Billy Elliot, the Musical Wins Best Musical at 2009 Tony Awards

[Kdelossantos2]

Personally, I think NEXT TO NORMAL should have won, but it was nice that Elton John gave a shout-out to Tom and Brian.

[Jiraiya1313]

Next to Normal was robbed!

[Lexigiggles]

Personally I thought Next to Normal should have won. Oh well.

[gogetyourverb]

I LOVE LIZA MINELLI!

[richardthewriter]

angela landsbury was robbed that night. she should have won for best newcomer

[thearter12]

That was just a great night for BE!! <3

[FuturamaFanatic825]

I think Billy Elliot was good, but I would have loved to Next to Normal win. I mean, I'm not a big dancer, and Billy Elliot was almost entirely that. But N2N had a beautiful plot line that made me cry and think about the ones I love.

But, congrats to Billy Elliott :)

[david88441]

@FuturamaFanatic825 agreed, I may know a billy, but N2N has what Billy Elliot doesn't, and thats art.

[patebrisee]

Billy Elliot was so unexpectedly the most moving musical experience I've had so far. That just me and a few others talking. But really unexpected - I can't pin down what did that for me... granted the original cast recording was annoyingly underwhelming, the story - yep, we've seen before but I've not failed to bawl my brains out and laugh til I ached every time I've seen it. Both shows are amazing. I'd rather see the greatness of both than to cream one for the sake of defending another.

[BenjyandLucy]

well. billy elliot may have won a tony award in america, but from what i hear its nothing compared to london's productions, as...well, the accents done on stage are pretty bad. i know this myself, being english.

[proudtheatredork]

ok? i saw both productions, and the US accent was toned down, but I didn't really see a difference in the quality.

[proudtheatredork]

ok, it's getting really annoying with everyone saying next to normal is better. next to normal has cliched storyline that's been done a million times before, it was a completely underwhelming show. it's not even in the same league as billy elliot. THATS WHY BILLY WON, not because it was "popular", because it was the best. everyone just wants to hate a success.

[amazinggarrett1]

N2N has a storyline that's been done a million times before on Broadway?

Please.

The acting and songs in N2N are better.

I got Billy Elliot's cast album, and I must say that I don't see why it's so popular. N2N is much more emotionally potent, esp. with Alice Ripely playing the lead of Diana.

[proudtheatredork]

The music of Billy is great, but n2n is better, i will admit. with that being said, i've seen both shows, with very high expectations for billy and not really knowing anything about n2n. billy exceeded the veryhigh standards i had. next to normal was cliched, and i really did not feel anything. bilyl i would go see 124378492 times, with n2n i am content to just listen to the soundtrack. what's reat about BE is that it has so much going for it besides music.

[MegglesLuvsRent]

So an emotional storyline about a woman struggling to hold it together with a mental illness has been done a million times before? Please give some examples here. And underwhelming?Really so a show about an 11 year old boy kissing his friend on the cheek is a more emotional story and THAT is a more emotional ending than N2N's?? They probably just didn't want those 13 year old boys crying because their show didn't win..

[proudtheatredork]

You've never seen anything about a woman with bipolar disorder? This is nothing new. I've never seen anything like Billy Elliot. Idk if I should even defend it seem you seem to want to hate it so much, but I felt no attachment to the characters in Next to Normal, but I was rooting for everyone in Billy Elliot. Also, n2n has musicband that's it. it lacks so much of what theatre needs-humor, relatable characters, dancing, etc. and idk if you noticed, but those boys didnt seem to know they'd win.

[Safuza]

N2N definitely has it's humorous moments.

It's just a darker type of humor.

Any why on EARTH does dancing have to be included in what a theater piece needs to have? There are plenty of amazing shows that have very little to no dancing.

I'm not faulting BE. It's a great show. But I see a lot of faults in your arguments against N2N.

[proudtheatredork]

I know a lot of amazing shows have had no dancing- n2n is not an amazing show. this is what i am trying to say. n2n and BE are equally matched, and then billy has dancing. i'm just trying to say that BE has way more going for it, and that's why it won. I was not at all moved by n2n, so I don't think it should have won.

[MegglesLuvsRent]

exactly! thank you!!!!!

[MegglesLuvsRent]

You've never seen a show or movie about a boy having all his little dreams come true? I'm not trying to hate on BE, I just see it as alot less moving, and less entertaining for me.

[proudtheatredork]

Well then I disagree. i was much more moved by BE, adn I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would be moved by Next To Normal. Scared, depressed, yes, but entertained? god no.

anyway, I don't know why everyone is saying Billy Elliot is subpar on the video where it won best musical.

[LittleRicky2000]

I haven't seen it am looking forward to seeing it. My favorite so far is Les Miserable. I loved Billy Elliot the movie and I love elton John So what a combination.

[musical0theater]

should have been next to normal, but i am still glad that Alice Ripley won best leading actress.

[erdancer214]

i've seen a lottt of musicals, but billy

elliot was by far the best i've seen !

it's truly amazing, the music, dancing,

acting, and the story is beautiful.

they definately deserved this award :)

[3JReporters]

agreed :)

[prizes001]

i agreed too!!!

[Tojead]

I have a question .. how many time is a musical presenting on broadway? is for seasons ..

[broadwayfan66]

they usually just go until they aren't making enough money or not enough people go to it. Some run for for years and years. and some run for just a few weeks if they really are bad. Cats the musical was on broadway for about 30 years!

[Tojead]

oooooo now I see .. the same happens here in mexico ... !! thanks a lot

[clayandhayley]

Uh no it wasn't. It ran for 18 years. Phantom around 23 or 25 years.

[Selendomono]

lol liza minelli is so crazy

[AinesFlynn]

Elton looks so cute in his tux...awh

[AinesFlynn]

So happy that Billy Elliot won....

I love the way Liza...shouts 'Yeah Elton...'

[mazaindafale]

I love how Liza's getting herself in there!

[bwaycraz3d84]

I haven't seen N2N, nor have I seen Billy Elliot, but I do know that Billy Elliot has a somewhat better story than N2N. Besides, it's so much fun to watch a lil kid dance his brains out!

[clayandhayley]

Next to Normal has a much better plotline. It is ten times more emotional than Billy. It was robbed of the Tony. I would see it if I were you.

[grant11102]

hi i just read ur post and i totally disagree i think u get far more of an emotional response from Billy Elliot than Next to Normal i thought Billy Elliot was emotionally rich with the sub story of the miner's strike, the hardship the family go through, the struggle billy goes through the success afterwords and the humor that billy's Gay friend and his grandma bring not mention the fantastic dancing. i thought it was far more entertaining than next to normal.

[clayandhayley]

It is fine. EVERYONE is entitled to their own opinion.

[proudtheatredork]

EXACTLY. everyone forgets the entertainment factor! i apologize for not wanting to go a show that is confusing and i am not entertained by at all

[HTFSoul]

I think this year was all too predictable. =\ Billy Elliot was literally the only name that I'd heard of when I saw the list of nominees; and of course, popularity is what counts, so it was obviously going to win most everything it was nominated for.

Personally, I'm not an Elton John fan, but it looks like the majority of the committee is. Although, I haven't seen any of the musicals nominated yet, as I live on the west coast, so who am I to judge?

Congrats to Billy Elliot and Elton John.

[MMMazing15]

Billy Elliot more then deserved Best Musical

[jltiger13]

liza cracks me up!!!!!!!! she is so crazy

1:25

[jkoballerina]

i agreed with you GreenxwhitEnvy, in my opinion the show ( Billy Elliot) is amazing and deserved every

award.

best show in broadway!!!!!!

[GreenxwithEnvy]

if anybody thinks Billy Elliot shouldn't have won any of the Tonys they were awarded that night, then they probably haven't seen the show. Its amazing and deserved every nomination and every award.

[LikeToTryToBeGood]

liza is the grandma of broadway.

she is so cute!

[prizes001]

david congratulation

billy elliot is the best show in broadway...

[senoritacool]

WHY DIDN'T NEXT TO NORMAL WIN! I guess it's all about the names then... stupid elton john. NEXT TO NORMAL IS AMAZING!

[pink1lady2]

next to normal is amazing, but billy elliot is better

[imwithavril2000]

It's obvious you haven't seen Billy Elliot. I've seen both and Billy elliot is a lot better than N2N. And FYI Elton didn't even win

[vampireninja85fire]

soo deserved it! and I'm happy they did! but i love how the 3 BILLYS WON ALSO! Their speach was soo funny...they literally were SPEACHLESS!

[GreenxwithEnvy]

Billy Elliot deserved this without a doubt.

fantastic show with such talented actors. Kiril, David, and Trent are fantastic, and they entire cast has made Billy Elliot an amazing show. i'm so glad they won!

[AJROELANT]

Liza was so funny i love her

[HamletSCM]

Same here -- I was so mad - My DVR stopped at the clip for Next to Normal. Did anyone else think that the production of the show was bad?

[jonsmith3030]

i just wanna point out liza was HILARIOUS!!!

[stephaniedancerz]

Next to Normal was ROBBED.

[imwithavril2000]

NTN sucks I saw it last month. The acting is great, Alice Ripley is awesomet but everything else pretty much sucks

[stephaniedancerz]

It doesn't suck, it's fierce.

[stelivo1]

are you kidding Billy Elliot is awesome

[broadwaybabyx827]

I DEFINETLY agreee, next to normal is BEYOND amazing and efinetly deserves more then 3 tonys.

[wickedx716]

I Know :\ I was disapointed that they only won 3 awards :O

[wickedx716]

I know.

[richmeisterg]

I agree; Next to Normal was robbed!

[imwithavril2000]

I will celebrate when they close N2N It's not that good.

[wickedx716]

It was!!!!!! >:\

[skeever]

Thanks! Since the show ran long the dang DVR didn't get this! Thanks for posting so quickly!

[TrevWks]

Ditto. Somebody please invent a smarter DVR.