Posted: 4/11/25 at 1:13pm
You can find all the decisions on the Tony Awards website. Anything with actors not specified in a ruling follows their placement above or below the marquee. English had no rulings, so it depends on how they listed Marjan Neshat in the production. The whole cast appeared under the marquee, so they're all featured.
Posted: 4/11/25 at 2:14pm
pupscotch said: "Both are definitely leads, but bummer for Natasha because she really deserves a nomination and featured actress would have been basically a shoe-in for her. Lead Actress is stacked but featuredactress feels really weak this year. I don't even know who'll win that category. Jordan Tyson? Maybe?
"
As others have said, Natalie Venetia Belcon is the frontrunner for now, with Jordan Tyson probably her closest competition. I wouldn't rule out as a dark horse the Tonys giving a second Tony to Lea or even possibly Bernadette for Old Friends. Doesn't seem likely, but in a category this scarce, they could very well go the legend/career/life achievement route with it.
Posted: 4/11/25 at 3:14pm
Is there any world in which Sadie Sink is bumped down to featured actress (and therefore we would still be at 8 women trying for Lead Actress in a Play)? Or perhaps a second actress like Fina Strazza or Amalia Yoo bumped up as a second lead alongside Sink? The play was much more of an ensemble piece than I expected given Sink's billing and press (though I get it, she's the star they are selling this with).
I guess I'm no thinking anything is possible after the (imo, misguided) decisions from Purpose and Operation Mincemeat. Hodgson was definitely getting into featured, but I don't think she stands a chance in lead. Similarly, I think Harry Lennix went from decent featured odds in featured to quite shaky ground in lead. LaTanya Richardson Jackson should still get in (especially if there's 5 slots) but there is virtually no path to a win for her now.
Featured Actress in a Musical is Natalie Venetia Belcon's to lose now. Glad producers had the sense to keep her in featured. Her only true competition is likely Julia Knitel. The rest of the category is a toss up. Gypsy could get 3 nominations there, or 0. I would say Leslie Margherita has the most buzz, even though Joy Woods has the proven Tony bait role. Maybe in a thinner category they both get in? And then there's the big question of: will they go for Bernadette or Lea in a revue instead of performers who had to create a whole character arc? I'm not sure that they will. Hard to call. Nikki Renee Daniels was wonderful in Once Upon a Mattress is they want to remember that far back. Or maybe Grace Hodgett gets swept in with Sunset Blvd love. I haven't seen Floyd Collins or Real Women Have Curves so maybe there is a last minute entry from one of those women.
Posted: 4/11/25 at 3:27pm
MayAudraBlessYou2 said: "Featured Actress in a Musical is Natalie Venetia Belcon's to lose now. Glad producers had the sense to keep her in featured. Her only true competition is likely Julia Knitel. The rest of the category is a toss up. Gypsy could get 3 nominations there, or 0. I would say Leslie Margherita has the most buzz, even though Joy Woods has the proven Tony bait role. Maybe in a thinner category they both get in? And then there's the big question of: will they go for Bernadette or Lea in a revue instead of performers who had to create a whole character arc? I'm not sure that they will. Hard to call. Nikki Renee Daniels was wonderful in Once Upon a Mattress is they want to remember that far back. Or maybe Grace Hodgett gets swept in with Sunset Blvd love. I haven't seen Floyd Collins or Real Women Have Curves so maybe there is a last minute entry from one of those women."
If REAL WOMEN catches on, Justina Machado has a great chance at a nomination and even the win. If the Tonys go for SMASH, Caroline Bowman could maybe break through? If Bernadette and Lea go in lead, maybe Beth Leavel? Zoe Roberts received an Olivier nomination, maybe she repeats here. And there's Jinkx Monsoon if PIRATES is well-received! It's a very open category, but there's a lot of good potential for a strong category.
Posted: 4/11/25 at 3:34pm
Justina Machado would be a strong contender for RWHC, and possibly Florencia Cuenca.
Caroline Bowman was one of the few things I liked about Smash, and I thought when I saw it that she would be a contender if her material were stronger/she had more of it. But if the show really catches on, she's one nomination I wouldn't begrudge it.
eta: While Ruth is traditionally a featured character in Pirates, Jinkx is listed above the title so presumably would be in Lead.
Updated On: 4/11/25 at 03:34 PM
Posted: 4/11/25 at 3:39pm
This is a nerdy question, but is there a database anywhere that lists every eligible performer and the category they're eligible under? I love a list, and it would be fun to pore over, for example, the potential Featured Actress in a Musical list to see who might get in.
Posted: 4/11/25 at 3:44pm
Nothing official, but the best option is probably GoldDerby. I don't think they necessarily list all the contenders, but the most likely contenders. For instance, here's their Featured Actress in a Musical list, which has 29:
https://www.goldderby.com/odds/graph/tony-awards-nominations-2025-predictions/best-featured-actress-musical/
All contenders: https://www.goldderby.com/odds/combined-odds/tony-awards-nominations-2025-predictions/
(I would ignore the rankings, which are suspect, as use them as a list of names.)
Updated On: 4/11/25 at 03:44 PM
Posted: 4/11/25 at 3:50pm
MemorableUserName said: "Nothing official, but the best option is probably GoldDerby. I don't think the necessarily list all the contenders, but the most likely contenders. For instance, here's their Featured Actress in a Musical list, which has 29:
https://www.goldderby.com/odds/graph/tony-awards-nominations-2025-predictions/best-featured-actress-musical/
All contenders:https://www.goldderby.com/odds/combined-odds/tony-awards-nominations-2025-predictions/
(I would ignore the rankings, which are suspect, as use them as a list of names.)"
This is awesome, thank you! And looking at Featured Actress, my first thought was immediately that I'm surprised people aren't mentioning Grace Hodgett-Young as Betty in Sunset Blvd. I think she's doing terrific work, though certainly other cast members have a tendency to dominate one's thoughts.
Posted: 4/11/25 at 3:59pm
Alex Kulak2 said: "Jeffrey Karasarides said: "The Picture of Dorian Gray will be considered eligible in the Best Play category. Oscar Wilde and Kip Williams will be considered jointly eligible as co-authors."
Oscar Wilde winning an award that didn't even exist until nearly a half century after he died would be quite the achievement."
I thought the Tonys had made rules about these types of nominations. It would be like nominating Puccini for Best Score for the 02 LA BOHEME just because it had new orchestrations.
This is much crazier than T.S. Eliot winning for CATS. Like at least in that case his widow was still alive!
Posted: 4/11/25 at 4:45pm
Yeah I strongly disagree with them making Oscar Wilde eligible. Charles Dickens wasn't eligible for Michael Arden's one man show adaptation of A Christmas Carol, so what's different here? Oscar Wilde has done no work on this Dorian Gray. Kip Williams should be the only candidate. I too thought they enacted a rule about this years ago.
As for those talking about Jinkx Monsoon's Ruth: they've put Jinkx above the title and have been treating her like a lead, so I've assumed that's where she is eligible. But time will tell! If she is put in featured she has an amazing chance at a nomination.
Posted: 4/11/25 at 5:08pm
Jinkx may be above the title, but they may petition her for featured actress. I haven’t seen this production/adaptation yet, so maybe they beefed up Ruth to make it feel like a leading role.
I know Howard Ashman got some posthumous nominations for The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, but Oscar Wilde being eligible is truly bonkers.
Posted: 4/11/25 at 5:20pm
its too early, but given the other Best Musical front runners, if I am looking for a place to reward Buena Vista with something, Natalie Belcon might be it. Well deserved after an impressively diverse career thus far.
A shame about Hodgson, since she and Malone were the two standouts in Mincemeat, and it will take a real Mincemeat wave to now get her performance nominated. Malone seems to be a shoo-in for a nomination. Im not clear on who is in the mix for leading actor in a musical besides Criss, Jeremy Jordan, Durand? The lead in Sunset will be featured, right? What a strong year for women.
Posted: 4/12/25 at 2:04am
For the record, T.S. Eliot, the British-American playwright and poet, WON TWO Tony Awards for his book and lyrics to ''Cats'' at the 1983 Tony Awards, even though he died in 1965 (and never worked on the Andrew Lloyd Webber show).
''Im not clear on who is in the mix for leading actor in a musical besides Criss, Jeremy Jordan, Durand? The lead in Sunset will be featured, right?''
It's hard for me to conceive of a Tony race for Best Actor in a Musical that doesn't include: Darren Criss (''Maybe Happy Ending'' ), Tom Francis (''Sunset Blvd''
, Jonathan Groff (''Just in Time'' ) and Jeremy Jordan (''Floyd Collins'' ). If the 5th slot goes to a funnyman, there's Brooks Ashmanskas (''Smash'' ) or David Hyde-Pierce (''Pirates!'' ).
Back in January, the Tonys ruled that Tom Francis will be eligible for Leading Actor in a Musical for playing Joe in ''Sunset Blvd'' (just like Alan Campbell was in the 1994 Broadway original). More recently, Francis won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. David Thaxton, who plays Max, will be Tony-eligible for Featured, just as George Hearn was (and won) for the original ''Sunset.''
Updated On: 4/12/25 at 02:04 AM
Posted: 4/12/25 at 3:47am
I just looked at my Playbill for Purpose, which I saw a week and a half ago, and everyone was billed below the title. That sneaky opening night billing rule! I guess they changed it two weeks after opening. I figured at least Jon Michael Hill would be up for leading and possibly LaTanya Richardson Jackson.
It’s previously been pointed out that only Darren Criss was above the title on opening night for Maybe Happy Ending, which was changed soon after to include Helen J. Shen.
Posted: 4/12/25 at 5:38am
''It’s previously been pointed out that only Darren Criss was above the title on opening night for Maybe Happy Ending, which was changed soon after to include Helen J. Shen.''
Trying to push Shen for Featured, to avoid the crowded Best Actress field, would've been such shameless category fraud. Also, an insult to Shen's co-leading part and performance. Plus, the show's marquee above the Belasco, which went up a couple of months before its opening, gives her the same kind of billing in lights that Criss gets.
Posted: 4/12/25 at 9:45am
To be fair, the opening night Playbill billed it as “And Introducing Helen J Shen” because it was their Broadway debut. I imagine she would have always been petitioned for leading actress.
Posted: 4/12/25 at 10:12am
I saw Purpose in previews and everyone is billed below the title in my Playbill. I also saw the first preview of Maybe Happy Ending and Helen Shen is above the title. This must be a new trend of producers tweaking the billing only for Playbills that will be distributed on opening night. Which seems silly given that they can petition for a category change and, even if they don't, the administration committee can do whatever they want.
Posted: 4/17/25 at 1:06pm
How does eligibility work for actors who split the role? For example Baby June/Louise in Gypsy - would they (hypothetically) get a joint nomination, or it's whoever was playing on opening night?
I know this scenario is an extremely long shot for an actual nomination, just curious from a rules perspective. I know the Billy Elliots split the nomination (and win), but the Matildas were given a special Tony?
Posted: 4/17/25 at 1:12pm
The actor who plays the role on opening night is the person eligible for the Tony. They made an exception to this will Billy Elliot, and it caused all hell to break loose. After backlash to the Billy boys joint nomination and win, they reinstated their opening night rule so split roles can no longer earn joint nominations.
Posted: 4/17/25 at 1:20pm
I cannot imagine Grace Hodgett-Young getting a nomination this season. Even if nominators love Sunset, I think the role and the performance pale in comparison to a lot of other people eligible for that category. She wasn't mentioned in most reviews (nor was Thaxton, who I also don't think gets nominated this year) and I think the primary focus has been on Nicole/Tom.
Will be interesting to see if Jinkx is petitioned down to featured or stays in lead, because I think she could give Belcon a real run for her money.
Posted: 4/17/25 at 1:21pm
Only David Bologna was nominated for playing Michael in Billy Elliott because he performed on opening night.
Posted: 4/17/25 at 3:05pm
MayAudraBlessYou2 said: "The actor who plays the role on opening night is the person eligible for the Tony. They made an exception to this will Billy Elliot, and it caused all hell to break loose. After backlash to the Billy boys joint nomination and win, they reinstated their opening night rule so split roles can no longer earn joint nominations."
With Billy Elliot, they all played the role on opening night (they rotated scenes between the 3 Billys) specifically for this reason. Hence they were all eligible and won (in one of the weakest years in memory for Best Actor).
Matilda smartly realized how ridiculous this concept was and instead randomly picked one to be Matilda on opening night (but she was then declared ineligible anyway and they gave them a special Tony).
Posted: 4/17/25 at 3:45pm
Interesting, appreciate the clarification!
Posted: 4/17/25 at 5:29pm
The rationale given for the ineligibility of the Matildas was also that they each played 2 performances a week, which is the same amount of performances typically done by an alternate. Also, I see a lot of people in here assuming that the producers petitioned Natasha up to Lead Actress. Do we know that to be the case for sure? It can just as easily be that they didn't petition and asked for all credits to be considered as is and the Tonys Committee voted against that. They are pretty good about guaranteeing there is not category fraud for the sake of easy wins.
Posted: 4/17/25 at 5:48pm
David Cumming and Natasha Hodgson were nominated in the leading categories at the Oliviers last year. It’s possible that they, as co-creators, believe they play the central characters of the show, and therefore producers petitioned them as leading. (In a recent IG takeover, David said he played the lead role of Charles Cholmondeley.)
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