2018 Drama League Nominations & Awards — Page 3

bdn223: I couldn't agree with you more about ''Newsies.'' If Disney petitioned for that, it was stupid. It costs Ben Fankhauser and Kara Lindsay their Tony nominations for Featured. Davey is clearly a supporting role; he doesn't even get his own song. As for Katherine, she gets one solo and half of a romantic duet. She's supporting, especially when you consider the size and scope of the roles for the women who WERE nominated for Best Actress: Audra McDonald in ''Porgy and Bess,'' Jan Maxwell in ''Follies,'' Laura Osnes in ''Bonnie & Clyde,'' etc. Lindsay should've got the slot that wound up going to Elizabeth A. Davis, who (to me) barely registers in ''Once.'' As far as I know, neither Ben nor Kara were consulted about their Tony placement, and both were baffled at being put up as leads.

Updated On: 4/18/18 at 03:49 PM

east side story said: "I'd say this is a three person race between: Billie Piper, Glenda Jackson and Andrew Garfield."

This.

Scarlet Leigh: I know that Slater's omission is the most surprising one, which is why I led with it. It had nothing to do with the limit of 2 performers per show. As I said, ''OTHER omissions are probably due to the limit of 2 performers per show.'' ... And yet the Drama League did nominate ''SpongeBob'' for Best Musical, so who knows why they didn't nominate anyone from the show? Just a matter of taste, based on the selection committee? ... I remember one year where a certain performer had gotten a Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics nomination, but was not singled out by the Drama League, even though this performer's co-star was. And I was told that the performer had missed a meet-and-greet with the League.

At any rate, there are only 5 Tony contenders eligible for Best Actor in a Musical: Harry Haden-Patton in ''My Fair Lady''; Justin Henry in ''Carousel''; Paul Alexander Nolan in ''Escape From Margaritaville"; Tony Shalhoub in ''The Band's Visit,'' and Slater in ''SpongeBob.'' According to the Tony rules, if there are fewer than 7 candidates, there will be only 4 nominees. I'm guessing that Nolan will be the odd man out, since ''Escape'' was not so well-received. Time'll tell.

By the way, BroadwayWorld has a story that says 70% of last year's Drama League nominees (in Broadway shows) went on to get a Tony nomination. Often it's been lower than that; don't lose hope.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Drama-League-Awards-Nominees--What-It-All-Means-for-the-2018-Tony-Awards-20180418

Updated On: 4/18/18 at 08:01 PM

The Tony eligibility rules seem to normally push for 4:

''There shall be no more than 4 nominees in each category; provided: That if there are at least 7 eligible candidates for nomination in any of the eight established “Best Performance” categories, then there shall be 5 nominees in that category.''

I suppose the Tonys also have the discretion to do whatever they want. There are categories that have had fewer than 4 nominees.

Updated On: 4/18/18 at 08:18 PM

Maybe the nominating committee found Slater's voice too annoying.

Remember the year the TONYs only nominated 2 Actresses for Best Actress in a Musical?

I think Slater will definitely get TONY nom.

Glenda Jackson will win this obviously.

Updated On: 4/18/18 at 09:41 PM

Slater not getting nominated makes sense to me. The show is not good. And I think the more theater you see, the more you'll realize that. It's not a terrible show, but is that really a compliment? I urge all of you to see shows like People Places and Things at St. Ann's and Yerm at The Park Ave Amory (I haven't seen this one) because it will show you how powerful a performance and theater can be.

Wayman_Wong said: "RippedMan: Regardless of what you thought of ''SpongeBob,'' the League still nominated it for Best Musical, and usually they'll select someone (or two) from the cast. What's more, it got mostly wonderful reviews, and many of them singled out Ethan Slater for praise, including the N.Y. Times. ... Awards are so subjective. ''Children of a Lesser God'' got largely panned, but the League still nominated its star, Joshua Jackson."

To be fair, Jackson got pretty stellar reviews from what I read, including the NY Times.

In my view, the exclusion of David Greenspan from a group of 50 nominees for Distinguished Performance Award is a monumental oversight (or failure of judgment). Greenspan brilliantly performed all eight characters in Strange Interlude over the course of a 6 hour evening. Certainly among the most remarkable performances I saw this season -- easily in the top 10. I would also put Lars Eidinger up there for his performance of Richard III at BAM (assuming that production was eligible).