Posted: 6/7/15 at 11:27pm
You find it disrespectful to compare actors when that's exactly what the award season is about? Comparing actors to see who gave the better performance? Weird.
Posted: 6/7/15 at 11:36pm
I agree it's disrespectful and she has a glorious voice with in my opinion the best rendition of Hello Young Lovers I ever heard recorded. That said, a lot of O'Hara supporters had no problem disrespecting Jessie Mueller all thoughout this Tony period.
Posted: 6/7/15 at 11:37pm
A BIG, BIG Mazel Tov to Kelli on a well deserved win. For me. that was the highlight.
Posted: 6/7/15 at 11:40pm
!
YAY!
Posted: 6/7/15 at 11:40pm
YAY!
Posted: 6/8/15 at 12:03am
"This was NOT a pity win. Her performance was flawless, elegant and exquisite. She was deserving plain and simple. "
Wasn't it, though? Of course her performance was flawless, that's why she was nominated for a Tony. But that does not mean it was not a pity Tony when she won. Had she won last year, there is not doubt in my mind that Kristin would have won tonight. She takes it to another level, and Kelli, while wonderful, is rather standard to me (for lack of a better word). My gut reaction to Kelli is that she is wonderfully talented but is not that exciting. Kristin Chenoweth, on the other hand, is a fire cracker!
Posted: 6/8/15 at 12:03am
Very often the showier role will win the award for its actor and Kristin gets to do everything but set herself on fire in 20th. I was delighted to see Kelli win for a more understated and, I think, more difficult role. Showing off, however expertly, is perhaps easier than bringing to life a still-waters-run-deep character, as Cerveris also triumphed with over actors with showier roles.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 12:50am
100% agree, Wilmingtom. Well said!
Updated On: 6/8/15 at 12:50 AM
Posted: 6/8/15 at 12:52am
Congrats Kelli!!! Goddess.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 12:57am
Her dress was to die for!
Posted: 6/8/15 at 1:03am
I find myself agreeing with those who say had Kelli (deservedly) won last year, Kristin would be taking home the medallion tonight. Of course, in an ideal world, they would have tied.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 1:17am
Kelli absolutely deserved to win last year, but that does not mean she didn't deserve to win this year. There is no such thing as a "pity Tony." That anyone would suggest such a thing is absurd.
Updated On: 6/8/15 at 01:17 AM
Posted: 6/8/15 at 1:27am
Kristin should be on the lookout for more over-the-top roles. She'll get a Tony, sooner or later. And we will applaud all the harder.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 2:40am
I'm still in shock that Kelli has finally won, although I do believe that the fact that she was overdue gave her the edge over Kristin. Not to say both weren't deserving. I'll be going to New York soon and I will hopefully be catching both of their performances. I still think it was very close, I'd love to know how close it was. But I am just so happy and relieved for Kelli. What a GREAT SPEECH!
To the Chenoweth Fans: Kristin does already have a Tony after all. She has said it herself about awards in general. Sometimes it's just not your time. She will come back in another role and win.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 9:51am
"Kelli absolutely deserved to win last year, but that does not mean she didn't deserve to win this year. There is no such thing as a "pity Tony." That anyone would suggest such a thing is absurd. "
I'm sure her Tony won't be engraved with the words "pity Tony", but that does not mean that some substantial percent of voters did not vote for her because they did not want her to have been nominated so many times without a win. In that sense, I think it was given somewhat out of pity or at least sympathy. I do not think that anyone here believes that she would have won a Tony for the same performance in The King and I had it been several years earlier in her career.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 10:53am
This breaks down the Kelli/Kristin/Chita showdown. http://www.out.com/michael-musto/2015/6/08/lesbian-musical-fun-home-crushes-gershwin-show-tony-awards-revelations
Posted: 6/8/15 at 10:56am
Anyone who is saying that Kelli won because of pity votes should buy a ticket to 'The King and I' and actually see the show. She gave a beautiful performance; her renditions of 'Getting to Know You' and especially 'Hello Young Lovers' in Act 1 are gorgeous, and her acting in Act II is Tony worthy all in itself. This is not Al Pacino in 'Scent of a Woman.'
Sometimes this board can be such a miserable place. The Tony voters gave the award to a high caliber performance, which is not something they always do. Sheesh.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 11:07am
Oh gee, and here I was thinking they really engraved "Pity Tony" into the thing...
Sure, momentum played a role in her winning, but that in no way weakens her performance. No one can do what Kelli does onstage. She consistently gives beautiful performances. This was the right combination of show, role, and acting. It was definitely her time.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 11:12am
Sort of odd how no one seemed to feel Jessie Mueller wasn't deserving until this year, most on the board were predicting her for a win...she was far and away better than Kelli last year. Kelli was lovely but it wasn't the star-making moment that Jessie had with Beautiful. Kelli deserved her win this year, she was much better than Chenoweth to me. She was understated and restrained and did a beautiful job making me feel interested in a show I've seen a thousand times.
I am very, very happy Kelli finally took home a statue though, but I completely disagree that it was a pity win. I thought she was just the best one in the category.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 1:02pm
I really thought Kristin would win, and it would have been equally deserved, so when I heard Kelli's name I cried I think more than more parents! I am so happy for her and that performance I saw did not produce a sympathy win. it was a real win.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 1:42pm
Let me preface this with saying I really like Kelli O'Hara. Her work on Bridges and South Pacific both should have been a tony win but...
Remember Sandra Bullock when she won for the Blind Side at the Oscars? A terrible movie and an ok performance. This was an award for Sandra's body of work. This is very similar to what happenned to Kelli.
It's never fair cause if it was, Kelli would have won for Bridges or South Pacific. The King and I was NOT her best performance.
I agree that her accent was in and out. She didn't quite nail the British thing as she did with the Italian accent. When she confronted the king, I did not believe her one iota. When Deborah Kerr confronted the king she was formidible. Kelli was like well you did kinda did promise me a house sorta kinda whine whine. Deborah was "This was not our agreement." It was too hesitant a take on Anna.
So in my opinion, the best performance this year was Kristen and it wasn't "fair" that she did not take home the Tony. But it wasn't fair that Kelli didn't take it home for South Pacific. And I don't get the love for this "King and I". Both leads were lacking.
So lets call this a "body of work" Tony. Cause her body of work is excellent. Kelli as Anna Leowens was not.
Updated On: 6/8/15 at 01:42 PM
Posted: 6/8/15 at 1:44pm
I disagree. I disagree fundamentally, with every word of your post.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 1:54pm
Cannot believe I am typing this but I agree, one-hundred percent, with PalJoey.
Posted: 6/8/15 at 1:55pm
"Remember Sandra Bullock when she won for the Blind Side at the Oscars? A terrible movie and an ok performance. This was an award for Sandra's body of work."
I'd say it was more a win for a well liked star who finally got an oscar nomination rather than for her body of work, which, with some exceptions (the most important one, Gravity, being after Blind Side!), is pretty much made up of terrible movies with just ok performances.
I like Sandra Bullock a lot. Particularly in Speed, Gravity and a few of her comedies (While You Were Sleeping, Miss Congeniality).
But I think few would compare her movie career pre-Blind Side to the sustained record of standout work that a great many of us (not all of course) and a great many Tony voters would ascribe to Kelli O'Hara's last decade on Broadway.
