Skip to content

Top Navigation

EW.com Entertainment Weekly EW.com Entertainment Weekly
  • TV
    • TV Reviews
    • TV Reunions
    • TV Recaps
    • Fall TV
    • Animated
    • Comedy
    • Crime
    • Drama
    • Mystery
    • Reality
    • Sci-fi
    • Thriller
  • Movies
    • Movie Reviews
    • Trailers
    • Film Festivals
    • Movie Reunions
    • Movie Previews
  • Music
    • Music Reviews
  • Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Author Interviews
  • Theater
    • Theater Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • Gaming
  • Events
    • Comic-Con
  • Celebrity
  • Awards
    • Oscars
    • Emmys
    • Golden Globes
    • SAG Awards
    • Grammys
    • Tony Awards
  • Streaming

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletter
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Order Past Issues this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe

Explore EW.com

EW.com Entertainment Weekly EW.com Entertainment Weekly
  • Explore

    Explore

    • Here are all 70 puppies competing in Puppy Bowl XVII

      Read More Next
    • The best books to keep you warm this January

      Read More Next
    • The Masked Dancer revealed: Every unmasked celebrity on season 1

      Read More Next
  • TV

    TV

    See All TV
    • TV Reviews
    • TV Reunions
    • TV Recaps
    • Fall TV
    • Animated
    • Comedy
    • Crime
    • Drama
    • Mystery
    • Reality
    • Sci-fi
    • Thriller
  • Movies

    Movies

    See All Movies
    • Movie Reviews
    • Trailers
    • Film Festivals
    • Movie Reunions
    • Movie Previews
  • Music

    Music

    See All Music
    • Music Reviews
  • Books

    Books

    See All Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Author Interviews
  • Theater

    Theater

    See All Theater
    • Theater Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • Gaming
  • Events

    Events

    See All Events
    • Comic-Con
  • Celebrity
  • Awards

    Awards

    See All Awards
    • Oscars
    • Emmys
    • Golden Globes
    • SAG Awards
    • Grammys
    • Tony Awards
  • Streaming

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletter
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Order Past Issues this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home Chevron Right
  2. Gallery Chevron Right
  3. Tony Awards The Book of Mormon

Tony Awards The Book of Mormon

''The Book of Mormon'' is the favorite for this year's Tony; see where it ranks in our estimation of all-time best
By Aubry D'Arminio
Updated June 10, 2011 at 03:00 PM EDT
Skip gallery slides
Save FB Tweet

1 of 13

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

13. Urinetown (Broadway debut: 2001)

Credit: Joan Marcus

What's Urinetown like? To quote the show, ''let's just say it's filled with symbolism and things like that.'' A decades-long drought has made privately owned toilets a no-no, and people must do their business in pay-per-use potties. If you go on your own, you'll be banished to Urinetown — a fate that is, well, actually death. Thus, it's up to Bobby Strong (originally played by Hunter Foster) to lead a pee-for-free revolution. With one of the most provocative titles this side of The Motherf---er With the Hat and songs like ''It's a Privilege to Pee,'' Urinetown had audiences wetting their pants.

1 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 13

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

12. Hairspray (Broadway debut: 2002)

Credit: Paul Kolnik

Good morning, New York City! Meet Tracy Turnblad, a chubby, Kennedy-era Baltimore teen who dreams of twisting and shouting on the local bandstand show, and Edna, her mountain-size agoraphobic mother (traditionally played by a man, like Harvey Fierstein) who must learn to strut her stuff outside. Their wacky hairdos and ecstatic shimmies are made for giggling.

2 of 13

3 of 13

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

11. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Broadway debut: 1961)

Credit: Ari Mintz

What isn't funny about ''The Man'' getting brought down a peg? That's what happens when window washer J. Pierrepont Finch (played by Daniel Radcliffe in the 2011 revival, pictured) bluffs his way up the ranks at the World Wide Wicket Company. The comedy gold lives in the winks between angel-faced Pierrepont and the audience as he subtly manipulates his moneyed targets.

3 of 13

Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

4 of 13

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

10. Kiss Me Kate (Broadway debut: 1948)

Credit: Joan Marcus

Two divorced theater stars (portrayed by Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell in the 1999 revival, pictured) reunite to mount a musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew in this backstage tuner about the battle of wits and egos that is love (and good theater). He's vain. She's a diva. Their rat-a-tat verbal sparring and sidesplitting slapstick slapping (thanks to married book writers Samuel and Bella Spewack) are matched only by the fun in Cole Porter's lyrics (ex. ''He may have hair upon his chest but, Sister, so does Lassie'').

4 of 13

Advertisement

5 of 13

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

9. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Broadway debut: 2005)

Credit: Carol Rosegg

A meeting of the minds between two dirty, rotten dudes — one a dapper con man, the other an uncouth drifter — turns into an all-out war over a girl who has just as many secrets as they do in David Yazbek and Jeffrey Lane's uncouth musical adaptation of Frank Oz's 1988 movie. As one of the scoundrels says to the other, ''What you lack in grace, you certainly make up for in vulgarity.'' That's a good thing.

5 of 13

6 of 13

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

8. The Drowsy Chaperone (Broadway debut: 2006)

Credit: Joan Marcus

Chaperone opens with a lament about the current state of Broadway (and Elton John musicals) from a Jazz Age loving theater queen, then turns into a send-up of 1920s tuners when the sad hero puts on a record of a musical called The Drowsy Chaperone and the scenes come alive in his studio apartment. We're talking full production numbers---Plate spinning! Show girls! Thugs! — and barrels of laughs as a follies star (played by Sutton Foster in the original Broadway production, pictured) tries to quit the business to marry an oil tycoon. Aida it ain't.

6 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

7 of 13

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

7. Little Shop of Horrors (Broadway debut: 2003)

Credit: Paul Kolnik

Very black comedy, anyone? There is a dorky, skid-row florist who crushes on his ditzy coworker. There is a leather-clad dentist who loves inflicting pain. And there's a gruff-talking, flesh-eating Venus flytrap who munches her way through most of the ensemble. ''Feed me, Seymour! Feed me all night long!''

7 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement

8 of 13

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

6. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Broadway debut: 2005)

Credit: Joan Marcus

Six eccentric young outcasts compete for the title of spelling bee champ in this comic look at one of life's darker rights of passage: Middle School. With names like William Barfee (''It's pronounced Bar-FAY!'') and Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, you instantly feel for them. But, come on, don't those names alone make you want to guffaw?

8 of 13

Advertisement

9 of 13

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

5. Spamalot (Broadway debut: 2005)

Credit: Joan Marcus

How do you make Monty Python and the Holy Grail even funnier? Take the film's clopping coconuts, horseless knights, killer rabbits, and unforgettable lines (''Just a flesh wound'') and add a voluptuous love interest named the Lady of the Lake (a ''watery tart'') with her sexy singing Laker girls and a subplot about taking the holy quest to Broadway. The Python humor is clearly ''not dead!''

9 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

10 of 13

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

4. The Producers (Broadway debut: 2001)

Credit: Paul Kolnik

In 1959, a down-and-out Broadway moneyman and a young accountant scheme to make bank by putting on an expensive flop for cheap and running off with the rest of the money once the play closes. Their pick: A musical by an ex-Nazi called Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp With Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden. The rub: It becomes a hit. Adapted by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan from Brooks' 1968 film, The Producers set the bar for the film-to-stage musical transfer, scoring a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards and making gobs of money.

10 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

11 of 13

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

3. Avenue Q (Broadway debut: 2003)

Credit: Carol Rosegg

Picture Sesame Street gone bad. Give every character a quarterlife crisis. Make grownup child star Gary Coleman their super. And hand them some drugs and booze. Now you have this early aughts musical about young New Yorkers (both puppets and people) that taught us about life (''Everyone's a little bit racist''), relationships (''The more you love someone, the more you wishing him dead''), and a sexy blond, lounge singer puppet called Lucy T. Slut.

11 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement

12 of 13

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

2. The Book of Mormon (Broadway debut: 2011)

Credit: Joan Marcus

Just how outrageous is this Mormon-missionaries tuner from the minds of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q writer Robert Lopez? There's a character called ''General Buttf---ing Naked.'' There's a song that translates to ''F--- You, God!'' Hitler makes an appearance. And a Mormon has a bible shoved in his rear. Laughing yet?

12 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

13 of 13

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

1. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Broadway debut: 1962)

Hilarity happens when a slave (played by Nathan Lane in the 1996 revival, pictured) tries to help his young master get off with a virginal neighbor in Stephen Sondheim's Plautus-inspired romp through ancient Rome, which is full of masquerades, mistaken identities, cross dressing, some extremely athletic courtesans, and one very funny funeral.

13 of 13

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Aubry D'Arminio

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 13 13. Urinetown (Broadway debut: 2001)
2 of 13 12. Hairspray (Broadway debut: 2002)
3 of 13 11. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Broadway debut: 1961)
4 of 13 10. Kiss Me Kate (Broadway debut: 1948)
5 of 13 9. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Broadway debut: 2005)
6 of 13 8. The Drowsy Chaperone (Broadway debut: 2006)
7 of 13 7. Little Shop of Horrors (Broadway debut: 2003)
8 of 13 6. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Broadway debut: 2005)
9 of 13 5. Spamalot (Broadway debut: 2005)
10 of 13 4. The Producers (Broadway debut: 2001)
11 of 13 3. Avenue Q (Broadway debut: 2003)
12 of 13 2. The Book of Mormon (Broadway debut: 2011)
13 of 13 1. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Broadway debut: 1962)

Share options

Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
EW.com Entertainment Weekly

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en EspaƱol this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
© Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://ew.com

View image

Tony Awards The Book of Mormon
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.