Biggest Tony Upset for Acting Awards of all time? — Page 2

I saw CAROLINE several times. She was vocally extraordinary a couple of times and she was in vocal distress a couple of others. It's a role -- like Eva in Evita, Effie in Dreamgirls and a few others -- that is all but impossible to pull off 8 times a week vocally in a long run. But Pinkins gave each and every performance all of her resources and even at her most compromised, she gave one of the greatest performances any actress has given in decades. Feel free to disagree, but as one who has seen nearly every great performance on Broadway since the early 70s, in my opinion, Pinkins's Caroline Thibideaux was the stuff of theatrical legend and in a whole other class than her (albeit quite talented) competitors that season.

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As for the old Peters vs. Winokur argument (which has been run into the ground at this point), many voters, critics and long time theatregoers felt that, as much as they love Peters (and just about everyone does -- she's deservedly ridiculously popular in the community), many felt that she simply wasn't suited for the role. Yes, she brought subtle things to it that earlier Roses didn't, but the sheer STRAIN of trying to sing perhaps the most difficult role in the musical theatre canon was visible and obvious. No, you don't have to be Merman to be a great Rose, but it's also not acceptable to be gasping for air and forcing your voice to do things it was never intended to do just to get through a role.

She was in so much vocal distress when I saw her in previews, part of me wanted to tell her to stop singing altogether before she hurt herself (thankfully she skipped a few performances after that, but frankly even when I saw her several months later, she never sounded completely comfortable the with demands of the role -- incidentally the ONLY performances she ever missed were those handful during previews; she's an amazing trouper and it's unfair to suggest that missed more than 4 or 5 performances during the entire run of the show).

However, each time I saw her, Peters was VERY carefully pacing herself and husbanding her resources and clearly saving everything for the finales of each act. She so lightly crooned everything other than "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Roses Turn" that when I sat in the front row one time, it was clear that without a first rate sound system, the amount actual "singing" she was doing wouldn't have carried much past the third row without a heck of a lot of vocal enhancement. I love the woman dearly and all of us should be grateful that she has dedicated her life to the stage -- and given some incredible performances in the past couple of decades. But, IMHO, she was not well-suited to play Rose and, to me (and obviously to many Tony voters) it made perfect sense that Winokur took home the Tony that night.

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Updated On: 2/27/06 at 02:35 AM

I'm obviously biased because Bernadette Peters has had such a great impact on me as an actor that she can just play Carrie on Carrie The Musical! and I'll consider the musical to be a brilliant masterpiece unmatched by anyone who's ever acted. Having said that, I found Bernadette Peters as Rose Havoc to be intriguing, sexy, haunting, and so unique. My dad refers to her as the anti-Merman and just because of this she deserved the Tony in my opinion. However, people in the business never forgave Peters for playing this role, the jokes about her started from the second she was even rumored to star in the show. Now, I saw Marissa Jaret Winokur, she was great, energetic, all you want to give her, but there's no way she would have needed to give as much as Peters gave as an actress to perform in a role like Traci Turnblad. If Elizabeth Parkinson had won over Peters, I'd have been really upset, but I'd have come to terms with it by now. But Winokur did not deserve that Tony.

About the Idina Menzel upset. I believe she gave an energetic performance every time that I saw her, although she was having a lot of vocal problems towards the end of the run. However, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Donna Murphy, and Tonya Pinkins all had a lot more merit than Menzel. D'Abruzzo's acting was so spectacular, not only did she performed two completely opposite characters but she had to sing and act while handling a puppet. Donna Murphy made the role of Ruth Sherwood her own and she defied all expectations and people who didn't believe she could pull off the comedy had to stay quiet. And everyone has said why Tonya Pinkins performance was deserving of the award so I agree.

I'm also upset about Marin Mazzie losing the Tony over Audra McDonald in 1994.

Personally I think the biggest "ACTING" upsets were

Heather Headley (Aida) over Toni Collette (Wild Party)

Bernadette Peters (Annie Get Your Gun) over Carolee Carmello (Parade)

Bill Erwin (Virginia Wolfe) over Brian O'Byrne (Doubt) I was happy for Bill, but come on.

Harvey Fierstein (Hairspray) over Antonio Banderas (Nine), loved them both, but Antonio was pretty amazing.

Still devastated that Lion King beat Ragtime for best musical.

Sherie Rene Scott not even getting a nomination for Aida. That was just terrible...

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I think Heather Headley (AIDA) fully deserved the Tony...to the people who said she didn't, have you seen her in AIDA?

I think the reason that Audra didn't win for Marie Christine is that before the show even began its limited run, she was contracted to perform at less than half of the scheduled performances. Any additional missed shows for illness or such (I don't know if there were any, I'm just hypothesising) would mean that it was probably very difficult for Tony voters to actually see her in the role.

And I really don't agree, jasobres. O'Byrne was awfully clunky in the role when I saw him in Doubt. I was so happy that Irwin won.

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Updated On: 2/27/06 at 07:33 AM

whoever said Bill Irwin was an upset obviously didnt see "Virginia Woolf" - his interpretation of that role was modern and unexpected and brilliant.

idina was not an upset.

bernadette was ROBBED of the tony for "Gypsy" when marissa won it. the role of tracy has no arc, it's a single cartoon that sustains through the show whereas bernadette as rose was another fresh, modern interpretation of a classic role that had not only a dramatic arc but she belted out some great songs filled with emotion and pathos.

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Wanna Be A Foster,

That analogy is dumbfounded.

Comparing Alan Cumming's performance to Lloyd Young's in Jersey Boys is just non-sensical.

I think Heather Headley over Marin Mazzie for Kiss Me, Kate.

and Marissa over Bernadette.

To me an "upset" is when an underdog beats the widespread favorite. Most of the "greatest upsets" of all time mentioned in this thread are not really upsets--except in our own minds.

Alam Cumming was expected to win the Tony over Stokes in 1998--if Stokes had won it would have been an upset. In 2003, the prognosticators were split between Marissa and Bernadette, meaning that it was a toss up between them. So I wouldn't call it an upset even though it was "upsetting" to a lot of Bernadette's fans.

In 2004, the race for Best Actress in a Musical was wide open, many writers predicted that one of the two from Wicked would win, but with Tonya Pinkins as a possible darkhorse if votes were split between Idina and Kristin. Donna Murphy would have been more in the conversation but she shot herself in the foot by missing so many performances. Since it was still a toss up I wouldn't consider it a big upset.

I know a lot of these we feel strongly about because WE really wanted a performer who we loved to win the award and they didn't. I wanted Bob Cuccioli to win in 1997 because even though the entire show wasn't top notch, I thought he gave an excellent performance in a VERY demanding role. Now if he had won--THAT would have been an upset!

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I was beginning to think I was a little insane. There is a huge difference between something being upsetting and an upset.

There was NO upset when Heather Headley won that Tony. She was the clear favorite...actively championed by Rosie O'Donnell. There was no way she was going to lose.

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How about when Joanna Gleason beat Patti LuPone. I mean everyone including Gleason herself expected LuPone to win. Can you consider that an upset?