This coming Sunday, September 26, 2021, will be the 71st time Tony voters bestow their award for Best Musical presented on Broadway for the theatrical season for which they are casting their votes. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of Broadway theatres for the 2020-2021 season, this year’s awards are for the 2019-2020 season as Broadway reopens for its 2021-2022 season.

There have been 71 Best Musical winners already, due to a tie for Best Musical of 1959-1960 between The Sound of Music and Fiorello!

The Sound of Music is one of the 36 winners that has been made into a film for theatrical release. All 36 are available on Blu-ray and/or DVD. Fiorello! is one of the 35 that has not been filmed. Four of the 35, Company, 42nd Street, Billy Elliot the Musical, and Kinky Boots have, however, had live stage productions filmed for brief theatrical release and are also available on Blu-ray and DVD,

The first Tony winner for Best Musical, 1948-1949’s Kiss Me, Kate was also the first Tony winning musical to be filmed. The 1953 film version of Cole Porter’s musical based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew starred Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Ann Miller, and Tommy Rall in roles originated on Broadway by Alfred Drake, Patricia Morrison, Lisa Kirk, and Harold Lang.

Eight of the ten winners of the 1950s were successfully filmed. The film versions of seven of them, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, The King and I, The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, My Fair Lady, and The Music Man were huge successes that remain in constant play today. The eighth, Kismet, was not as successful but still provides a rewarding watch.

Vincente Minnelli directed the 1955 film version of the 1953-1954 Tony Award winner with Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Dolores Gray, and Vic Damone in the starring roles. Damone gets to sing the show’s most famous number, “Stranger in Paradise,” introduced on stage by Richard Kiley.

Wonderful Town was made into a TV movie which is available on DVD while Redhead has never been filmed.

Nine of the eleven winners of the 1960s were successfully filmed. The Sound of Music, Bye Bye Birdie, Hello, Dolly!, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, and 1776 were critically or commercially successful or both. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum were somewhat less successful while Man of La Mancha was critically lambasted.

Hallelujah, Baby! , like Fiorello!, was not filmed.

As the public’s interest in film musicals waned, so did the number of films that were made from Tony Award winners. Only five out of ten of the decade’s winners were filmed.

A Little Night Music, The Wiz, A Chorus Line, and Annie all met with critical disdain. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, not filmed until 2007, received mixed reviews.

A live version of Applause was filmed for TV but never officially released on DVD or Blu-ray. As previously mentioned, a live version of a 2011 production of Company was made for limited theatrical showings and is available on Blu-ray and DVD. Two Gentlemen of Verona, Raisin, and Ain’t Misbehavin’ were not filmed.

The 1980s were a repeat of the 1970s in that five out of ten of the Tony Award winners were eventually made into films, while five were not.

Evita, Les Misérables, and The Phantom of the Opera received mixed reviews but were highly successful with the public. Nine and Cats were universally loathed. 42nd Street, the first screen to stage musical winner, was filmed live in a recent revival and is, as previously mentioned, available on Blu-ray and DVD. La Cage aux Folles, Big River, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway have not been filmed.

Only two of the Tony Award winners form the 1990s, Rent and The Lion King, itself based on an animated film musical, have been filmed to date. Passion was made into a TV movie (unavailable on Blu-ray or DVD) while City of Angels, The Will Rogers Follies, Crazy for You, Sunset Boulevard, Titanic, and Fosse were not filmed.

Four Tony Award winners of the 2000s, The Producers, Hairspray, Jersey Boys, and the recently released In the Heights have been made into films. A live film of a stage production of Billy Elliot the Musical, as previously been mentioned, is also available. Contact, Thoroughly Modern Mille, Avenue Q, Spamalot, and Spring Awakening have not been filmed.

Of the ten winners of the 2010s, only the forthcoming Dear Evan Hanson has been made into a film. A live stage version of Kinky Boots, as has been previously mentioned, was filmed for limited theatrical showings and is available on DVD and Blu-ray. Hamilton was similarly filmed for Disney’s streaming service but has not been released on DVD or Blu-ray.

Memphis, The Book of Mormon, Once, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, Fun Home, The Band’s Visit, and Hadestown have not been filmed to date.

This week’s new Blu-ray releases include The Naked Spur and The Window.