Hear me out — Page 2

What's so amazing about Cynthia Erivo's performance is her subtlety and the energy that she fills that theatre with. She doesn't "act" she just IS. She walks out on that stage and any idea of Cynthia Erivo melts away into Celie without any effort at all. She is a great actress and vocalist and heightened the material to a new level (with a little help from John Doyle's beautiful direction and the stunning supporting cast).

Jessie Mueller gives a performance that would've won her a Tony any other year. She brings a similar quality that Cynthia does where she just pours her heart and soul out on stage and lets us look at it. She is simply beautiful in the role of Jenna and she was probably just as deserving of a Tony as Cynthia.

Laura Benanti is giving a 100% perfect comedic performance as Amalia. I really do think that she may be my favorite Amalia ever simply due to how human I think her Amalia is. She plays her as a real person and because of that, she taps into some really wonderful comedic moments. I think she created a character we can all relate to and she's giving a drop dead perfect vocal performance.

Phillipa Soo is lovely in Hamilton and I think that she may be my favorite performance in Hamilton, but I'm not sure that her role is as meaty as the other actresses' parts and that's probably why she wasn't taken as seriously. I really think that she was probably very close to being nominated in supporting actress. Nevertheless, her performance is gorgeous and she makes Eliza a deeply layered character and sings the role beautifully.

Carmen Cusack is incredible. She really is, but this was not her year. I think that this year was more about her being discovered. While she has a powerful and soulful voice and she has to play two very different ages, Bright Star is a less than stellar musical and that probably hurt her chances. We'll probably see a Tony win from her soon.

You really could make a case why any of these five actresses should win. All five are giving incredible performances. I had a similar opinion with this that I did with revival as well. I thought that they're all sooooo different and are all amazing in their own way, how on earth do you determine if The Color Purple is better than She Loves Me or if Cynthia Erivo is better than Laura Benanti? You really can't. They're all giving completely different performances that are all Tony worthy. How on Earth do they choose a winner from a group so diverse and wonderful? I guess you just pick. And they picked Cynthia Erivo.

I really think that one of the main reasons that Audra wasn't nominated was because she was leaving the show for the summer. They probably figured that they weren't going to nominate her only to have her leave the show a few weeks later. The other shows needed the publicity more.

icecreambenjamin said: "I really think that all 5 were deserving of a Tony. I don't think that I've seen a stronger year for best lead actress."

I agree and your description of the strengths of each of the nominated ladies were on point. I also wonder whether the role of Celie in The Color Purple is always Tony worthy. LaChanze played the role of Celie back ten years ago when she won the Tony for Leading Actress in a Musical. I could easily see Fantasia (who was amazing as Celie back in 2007) win a Tony had she been in the OBC.

Fantasia was amazing. First of all, and it's a crucial detail, Fantasia was made up, yes, to really look ugly. And that right there led you to root for her right away. She played the role like her life was an open wound. Talk about feeling for a character! So, at the end, when she sang "I'm Here", you were honestly cheering.



I don't know how she did that 8 shows a week.

Just as a reminder:

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=i+am+here+color+purple&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001



And that voice!!!!

jomilo21 said: "Let's all be honest... Having seen them all, Audra should have won- The only reason she wasn't even nominated is because she has already won more than anyone could even dream of.

Couldn't disagree more. The only reason that performance in that role were even on ANYONE'S radar was because Audra was playing the part. If it were anyone else giving that exact same performance it wouldn't have been considered for any awards.

I love Audra, but it's a supporting part, and she is very average in this one.

It was a very strong year in the acting category. I saw Audra's understudy the first time I saw Shuffle Along, and was able to catch Audra a couple of weeks ago. I left the showing thinking how did she NOT get nominated?!

I'll be in the city this weekend, and am on the fence about taking an earlier train on Saturday in order to see the matinee of Bright Star.

Thanks, ChiTheaterFan. I'm heeding your word, and the word of others, and booked an earlier train and a Goldstar ticket to Bright Star on Saturday (matinee). I didn't want to have to deal with waiting in line at TKTS, especially since the hotel I'm staying at is on the Upper West Side.