Best Leading Actress in a Play - Who gets the TONY?- Page 2

[hypertruffle]

Posted: 5/22/05 at 1:06pm

Cherry Jones will win though. As much as I like (and believe me, I do) Turner in the video clips I managed to view, Cherry Jones' performanced seemed more convincing.

btw- What does IMO mean?

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 5/22/05 at 1:15pm

"btw- What does IMO mean?"

IMO=In My Opinion

[Lamc16]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 4:16pm

as much as i like cherry jones, i kind of get tired of seeing one person or one show picking up every single award there is. jones has gotten EVERY award. give kathleen the Tony.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 4:20pm

But she's absolutely revelatory in this role. Turner is a wonderful Martha, don't get me wrong, but Cherry is awe-inspiring in Doubt.

[Lamc16]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 4:31pm

but Turner is also sustaining a remarkable character for three hours each night--a character that would produce a 7 on the richter charts.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 4:32pm

But sustaining is, in my opinion, rather different than being revelatory.
I just give Jones the edge because she's creating an entirely original character, one we haven't seen before and who, admittedly, there is no previous performance to compare her to and find her wanting.
I think Turner resorts to "Turner" far too often to sustain Martha throughout the evening.
For my money, the far-better performances in Woolf belong to George and Honey.

[Lamc16]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 4:41pm

Honey barely speaks in this production. Her part was cut a great deal--a whole section about her self-induced abortions in the second act, in fact. And I never said sustaining a role was the same thing as being revelatory in a role. As for your comment on "Turner" mode, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I have seen almost all of Turner's work, including stage work, and I was very surprised how easily I was able to lose my image of Kathleen Turner the actress while watching her performance. And just because there have been previous Martha's, that should NOT in any way discredit Turner's rendition of this character. Ten or fifteen years from now when Doubt is being produced again, should we discredit the actress who plays Sister Aloysius because of Cherry Jones' performance?

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 4:53pm

Don't be defensive. I did just say Turner was really great. And these are, again, my opinions. Jones chews the stage apart in Doubt while remaining fully in character. I think Turner goes "Turner" often, in her mannerisms, delivery, etc. I couldn't shake it.
The Tony voters might agree with you more, who's to say?

But you're right about Honey. And it's incredibly unfortunate, because Mireille Enos is WONDERFUL in the role.

[Lamc16]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 4:56pm

agreed about Enos. I wasn't trying to shoot her down. after all, it's not her fault that the part was cut. didn't mean to sound defensive--I assure you, I may sound harsh, but I'm keeping my composure :) everything's all well and good.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 5:00pm

Actually, I have heard awful speculation about just why the amazing Enos had her part reduced...there's been a lot of people falling victim to diva fits on Broadway this year...

[Lamc16]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 5:02pm

you mean to say that enos had a "diva fit"?

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 5:03pm

oh, no, not Enos. She was apparently EXTREMELY upset about the loss of that pivotal scene (which reveals everything about her character).
She was a victim of a diva.

[Lamc16]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 5:06pm

I would be too. If that scene had remained, that may well have pushed her further up as a contender for best featured actress.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 5:10pm

She still manages to steal a LOT of moments, pivotal scene or not.

OH, ah...since we're talking leading actress nominees, anyone notice that Parker is in an upcoming Showtime series?

[Lamc16]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 5:21pm

what is the series? she was AWESOME in "Angels in America."

[Thetruth]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 7:00pm

I don't understand why Rashad winning last year makes her any less deserving this year.

[Lamc16]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 7:03pm

i don't think anyone is saying that she is not deserving--she is. however, i think that it's true that actors who are in shows that are still open are at an advantage b/c they are fresher in tony voters minds. plus, voters can still go back to those productions that are still open however many times they need to.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 7:26pm

Not sure how much "diva fits" had to do with anything. Albee was the one who made the revisions in consultation with his long time producer Liz McCann BEFORE the cast even went into rehearsals (anybody who thinks Edward Albee would cut so much of a comma out of one of his plays just because a leading lady -- whom he hand-picked -- had a fit, doesn't know Edward Albee). The concern was chiefly about the three hour-plus running time of the show.

Because of Broadway union rules, if a show runs one minute past 11pm, the entire crew gets an hour of extremely expensive overtime that adds greatly to weekly running costs (even without the George-Honey scene, WOOLF still runs two hours, 50+ minutes). "Angels In America," for example, was nicknamed "The Cash Machine" by stagehands because of the three-hour-plus running time of each part. Despite Kushner making cuts to the play later in the run to reduce the running time, the Broadway production nevertheless lost $1.6 million.

WOOLF is struggling to even break weekly even at this point. Imagine how much it would be losing if Albee hadn't made the cuts that he did (which is why he made them at McCann's request). The unfortunate economic realities of Broadway are that sometimes commerce and business trumps art and forces compromise. Anyway, Albee seems to be able to live with the changes (though I think it DOES damage the play to some extent), so what right does anyone else have to quibble?

[andyf]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 10:03pm

Ooooh, I'm glad so many people are saying Lenox for Best Supporting. I was really hoping she would win.

Amy Ryan was good, but the production itself, like somebody else said, definitely was not. And as for Adriane Lenox, in her 15(?) minute scene, I think she gave a better performance than - easily as good a performance as - Amy Ryan did in 3 hours.

As for the actual matter at hand, I figured Cherry was winning...she was ridiculous. I definitely agree about Doubt walking away with a lot of the awards: Cherry for Lead, Lenox for Supporting, I don't see why it wouldn't take Best Play, it definitely has a shot at Direction. I don't remember off the top of my head who else is up for Lead Actor, and I'm too lazy to look, but I think Brían could lose.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 10:17pm

O'Byrne is certainly a contender and perhaps the favorite, but don't count out James Earl Jones.

[stonewall2]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 10:31pm

The Tony will go to Cherry Jones- making it a matched set!!!!!

[Lamc16]

Posted: 5/24/05 at 12:54pm

Actually margo, I read an interview w/ Enos who said that a great deal of the cuts came after they had been running the show in Boston. And not just her stuff was cut, but a few other things here and there. How much of her "original" stuff was cut during the Boston run, nobody, not even you could possibly know.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 5/24/05 at 12:58pm

Yes, Enos was indeed still giving the monologue right up until the day of the show where they cut her major scene.
Now, I'll give Margo the point that it could indeed have been Albee's concern over running time.
But the little juicy tidbit of gossip I dropped there was not something I read off Page 6...

[Lamc16]

Posted: 5/24/05 at 1:00pm

thank you, bway

[robbiej]

Posted: 5/24/05 at 1:04pm

'How much of her "original" stuff was cut during the Boston run, nobody, not even you could possibly know.'

Huh? Of course people can know. You look at the original script and you look at the running script for this production and there ya have it.