Lead Actress in a Musical 2026 — Page 5

Sutton Ross said: "When you have a performance as emotionally rich, layered, and fully realized as Cassie Levy’s in Ragtime, it’s hard to take the idea of this being a close race seriously. Thisshouldn’t even be a competitive category.

It's incredibly competitive. There is no one, besides Joshua Henry, that has a guaranteed Tony this year, especially in the female categories."

I mean calling it incredibly competitive seems a bit

much. This is no Nicole v Audra situation.

I’m really curious if Vosk gets a nom for best actress. She seems to have a lot of industry love behind her and did was the only redeeming part in Beaches.

And Joaquina Kalukango for Paradise Square which was such a mess from start to finish. That win shocked me considering all the issues surrounding that production and the competition that year.

goodtimes123 said: "Sutton Ross said: "And Joaquina Kalukango for Paradise Square which was such a mess from start to finish. That win shocked me considering all the issues surrounding that production and the competition that year."

I wonder if Caroline, or Change had stayed open if Sharon D. Clarke would’ve won."

Although Paradise Square had 10 nominations overall. I was referring to musicals that only received 1 Tony nod in a lead acting category and nothing else.

If Caroline, or Change was running during Tony season, maybe it would've at least increased Clarke's chances of winning. I don't know if the show ending its limited run months beforehand was too much of a detriment given that the portal system requires voters to log everything they've seen throughout the season. That year in particular, voters could only vote in at least one specific category if they've confirmed to have seen all the nominees. Thus, a majority of the play categories were won by productions that only ran within the fall 2021/winter 2022 range. Although due to the smaller than usual voter turnouts, the rules were altered the following year to voting in categories where you've either seen all or all but one of the nominees. As of now, no permanently closed musical production has managed to win thanks to the portal system yet.

With that being said, I have a feeling that had Lea Michele opened the most recent revival of Funny Girl that season, she probably could've won.

Updated On: 4/24/26 at 02:00 PM

Jeffrey Karasarides said: "If Caroline, or Change was running during Tony season, maybe it would've at leastincreased Clarke's chances of winning. I don't know if the showendingits limited run months beforehand was too much of a detriment given that the portal system requiresvoters to log everything they've seen throughout the season."

Even so, we all know the Tonys are allergic to shows/performances from musicals that are already closed. No clue why it's so different than plays (of which we've had many such cases), but the fact remains, no closed musical has won a best production or acting award this century.

“Competitive” doesn’t really describe the category this season- it’s more like a number of performances are all at about the same level and nobody really has yet broken through. In this and a number of major categories, it’s a “well, somebody has to win” year.

Sutton Ross said: "I think Michele would 100% won given the reception that Paradise had and the reviews Lea got."

Absolutely would have won, no doubt. The producers of Funny Girl learned their lesson and won't ever repeat their embarrassing mistake again. And anyone saying Lea was "so hated" is basing it off bww threads and people simply bitching online who couldn't afford tickets anyway. Considering the second she was announced in July for herSeptember debut, tickets started moving again and they ended up recouping because she was excellent in the part and people were really excited to see her. She has proved she sells tickets and is a huge draw, twice now, and anyone who is "so hated" by everyone could never do that."

She's mostly hated by a segment of the online glee fandom who were mad she was the female lead of Glee and not their favourite, those who are incapable of separating her from a character she played, people who just like to be jerks online especially to famous young women, and people who believe everything negative said about Lea ( that was blown up online beyond what actually happened as Kevin McHale has said multiple times on his podcast) without ever accepting anything said about her that was positive. Any FG cast member who said nice things about her or included her in backstage funny videos was accused of being paid by Lea and her team to say nice things about her. Some of these people are quite deranged.

You can accept Lea wasn't always perfect in her behaviour on set or elsewhere in her career in the past while also knowing she's not a monster, that other Glee cast members also had problematic times that weren't highlighted in the media and that some of her cast mates ( not just on Glee) had a bad case of the green eyed monster. Also that she suffered a tragedy that no 26 year old should have to deal with, especially in the public eye and especially with people picking apart her grief.

She's been exemplary since she returned to Broadway, has been called a great leader by many of her colleagues on both FG and Chess and been called incredibly kind and supportive by many of them including Nik just the other day saying she has a great generosity of spirit.

Maybe its time to start listening to these people and stop repeating everything some people said many years ago.

Anyway, we'll never know if Lea would have won for FG if she had opened the show but as she said at the time she didn't care about the Tony she just wanted to play the role, just like she just wanted to play Florence. Its not a role you pick if you are desperate to win a Tony given the show's history.

Years ago Lea told the story about how she was so upset when she was 12 years old when Peter Friedman didn't win a Tony for Ragtime as he meant so much to her. Same with Marin. Peter sat her down and, while I don't remember her exact words, she basically said he gave her a good perspective re the importance of awards. She's not that kid from Ohio desperate for a Tony, I think she's more great if it happens, such is life if it doesn't, she's been down this road before with SA. Someone who was at one of her concerts last year said Lea looked really uncomfortable when someone said she was going to win a Tony for Chess . She's a realist.

Updated On: 4/25/26 at 02:36 AM

GirlFromOz68 said: "She's mostly hated by a segment of the online glee fandom who were mad she was the female lead of Glee and not their favourite, those who are incapable of separating her from a character she played"

Can't the exact argument be re-fashioned into a positive spin on why people did like her in "Funny Girl" (particularly the inability to separate Lea from the Streisand-loving Rachael)?

John Adams said: "GirlFromOz68 said: "She's mostly hated by a segment of the online glee fandom who were mad she was the female lead of Glee and not their favourite, those who are incapable of separating her from a character she played"

Can't the exact argument be re-fashioned into a positive spin on why peopledidlike her in "Funny Girl" (particularly the inability to separate Lea from the Streisand-loving Rachael)?"

yes some people did go because they enjoyed Lea as Rachel and they liked the idea of Lea doing Funny Girl.

I'm talking about the people who hated Lea because they hated Rachel and were unable to separate the two in their minds.

Updated On: 4/25/26 at 07:19 AM

John Adams said: "GirlFromOz68 said: "I'm talking about the people who hated Lea because they hated Rachel and were unable to separate the two in their minds."

I know. I'm pointing out that there's an improper balance to talk about one without the other.

Look, Lea Michelle is very blessed with a lovely singing voice and (IMO) exceptionally good looks. It's also my opinion that shewasn'tgifted with the ability to utilize those gits beyond the "known", "expected" or "previously demonstrated".

When she sang Streisand's role on Broadway, she sang it like Streisand did. Ms Michelle certainly wasn'tbad in the role. IMO, she just didn't venture outside of a very safe, Streisand-reminiscent performance - just like Rachael Barry would do.

I think it's an unbalanced assessment to speak only about why Ms Michelle might be "mostly hated" because fans couldn't "separate her from a character she played" when it's equally feasible that fans liked her in the role for the exact same reason.

I'm very glad Lea Michelle was cast in "Chess". IMO, it's an opportunity for her to display the abilities of Lea Michelle without the baggage of Rachael Barry.

If I were her, I'm not so sure I would have made the career choice to do "Funny Girl". Too much "Glee" baggage that she obviously wasn't able to avoid because here you and I are talking about the effect "Glee" has/had on her role in "Funny Girl"."

ok firstly its Rachel Berry not Rachael..

Secondly, Lea did NOT just do it like Streisand, and multiple critics commented on this, especially for People where more than one critic said they preferred Lea's version as it was less brassy and more like a young woman falling in love.

Also if you compare her Glee versions of some of the songs, most especially People, they are quite different to the cast recording, because Lea playing Rachel WAS trying to.sound like Babs because thats what a teenage fan would do. In fact Rachel even gets called on trying to be too much like Streisand by her own mother when preparing for her audition.

The older Lea made different choices and if you cant see that like me, others ive chatted to and the critics can well I cant help you.

She played the role because she wanted to play it. the first time she watched the movie when she was 21 years old ( yes she didnt come out if the womb a Babs fan like her alter ego) she related to Fanny, not Barbra, Fanny, but she also became a Barbra fan.

It's funny how I never see other people getting criticised for wanting to do their dream role, just Lea. It's tiring.

The Glee double edged sword is not Lea's responsibility, its the haters and the fans. it shouldn't stop her from doing a role she fell in love with before Glee. I don't remember anyone saying Amber shouldn't do Dreamgirls because of two songs she did in Glee from Dreamgirls but of course not because shes not Lea.

Updated On: 4/25/26 at 08:48 AM

John Adams said: "GirlFromOz68 said: "if you cant see that like me, others ive chatted to and the critics can well I cant help you."

I believe you when you say that you can't."

no need to be a jerk