Best Actress and Featured Actress

[Dave13]

Posted: 6/13/16 at 2:42am

Typically I think it is easy to distinguish between a lead actor and supporting actor.  However, I am struggling with Phillipa Soo qualifying as lead actress compared to the other nominees.  The other nominees carried their respective shows. Phillipa's role didn't.

While Phillipa may have the most lines as an actress, her role is really a supporting role.  I would have been much happier with her competing for Best Featured Actress. I tried to find a definition for Best Actress and Best Featured, but I couldn't find one off hand.  Is it a requirement to have a "lead actor" for each gender for a show?  It seems this rule should be looked at.  Another could be said for Wicked? Is Fiyero really a lead actor in Wicked? I don't think so.  

 

[Broadway Forever2]

Posted: 6/13/16 at 3:05am

Personally I agree with you that Eliza is a supporting character but the tony committee disagreed I guess. My logic is Soo definitely has less screen time then Daveed but I guess her screen time has more weight? 

[aaaaaa15]

Posted: 6/13/16 at 3:13am

I agree with the decision to put her in leading. Her character is one of the three most important in the story.

[srg129]

Posted: 6/13/16 at 4:00am

The only reason she got the nomination was so that Hamilton could break the record.  She shouldn't have even been nominated. 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 6/13/16 at 4:46am

While clearly the men are the leading characters of the piece and Eliza is "supporting" them, she is the leading actress in that specific show. She had a longer arc than the other women in the show, and I believe she's more important to the plot on the whole. Sure, she doesn't carry the plot. It's also not Eliza or Phillipa's fault that Lin simply wrote Angelica to be more interesting (and/or Renee is more interesting). If anything it's one of the few detriments in the writing of the piece (I also kind of don't like that Angelica disappears, never to be heard from again except as the narrator of Quiet Uptown).

What makes you think Fiyero is the lead of Wicked? Was Norbert Leo Butz nominated for any awards in that category? (I know he wasn't nominated for the Tony that year)

[StephieElise]

Posted: 6/13/16 at 6:28am

gypsy101 said: "What makes you think Fiyero is the lead of Wicked? Was Norbert Leo Butz nominated for any awards in that category? (I know he wasn't nominated for the Tony that year)"

In Australia in 2011 David Harris was nominated for the Helpmann for Best Male Actor for Fiyero (whereas in 2008 and 2014 Rob Guest and Reg Livermore won Best Supporting Actor for the Wizard). I agree though, it sometimes seem arbitrary; also in 2011 Simon Gleeson was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Raoul in Love Never Dies, which seems a much bigger role than Fiyero.  

[indytallguy]

Posted: 6/13/16 at 7:26am

srg129 said: "The only reason she got the nomination was so that Hamilton could break the record.  She shouldn't have even been nominated. "

She gives a nomination-worthy performance in a role with a powerful emotional arc in the show.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 6/13/16 at 10:00am

Tony categorization is so erratic. In 1976 Cassie is a Leading Role in A CHORUS LINE, but in 2007 she's Featured?

 

That being said, I agree with the placement of Eliza.