joshdog2014 said: "I think an argument could be made that Avenue Q is different since they are playing full characters including singing and speaking, whereas Kanagawa is “just” a puppeteer. But I really hope he would be eligible and nominated!"
Yeah, I almost mentioned how the Avenue Q actors admittedly were leads with spoken dialogue and solo singing, but I don’t think it would make a difference in terms of eligibility. I’m sure there’s individual voters who wouldn’t think to or want to recognize a puppeteer playing an animal, but as for eligibility, there doesn’t appear to be any rule prohibiting him from competing. And I doubt the organization would want to go out of their way to disqualify him, it would be a very bad look.
They’ve already nominated puppeteers alongside non puppeteering actors, so they’ve acknowledged that playing puppets is still acting. And they’ve nominated performances that had no spoken dialogue as well, so if such work can be recognized for a non puppeteering performance, then it should be no different for a puppeteering one like this.
In the event of a Broadway transfer, Kennedy Kanagawa’s situation would likely be akin to voice acting/motion capture performances at the Oscars. There would be bias standing in his way of being recognized, but there wouldn’t be any rules to disqualify him.
Anyway, whether he’d get a very deserving nomination is a whole other can of worms given the unknowns with competition (including internal from Creel with the plum role) and the timing of the production, with the prior theorized limited run this summer obviously not being a plus.
Moving back to whether this show does transfer or not, I sure hope it does, but if it doesn’t, I’m just glad to have seen a perfect night of theatre.
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