Jessie & Beautiful & Tony

[BobNC]

Posted: 3/20/14 at 6:36pm

Why did the Tony Committee have to meet to rule that Jessie Mueller would be eligible in the Best Lead Actress Musical category?

[followspot]

Posted: 3/20/14 at 6:46pm

Because she's billed below the show title. Only performers billed above a show title are automatically eligible in a lead acting category. Performers billed below the show title can only be placed in a lead acting category by a Tony committee decision. (And likewise, performers billed above the show title can only be placed in a featured category by decision.)

Updated On: 3/20/14 at 06:46 PM

[BobNC]

Posted: 3/20/14 at 6:50pm

Thanks very much for your prompt reply. I thought the show was ineligible or she was considered featured.

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 3/20/14 at 7:21pm

Gotta love a beaurocracy that has to take a freaking meeting to figure out if the actress who plays Carole King in the Carole King musical is eligible for Best Actress.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 3/20/14 at 10:16pm

I'm sure if they arbitrarily chose not to follow their own clearly defined process and you didn't like what they decided, you'd complain about that too. I'm sure they'll want to check with you next time to make sure you approve.

Updated On: 3/21/14 at 10:16 PM

[BobNC]

Posted: 3/20/14 at 10:42pm

True 'dat. I wonder why Jessie is below the title? She is the star.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/20/14 at 11:14pm

She's the star of the show but she's not a Star (yet). And remember when Tom Bosley won Best Featured Actor in FIORELLO as Fiorello? And they can pay her less also.

[bobs3]

Posted: 3/21/14 at 12:25am

Dick Van Dyke (BYE BYE BIRDIE) and Tammy Grimes (THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN) both won Tonys in the featured categories because they were billed below the title. Updated On: 3/21/14 at 12:25 AM

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 3/21/14 at 12:29am

"I wonder why Jessie is below the title?"

So we can't get refunds when she calls in sick?

[bobs3]

Posted: 3/21/14 at 1:56am

In the original production of CABARET, Lotte Lenya was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading role for playing Fraulein Schneider even though it is considered a featured role in most productions. I suspect it was because the Kander & Ebb score was considered a homage to Kurt Weill's music.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/21/14 at 7:13am

Or maybe because Lenya was a legend and Jill Hayworth was, well, not.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 3/21/14 at 11:39am

William Daniels was ruled ineligible for Lead Actor for playing John Adams in 1776 because he was below the title, and even refused the nomination when he was nominated for Featured Actor.

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 3/21/14 at 11:48am

Hey FishermanBob, you're a real jackass. Go to hell. You never have anything to contribute here except your snarky little commentary. You think this is your own personal contest to become the bitchiest bitch in bitchville, and it's pretty lame.

Updated On: 3/21/14 at 11:48 AM

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 3/21/14 at 11:49am

And I don't really blame him. If you're in a leading role no matter if your name is billed below the show, you are still a leading role. Period.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 3/21/14 at 12:33pm

"Hey FishermanBob, you're a real jackass. Go to hell. You never have anything to contribute here except your snarky little commentary."

Look who's talking. Though your "I won't go to a show if the number of dollars I pay is more than the number of minutes I see" did provide people with a fascinating new way to look at the value of shows.




Updated On: 3/21/14 at 12:33 PM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/21/14 at 1:03pm

I think the producers probably like all the rules with nominating actors in lead vs featured. This way they can strategically place people above and below the title to get as many nominations as possible.

Also remember that just because the producers petition a change to be made, it doesn't guarantee that the committee will approve it. I think it was One Man, Two Guvnors that petitioned the committee to be considered a revival instead of a new play because it had been based on some source material. This was a desperate attempt to compete in the much less competitive play revival category. The committee saw through it, declined the request and didn't nominate them for Best Play either.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/21/14 at 1:37pm

Also keep in mind that at one point in the history of the awards producers did not have the option to petition to move actors into or out of the category they were initially determined to be in due to billing. A lot of these older cases (Cabaret, 1776, and Fiorello) were before the change in the rules to allow petitions from the producers.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/21/14 at 11:54pm

And the producer's greed to get multiple nominations for MATILDA (which worked) cost Bertie Carvel a TONY Award.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 3/22/14 at 8:01am

"Gotta love a beaurocracy that has to take a freaking meeting to figure out if the actress who plays Carole King in the Carole King musical is eligible for Best Actress."

Yep, IMO it is one of those SMH moments.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 3/22/14 at 3:13pm

I had never known about this rule until I saw the Jessie Mueller story the other day. It really does seem like an absurd rule. I see why they do it, but it seems like it only allows really big names to be eligible in the lead acting categories without petition, since more often than not people who play leading roles but aren't big names don't get above-title billing.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/22/14 at 4:53pm

EXcept most of the time, the producers DO petition for proper placement.

[theatreguy]

Posted: 3/22/14 at 7:40pm

And the committee is given the right to change category placement as they see fit, even without a petition from the producers. The above-the-title rule is just to give everyone a starting point.