Actors That Picked Winning Shows

[bearhorn]

Posted: 6/26/13 at 4:31pm

After Pippin won Best Musical Revival, I realized that it was the 3rd winning show (incl. Cats and Les Miserables) for which Terrence Mann was in the original cast.

Does anyone know which actor and actress have been in the original cast of the most "winners"? I'm including any combination of Play, Musical, Play-Revival, and Musical-Revival.

Updated On: 6/26/13 at 04:31 PM

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/26/13 at 7:33pm

I don't know who has been in the most, but Richard Kiley was in the original cast of four shows that won the top Tony prize: Kismet, Redhead, Man of La Mancha, and the revival of All My Sons.

[MaddieBB12]

Posted: 6/26/13 at 7:54pm

It didn't win Best Musical (the only Tony award it did win was costumes, but Beauty and the Beast was nominated for 9, and while not a Tony hit, I would still call Mann's involvement with Beauty and the Beast a 'win'.

Sutton Foster has both 'Anything Goes' and 'Thoroughly Modern Mille'.
Mary Martin has 'South Pacific' and 'The Sound of Music'.

Harvey Fierstein (as both an actor and a writer) has Kinky Boots, Hairspray, Torch Song Trilogy, and La Cage aux Folles (both Best Musical for the original and Best Revival for the revival.)

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 6/26/13 at 8:39pm

"actors" "picked"

what

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/27/13 at 12:11pm

Idina Menzel has originated just two Broadway roles, one in Rent, the 9th longest running show of all time, one in Wicked, the 12th (and still running). True, this is just 2, but it's 2/2 megahits which she opened on Broadway.

Her next show is said to be opening in 2014, also a brand new musical. If it's a huge hit, then this would be truly phenomenal.

Looking at the 100 longest Broadway running shows of all time, besides Mann and Menzel, I can find only two others who originated major roles in more than one of them: Mary Martin (South Pacific, #32, and Sound of Music, #59) and Jerry Orbach (42nd St., #13, and Promises, Promises, #72). (Of course, I might be missing somebody else.)

Updated On: 6/27/13 at 12:11 PM

[Kevinoes]

Posted: 6/27/13 at 3:24pm

While Mary Martin did some winners, I do remember reading about her turning down a staggering amount of now iconic roles in now hit shows because she didn't think it featured her well enough.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 1:08am

CALL ME MADAM. Ethel Merman. Starring role. Major investor. Percentage of the gross. Percentage of the ownership in both stage and film rights along with starring role in film (yes, she even made money off the Stritch tour).
WINNER!!!!!!!!!!

THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Mary Martin. Starring role. Major investor (husband, too- one of the producers). Percentage of the gross (husband, too). Percentage of the ownership in both stage and film rights (husband too- yes, she made MILLIONS off the film alone. How much did Julie Andrews go home with?).
And with basically the same arrangements as above, with SOUTH PACIFIC, she also made more money off the film alone than did Brazzi, Gaynor, Kerr and God combined.
She made more money than Calvin Coolidge! Put toGIther!
WINNER!!!!!!!!!!

Updated On: 6/28/13 at 01:08 AM

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 6:58am

"Looking at the 100 longest Broadway running shows of all time, besides Mann and Menzel, I can find only two others who originated major roles in more than one of them:"

Alfred Drake (Oklahoma!, Kiss Me, Kate), Harvey Fierstein (Hairspray, Torch Song Trilogy).

And with the inflated runs of recent long-running shows, I don't know how meaningful this statistic is. Kiss Me, Kate is currently number 96. How much longer will it remain there after dogs like Book of Mormon, Once, and heaven knows what else displace it? Would that in any way diminish Alfred Drake's accomplishment?

I think it would be far more telling to see how many performers appeared in shows whose runs placed them in the top 100 longest runs at the time of their closing.

[bearhorn]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 7:37am

Some very interesting ways to looks at this, but I was really focused on actors/actresses who had been part of the original cast of a show that won the Tony for Best Play, Musical, Play-Revival, or Musical Revival. Mann's "three" (Cats, Les Miserables, & the revival of Pippin) would seem to put him near the top, but I wondered if anyone else has three or more?

The show may or may not have had a long run (though I think that is an equally interesting statistic) or been financially successful, but I was just focusing on the Tony "winning" statistic.

Thanks!

[MaddieBB12]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 8:00am

Rebecca Luker was part of the original cast of The Phantom of the Opera (standby for Christine), the revival of Show Boat and the 2003 revival of Nine.

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 8:35am

Chita Rivera was in Bye, Bye, Birdie, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and the revival of Nine.

[ggersten]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 8:54am

Threepeaters:
Marcia Gay Harden: God of Carnage, Angels In America Millennium Approaches, Angels in America Perestroika
Joel Grey - Cabaret, Chicago (revival), Anything Goes (revival)
Nathan Lane - Guys & Dolls (revival), Love Valour Compassion!, The Producers

Updated On: 6/28/13 at 08:54 AM

[ggersten]

Posted: 6/28/13 at 9:06am

Stephen Spinelli: 4 Tony winning shows

Angels in America Millennium Approaches
Angels in America Perestroika
A View from the Bridge (revival)
Spring Awakening