Leading Actress in a Musical - all the Tony-eligible possibilities listed

Here are all of the eligible women for Leading Actress in a Musical.

LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL (12 possibilities)
Billy Elliott - no one eligible
Guys and Dolls - Lauren Graham, Kate Jennings Grant
Hair - no one eligible
Next to Normal -Alice Ripley
9 to 5 -Stephanie J Block, Allison Janney, Megan Hilty
Pal Joey -Stockard Channing
Rock of Ages - Amy Spanger
Shrek - Sutton Foster
Story of My Life - no one eligible
13 - no one eligible
A Tale of Two Cities - no one eligible
[title of show] - no one eligible
West Side Story - Josefina Scaglione
White Christmas - Meredith Patterson, Kerry O'Malley

Who are your predictions? Mine are

Alice Ripley
Stephanie J Block
Allison Janney
Megan Hilty
Josefina Scaglione

with Sutton Foster as #6.

ETA: updated for final eligibility rulings.

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Updated On: 5/1/09 at 09:36 AM

Amy Spanger is eligible for Rock Of Ages. and I believe there are a few other shows they could maybe make a case for as well... Hair may have someone.

and Alice Ripley will win the Tonys for Leading Actress in a Musical!

J*

Pirag, you really think 9 TO 5 still has a good chance at score? The score was criticized at length by many of the critics for being uneven and unoriginal. BILLY and N2N are going to be duking it out for Best Score.

I hope N2N wins but something tells me with the inevitable BILLY sweep, it'll take Best Score along with its awards for Best Musical, Best Actor, Best Book, probably Best Director, and Best Choreography.

And deservedly so.

No.

I'm rooting for Next to Normal to win Best Score and Best Actress (oh please God not another Idina-style upset). After Cry Baby last year, I'm still interested in seeing who's actually gonna get nominated and who isn't. But I honestly don't see all of the 9 to 5 girls getting nods. I see one of them getting the shaft. Judging from the reviews of her performance (I'm still recovering from the fact that the reviews were that lukewarm), it may be Allison. Funny, I honestly thought it would be Stephanie...why, I don't know.

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Why doesn't anyone see that Stephanie plays the most developed character while Megan(although good) does an impression of Ms. Parton?

There are a lot of decently received performances in this category, but the only true lock, I think, is Alice Ripley. I think it is a lock that at least 2 of the 3 ladies from 9 to 5 will get in (I personally think all 3 will), but a case could be made for each of the 3 of them that that particular person will be left out.

I would put the 12 eligible women into these 4 categories:

Lock (1)
Alice Ripley

Ahead of the pack (5)
Stephanie J Block
Megan Hilty
Sutton Foster
Allison Janney
Josefina Scaglione

Not completely out of it, but probably won't get in ahead of the competition (2) Stockard Channing
Kate Jennings Grant

Longshots (4)
Lauren Graham
Kerry O'Malley
Meredith Patterson
Amy Spanger

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Updated On: 5/3/09 at 07:34 PM