Biggest Tony Upset for Acting Awards of all time?

You mention Idina over Tonya, and not Bernadette Peters losing to Marissa Jaret Winokur?


WOW. Woooow.

I think Marissa deserved to win over Bernadette.

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donna murphy(the king and i)over julie andrews(victor/victoria).

2000: Heather Headley (AIDA) over Audra (MARIE CHRISTINE)

2004: Idina Menzel (WICKED) over Tonya Pinkins (CAROLINE, OR CHANGE)


YUP, YUP

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I think the Alan Cumming win over Stokes in '98 is a scenario similar to what we'll have in 2006. They both gave amazing Tony worthy performances, but Cumming's was just so groundbreaking it couldn't be ignored. In 2006, I think John Lloyd Young will be considered the Alan Cumming while Michael Cerveris will be considered Stokes, and Young will win.

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I know Sara Ramirez was pretty much the frontrunner, but I still think it's an upset. Well, upsetting at least. Kelli O'Hara anyone?

~Steven

Kelli deserved it. Or even Celia deserved it. And all of these are just opinion anyway, right? Or mostly so at least.

~Steven

I cannot even believe that someone would mention Menzel winning over Pinkins as an UPSET.
Menzel was fantastic in that role and totally deserved the honor.
On another note, I hated every second of CAROLINE OR CHANGE and thought that Pinkins' performance was flat and uninteresting. And I'm usually not one to pass judgements on vocal ability, but she just seemed tired and rarely sang on pitch without cracking. I realize that some of that "raspy" quality is required of the character, but c'mon.

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Aw, I don't think that's fair to say that Kelli doesn't need a Featured Actress Tony. Featured actress and leading actress are two different categories and mean two different things. Two very different bodies of work. One isn't better than the other in my opinion. A Tony is a Tony.

~Steven

Thank you, HeyMrMusic--

I thought Bill Irwin was AWFUL as George. It absolutely blew my mind that he won a Tony for it. I guess it means I don't know anything.

About the Marissa/Bernadette thing...they were each good in their own respective ways. Wasn't there something about it was a time when Bernadette missed a lot of performances because of family issues, so it affected the Tony voters' chances at seeing her sometimes?

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Updated On: 2/27/06 at 01:04 AM

By saying Marissa winning the Tony over Bernadette is not to say that Marissa didn't do a nice job in her role.It's just that the nature and demands of Rose are so much greater; she requires much more depth, vulernability, versatility and endurance, and Peters absolutely rose (no pun intended) to every challenge and mastered the role to creat a riveting performance. I think that no matter WHAT anyone did with Marissa's role, it just can't compete.

As far as Tonya v. Ms. Menzel, I think it's borderline absurd to say that this was one of THE "biggest upsets of all time." People seem to forget that good material will make you look better. Taking a well-written role like Caroline and showing her layers is not nearly as difficult as taking the sad excuse for a character that the creators of Wicked made for Idina Menzel and turning it into something incredibly layered, complex, dynamic, real, and powerful. And she did it. Perhaps you felt Pinkins deserved it, but there is no denying the level of work that Menzel did with that role.