It Seems Like Best Featured Actor/Actress in a Musical=Best Song Performance

This is something I've noticed a lot

But think of how many Tony Award wins for acting performances in musicals wind up being for song performances

I mean, in 2022, Company took home two Tony Awards, one for each of the big showstopping numbers by featured performers

And, yes, they do have other material in the show, but it mostly comes down to those big numbers

Now, I'm not saying these awards aren't deserved, because I don't think that any Tony Awards are "undeserved" other than maybe a few instances of producers buying rights for shows they know will win best musical, actors getting awards more or less by default, and a handful of just baffling times

In 2022, I think that Patti Lupone was the most unbelievable person on Broadway that season no contest and she absolutely deserved that award

But it seems like it's sort of a competition of Best Song Performance for featured performers

This applies to Leading Actors/Actresses, too, of course

But the leading actors in musicals get a lot more to do

For example, I think a big part of Victoria Clark's Tony win came from that scene where she's silently conveying her feelings of agony to the audience when her friends talk about their futures

That was an incredible moment where she wasn't even singing

Of course, Idina Menzel probably won her Tony Award for Wicked largely because of her iconic, defining performance of Defying Gravity

There's a lot more examples of featured performers than leading performers for this, though

Just off the top of my head, there's:

Dick Latessa for You're Timeless to Me in Hairspray, Gabriel Ebert for Telly in Matilda, Christian Borle for Hard to be the Bard in Something Rotten, Matt Doyle for Not Getting Married Today in Company, Patti Lupone for The Ladies Who Lunch in Company, Bonnie Milligan for Better in Kimberly Akimbo, Renee Elise Goldsberry for Satisfied in Hamilton

I suppose all this is to say that it's hard for somebody to win or even be nominated for a Tony Award without a big, showstopping number

I mean, Robin De Jesus managed two Tony nominations off of zero solos so that's pretty dang impressive

But it's so rare for roles not to seemingly be written specifically to facilitate Tony Awards

Some roles just can't win Tony awards because they don't have this kind of showstopping number

I'm curious to know what others think about my insane ramblings

Interestingly, mentioning Patti LuPone made me remember that Jennifer Simmard was also nominated with her and through sheer acting alone for her one scene. The original Sarah was also nominated but, Elaine Stritch was up for LEADING instead of featured (as was April...really), instead Marta was also nominated in featured, going along with this tony-for-best-solo commentary. The original Amy was not nominated, though. Also, at least Joanne has The Little Things You Do Together and a lot of zingers throughout.

Sebastian said: "Interestingly, mentioning Patti LuPone made me remember that Jennifer Simmard was also nominated with her and through sheer acting alone for her one scene. The original Sarah was also nominated but, Elaine Stritch was up for LEADING instead of featured (as was April...really), instead Marta was also nominated in featured, going along with this tony-for-best-solo commentary. The original Amy was not nominated, though. Also, at least Joanne has The Little Things You Do Together and a lot of zingers throughout."

Joanne is as close as you get to a leading lady in Company, but really there just isn't a leading female role

I find it so interesting when one song elevates a featured role to leading

Like, how in the world were Ben Vereen in JCS and Daisy Eagan in Secret Garden featured performers and Harvey Fierstein in Hairspray and Bertie Carvel in Matilda were leading?

And, a lot of the time, it almost feels like musical acting categories come down to singing

I think singing is an important part of acting in a musical, of course

But it makes me so happy when people like the aforementioned Harvey Fierstein or Natalia Makarova win Tony Awards when they really aren't singers but their acting performances are good enough to carry that

I think that, to some degree, it's an actor's personality that puts them from featured to leading

I think Harvey would have been doomed in the featured category that year, because, despite getting a ton to do in Timeless to Me, that still feels largely like Latessa's song

But his personality is so huge that they inflated the size of his role

I think that the leading categories are a lot more fair in the regard of being about acting

Like, take that time Raul Esparza didn't win a Tony for Company even though most people can agree his Being Alive was one of the best solos on Broadway that year

Broadway61004 said: "BeingAlive44Ever said: "Like, how in the world were Ben Vereen in JCS and Daisy Eagan in Secret Garden featured performers and Harvey Fierstein in Hairspray and Bertie Carvel in Matilda were leading?"

Don't forget that prior to about 25 years ago or so, there was no such thing as petitioning for leading or featured. If you were above the title, you were leading. If you weren't, you were featured. No matter what. So while that doesn't really explain Fierstein or Carvel, if does explain why Daisy Egan and Ben Vereen (both below the title) were automatically featured and Elaine Stritch (above the title in Company) was automatically leading."


That’s patently false. In A CHORUS LINE everyone was below the title and Donna McKechnie won as Lead Actress. In DREAMGIRLS everyone was below title and Jennifer Holliday and Ben Harney both won as Leads. Just a few of the many examples.

JSquared2 said: "Broadway61004 said: "BeingAlive44Ever said: "Like, how in the world were Ben Vereen in JCS and Daisy Eagan in Secret Garden featured performers and Harvey Fierstein in Hairspray and Bertie Carvel in Matilda were leading?"

Don't forget that prior to about 25 years ago or so, there was no such thing as petitioning for leading or featured. If you were above the title, you were leading. If you weren't, you were featured. No matter what. So while that doesn't really explain Fierstein or Carvel, if does explain why Daisy Egan and Ben Vereen (both below the title) were automatically featured and Elaine Stritch (above the title in Company) was automatically leading."


That’s patently false. In A CHORUS LINE everyone was below the title and Donna McKechnie won as Lead Actress. In DREAMGIRLS everyone was below title and Jennifer Holliday and Ben Harney both won as Leads. Just a few of the many examples."

A Chorus Line was after the rule change and the show petitioned Donna for lead.

I do think that happened with the Company actors in 2022 and with Alex Newell this year (Justin Cooley deserved it IMO). But I would argue Bonnie Milligan won for many more reasons than just her performance of "Better." There are plenty of recent winners before that though who also won for more than one song so I don't think it's a trend yet.