1960: Mary Martin (THE SOUND OF MUSIC) over Ethel Merman (GYPSY)
2000: Heather Headley (AIDA) over Audra (MARIE CHRISTINE)
2004: Idina Menzel (WICKED) over Tonya Pinkins (CAROLINE, OR CHANGE)
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
I think the Alan Cumming win over Stokes in '98 is a scenario similar to what we'll have in 2006. They both gave amazing Tony worthy performances, but Cumming's was just so groundbreaking it couldn't be ignored. In 2006, I think John Lloyd Young will be considered the Alan Cumming while Michael Cerveris will be considered Stokes, and Young will win.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
Kelli O'HAra's lack of a Tohny for Piazza is pretty disappointing.
http://www.beintheheights.com/katnicole1 (Please click and help me win!)
I chose, and my world was shaken- So what? The choice may have been mistaken,
The choosing was not...
"Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda
"And when Idina Menzel is singing, I'm always slightly worried that her teeth are going to jump out of her mouth and chase me." - Schmerg_the_Impaler
I cannot even believe that someone would mention Menzel winning over Pinkins as an UPSET. Menzel was fantastic in that role and totally deserved the honor. On another note, I hated every second of CAROLINE OR CHANGE and thought that Pinkins' performance was flat and uninteresting. And I'm usually not one to pass judgements on vocal ability, but she just seemed tired and rarely sang on pitch without cracking. I realize that some of that "raspy" quality is required of the character, but c'mon.
"I need to know that someone out there cares...Are you there?"
Sara Ramirez totally blew me away in SpamAlot! I really didn't like the show at all, but her performance got me through that show! She is just electric onstage.
As amazing as Kelli was in Piazza, I still would have given the Tony to Sara. Kelli doesn't need the featured actress award, because she'll have her own best ACTRESS award soon enough.
"I seem to have wandered into the BRAIN load-out thread... "
-best12bars
"Sorry I am a Theatre major not a English Major"
-skibumb5290
Aw, I don't think that's fair to say that Kelli doesn't need a Featured Actress Tony. Featured actress and leading actress are two different categories and mean two different things. Two very different bodies of work. One isn't better than the other in my opinion. A Tony is a Tony.
My friend saw Tonya in Caroline, or Change and he said that her songs, specifically Lots Wife, she sang with such emotion that it didn't matter that she wasn't ALWAYS on pitch. But her acting came through and he said she was amazing. NOW, I saw Idina and was wonderful, truly. But I think that Tonya acted the hell out of that song on the Tony's. It just didn't come across as "vocally" good because without seeing the show, you don't know all that has gone on. And to start off by going straight to a powerful number, she did really well.
I still think that Bernadette was robbed. But what are we going to do about it.
"On another note, I hated every second of CAROLINE OR CHANGE and thought that Pinkins' performance was flat and uninteresting"
I second, third, and fourth you for that one. I have said it time and time again that I wanted to kill myself with my Playbill during that show and I saw it before everyone was lauding it so it was hardly some sort of bizarre backlash on my part. I may not be an Idina fan, but I'd have given the Tony to any nominee who was not Pinkins.
About the Marissa/Bernadette thing...they were each good in their own respective ways. Wasn't there something about it was a time when Bernadette missed a lot of performances because of family issues, so it affected the Tony voters' chances at seeing her sometimes?
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
I totally agree with HeyMrMusic. Kelli should have won for Piazza, and, in my opinion, it doesn't matter that she will most likely have a Tony very soon. Her work in that show should be honored because she was breathtaking. Sara was good in Spamalot, but she had no where near the part or impact that Kelli had in Piazza, IMO.
Eh, what you gonna do? What's done is done.
I personally think Donna Murphy should have won instead of Idina, but I'm a diehard Donna fan, and her portrayal of Ruth is the stuff of legends despite the controversy surrounding the situation.
The key to the mystery of a great artist is that for reasons unknown, he will give away his energies and his life just to make sure that one note follows another... and leaves us with the feeling that something is right in the world.
~Leonard Bernstein~
By saying Marissa winning the Tony over Bernadette is not to say that Marissa didn't do a nice job in her role.It's just that the nature and demands of Rose are so much greater; she requires much more depth, vulernability, versatility and endurance, and Peters absolutely rose (no pun intended) to every challenge and mastered the role to creat a riveting performance. I think that no matter WHAT anyone did with Marissa's role, it just can't compete.
As far as Tonya v. Ms. Menzel, I think it's borderline absurd to say that this was one of THE "biggest upsets of all time." People seem to forget that good material will make you look better. Taking a well-written role like Caroline and showing her layers is not nearly as difficult as taking the sad excuse for a character that the creators of Wicked made for Idina Menzel and turning it into something incredibly layered, complex, dynamic, real, and powerful. And she did it. Perhaps you felt Pinkins deserved it, but there is no denying the level of work that Menzel did with that role.
Yeah, but what I'm asking is...how many Tony voters saw Marissa vs. Bernadette? Maybe to the Tony voters, they found Marissa had a better impact upon them? Yes, Bernadette had such a demanding role, but, how much did she "capture the hearts" of the Tony voters. Maybe Tracy did...she's someone that probably all people can relate to at one point in their lives.
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611