Drama League's Distinguished performance Award 2020 — Page 3

Wayman_Wong said: "'I don't consider Edna a supporting role in ''Hairspray.'' Harvey Fierstein won the Tony and shared the Drama Desk for Best Actor in a Musical. And the Outer Critics nominated him in thatcategory."



The fact the OCC's and the DD's agreed with the Tonys probably just means that the producers petitioned him for leading at all of the awards, for strategic reasons, and none of them fought back. There are lots of cases of "category fraud" throughout the history of all awards bodies. Just because they made a determination doesn't mean they're right.

So why do YOU consider Edna a leading role? Why do you consider Edna, as a character, to be a co-lead along with Tracy? I'm genuinely curious to hear an artistic/character-based argument in defense of that eligibility ruling. Like I said, I don't really know the show well enough to make a strong case either way, except that, based on my memory of the show, it seems more like Edna was a supporting role.

Tracy is clearly the largest role in Hairspray, but the largest role of each sex is often considered Leading for awards purposes. Sometimes that is true, even if the role itself is not that large. Sherie Rene Scott, for example, was nominated for Leading for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, because she had the largest role for a woman in the show, even though it is a Featured role in many ways.

I would say that, of the roles typically played by men in Hairspray, Edna is the one that has the most impact, and the one I would call Leading. And the role attracts outsize audience attention. You remember Edna vividly after the show is over.

Another criterion for Leading vs Featured that was used by the Best Plays series is: would a future star put on a revival of this show so that he or she could star in that role? In other words, if a future Hairspray revival starred Hugh Jackman as Edna, and everyone else in the cast was not an established name, would the show still make sense and the audience be satisfied? I would say that it would, and I have no problem with Edna being considered a Leading role.

Updated On: 6/18/20 at 05:19 PM

mikem said: "Tracy is clearly the largest role in Hairspray, but the largest role of each sex is often considered Leading for awards purposes. Sometimes that is true, even if the role itself is not that large. "



This is a true statement, but again, I would chock that up to strategic petitioning on the part of the producers - they want to be eligible in as many categories as possible. I don't consider that to be a convincing case for why any particular character belongs in the leading category.

"Another criterion for Leading vs Featured that was used by the Best Plays series is: would a future star put on a revival of this show so that he or she could star in that role? In other words, if a future Hairspray revival starred Hugh Jackman as Edna, and everyone else in the cast was not an established name, would the show still make sense and the audience be satisfied? I would say that it would, and I have no problem with Edna being considered a Leading role."



This is an interesting metric, and not one that I've heard before. Of all the production-based arguments (as opposed to artistic or character-based) I think this one has the most merit. Probably because it connects to the artistic side (i,e. if a role isn't central enough to the story, the audience won't be as satisfied). But still, I don't think it's reliable. I can think of several exceptions to this metric off the top of my head, and I'm sure I could think of quite a few more if I put my mind to it (by exceptions, I mean major stars playing roles that are very obviously supporting, and are ruled as such, but are still big enough to satisfy the audience).

The problem is, if you use these kinds of strategic/production-based metrics, you end up with situations where actors are competing at a disadvantage, because their category doesn't reflect their role. If an actor doesn't play a role that really helps carry the show, it seems unfair to make them compete against someone who does, because the actor who does will usually garner more votes. There will be exceptions, of course, like Fierstein, but in general I just don't think it's reliable way of placing people.

EDIT: But again, it's possible that my memory is skewed because of my relative unfamiliarity with Hairspray. Like I said, I'm not really making a case one way or the other - I'm just speaking to the specific reasons people are giving.

Updated On: 6/18/20 at 06:24 PM

Some roles are clearly leading, and some roles are borderline co-starring or supporting. In the case of Edna in ''Hairspray,'' the three main theater awards that season agreed Harvey Fierstein should be up for Best Actor in a Musical. And while producers can petition the Tony committee about which categories they believe their performers should compete in (despite the billing), frankly, I've never heard of producers petitioning the Outer Critics or the Drama Desk about this. And even if producers petition, each awards organization has the discretion to place the performer wherever it wants to.

Updated On: 6/18/20 at 08:31 PM