1998 Tony's

[boxers7]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 11:27am

I was recently looking through the Tony Award database and was wondering if Best Actress was a close race between Alice and Emily and Natasha Richardson or if Natasha was a lock.

[All_For_Laura]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 11:42am

As much as I'd like to say it was a close race, I think Natasha was a lock. Alice and Emily were not as favored by many of the voters.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 11:57am

I think the moment she took her curtain call on opening night of 'Cabaret," the Tony people started engraving Natasha's Tony. They finished engraving it when they read Brantley's love letter the next morning.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 12:06pm

"You would be foolish, first of all, to miss the extraordinary Ms. Richardson...who is here giving what promises to be the performance of the season. Her Sally Bowles is a dazzling example of how star power can be harnessed to create a devastating portrait of someone who is definitely not a star."

"When Sally sings, 'Maybe this time I'll win,' the hope is purely artificial, and she is more eloquent about a doomed culture's masochism than anything in the show around her. Born-to-lose characters can be tedious, but Ms. Richardson turns this one into an electrifying triumph."

THEATER REVIEW; Desperate Dance at Oblivion's Brink

Updated On: 7/8/06 at 12:06 PM

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 12:07pm

this may sound stupid and unintellegent, but do the Tonys judges go on the Opening Night of a show to judge or anyother nights?

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 12:13pm

Natasha was def a lock, she, along with Alan, was the hit of the town!

[nealb1]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 12:57pm

"Cabaret" was extraordinary and both Natasha and Alan clearly deserved thier Tonys.........no questions asked!

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 2:25pm

I've always felt that if Peter Friedman had been nominated as best supporting actor for "Ragtime" (instead of best actor), that Brian Stokes Mitchell would have won the best actor Tony for "Ragtime" instead of Alan Cumming.

[nealb1]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 2:40pm

Brian Stokes was very good in "Ragtime." Not even an issue............."Cabaret" was so revolutionary. When it opened, it knocked everything and everyone out of the ball park. Alan Cumming clearly deserved his Tony Award. In my opinion, no one came close to him or Natasha's performance that year. They were so above everyone else. No one could touch them.

I will say this................had "Ragtime" won for Best Musical that year, which it should have, I'll bet it would still be playing. HATED, HATED, HATED "The Lion King." GAWD AWFUL!

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 2:52pm

Brian should have won Best Actor and Ragtime should have won Best Musical!

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 3:54pm

Natasha Richardson was a lock, but I honestly would have been happier had Marin Mazzie won the award.

[nealb1]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 4:28pm

Marin Mazzie was fantastic as Mother in "Ragtime." I was a mess during the entire show the first time I saw in back in June of 1998 in NYC. It's no secret, there was such a backlash from the Broadway Community due to the fact that "Ragtime" debuted in LA and not on Broadway. Many people, myself included, have always felt that the Tony Voters wanted to "stick it" to "Ragtime" for not opening in LA by not giving the show Best Musical in 1998.

It got Best Book and Best Score in addition to Audra's 3rd Tony Award.

I could be wrong, who knows? But, it was no secret back then.

Look at what happened this year, too. Once the show got to all the major awards, all of a sudden, suprises everywhere........dark horses winning, shows that shouldn't have won, won......

[dancinfan]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 4:57pm

Although Ragtime did not win the Tony (and should have, IMO), I believe it closed as much due to mismanagement than anything else. Wasn't that the beginning of the end of Livent? I know Fosse happened after that. Is my memory failing me...again?

[wiggum2]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 5:03pm

Why was opening in LA such a big deal? Lots of shows have done it, Evita and Sunset come to mind(maybe it's just ALW shows though)

Posted: 7/8/06 at 5:15pm

nealb1 said:

"It's no secret, there was such a backlash from the Broadway Community due to the fact that "Ragtime" debuted in LA and not on Broadway."

That statement is a bunch of crap. It's only been in recent years that ANY show debuted (LOL)....seriously, made its debut on Broadway. Besides, Ragtime debuted in Toronto

[nealb1]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 5:52pm

My error if "Ragtime" debuted in Canada. My friend Brian is a Tony Voter, and I heard it straight from the horses mouth that many Tony Voters didn't like the fact that "Ragtime" didn't come to Broadway first. Now it's quite common that shows play elsewhere before coming to NYC. Look at "The Producers," "Hairspay" and a few other. Brian told me a few months before the Tony Awards, that "Ragtime" wouldn't win because of this. I'm just the messenger.

And, to the other person who wrote that "Sunset Blvd" didn't open on Broadway first, that's true. Remember what it was up against as Best Musical in 1995........"Smokey Joe's Cafe." Can you imagine if that had won over SB? YIKES!!!!!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 5:58pm

Doesn't almost every show have an out of town tryout? I don't see why that's a big deal. The Lion King is pretty fluff, that's it.

Posted: 7/8/06 at 6:06pm

If Brian and the rest of the 1998 Tony voters really think the way he did, no wonder some on this board think the Tony voters are ignorant.

As for your comment:

"Now it's quite common that shows play elsewhere before coming to NYC."

Now? Almost ALL Broadway shows opened elsewhere for decades and decades. Check the theatre seasons for Philadelphia, New Haven, and Boston since the early 1900s...most of the shows playing in those cities were pre-Broadway. From 1962-1964 when I was a student in Boston, the shows I saw there, among others, included the following:

Mr. President
Come On Strong
Tchin-Tchin
The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore
Photo Finish
Tovarich
My Mother, My Father And Me
Rattle Of A Simple Man
Jennie
110 In The Shade (with a white Lizzie, of all things
The Girl Who Came To Supper
Funny Girl
High Spirits
Hamlet
Fade Out-Fade In


And I had no idea that these pre-Broadway engagement were so rare

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 6:06pm

I may be wrong, but I think nealb1 is referring to the fact that the show was Canadian-made by a Canadian corporation of sorts to tell an American story. Again, I may be wrong.

What I can say that that year, with the Lion King, Ragtime and Cabaret, was a pretty cool year for Broadway.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 6:07pm

nearly every show has an out of town tryout. that's not a legit reason. also, ragtime debuted in toronto, not la.


back to the point though, i think marin had a better chance than emily/alice and should have won. as should brian and as should have the show. peter friedman was definitely a lead actor, not a supporting. but i was pretty surprised that judy kaye, mark jacoby, steven sutcliffe and lynette perry were overlooked that year in the supporting categories.

[singtopher]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 6:09pm

And Livent's poor management had a lot to do with the show closing way to prematurely. Oh, if I could turn back time! Not like I personally could have done something to save the show, but it's one of the best written musicals of the past 20 years.

[nealb1]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 6:16pm

Tom, I certainly do appreciate your passion for the theatre. Like I said earlier, I'm just the messenger. When my friend Brian who's a Tony Voter told me that, I thought that was odd, too. What difference does it make where a show opens?

Like anything else in life, many award shows can be popularity contests. Who's hot, who's not, etc....... Most people don't remember who wins the award a few months or a few years down the line. What we remember is the work....the musical....the play.......that moved us.

We could all go back and forth here, like a tennis game voicing our opinions. Which is what the board is all about.

Tons of Broadway shows open out of town......always have. Some of the last big Tony winners have...."The Producers" and "Hairspray" come to mind. Perhaps, in 1998, The Tony voters got a bee in their bonnett and wouldn't let it go?

Who knows??

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 6:20pm

Sunset's world premiere was in London.

Drowsy, this season, is a Canadian show that premiered in L.A. It didn't do too badly at the Tony Awards.

Updated On: 7/8/06 at 06:20 PM

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 6:22pm

I think the fact some of the supporting cast of Ragtime, especially Steven Sutcliffe, didn't get a nomination was due to the fact only four nominees were allowed in each category. Well, I still don't get how Samuel E. Wright got a nod over Sutcliffe but that's a whole other issue.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 6:25pm

I don't think opening in L.A. was an issue as far as Ragtime losing the Tony (which I thought it deserved, despite the fact that I really enjoy The Lion King).

I agree with whoever said it was Livent's poor management that did the show in. The show was supporting multiple Livent productions (including endless tours of Showboat) and would have been just fine had it only had to support itself. It certainly didn't help that its producer is a crook.

As for the Tony's that year, Cumming and Richardson were both locks to win that year. I was not at all surpised by those results. However, I would have preferred Mitchell to win. I didn't have a problem with Richardson beating Mazzie (who I enjoyed, but liked Richardson more).

Stokes' Tony for Kiss Me, Kate, I'm convinced, was more a way of the Tony's saying, "This is for the work you did in Ragtime" than it was for his performance in Kiss Me, Kate.