How in the world was Jack Gilford considered Leading in the original production of Cabaret?

Was it his status in the industry, there is not enough stage time to be considered leading. Anyone have any info on this?

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Because he had gotten through it, without getting stinko and not by a pool.

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And Lotte Lenya was considered leading as Schneider. It was ridiculous. But you should read The Making of Cabaret it's a good read. In it, they describe how Gilford and Lenya were the first choices for both roles and the work that went into both characters. The characters were written for these actors and they were considered stalwarts of the theater at the time, and were given star billing.. therefore they were put in leading categories. It would've been almost insulting to put them in Featured..

>I do think the whole nominating process has changed since.<

It really hasn't. If an actor's name is above the title, they are still put in leading categories, If below, supporting. If a show wants to move an actor from leading to a supporting category or supporting to leading, they write a letter to Tony Administration to request the change and in most cases, it is accepted.

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"Featured" has come to mean "supporting" over the years, but it used to mean "featured billing," as in non-starring. That's why the categories aren't Best Supporting Actor/Actress. It really has nothing to do with the size of the role.

The ability to petition a change in category occurred after Cabaret and 1776, but other than that, the rules are basically the same. You're automatically considered for the category by your billing. If you leave it alone, that's how it will stay. Petitioning the Tony nomination committee is the only way to change it.

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Updated On: 1/28/12 at 11:27 AM

It's totally archaic, I agree. Like it or not, "featured" has come to mean "supporting." The connotation is there.

On the other hand, you have Oscars with all these heavy ads, trying to "force" certain actors into specific categories that may or may not be appropriate in order to sway votes and win awards.

At least this way, leaving it alone stops a long and costly campaign to woo Tony support. Because, with or without the change, there will always be some "spinning" to manipulate the categories.

The way it stands now, it's archaic, but cut and dry.

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Updated On: 1/28/12 at 11:59 AM

Barbara Cook, Yul Brynner, Isabel Bigley, and others have won Tonys in the "featured" categories because they didn't have star billing and there was no petitioning back then.

In Bigley's case, I think it might have been a decision to keep her out of the running against Vivian Blaine. Blaine didn't win a leading actress Tony, however, but Bigley still won for playing Sarah Brown in "featured." Blaine was also a film star, along with Robert Alda and Sam Levene. So among the four leads in Guys and Dolls, Bigley was the only one (rather conspicuously) without star billing.

EDIT: Frankly, I don't know why Isabel Bigley didn't have a film career of any kind. She was certainly pretty enough and had a lovely soprano voice. I'm assuming she came along a tad too late for movie musicals. By the early 1950s, after Guys and Dolls, the studio system was falling apart. Or maybe she just didn't screen-test well. Or maybe she didn't want a film career. Who knows?

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Updated On: 1/28/12 at 12:22 PM

Same as when Tammy Grimes won the Tony in 1961 for Featured Actress for the role of Molly Brown in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown". Seriously, Featured Actress? She is the Whole Show!!
Same as Carlin Glynn and Henderson Forsythe for Miss Mona and the Sheriff in "Whorehouse" in 1979. They both won for Featured Actor and Actress, as well.

Even now the Tony Committee can take it upon themselves to switch a performer's category if they want to. In 2010, Roundabout didn't petition for any changes for the cast of Sondheim on Sondheim and were very surprised when it was ruled that Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams and Tom Wopat would be competing in the Featured categories.

I'm always puzzled as to why the Emcee was featured for the OBC and film. Though Grey won so I'm not complaining.