Appreciate their info, because I'm finding this to be one of the hardest years to predict in recent memory. The unpredictability kind of adds to the fun, but I'm not used to being quite so in the dark on so many categories! I have a reputation to uphold among my casual-theatre-lover friends lol!
Even before this came out, I was actually leaning toward O'Connell in my predictions - mostly by process of elimination:
Negga and Beans just don't seem like realistic winners to me; Negga because of the production she's in, and the fact that Lady Macbeth is on the smaller side of "leading" roles. Beans because, while there was a lot of enthusiasm for her performance (including from me), I don't think it was enough of a tour de force performance - nor was the production popular enough - to vault her past her most established competitors.
LaChanze seems like a more viable winner, but it just seems like there's more enthusiasm for the other two. Also, I feel like Parker and O'Connell both did some of their best work with their respective performances, whereas I think LaChanze was very good, but has given more memorable performances in the past.
So in my mind, that leaves us with O'Connell vs. Parker. And while we all know back-to-back Tony wins are well within the realm of possibility, I just feel like there will be a notable subset of voters who would rather give the award to the seasoned pro who has never won a Tony, who ALSO delivered a tour de force performance.
Updated On: 6/10/22 at 04:08 PM