"Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life" to be considered a Musical by the Tonys — Page 2

The Threepenny Opera

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The Producers are VERY SMART for even thinking about this. Now they are assured more than 1 nomination. She'll definately be nominated for best actress and choreography will also get a nod.

Has anyone ever won a Tony for playing themself?

This decision puzzles me. If A Dancer's Life is a musical, then presumably, other actresses could take on the role of Chita Rivera. Does anyone think community theatres will put on productions of A Dancer's Life?? The show was written as a vehicle for Chita. It's the same principle that was applied to 700 Sundays. Only Billy Crystal can play that role.

This could possibly be Chita's last time on broadway and the fact that the producers are taking a chance on a tight catagory for her to get a tony compared to a 99.9% chance of winning special event puzzles me. I still think with Chita nominated the tony is Lupone's and I dont see why they want multiple nomination that have slim chances of winning. However I agree the brightside to it being best musical nominated would be she'd perform. It's too bad she already did Where You Are at the Tony awards because Id love to see her do that again.

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"And this is how shows that deserve nominations don't get nominated."

Or vice versa, which is even worse.

In the end, it's pure desperation.

Mayella Ewell
Maycomb, Alabama

and why are they making these decisions with so many shows yet to open?

Foscas --- "an actress who wasn't Chita plays the role of Chita in the show" --- who plays her in the show besides Chita? Or is it like a "younger chita" type thing?

Color Purple / Women in White / Wedding Singer / ?

Not sure who the fourth will be but I can't imagine it'd be Chita's show, but I guess ya never know.

Holy Crap, I think I predicted this months ago.

Sorry, but this is one of the very few times Margo was wrong.

I think this is a GREAT decision. Saw the show tonight, am blown away.

If CONTACT and FOSSE could win Best Musical. Chita DEFINITELY has a chance (of being nominated, and possibly a win.) And I've been saying this since the start.

Ljay, I was blown away as well when I saw Chita's show, BUT while she was magnificent (she is Chita Rivera after all) the show is not well-crafted and I felt it didn't do her justice. Graciela Danielle's direction is far from mind-blowing, McNally's book is interesting at times but it fails to soar. Of course Chita makes you enjoy the night, she is a stage veteran, and she can sell the material very well, but the material itself is not spectacular. I believe Fosse was a very well-crafted show that deserved the award that year. I think Jersey Boys with its seamless staging, beautiful acting, and incredible book deserves to win over a show like Dancer's Life. Just my opinion.

As soon as a show is eligible for Best Musical, it becomes eligible for all the categories attached: Best acting, Best Direction, Best Book (if there's one), Best Score (if it's original, I'm guessing in the case of Chita's show, only the new songs will be considered eligible), and all the technical awards as well.

You're welcome.
I actually agree with you that it will come down between LuPone and Rivera, UNLESS the Tony voters decide that they already have their Tony and give the award to someone like Friedman (most voters I asume have seen her in her West End engagements and couldn't wait for her to do Broadway, her cancer experience might play a role in their minds), or LaChanze (a promising actress who gets to play the role that any other season would have locked her a Tony, except for this season, but you never know), or Laura Benanti (who could pull a Marissa Jaret Winokur on all of us). However, I'm with Ljay, IF Chita gets nominated then it will come down to her and LuPone.

Updated On: 1/27/06 at 01:17 AM

Wow...actually, my first instinct when I thought about the best actress category is that Chita would take votes away from Patti, giving La Chanze a better shot. I mean, both are wonderful performers and give great performances, particularly Patti in a new take on Mrs. Lovett but I've seen all of these performances to date and IMO when you take out who they are and other asides(which is hard b/c I absolutely love Chita) I personally feel that so far La Chanze has given the performance of the year, and am crossing my fingers for her Tony.

Rentboy, I know the Tonys haven't been kind to the jukeboxes but considering the great reviews they got, I think Jersey Boys is very likely to get a best musical nomination.

Ljay, Contact, Fosse, and Jerome Robbins' Broadway(god would I have loved to see that) for that matter won in years where fields were very weak. I think there's stronger shows this year, so I doubt Chita has a chance of winning best musical.

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