Is Lupone Tony Bound?- Page 3

[Not Barker, Todd.]

Posted: 4/6/08 at 11:41pm

1. I don't think/know if "Heights" has a leading lady. If any one is, it's Nina, but I think the producers will probably lobby for featured (if they are smart).

2. I love it when people pontificate about the Tonys as if it were a single, all-knowing entity, as opposed to a voting body.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/6/08 at 11:55pm

I am no defender of Bernadette Peters, but her luminous performance as Dot ennobled the original production of Sunday in the Park to a level beyond anything she had done previously or has done since.

I seriously doubt Sondheim and Lapine would have won the Tony and the Pulitzer with another actress giving a lesser performance. Particularly in "Move On" and "Children and Art" but also in "We Do Not Belong Together" a unity was achieved between performer and material the likes of which you are lucky to witness only a handful of times in a theatergoing lifetime.

Say what you want about her Rose--which I thought was poorly conceived and embarrassingly executed--her Dot was nonpareil.

Updated On: 4/7/08 at 11:55 PM

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 4/6/08 at 11:56pm

1) I completely agree with you, Yankeefan, jv92, and frogs_fan. Your thoughts all echo mine regarding LuPone and the Tony.


2) jv92- You took the words right out of my mouth regarding the roles of Mrs. Lovett and Celie, the show "The Color Purple", and the whole Tony situation between LuPone and Lachanze. I couldn't agree with you more!


3) PalJoey- That was amazing. As usual.


4) ze emcee- While I think LuPone is more deserving of the award recognition for her work, your thoughts on Jenna Russell and her performance in "Sunday" really spoke to me. I felt the same way about her performance. She just completely did it for me. I finally watched the DVD of the original Broadway production after seeing the revival and just couldn't feel remotely the same things I did for Russell and Evans.


5) "Though the chances of her not getting a nod for Gypsy is pretty unlikely."

"PRETTY UNLIKELY"? Really? That might be the understatement of the year =) Sorry, but I just think it's funny that this award is almost undoubtedly going to LuPone (as it should be), yet several people are making comments that imply she might not even be nominated.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 12:46am

I agree that her not getting a nomination is a joke but I am afraid about her chances of winning for the mere fact that Raul was screwed last year. I think Patti is tony bound but am afraid someone is going to steal the tony from her as david hyde pierce did to raul.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 1:53am

Peters lost the Tony in '84 because Chita Rivera had been nominated a dozen times. Most everyone I have spoken to who actually were there (and from my own sort of limited chances, judging from the cast recordings and DVD), Peters' Dot was nothing short of brilliant. Rivera was in a not very good show, giving her standard rise-above-the-material performance and it was sort of her time to win the award.
LuPone is winning the Tony. I refuse to accept that O'Hara could ever win an award over LuPone, Faith Prince, Jenna Russell, or even the adorable Kerry Butler. O'Hara should probably have won the year of PIAZZA (though Sara Ramirez' tour de force had Tony written all over it).

[jewishboy]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 2:16am

Honestly, I would have rather seen Sarah Uriate Berry get a nomination in 2005 over O'Hara. While I do agree with the statement that the Tonys love giving the best actress award to young women, Kelli O'Hara while garnering great notices, did not get reviews in the same league as Patti (or Jenna Russell if I remember correctly). Unless Faith Prince does magic, Patti has it.
Updated On: 4/7/08 at 02:16 AM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 2:20am

Jewishboy, it's funny that you mention that because I was extremely surprised that Sarah Uriarte Berry didn't even garner a nomination for THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. Incredibly beautiful, haunting work.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 8:46am

Sarah Uriarte Berry did get a Drama Desk nomination over O'Hara, I believe. and in some ways I think the Drama Desk is a more legitimate [that's really not the word I want, though] recognition than the Tony can be at times.

that being said, like it's been said before: as good as the reviews Kelli got for South Pacific were, they weren't on the same level as Patti's for Gypsy. I say Patti gets the Tony.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 8:55am

Berry did not receive a Drama Desk nomination OVER Kelli O'Hara.

The Drama Desks considered O'Hara a Leading Actress for PIAZZA, and that is the category she failed to pick up a nomination in.

Clara really was a Leading role, in my opinion, and the Drama Desks seemed to feel the same.

The reason O'Hara received a Featured Actress Tony nod over Berry was because O'Hara's role was really a Leading one, but she was in the Featured category.

It's difficult to weigh the role of Clara and the role of Franca on the same plane.

Clara is practically the lead in PIAZZA (in my opinion, even moreso than Margaret).

Franca is the essence of a Featured role.

Updated On: 4/7/08 at 08:55 AM

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 9:06am

oh, I didn't know that, Foster. thanks for clearing that up!

it bugs me that there's a discrepancy between the Drama Desks and Tonys re: leading and featured roles. another example I can think of is when Joanna Gleason won the Drama Desk for Featured Actress and then the Tony for Lead Actress for Into the Woods. I love Joanna Gleason and think no one can top her Baker's Wife, but I'm still not sure I'd consider it a leading role.

[jv92]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 4:00pm

Jenna Russell was quite remarkable in Sunday, but this is LuPone's.
PalJoey- I agree.
And I also agree with ray, though I think The Rink isn't as bad as the critics (mainly Frank Rich) made it out to be.
Margaret is the most developed character in Piazza, the richest, the most exciting, the one with the most depth, Foster. She is the lead of that show, in my opinion, not Clara. So we disagree there.
Updated On: 4/7/08 at 04:00 PM

[BWAYboi_yes]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 7:24pm

I guess my first question is, have they decided and announced already if Sutton will be considered a lead or featured? Secondly, am I alone in thinking that Sutton could best Butler for a nomination? She gives a nice performance, but more importantly, is very well liked in the Broadway community... she could garner votes just on her name alone. Thought?

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 7:28pm

All the ladies from YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN have been ruled as featured (and I believe the producers petitioned for Megan Mullally as Leading, not Foster). Roger Bart is the only person from FRANKENSTEIN that was considered leading and chances are he won't get a nomination.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 7:44pm

Featured role doesn't mean supporting by Tony standards. I think it was a wise spot to put her in. She probably would have been left out of the lead category.

[haddaddy3]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 8:44pm

See the poll on my blog/vote.

blog

Updated On: 4/7/08 at 08:44 PM

[WEBManBWay]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 8:49pm

I seriously doubt she'd win! Ever since Evita her roles have kept going down! Even though this role is incredible, she doesn't live up to Angela, Tyne, Ethel, and Bernadette! I think Faith Prince will take it!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 8:57pm

LOL!

[jv92]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 9:02pm

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! WRONG!

Bernadette? BERNADETTE!? I liked her and I wanted her to win that year, but La LuPone is SO much better than her. The nuance in that performance of her's! My God! And Daly? Are you kidding?

Updated On: 4/7/08 at 09:02 PM

[BroadwayBaby6]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 10:20pm

Even though many people dislike Patti, I don't see how they cannot give her the Tony. Her performance as Madame Rose is one for the history books- it is amazing.

[Londonskyguy]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 11:32pm

I am assuming that webmanbdwy is being sarcastic or something, I dont mean to put down anyones opinion, but that was really funny. I saw saturday's matinee, and 1700 people loved her that day! I am a self admitted Patti fan, but I must admit I did not think that her performance would be as amazing as it was. Three days later and I still cant believe how I was affected by her perfomance. Please just hand her the Tony!

[puppetman2]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 12:15am

This is something many forget, Merman did not get the Tony for the performance of her carrer in GYPSY. It went to Mary Martin for SOUND OF MUSIC. Merman got reviews like LuPone's or better. Anything can and does happen with awards. Even if it seems a lock for LuPone, it might not happen.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 1:10am

As The Merm said:
"You can't buck a Nun"
or in this case, a nurse, a housewife. a pregnant whore or a girl on roller skates channeling Olivia Newton John.

[iluvny04]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 1:25am

thats right and look at 2004 where you had Donna Murphy, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Tonya Pinkins, Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel all up for best actress. A lot of people thought Tonya was going to win, cause her review's in Caroline or Change were pretty much sameof those for Lupone in Gypsy,but then the tony ended going to Idina for Wicked(the dark horse). Patti, maybe nonminated but she is not a lock to win Russell or O'Hara could likely steal it away from her, personally I'm gunning for O'Hara.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 1:36am

Tonya Pinkin's reviews for CAROLINE, OR CHANGE were not nearly what LuPone's reviews were like. Most critics were rather dismissive of CAROLINE, OR CHANGE even if Pinkins' performance was just exhilarating and heart-breaking. Of course she deserved the Tony but oh well. Menzel was the worst-reviewed out of all the nominees (Chenoweth stole all the reviews from her when WICKED opened, who could forget Brantley's love letter to the blond girl?).
Donna Murphy was the only one that season that got reviews comparable to LuPone's, with every critic being incredibly surprised not only by Murphy's incredible comedic skills but by the improvement she had done from her much-acclaimed performance at Encores! (sounds familiar?). The bad press she got during the WONDERFUL TOWN run is rumored to be the reason she was denied the award, but she did win every award leading up to the Tonys.
What will land LuPone the award is more than the reviews, it has a lot to do with the status that she has given to this revival, the fact that people really do think that this is the role she was born to play, the fact she apparently has been very nice to her co-stars, and the fact that audiences are genuinely moved and haunted by her performance. I'll give it to LuPone, she has done what Peters never did (and I am one of the few who will listen to Peters any day before LuPone), which is convince everyone that this is her role and that she is the definite Rose. Unless a big surprise comes along, June 15th will be her night.

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 1:43am

Well said, ray.

I agree with you statements about both the past Tony races mentioned and the circumstances regarding the Best Actress in a Musical Tony for 2008.

I just think with the "performance of her career"-type raves she's just received, this really is Ms. LuPone's year. The reviews weren't simply great or glowing, these were the kind of accolades that only come along so often.