How Close Did Kelli O'Hara Come To Winning The Tony Before She Finally Won?

Kelli triumphed on her 6th try, but how close do you think she actually was to taking home the Tony with her 5 previous nominations ? Here's my take on it:



1. The Light In The Piazza(Best Featured Actress In A Musical, 2005): Hmmm, hard to say as I was not following the Tony's then the same way I did the year after and now. I would guess that Ramirez got the majority of the votes(with Kelli and Celia Keenan-Bolger tied in second place), but a Kelli win would not have been a huge shocker at that time given how great she was in the show and how well she was received. I think she was considered too new to the Broadway scene(although she really wasn't in a technical sense, but you know what I mean) and Celia Keenan-Bolger stole some of the newcomer votes away from her. Ramirez had more industry clout then both of them and had the showier, more theatrical role so she ended up triumphing.

2. The Pajama Game(Best Leading Actress In A Musical, 2006): She had absolutely no chance in hell of winning this award, as Patti Lupone was considered the strong favorite and pretty much everyone else had a better chance of winning then she did with the possible exception of Chita Rivera(although I could be wrong on that score). I'm guessing she came in fourth in the voting.

3. South Pacific(Best Leading Actress In A Musical, 200: Here's where I think she came in second, although it was definitely a very distant second with Lupone getting her long overdue 2nd win for an extremely impactful performance. If it hadn't been for Gypsy, I think O'Hara would have taken this one fairly easily, although you never know how the dynamics of the race would have been if one contender is taken out of the equation.

4. Nice Work If You Can Get It( Best Leading Actress In A Musical, 2012): She had no chance in hell here either- I think she came in 4th place followed by Laura Osnes in Bonnie And Clyde.

5. The Bridges Of Madison County(Best Leading Actress In A Musical, 2014): Here's where she really, truly deserved to win, but lost due to wealth spreading(Beautiful needed something after all) and the failure of Bridges, both financially and with the Tony's in general, having failed to get Best Musical and Best Leading Actor In A Musical Nominations. I think she came in second, but I wouldn't be surprised if Idina Menzel came in second that year.

6. The King And I(Best Leading Actress In A Musical, 2015): LOL, okay, obviously she won this award, but how close do you think it was? Do you think that Kristin was that close to beating her or did Kelli take it in a modest, but respectable majority? A part of me feels that the latter was the case given how truly overdue Kelli was for the Tony win, not to mention how much that was publicized throughout the season that year. Also , (and many people discounted this IMO) On The Twentieth Century's buzz had run out by Tony time due to it's thunder being stolen by the other nominated revivals of the season, On The Town and of course The King And I, which was lavishly received and whose buzz was strong enough to help Ruthie Anne Miles defeat Fun Home's Judy Kuhn and Sydney Lucas. In reality, I think Kelli may have been the more obvious winner for awhile in the post nominations period , but many failed to see it. I'd love to know your thoughts though.



What do you guys think?

Updated On: 6/9/18 at 11:46 PM

I think Jessie may have been able to win for Waitress if it hadn't been for her winning in 2014.

I wish Kelli O'Hara and Kristin Chenoweth competed in different years because I found both of their performances in The King and I and On the Twentieth Century, respectively, to be utterly deserving of Tonys and two of the truly best performances I've seen in musicals. However, not sure if either of them would have been able to beat Cynthia Erivo or Bette Midler the two years after because it's just hard to imagine how much hype the winning performances would have had with one of those two performances being in the mix. I think they would have had an easier time in 2014 or 2013 even though Kelli O'Hara was nominated in 2014 for what some of her fans think is actually her best performance. However, The King and I was a bigger hit and such a well-received production that it may have been able to put up more competition than Bridges did.

Maybe we should have a thread where we rank the top ten or twenty performances of all the Tony nominees (not just winners) from the past ten years for Best Actress in a Musical.

Updated On: 6/10/18 at 12:00 AM

She should have won for South Pacific and Bridges of Madison County. But, it was such a thrill when she FINALLY won that Tony. She was so adorable doing the worm!

Updated On: 6/10/18 at 03:45 AM

I think Kelli was miraculous in The King And I and thoroughly deserved her tony win that year- Kristin was good, but I really was not in the right mindset when I saw On The Twentieth Century, which is a show that drags in my opinion, although the music is fantastic. I'd like to rewatch it at the Lincoln Center Library to see what my thoughts would be now.

I rewatched a performance of Chenoweth performing "Never" from OTTC at 54 Below, and it just brought back memories. I honestly would have voted for her despite the equally top but different performance from O'Hara.

If Bridges had been nominated for Best Musical, I bet Kelli would have won over Jessie Mueller. The voting had to have been close. Even though Bridges closed at the end of May, I bet a lot of Tony voters skipped it when it didn't get a Best Musical nom (but they were able to judge the Score and Orchestrations by the cast recording).

I read an interview with Kelli, in which she said she really wanted to win for ''Bridges.'' Had she done so, I bet Kristin would've won for ''On the 20th Century.'' And deservedly. … Then again, I'm still ticked that Steven Pasquale wasn't even NOMINATED for ''Bridges.'' He's a leading man who oughta HAVE a Tony.

Updated On: 6/10/18 at 05:44 PM