(from July/August 2015 Musical Theatre Issue of #TheDramatist)
History was made June 7, 2015 when the Tony Award for Best Musical went to Fun Home – the first musical created by an all-female writing team – Jeanine Tesori (music) and Lisa Kron (book and lyrics) – to win in that category.
Let’s put this in historical context with some facts. The Best Score category (originally called Best Composer) was created in 1947, but the Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical (sometimes called Author of a Musical or, in 1950, Libretto) categories were not created until 1949. Here are some notable highlights:
• 1949: Kiss Me, Kate wins the first Tony Award for Best Musical and Author of a Musical (book). The writing team includes a woman, BELLA SPEWACK with her husband Sam Spewack, and Cole Porter (music & lyrics).
• 1960: Once Upon A Mattress is nominated for Best Musical. The writing team includes MARY RODGERS (music), Marshall Barer (lyrics), and Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer and Dean Fuller (book). It is the first Best Musical nomination for a show composed by a woman. There was no Best Score category from 1952 through 1961.
• 1963: CAROLYN LEIGH (lyrics) and composer Cy Coleman (music) received a Best Score nomination for Little Me, making her the first woman to be nominated in this category.
• 1973: MICKI GRANT becomes the first woman composer (solo or team) to be nominated for Best Score (music & lyrics); the first solo woman to be nominated for Best Book of a Musical; and the first female solo writer to be nominated for Best Score, Best Book and Best Musical – all for Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope. She wrote it all AND she starred in the show. She was the first woman to do that. 1,065 performances on Broadway, ya’ll. Respect. (If my hasty fact checking is correct, she was the first solo person – male or female – to write the book, music, lyrics and star in the same Broadway musical. If I missed someone, email me and please accept my apologies.)
• 1978: ELIZABETH SWADOS (Runaways) becomes the first person – male or female – to be nominated for Best Score (music & lyrics), Best Book, Best Choreographer, Best Director, and Best Musical for the same show. No one has done it since. Respect.
• 1991: MARSHA NORMAN becomes the first solo woman to win Best Book of a Musical for The Secret Garden. She and LUCY SIMON become the first all-female writing team to be nominated for Best Score.
• 2006: LISA LAMBERT (music & lyrics) – writing with Greg Morrison (music & lyrics) – becomes the first woman composer/lyricist to win Best Score for The Drowsy Chaperone.
• 2013: CYNDI LAUPER becomes the first solo woman to win Best Score (music & lyrics) for Kinky Boots.
Of the 68 shows that have won the Tony Award for Best Musical, 51 of those shows have had all-male writing teams (75%), sixteen have had at least one female on the writing team (23.53%), and one has had an all-female writing team (1.47%).
Of the 56 times the Tony Award for Best Score as been awarded, 49 of those have gone to all-male writing teams (87.5%), five have had at least one female on the writing team (8.93%) and two have gone to all-female writers (3.57%).
Of the 50 times the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical has been awarded, 44 of those have had all-male writers (88%), two have had both male and female writers (4%), and four have been all-female writers (8%).
• Most nominations for a woman composer: five for JEANINE TESORI
• Most nominations for a woman lyricist/bookwriter: nine for BETTY COMDEN (writing with Adolph Green)
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