch the cast recording of “Keep it Gay”, Gary Beach is missed indeed.
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
The nominees:
Nathan Lane – The Producers as Max Bialystock
Matthew Broderick – The Producers as Leo Bloom
Kevin Chamberlin – Seussical as Horton the Elephant
Tom Hewitt – The Rocky Horror Show as Frank N Furter
Patrick Wilson – The Full Monty as Jerry Lukowski
Should have won - Nathan Lane – The Producers as Max Bialystock
While I thought Lane and Broderick might split the award, they were right to give it to Lane. He really made such an iconic character his own. Credit to Broderick however and Chamberlin who was outstanding in ‘Seussical’.
Best Direction of a Musical
The nominees:
Susan Stroman – The Producers
Christopher Ashley – The Rocky Horror Show
Mark Bramble – 42nd Street
Jack O'Brien – The Full Monty
Should have won - Susan Stroman – The Producers
No question here.
Best Musical
The nominees:
The Producers
A Class Act
The Full Monty
Jane Eyre
Should have won - The Producers
No question here either. While ‘Monty’ is highly underrated and both ‘Eyre’ and ‘A Class Act’ deserve revivals, ‘The Producers’ deserved to win the top spot. What I find interesting is that even though it won, I don’t find ‘The Producers’ rewatchable nor am I hoping it gets revived anytime soon.
So in the end here’s the count:
Actual Wins: 12
Wins it deserved: 8
And yes, we will be doing ‘Hamilton’ next.