Bizarre Tony nominations

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 11:40pm

What do you feel are some of the most bizarre and unexpected Tony nominations?

One that sticks out the most is Elizabeth A. Davis in ONCE. The role only has a few lines, and I had forgotten the character within minutes of seeing the show. It seemed like just an opportunity to give ONCE another nomination.

Another is David Bologna being nominate for BILLY ELLIOT, while the other alternate was not nominated.


Also, Mary Bridget Davies in A Night with Janis Joplin.

Updated On: 10/9/14 at 11:40 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 11:42pm

Oops we did this in 2011.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1032893#4159953

But we can add some from 2012, 2013, and 2014.

[Fantod]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 11:47pm

Best choreography for Once. I thought that stage movement was easily the best part of the show aside from the set design, but it wasn't really choreography.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 11:47pm

'Bullets Over Broadway' being nominated for Best Book of a Musical, which I guess they just wanted to nominate Woody Allen (even though he was never gonna even show up anyway).

Also 'Leap of Faith' being nominated for Best Musical... Updated On: 10/9/14 at 11:47 PM

[Fantod]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 11:48pm

Also best choreography for Pippin, considering that it was just the choreography from the OBC copied and pasted into the new show.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 11:50pm

Not exactly, because they also incorporated some circus elements into the mix.

[getatme]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 11:56pm

Gypsi Snider who was the one who put all the circus elements in wasn't nominated. Only Chet Walker's choreography was.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 12:06am

The Ragtime revival received a nomination for Best Costume Design, which then had to be embarrassingly rescinded once the Tonys realized what everyone else already knew- the revival utilized the same costumes as the original production.

The bizarre part is that no one from the Tony committee knew this or bothered to look it up.

Updated On: 10/10/14 at 12:06 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 12:07am

^ Omg, that Ragtime situation truly was bizarre.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 12:11am

Any nominations for Orphans. Just, what?

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 11:46am

As the OP said, I am still baffled by Elizabeth A. Davis' nomination in Once. I haven't seen the show since it was in previews, so I'm genuinely curious: can anyone explain it? Does that role have some big number or dance sequence or monologue that I'm forgetting about? If not, then the only explanation I can think of is that the Tony committee used her nomination as a way to recognize the talent of the whole ensemble of that show.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 11:48am

Re: Once-- yeah the Elizabeth A. Davis thing. She didn't have a song or a monologue. It was just weird. I had recently seen the show when the nominations were announced and I didn't remember who she was.

"Best choreography for Once. I thought that stage movement was easily the best part of the show aside from the set design, but it wasn't really choreography."

Well there's no category for stage movement. Would you have rather Hoggett *not* been nominated?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 12:03pm

The choreography from Once is choreography. It's not the conventional "dance" of what we often think of in a Broadway musical, but it choreography, even by the simplest definition.

[Patash]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 12:12pm

I think one of the oddest was nominating a show with recorded music, no book, and no songs or lyrics for Best Musical.

What's more bizarre is that it WON Best Musical. Even Wikpedia refers to it as "three dance plays". No wonder the next year they started a new category -- Best Special Theatrical Event.

Updated On: 10/10/14 at 12:12 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 12:16pm

Yup, no offense to Davis, but count me among those who saw and loved the show but have next to no memory of her performance.

Updated On: 10/10/14 at 12:16 PM

[CurtainsUpat8]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 1:00pm

i agree with Patash. CONTACT for Best Musical was just an awful choice. What a horrible show. You notice no one ever produces it anywhere. It's not a musical.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 1:19pm

How about Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass for score?

Another one was Starmites which I believe was nominated for score in the same year Mack & Mabel got robbed of a nomination (& win)

Totally agree with Once for choreography. Spring Awakening was a bunch of kids jumping around on stage but it somehow got a Tony nod & win for choreography.

Updated On: 10/10/14 at 01:19 PM

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 1:31pm

I loved "The Scottsboro Boys", but a bare stage with 12 chairs and a backdrop should not equal a Best Set Design Tony nod.

[zepka102]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 1:42pm

I still don't understand how Curtains, Mary Poppins, and Legally Blonde lost choreography to Spring Awakening.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 1:46pm

If we discussed omissions & unwarranted nominations over the years, we could go on forever.

[Fantod]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 1:46pm

Mr Roxy, Starmites was 1989, M&M was 1975. Little time difference between the two , but I do agree that The Wiz and Shenandoah were good for nominations that year, the nominations of Letter for Queen Victoria and The Lieutenant that year was just mean to Herman, whose score was undoubtably the year's best, and aside from Chicago (Gigi was a film first) the decade's best score.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 1:50pm

I stand corrected re Starmites/M&M.

Starmites still was undeserved.

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 1:57pm

I agree with those posters who found Once's nomination for choreography baffling, and i would add that i had a major 'wtf?' reaction when Once was nominated for scenic design, and an even bigger 'WTF???' reaction when it won. There were so many shows with more impressive scenic design that year, and some weren't even nominated.

[Fantod]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 1:59pm

re Mr Roxy:
Definitely so. I still can't believe that that show ended up on Broadway.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 2:01pm

Starmites or Once?

I say both. Once , to me, was overrated. The movie was a total bore.