Broadway Stars and Oscar Nominations

It's an interesting question, but I think you're creating a false dichotomy - or rather, a real dichotomy with the wrong parameters:

The reason Broadway performers "aren't taken seriously" as movie leads isn't because of a bias against theatre performers in Hollywood. It's because of a combination of (1) a lack of name recognition due to the limited sphere of fame that Broadway brings. People who exclusively do Broadway aren't famous outside of the small Broadway bubble - they aren't household names that can sell movie tickets. And (2) from a "behind the scenes" standpoint, there is limited overlap in terms of industry connections. So in terms of agents, and other connections, stage performers just aren't seen for film roles as much. 

So what happens is that many Broadway performers will make strategic career choices that get them seen for more TV and film roles, either by hiring a film/TV agent, or by communicating to their current agent that they want to go in for more screen roles. It's through this process that a Broadway performer can start to break into film and TV, and depending on how well they do, this might lead to more film roles. Because they will make more connections in the film/TV industries, AND because they will hopefully gain more name recognition through the heightened visibility. 

Leslie Odom Jr and Cynthia Erivo might not have been A-List movie stars when they received their Oscar-nominated roles, but they had done enough screen work that they got their foot in the door - enough to encourage people to take a chance on them for larger roles. Their Broadway notoriety helped them make that jump, but it wasn't enough on its own. 

 

BrodyFosse123 said: "Huh? Lots of mostly Broadway known performers have not only been nominated but have one Oscars: Barbra Streisand and Viola Davis, for starters. Heck, even Anna Kendrick has been nominated for an Oscar. "

Yes but I wouldn’t really call them Broadway performers, as all three haven’t appeared here since breaking out as film stars.

Anyway, I hope that Odom’s success with One Night in Miami will help get him more big projects in the future. As for Erivo, I personally don’t think she’s that great on camera, but maybe she’ll impress me more in the future on that front.

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MayAudraBlessYou2 said: "I suppose I would also need clarification on what you mean by "taken seriously." Do you mean that in terms of Hollywood folks thinking Broadway actors are talented? Or in terms of being a box office draw?"

 

From the OP's mention of Wicked, I'm guessing they're referring to the trend of casting movie stars in movie-musicals, instead of Broadway stars. But I think I that's connected to the whole conversation about screen credits vs. stage credits (just because someone played Elphaba onstage doesn't necessarily mean they will play it well on film), as well as box office draw, as I mentioned in my earlier post 
 

 

52889j said: " I mean Cynthia Erivo only hasoneBroadway credit..."

 

Cynthia Erivo has performed extensively on the London stage. I realize the thread specifies "Broadway," but I think the point is that there's a divide between stage and screen, not necessarily limited to Broadway.

Although it's interesting to consider the UK in all this, because it seems to me that there's much more fluid crossover between stage and screen over there. Probably because there isn't that huge geographical divide, and also maybe because I think there's just more cultural value placed on the stage over there - I get the sense that most British actors are expected to work onstage, even if they prefer film/TV. And even the super famous UK-based actors seem to have no problem continuing to do stage work regularly. 

So as far as Erivo is concerned, it's almost more surprising and unusual that Broadway was her big stepping stone - whereas a more common path to fame for UK actors is to do stage work in London, which can lead to film/TV work in the UK, which can result in greater fame in the US. 

 

these damn duplicates

Updated On: 3/19/21 at 12:09 PM

henrikegerman said: "6/20 - roughly 1/3! - of this year's acting nominees have starred on Broadway;

Incl. 3 out of 5 best actress nominees, Mulligan, Davis and McDormand,each of whom have starredonBroadway more than once; all are Tony nominees;two of them winners.

Plus: Hopkins, Close and Odom

Only oneof the 6, Hopkins, was a movie star before he starredon Broadway.
So I think the answer is a resounding yes."

 

And again, if we open it up to stage acting in general - not just Broadway - the numbers shoot up even higher (except for the Tony award stats, obviously). 

Though I also think it's worth raising a distinction between musical theatre actors vs. non-musical theatre actors. It's much less common (but still not totally uncommon) to see musical theatre actors nominated for Oscars. To my knowledge, Glenn Close and Leslie Odom Jr. are the only acting nominees this year who have done musicals onstage (Sacha Baron Cohen and Amanda Seyfired have both done musicals onscreen - one of them together!). And even then, I believe Close was already famous when she first did a musical.

 Last year we had Jonathan Pryce and Cynthia Erivo - plus Antonio Banderas, who, like Glenn Close, I believe was already famous when he did musicals. 

henrikegerman said: ""Last year we had Jonathan Pryce and Cynthia Erivo - plus Antonio Banderas, who, like Glenn Close, I believe was already famous when he did musicals."

Close first big movierolewas as Jenny in The World According to Garp (1982), Before that she had appeared in Bdwy musicals, incl. asMary Tudor in Richard Rodgers' Rex (1976)and Charity Barnum in BARNUM (1980), for which she received aTony nomination."

 

Ah! Didn't know that! Thanks! 

Agree with most of what was said above. Do want to note that Cynthia's trajectory is much more atypical than Leslie's. He's been building up a solid resume as a character actor for a decade now. Hamilton definitely helped, but Cynthia Erivo is having more of a "star is born" moment. Since her 2016 breakout, she's already one award away from an EGOT. That's practically unheard of.

I've been thinking about something else about this topic. We appear to be in an era where many theatre stars are staying in the theatre. Sutton Foster's breakout role came in 2002. She didn't appear as a major character in a show or movie until a decade later with 'Bunheads' and in between that did 6 shows. Audra has only had two major gaps to do Hollywood work during her career. Building a Hollywood career takes time, and you often hear major theatre stars talk about how much they miss the stage when they take extended breaks for film and tv projects. Which, sadly means they're likely not getting cast when it's time for musical films.