Can We Finally Talk About Who Will Win The Tony For Best Musical? — Page 2

I can't say I think all four girls from Matilda deserve to win-it's the ROLE that wins in this instance and not the individual performances. I know the Billy boys won-and it set a terrible precedent. They should give the girls a special award. It's not fair to the actresses who go on eight times a week (say what you want about child labor and difficulty of the role, but Lilla Crawford goes on six to eight times a week I believe).

The Billy Elliott ruling was not really all that popular after it happened-let's see how it affects the girls playing Matilda.

I'd love to see Annaleigh Ashford over Andrea Martin. Ashford's growth as a performer has been amazing. She deserves this recognition.

Can we please put the Matilda/Annie argument to rest? The girls playing Matilda are nine and ten, the youngest ages for any leading actor or actress ever in Broadway history. Matilda is a much more difficult role than any in every way. I think the role warrants four girls playing it. The particular performance I saw last night was definitely worthy of Tony consideration.

I don't think I can ever be convinced that multiple nominees is "right".

How can all four (or whatever the number is) all be the best? NONE of the Billys were the most outstanding performance.

I'm not saying that it isn't impressive what any of these children are doing -- but they shouldn't get different consideration BECAUSE they are children.

As to a separate award -- how will they determine that? And what bad feelings will occur? No one wanted to nominate one Billy over the other to spare the feelings of the others. JUST because they are children doesn't give them more right to a statue.

I don't pretend to know the answer, but I don't like this one.

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I'm susceptible to that, sure, but am only impressed when it's an actual great performance by a child actor. I don't discriminate either way when it comes to age.

I thought Trent Kowalik was pretty brilliant in my opinion. A standout performance for me that season. So I guess I would have voted for the Billy team. So sue me.

But not enough to create the competition. This is an exceptional year as far as that goes with: The Matldas, The Annies (and maybe some standout orphans) and the kid playing in Pippin. (Am I forgeting anyone?) What about the years that it IS only one show?

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But this is an exceptional year for children's roles. It won't be like this all the time.

Were there "any" last year? Or since Billy Elliot?

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^ Yes.

And let's be honest here, it's not like there is a plethora of performances each year that are Tony-worthy, or even nomination-worthy. There are (generally speaking) barely enough nominees to fill the five spots. It's not like the Oscars where tons of actors or actresses have a shot at a nomination and are "snubbed." If they add a category for "Best Young Performer" and eliminate those eligible for that award for the other acting awards, they'll really be stretching themselves thin in terms of nominees. More than usual.

In my opinion, there is no reason the Matilda girls shouldn't be nominated together. They share the role because they are children, therefore they should share the nomination. It is entirely a Leading Actress performance from what I understand (I see it tomorrow) and should be treated as such. If a part was so demanding that an adult actress would need an alternate as often as every other performance, I would imagine they would both be nominated together as well. I understand that all the Tony voters won't see each actress play the part, but I try to assume that there are enough voters that they collectively saw a nice spread of each girl taking on the role and voted for the individual girl they saw, which would lead to a consensus that they each gave strong enough performances to win (if they do).

Frankly, the Tonys are arguably the most commercialized awards ceremony in show-biz and I don't think the Billys or the Matildas sharing a nomination or a win is the biggest concern this awards show has...

Updated On: 3/10/13 at 01:07 PM

Frankly, the Tonys are arguably the most commercialized awards ceremony in show-biz

How so? I can't think of any awards more rooted in sales and commercialism than the Oscars and the Grammys. I'm sure producers are hopeful that Tony nominations and/or wins will translate to ticket sales, but it's no guarantee for a struggling show and never has been.

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AEA -- I haven't seen Matilda yet, but Andrea Martin is OUTSTANDING. Stop-the-show outstanding. I hadn't felt that way about a single moment since Jane Krakowski (sp?) in the Nine revival.

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I think WickedRocks means that a Tony or loss more directly affects the commercial aspects of the property. Because, obviously, the Tonys is inherently a regional award show.

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What Playbilly said, and also the general theme that the most "tourable" or "commercial" show generally wins Best Musical (or benefits most financially from the telecast), unless it's something like THE ADDAMS FAMILY which got universally panned. Of course there are exceptions to the rule (AVENUE Q, ONCE, etc...) but generally, that's just the way it goes. Look at the Oscars, where THE ARTIST won Best Picture last year, but only grossed somewhere around $45,000,000 in the US. Sure, shows like ONCE can best the more commercial rival to win the award, but ONCE was still doing gangbusters at the box office, well before the Tonys.

I mean, if we have another JERSEY BOYS performance on the Tonys, I'll go crazy. It's not like the Oscars honor TITANIC and AVATAR every year.

Not sure if that makes any sense...I haven't eaten dinner yet and my head's a little all over the place. :)

My vote is against the idea of "bundling" the actors sharing a role. Was this done when other shows had "alternates" of the adult variety such as EVITA where the lead didn't do all 8 shows contractually? The award is to a performer (singular). It undervalues the entire premise when you try to say that because there are four munchkins playing the role, they should share it. Tony voters aren't going to be invited to the show 4 times to see all 4 performers are they? Perhaps one of the girls is worthy of the award but the others aren't. Should they still share it? NO. It is a nice marketing gimmick for a show like BILLY ELLIOT or MATILDA but the practice needs to be stopped IMO.

My predictions for Best Revival/Musical nominees...

MATILDA
KINKY BOOTS
HANDS ON A HARDBODY
MOTOWN

Alternates: CINDERELLA (if eligible, which I'm sure it won't be), BRING IT ON, A CHRISTMAS STORY

ANNIE
THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD
PIPPIN
CINDERELLA (if eligible, which it should be)

Would they possibly change the rule and have only three nominees? This reminds me of the 2011 Tony Awards with Best Actress... they had fewer nominees because only 5 of 6 eligible would be nominated.