Head Over Heels - Commentary on the Snubs

Bonnie maybe, but in no way did Peppermint deserve a nomination.



And Head Over Heels will still mean a lot to people regardless of its nomination or award status, The truth is the show was not that great. It shouldn't be given nominations just because it is a show that champions the LGBTQIA+ community... it also needs to be good.

The show was fantastic and represented people rarely seen onstage. We should encourage shows like this, which is why I think nominations (and of course some wins) were necessary this time around. I was lucky enough to see the show 27 times, both the first preview and final performance too.

I'm not afraid to award trans excellence and I wish less people were too.

I mean I loved Head Over Heels as much as the next person. I saw it 3 times, but I'm not surprised by the lack of nominations. Yes, it was a show that welcomed the LGBTQIA+ community more to Broadway, but that doesn't mean it automatically is the best show of the season. If you were saying the show should be awarded a special Tony for excellence in opening the community and shinning a light on people that are normally not the leads of a musical, then I would completely agree. But the show was fun and light, yet it wasn't the best. The book is a bit messy at the beginning and wrapped things up way too quickly at the end. That's why it wasn't nominated, not because of transphobia. Believe me, I'd be the first to call people out for transphobia, but this isn't the case. Peppermint did not deserve a nom, but Bonnie did and a lot of that comes down to when the show opened and closed. The period between this time was long and other shows open. Shows that honestly were better written and at times performed then Head Over Heels. Imagine if Lilli Cooper was not nominated and Milligan still wasn't, but Stephanie Hsu was. Would people still be angry? I don't know. I understand your anger at a beloved show not receiving recognition. Believe me, this show holds a special place in my heart, but when I think about it critically, it's not the world's best show. Simply because it created visibility on Broadway doesn't mean it's a fantastic show. It's fantastic for the visibility, but that and content are not the same thing. It being not nominated because the content was not up to par of the visibility, does not makes the nominations transphobic. Transphobia is real and ever-present in the world and in the theater community (Maybe Burke), but not in this case. And I hope Head Over Heels opens the theater community for more shows like this and shows that are Tony worthy. It may not happen as soon as we want, but it will because of this show.

Updated On: 5/1/19 at 02:22 PM

I did not feel The Prom represented our community very well. I do think The Prom did a great job at instersecting the struggles of middle-to-lower class struggles, compounded by LGBTQIA+ issues. At least Head Over Heels had actual representation.

It shouldn't be given nominations just because it is a show that champions the LGBTQIA+ community... it also needs to be good.

Exactly. It was a bad show, the Tonys don't have awards for inclusion. However, it spoke to people and they have a lot of respect/love for the show. That has to be enough since it's gone. It was not a slight against any community.

If Bonnie Milligan leaves the industry because she didn't get nominated for an award, she didn't deserve to be in this industry to begin with.

I didn't see it, so I can't attest to whether it got snubbed, but saying they snubbed it because it heavily featured LGBT representation is absolutely ridiculous. Tony nominees notoriously love rewarding performances and shows that play with gender and sexuality. Kinky Boots, Hedwig, Hairspray, etc. Just this year, Choir Boy and The Boys in the Band (which featured a complete cast of out, gay actors) were heavily praised and rewarded. We have the first Tony nomination ever for a non-binary person (Taylor Mac is nominated for Best Play for Gary). The Prom's plot heavily features around LGB identities. Tootsie discusses the complexities of gender and sexuality, and its theme focuses around the difficulties and discrimination women face in the entertainment industry and the men who make it harder for them.

And even outside of LGBT representation, this has been a really good year for the Tony's in terms of diversity in other forms. Ali Stroker is the first actor or actress in a wheelchair ever to be nominated for a Tony (and has a decent shot at taking home the prize). Hadestown features a predominantly POC cast and is likely to win big this year. Speaking of Hadestown, if it wins Best Musical, it will be the first time that an all female creative team will take home the prize. 3/5 of the Best Featured Actor in a Musical nominees are Black. Tootsie's creative team comprises of a Middle Eastern, Jewish man and two gay men. And all but one of the nominees for Best Featured Actress in a Play are over 55.

The Tony Awards, and by extension the Broadway community, certainly has its issues when it comes to diversity and LGBT representation. But by God, this is not the year to be complaining about straight, white men (also a play that opened this year marking the first broadway play by an asian woman) telling others they don't belong.

A Part of It All said: "I'm not afraid to award trans excellence and I wish less people were too."

Let me take a wild guess -- are you a millennial?

Awards are decided on by a set group of people who all have their subjective tastes. You have to go into it with that understanding. Everyone is voting for what appealed to them and what is being shoved in their faces with campaigns to remind them to vote.

I LOVED Head Over Heels. I would personally have nominated it for Best Musical, definitely Bonnie Milligan in featured, and probably Book, Costumes, and Choreo. BUT I'm not a Tony nominator. The show closed a long while ago. The only aspect of the show with any type of awards campaign behind it was Milligan. And compared to her competition, it was a VERY minor campaign. That doesn't take away from the fact that her performance was brilliant. And to say someone would leave the industry after being snubbed for a Tony is ridiculous. No sane person would make such a decision.

The fact is the Milligan was what we would call an "on the bubble" contender. She showed up in some precursor awards but had many factors against her (mainly that the show was long closed, poorly reviewed, and there was very little campaign). She was Head Over Heel's best chance for a nom (with I suppose a long shot at Book, considering the uniqueness of it). Nothing else from the show was ever going to break through with the Tonys.

I think its hard to say that by snubbing HOH they are transphobic or against representation. We have two queer classics in Play Revival (Boys in the Band, Torch Song) with out gay casts. The Prom is camp but is about love and inclusiveness (again with out actors in the queer roles.) In featured actor (play) there are three nominated out men playing gay characters. We have our first non-binary writing nominee with Taylor Mac (Gary, Best Play). Theres a best musical nominee (Aint Too Proud) with 5 black leads, and three of them were nominated. There's at least one POC in all but 2 acting categories (lead and feat actress - play). Choir Boy, a story about growing up black and gay, is nominated for Best Play. Ali Stroker is the first actor using a wheelchair to be nominated.

This is all to say that not everything is an attack. There is clearly a very diverse set of nominees this year. Could the nominating body be diversified more? Sure. Do i think Milligan should be just as competitive as Stroker and Gray for feat actress? You bet! But not getting a nomination doesnt take away from the quality from her performance. And someone who in her bway debut got into OCC and Drama League is going to be getting lots more work. Love what you love, but dont always expect it to line up with the politics and campaigns of an awards body.

Updated On: 5/1/19 at 03:09 PM

Like many, I think Bonnie Milligan probably deserved a nomination, but it's hard to say who I would bump from the nominee list to "make room" for her. The Tony Award rules are pretty strict too; they could only have added a sixth nominee if the voting was, I think, within 5 votes between fifth and sixth place? Regardless, she got recognition in the form of nominations from other organizations, and for someone making their Broadway debut, that's huge! I think she's going to have a good career in front of her, and we should celebrate that--and celebrate that, Tony nod or not, she built a big fanbase out of this role!

And here's another thing. Shows don't need Tony nominations or wins to be meaningful or memorable to people. While it scored a few nominations, one of my favorite shows--The Scarlet Pimpernel--won zero Tony awards in its run. But it's still a show that means a lot to me and to many other fans of Frank Wildhorn or the original novel the show is based on. It entertained and it had meaning; it just wasn't the show that the nominators or award voters thought was the best in '97.

The same thing applies here I think. HOH had a lot of meaning for a lot of people, and offered some great representation for trans people, a group whose stories are not told often enough to a mainstream audience and who have faced tremendous discrimination in society and the industry. Other people simply loved that it was a joyous and fun show that let them escape the outside world for a couple hours. Still others liked seeing their favorite band's music in a new context. Does that make it the best show? No, it doesn't. But was it a show that brought joy to the 100K+ people who saw it during its run? Absolutely. And that in and of itself has great meaning.