Welcome back to my 'And the Tony Almost Went to...' series, where I take a deep dive into a show that was the (likely) runner-up in the Best Musical race of any previous Tony Awards year. Today, we'll be taking a look back at 1996.
Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk is a revue that tells the story, through tap, of black history from slavery to the present. The musical numbers are presented along with supertitles, projected images and videotapes and with continuing commentary. This project was originally conceived by director George C. Wolfe, who is also credited for the idea with choreographer Savion Glover. The former of whom took the rap words of Reg E. Gaines and turned them into a form of tap dancing that included hip-hop and funk rhythms known as "tap/rap."
Following a successful premiere at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater, Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk opened on April 25th, 1996 at the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway. The original cast included Savion Glover as ‘da Beat/Lil' Dahlin', Vincent Bingham as Grin & Flash, Jared Crawford as Drummer, Ann Duquesnay as 'da Singer/The Chanteuse, Dulé Hill as The Kid, Raymond King as Drummer, Jimmy Tate as Grin & Flash, Baakari Wilder as Uncle Huck-A-Buck, and Jeffrey Wright as ‘da Voice.
The production received 9 Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Lead Actor in a Musical (Savion Glover), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Ann Duquesnay)*, Best Direction of a Musical (George C. Wolfe)*, Best Book of a Musical (Reg E. Gaines), Best Original Score (Daryl Waters, Zane Mark, Ann Duquesnay, Reg E. Gaines, & George C. Wolfe), Best Choreography (Savion Glover)*, Best Costume Design (Paul Tazewell), and Best Lighting Design (Jules Fisher & Peggy Eisenhauer)*.
*denotes an award it won.
Despite doing pretty well on Tony night, it still couldn't overcome the cultural phenomenon that was...
Following a successful premiere at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater, Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk opened on April 25th, 1996 at the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway. The original cast included Savion Glover as ‘da Beat/Lil' Dahlin', Vincent Bingham as Grin & Flash, Jared Crawford as Drummer, Ann Duquesnay as 'da Singer/The Chanteuse, Dulé Hill as The Kid, Raymond King as Drummer, Jimmy Tate as Grin & Flash, Baakari Wilder as Uncle Huck-A-Buck, and Jeffrey Wright as ‘da Voice.
The production received 9 Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Lead Actor in a Musical (Savion Glover), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Ann Duquesnay)*, Best Direction of a Musical (George C. Wolfe)*, Best Book of a Musical (Reg E. Gaines), Best Original Score (Daryl Waters, Zane Mark, Ann Duquesnay, Reg E. Gaines, & George C. Wolfe), Best Choreography (Savion Glover)*, Best Costume Design (Paul Tazewell), and Best Lighting Design (Jules Fisher & Peggy Eisenhauer)*.
*denotes an award it won.
Despite doing pretty well on Tony night, it still couldn't overcome the cultural phenomenon that was...
Why Didn't Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk Win?: Rent was literally the success story of the season. It was a passion project for its creator Jonathan Larson, who wanted to write a show that would bring the MTV generation and the musical theatre world together. Yet hours before the first preview at Off-Broadway's New York Theatre Workshop, he sadly died at his home from an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm. Later that night, the show went on, but as a sing-through of the musical dedicated to him. By the end of the performance, everyone in the audience gave an immediate standing ovation, sat back down, and did not move until a voice came out saying "Thank you Jonathan Larson".
Rent went on to premiere as planned and quickly gained popularity fueled by enthusiastic critical reviews as well as attention from the recent death of its creator. It proved to be extremely successful during its Off-Broadway run, selling out all its shows at the 150-seat New York Theater Workshop, and had several extensions. The show also ended up becoming the seventh musical in history to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, which was accepted by Jonathan's parents, Al & Nan Larson, on his behalf. Due to such overwhelming popularity, Rent ended up moving to Broadway with everything completely intact, such as the material, the cast, the staging, the choreography, and the designs. The show not only became the biggest hit Broadway had seen in years, but also a cultural phenomenon. The musical's controversial topics and innovative pricing (which included same day-of-performance $20 tickets), helped increase the popularity of musical theater among the younger generation.
What's arguably surprising looking back is that Rent didn't dominate the Tonys the way other groundbreaking musicals have like what Hamilton went on to pull off in 2016. It only ended up winning 4 awards for Best Musical, Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Wilson Jermaine Heredia), Best Book of a Musical (Jonathan Larson), and Best Original Score (Jonathan Larson). According to the New York Times' Tony voter survey that year, those were the only categories it was expected to win. Although they did mention that it was possible Michael Greif to win Best Direction of a Musical if it proved to be a Rent landslide. Yet in the minds of many theatre people, that race was down to George C. Wolfe and Christopher Renshaw for his revival of The King & I. The Times went on to mention that the former "should win for his achievement, whipping Noise, Funk into a hit."
It appears to me that to voters at the time, they felt that the biggest creative achievement with Rent was the overall writing. Thus, it was probably most important for them to acknowledge the late Jonathan Larson's contributions in creating such a groundbreaking piece of musical theatre. Whereas with Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk, that was likely considered to be more of an achievement through its stagecraft. Plus, as George C. Wolfe had the initial idea for the show to begin with, it made sense for him to win directing as a way of acknowledging his overall contributions. Kind of similar to what we saw happen at this year's Tonys with Zhailon Levingston & Bill Rauch winning director for their vision of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, but that production loses Best Musical Revival to Ragtime as voters by and large were clearly more moved by the latter.
As for how both shows fared in the long run, Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk did go out on a two-year tour from 1997-1999. Meanwhile, the Broadway production closed on January 10th, 1999 after 1,135 performances. Yet the musical itself rarely gets done anywhere these days. Meanwhile, Rent went on to endure as one of the most influential and defining musicals of the 1990s. The Broadway production closed on September 7th, 2008 after 5,123 performances, which currently makes it the 12th longest-running show in history. It has also spawned multiple screen iterations and continues to be produced all over the world.
Rent went on to premiere as planned and quickly gained popularity fueled by enthusiastic critical reviews as well as attention from the recent death of its creator. It proved to be extremely successful during its Off-Broadway run, selling out all its shows at the 150-seat New York Theater Workshop, and had several extensions. The show also ended up becoming the seventh musical in history to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, which was accepted by Jonathan's parents, Al & Nan Larson, on his behalf. Due to such overwhelming popularity, Rent ended up moving to Broadway with everything completely intact, such as the material, the cast, the staging, the choreography, and the designs. The show not only became the biggest hit Broadway had seen in years, but also a cultural phenomenon. The musical's controversial topics and innovative pricing (which included same day-of-performance $20 tickets), helped increase the popularity of musical theater among the younger generation.
What's arguably surprising looking back is that Rent didn't dominate the Tonys the way other groundbreaking musicals have like what Hamilton went on to pull off in 2016. It only ended up winning 4 awards for Best Musical, Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Wilson Jermaine Heredia), Best Book of a Musical (Jonathan Larson), and Best Original Score (Jonathan Larson). According to the New York Times' Tony voter survey that year, those were the only categories it was expected to win. Although they did mention that it was possible Michael Greif to win Best Direction of a Musical if it proved to be a Rent landslide. Yet in the minds of many theatre people, that race was down to George C. Wolfe and Christopher Renshaw for his revival of The King & I. The Times went on to mention that the former "should win for his achievement, whipping Noise, Funk into a hit."
It appears to me that to voters at the time, they felt that the biggest creative achievement with Rent was the overall writing. Thus, it was probably most important for them to acknowledge the late Jonathan Larson's contributions in creating such a groundbreaking piece of musical theatre. Whereas with Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk, that was likely considered to be more of an achievement through its stagecraft. Plus, as George C. Wolfe had the initial idea for the show to begin with, it made sense for him to win directing as a way of acknowledging his overall contributions. Kind of similar to what we saw happen at this year's Tonys with Zhailon Levingston & Bill Rauch winning director for their vision of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, but that production loses Best Musical Revival to Ragtime as voters by and large were clearly more moved by the latter.
As for how both shows fared in the long run, Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk did go out on a two-year tour from 1997-1999. Meanwhile, the Broadway production closed on January 10th, 1999 after 1,135 performances. Yet the musical itself rarely gets done anywhere these days. Meanwhile, Rent went on to endure as one of the most influential and defining musicals of the 1990s. The Broadway production closed on September 7th, 2008 after 5,123 performances, which currently makes it the 12th longest-running show in history. It has also spawned multiple screen iterations and continues to be produced all over the world.