No Tony Nod???

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 12:57pm

Does anyone have any idea WHY Bernadette was given no Tony nod for her work in Into the Woods??? I thought her performance was perfection and of the same caliber of Gleason, if not better. Was there a sophisticated reason for this "overlook"??? Anyone???

[Anne5122]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 12:59pm

I've thought of that myself because you're right, she was just as good as Joanna Gleason. Maybe because she had just gotten one doing another Sondheim work in SITPWG? I don't know, but my kids love watching Peters' performance on the DVD and ask to watch "the witch".

[KMF_NYC]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:00pm

one of the many Tony mysteries...and if my memory serves -- they had Ms Peters present that award -- and of course she took that "slap in the face" with total class and dignity

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:03pm

Thats Intense!!!
Was SITPWG the year before??? They often have the winner from the last year present, but still...I think Peters should have won.

Updated On: 12/8/04 at 01:03 PM

[Bwaydreams01]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:08pm

If I remember correctly, the reason Peters wasn't nominated was because she wasn't in the show for very long. She left the production a few months into the run and therefore the league didn't grant a nomination for her.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:09pm

Peters had just won the Tony in 1986 for Song & Dance. I think the sentiment was "let's give someone else a chance."

Plus during ITW, she was having voice problems and missed performances.

Updated On: 12/8/04 at 01:09 PM

[robbiej]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:10pm

First of all, Peters' Tony nod for Sunday was around five years before ITW. In between the two, she actually won the Tony for SONG & DANCE.

I believe Peters was only in the show a relatively brief period of time (can someone confirm), having agreed to do the role to get Sondheim and Lapine out of the jam of losing their original choice for the Witch (Betty Buckley...again, can anyone confirm). There was also a feeling that the Witch was more of a supporting role (as Frank Rich put it, 'a small but beloved turn' in reference to Peters' performance).

I do not believe having her present the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical that year was a slap in the face. It allowed her to joyously present the award to her esteemed co-star. Peters, always the very definition of grace and class, I'm sure was truly delighted for Ms. Gleason's much deserved win.

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:15pm

You are right, it was for Song and Dance... I knew that deep down.
Regardless of time in show though, I still think her perfomance beats the other nominees.

[gherbert]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:23pm

Miss Peters replaced Betty Buckley as the Witch late in rehearsals and basically did it as a favor to James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim, but only stayed with the show for a short time before departing for other works that she had already scheduled. While her performance was very good in her usual style, the nominators probably did not see it fitting to award her with a Tony nomination because Into the Woods was kind of something Miss Peters squeezed in her schedule and then left. It had nothing to do with her talent or a personal grudge, but another reason might also be that Miss Peters would not be seen by a majority of the voters, for she had already left the show, so she may have just been ineligible.

I think Miss Buckley was fired, but I am not exactly sure.

Can anyone confirm this because I am speaking purely from memory?

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:30pm

HERE I AM!! Sadly, to be of no help whatsoever. I didn't know this story at all! Anyone else know? I am a huge Bernadette fan and seeing her in that role is one of the highlights of my theatergoing history, but I would imagine Betty would have been a fabulous choice as well.

As we all know, Ms. Buckley is on the higher scale of Difficult To Work With, however, she's kept many a job despite that fact, so I really have no idea why she was let go.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:31pm

Buckley replaced Peters in Song & Dance. But I had thought at that time that Buckley had pissed off the Broadway community enough to where nobody wanted to work with her. Who am I thinking of?

[WOSQ]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:37pm

I think gherb has it pretty correct. It also boils down to who got more votes. This was not a slapintheface although there was comment at the time.

I can't even remember who else was nominated that year, but I do recall that Sarah Brightman was not which WAS a bitchslap--you should pardon the expression--to Mister Brightman-at-the-time who wouldn't do the show without her.

Bernadette could have not presented the Tony in that or any category. It isn't like she was forced to do it. It was a choice.

And yes, Betty Buckley was fired, and people have been pretty closed-mouth about that through the years. Betty is not what one would term easy to work with. Never has been. She did record some of the show's songs on a later disc.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:39pm

She's pissed most people off, yes, but she's done a few Broadway shows since then, and she was in rehearsal for INTO THE WOODS, so obviously they hired her to begin with...

Side note: I worked for a producer who had general managed BB's first Broadway show, and many years later she was calling to ask him for a part in his new show, and he wouldn't even take her calls. He will never consider her for another show. So she's been a barrel of laughs from Day 1, apparently.

Updated On: 12/8/04 at 01:39 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:41pm

Gossip mongers say that she had a sniff-sniff problem.

Can anyone confirm the rumor that on one of the nights near the end of Song & Dance, BB made a curtain speech rant about how the producers were trying to kill her career by closing the show?

[robbiej]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:42pm

Was Ms. Buckley going through her Whitney-esque troubles during this time?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:42pm

It was mostly because she wasn't in the show very long, so I don't think she was a visible enough presence in the show, for long enough, to garner a nom. Ken M. addressed this a while back in his Broadway.com column and I think he said that was the main reason...

[pab]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:44pm

The following is from a Bernadette Peters interview with Stephen Sondheim Stage:

SSS: Betty Buckley, whom you replaced before Into the Woods opened, told a story recently saying she had sent Sondheim the CDs of his songs that she had recorded and he said that he didn't like them because she didn't sing the notes the way he wrote them.

BP: Oh yes, I understand that. He writes the music and the lyrics very specifically, saying what he wants to say by making it a quarter note or a half note. He leaves room for passion ...(Laughs)... but only in certain places. When he's writing a show and you're performing his show he wants it done a certain way. I understand that because he's writing that way for a reason. And if you ask him, it's a very good reason. It makes perfectly good sense. But he does like his lyrics correct and his notes correct.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:45pm

I've heard that rumor as well (about the curtain call speech), and as she is (in my opinion and from personal experience) delusional with or without substance issues going on, I wouldn't put it past her.

Updated On: 12/8/04 at 01:45 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 1:47pm

pab makes a good point. Sondheim is particular about his music. In one of the interviews or DVD extras I saw, he rants about Donna Murphy scooping in Passion. It made me laugh, but he was right.

Updated On: 12/8/04 at 01:47 PM

[B.B. Wolf]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 2:07pm

Yes, she did have a "sniff-sniff" problem, at that time, which she has since cleared up completely. I have a friend who was a dancer in S & D. It's not something that's talked about too much, since a LOT of people at that time were coked up, and have since cleaned up their acts.

[robbiej]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 2:09pm

Though, I must point out we aren't telling tales out of school.

Ms. Buckley has spoken openly about her ordeal with the cocaine.

PS Anyobody ever see the cabaret show DANCES WITH PITCHFORKS? Genius account of one chorus boy's time with Betty and Deborah in the PMP production of Gypsy.

[B.B. Wolf]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 2:11pm

Nope! Expound, robbie.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 2:11pm

I wish I had, robbie. I can tell you during her 7 weeks of rehearsal and performance time at Papermill, she went through 3 assistants. Count 'em. 3. In SEVEN WEEKS.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 2:16pm

Rath, were you #1 or #2?

Updated On: 12/8/04 at 02:16 PM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 2:16pm

Not me. I served my time some years ago. I wasn't smart enough to escape that quickly.

Updated On: 12/8/04 at 02:16 PM