2017 Tony Eligibility Rulings, Round 3
Posted: 4/6/17 at 4:38pm
So if I'm reading this correctly, the entire cast of Come From Away will be considered featured?
Posted: 4/6/17 at 4:40pm
Maybe this has already been addressed, but is Jitney being considered a new play then? They didn't comment on it at all and it is the first Broadway production.
Posted: 4/6/17 at 4:40pm
jacobsnchz14 said: "So if I'm reading this correctly, the entire cast of Come From Away will be considered featured?"
Yes, and the entire cast of JITNEY.
Posted: 4/6/17 at 4:46pm
wonderfulwizard11 said: "Maybe this has already been addressed, but is Jitney being considered a new play then? They didn't comment on it at all and it is the first Broadway production. "
For what it's worth, the Tony website has JITNEY listed under the "Best Revival of a Play" eligible productions. But I believe if the production has never appeared on Broadway and the production wins Best Revival, the authors will now also receive a Tony. I believe they changed this after HEDWIG won a few years ago. Would be great to have August Wilson win posthumously.
Posted: 4/6/17 at 4:49pm
Hmm, I'm surprised that it wasn't part of the press release, but that's good to know, I was aware of that rule change, and I agree it would be lovely to see August Wilson rewarded again. It just would have been odd to see this decades old play competing against much more recent work.
Posted: 4/6/17 at 4:50pm
IdinaBellFoster said: "For what it's worth, the Tony website has JITNEY listed under the "Best Revival of a Play" eligible productions. "
As of yesterday (maybe the day before), Jitney was listed under "to be determined," so the fact that they moved it to Revival is pretty clear.
Updated On: 4/6/17 at 04:50 PM
Posted: 4/6/17 at 5:54pm
Not that I think he's getting nominated (no matter the category)...but strange that they left Michael Xavier in the featured category for SUNSET.
Posted: 4/6/17 at 6:52pm
IdinaBellFoster said: "Not that I think he's getting nominated (no matter the category)...but strange that they left Michael Xavier in the featured category for SUNSET.
"
I wouldn't consider his role leading
Updated On: 4/6/17 at 06:52 PM
Posted: 4/6/17 at 6:54pm
Jessetenny said: "I wouldn't consider his role leading"
I wouldn't either, but the Tony committee considered it Leading back in 1995.
Posted: 4/6/17 at 7:07pm
I can see it going either way. On the one hand, everyone in show is clearly secondary to Norma. On the other hand, Joe is the narrator, sings the title song, is at the center of most of the plot developments, and is on stage almost the whole time, which in any other show would make him a lead.
Posted: 4/6/17 at 8:45pm
BroadwayConcierge said: "Jessetenny said: "I wouldn't consider his role leading"
I wouldn't either, but the Tony committee considered it Leading back in 1995."
I can't imagine that he would be considered for any award. I know I am in the minority, but I found his performance a snooze-fest.
Posted: 4/6/17 at 8:55pm
Joe Gillis is most definitely a leading role. He has just as much stage time as Norma, possibly more, despite the fact that he gets only one big solo number.
Xavier is listed below the title, and my guess is that the producers simply didn't bother to petition for a category change.
Posted: 4/7/17 at 3:12am
The Distinctive Baritone, you're probably right. I agree that Joe Gillis is a leading role, but they probably didn't even think of petitioning for it. To be frank, I don't know if Xavier would've stood a good shot at Best Actor anyway. The likeliest candidates would seem to be: Christian Borle (''Falsettos'' ), Josh Groban (''The Great Comet'' ), David Hyde Pierce (''Hello, Dolly!'' ), Andy Karl (''Groundhog Day'' ) and Ben Platt (''Dear Evan Hansen'' ). ... Back in 1995, Alan Campbell, the original Joe Gillis, had far less competition, and could make it into the then-quartet of Leading Actor nominees. ... Or maybe ''Sunset'' thinks Xavier has a better shot at Featured Actor.
Updated On: 4/7/17 at 03:12 AM
Posted: 4/7/17 at 8:40am
kdogg36 said: "I can see it going either way. On the one hand, everyone in show is clearly secondary to Norma. On the other hand, Joe is the narrator, sings the title song, is at the center of most of the plot developments, and is on stage almost the whole time, which in any other show would make him a lead."
The characters of Norma and Joe are a lot like those of The Phantom and Christine. Both Norma and The Phantom are considered the starring roles, despite the fact that they have considerably less stage time than their counterparts, whereas Joe and Christine are in almost every scene.
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
Posted: 4/7/17 at 9:02am
I know it's the producers responsibility to petition category placement, but I do not understand why there is not consistency with revivals. I personally believe if Joe Gillis is ruled a Leading Actor in 1995, the role will be considered a Leading Role in 2017, regardless of who is playing it.
The lack of consistency bothers me to no end.
Posted: 4/7/17 at 9:38am
Yah Joe is definitely a lead. In fact, he's really THE lead. He has almost twice as much stage time as Norma. The only reason we think of Norma as the lead is that she's always played as a diva by a diva.
Posted: 4/7/17 at 10:52am
Confusion as to the Tony Rules setting lead and featured - and producer roles to petition for changes goes back a long way. (As I have learned on this Board). Besides William Daniels actions in 1776, there was Rita Moreno (comments at 1:20)
Posted: 4/7/17 at 11:50am
Thanks for that video ggersten, it was fun!
Posted: 4/7/17 at 2:48pm
ggersten said: "Confusion as to the Tony Rules setting lead and featured - and producer roles to petition for changes goes back a long way. (As I have learned on this Board). Besides William Daniels actions in 1776, there was Rita Moreno (comments at 1:20)"
If I recall correctly, the option to petition for a category change did not exist at the time of 1776's original production, and William Daniels's actions helped to create that option.
Posted: 4/7/17 at 3:06pm
The Tonys are littered with inconsistencies. Florence Eldridge was up for Leading Actress as Mary Tyrone in ''Long Day's Journey Into Night'' (1957). But in 1986, Bethel Leslie, who played the same role (opposite Jack Lemmon), got bumped down to Featured Actress. Then it was bumped back up to Leading Actress for Colleen Dewhurst (1989), Vanessa Redgrave (2003) and Jessica Lange (2016).
In ''The King and I,'' both leading roles have also been featured. Gertrude Lawrence won Best Actress for the original production in 1952, and Yul Brynner won for Featured Actor as the king of Siam. In 1985, Mary Beth Peil was bumped down to Featured Actress (because the Tonys dumped the Best Actress category in that skimpy season). And Donna Murphy (1996) and Kelli O'Hara (2016) won as Anna in Leading Actress. And Lou Diamond Phillips (1996) and Ken Watanabe (2016) competed as Leading Actor.
Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera were both up for Best Actress for ''Chicago'' (1976), but reportedly were so annoyed that Donna McKechnie (''A Chorus Line'' ) was placed in the same category that they refused to perform on the Tony telecast (so Jerry Orbach did). In the 2006 ''Chorus Line'' revival, Charlotte D'Amboise, who played Cassie, was now bumped down to Featured Actress. And so on ...
Updated On: 4/7/17 at 03:06 PM
Posted: 4/7/17 at 4:00pm
ggersten said: "Confusion as to the Tony Rules setting lead and featured - and producer roles to petition for changes goes back a long way. (As I have learned on this Board). Besides William Daniels actions in 1776, there was Rita Moreno (comments at 1:20)
"
Perhaps my all-time favorite Tony acceptance speech. Thanks for the chance to see it again!
Posted: 4/7/17 at 8:06pm
I'm thrilled that Rita Moreno has a Tony for ''The Ritz.'' But does she really think that if she had been in Leading Actress that she would've beat Ellen Burstyn (''Same Time, Next Year'' ), Elizabeth Ashley (''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' ), Diana Rigg (''The Misanthrope'' ), Maggie Smith (''Private Lives'' ) or Liv Ullmann (''A Doll's House'' )?
Obviously, Moreno could've taken the same route that Daniels did and turn down the nomination. Anyway, she shrewdly chose to stay quiet and win her award (which I kinda wish Daniels did, too).
And for the record, the Drama Desk DID nominate Moreno for Leading, and she lost to Burstyn, who also won the Tony.
Updated On: 4/7/17 at 08:06 PM
