Admit it.

If you’re a Writer or Producer of musicals, I’d bet that you’ve stood in front of a mirror, imagining yourself collecting your Best Musical Tony Award.  You’ve probably even created your list of who to thank, who not to thank, and who to publicly tell to “Shove this Tony up your a$$!”  (I’d advise against that last part if you make it to the podium.  Save it for your shrink.)

And why wouldn’t you want a Tony Award for Best Musical?  It’s the Grand Poobah of awards in our business.

But how do you get one?  Sure, you need to produce/write a great show, right . . . but are there certain things that Best Musical winners have in common that make them “Best Musicals?”

If you want something in this business life, it’s important to study the patterns of that thing that you desire, to see how others have achieved it.  That’s why people read biographies of successful business folks, or political leaders, etc.  We learn from the paths trodden by others.

And the Best Musical Tony Award is no different.

Over the past week, my trusty intern Dylan and I have dug through the last twenty years of Best Musical Tony Award winners to see if we could discover any patterns.

And boy oh boy did we.

Some patterns were exciting (recoupment stats).  Some were scary (the story of the sexes).

But all were enlightening.

We’ve presented the data for you in the infographic below.  Enjoy it and learn.  And then guess what the next twenty years of winners will be.  Maybe your show will be one of them.

Fun stuff, right? And educational.

Please share this infographic! Just click here to share on Facebook or click here to share on Twitter.

And then you can get back to writing your 4th draft of your acceptance speech.