Sarah Jones automatically wins TONY for Bridge and Tunnel- Page 2

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 4:42pm

I also think that this will be better exposure come tony nite, with a bitty montage of the show...maybe Meryl will give it to her...Actor/Actress wont even be remembered by most people the next day.

And yes, smartypants, Christopher d'Amboise was nominated, along with his red cowboy boots!

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 4:43pm

I remember him being very good looking, too, and I think he left "Broadway" for the choreography world like his father right after, right?
That's kind of a tangent, I know, but still.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 4:56pm

Who from Awake and Sing is considered a lead/supporting>?

[new_philosophy_girl]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 4:57pm

So is Primo considered a play? Because I would have thought that it would have been a 'special event'.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 4:57pm

Go to Tonys.org and check for all the committee's decisions. If they don't specifically mention someone, then all categories will be "Consistent with opening night credits" (meaning people billed over-the-title are leads, everyone else, featured).

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 5:05pm

what about Chita's show? is that going to be in the musical category? i thought her show was going to win best special event.

[Lavinia]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 5:12pm

I think they decided along time ago that Chita's show is going to be considered a new musical, instead of a special event.

And congrats to Sarah! :)

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 5:13pm

....sorry, my boss asked me to do something.

I dont know what happened to Christopher, but he was a more traditional fine dancer than Charl...it is likely that he went the way of his daddy...into choreog.

nitol!

[sondwisenheimer]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 5:21pm

This happened to Bea Arthur one year when they couldn't decide whether to put her in the best actor or best actress category.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 5:22pm

Sondwisenheimer, everyone knows you call a male-to-female transgender by their NEW sex, not their old.

[sondwisenheimer]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 5:23pm

I still don't think that makes the category obvious in Bea's case.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 5:24pm

Use the tuck/no tuck rule.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 5:28pm

I agree that Bridge & Tunnel should have been regarded a play, but very glad that she has won the Tony. I so need to see this!

[Princeton78]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 5:29pm

-Congrats to Sarah.
-Remember Susan Browning (in what i'd call a very supporting role), was nominated as a leading actress in "Company."
-Sutton's situation reminds me of when the producers of the "Chicago" revival put Joel Grey in the leading category, where he had no shot instead of the featured category where he would have been a shoo-in.
-Sutton could have cleared room on the mantle if she'd been placed in the featured category. Beth Leavel, TCP women, and the Sweeney women must all be heaving a collective sigh of relief this afternoon.

[JerseyScoundrel]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 5:30pm

Thank heavens thats Three Days of Rain is in the revival category. Awake and Sing will definitely have a tony win after hearing about this.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 5:30pm

I don't think Sutton was a lock over any of the others for a win. A nom, sure.

Oh, and I think Joel Grey's Chicago snub was more a case of being done in by billing. He was over-the-title with the other three leads.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 5:37pm

I do believe though that when offered to put him in the 'featured' category, the producers refused, thus sacrificing his very possible Tony win.

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 5:40pm

I always thought the story with the Joel situation was that..

The Weisslers missed the deadline to petition Joel as a featured role. Therefore they had to consider him in the lead category. He very well could've won in featured - considering he did was the Drama Desk and OCC Award.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 5:52pm

Ijay is right. Someone is the Weissler's office forgot to petition Grey to be considered Featured -- which he would have won -- and so he had to go up against five actors with much larger leading roles (Amos only has one song) and so he got shut out entirely.

And I wouldn't count out Faith Healer in the Best Revival category. It got nearly across the board raves, while Awake and Sing had several mixed reviews from the major critics.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 8:41pm

Is anyone else surprised that this announcement is coming less than one week before the nominations are announced?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 8:47pm

Not at all. The committee's last round of decisions always comes out about a week before the awards every year.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 9:11pm

I guess when new shows open late in the season (Tarzan) without an out of town tryout that makes sense, but do they really have to meet to decide if Hugh Panero will be LEAD? I mean both Drowsy and Lestat have been kicking around for a while. And in the case of the revivals? Why do they have to wait to decide if Jenny in 3PO is a featured role? It has never been a lead.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 9:23pm

Not every production of a play or musical necessarily features the cast the same. Staging can make a difference. And cuts or additions definitely can make a difference as was the case for Cabaret.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 9:29pm

Yes they HAVE to meet and vote. Billing determines the categories unless a petition is made. Once the petition is made (and it can't be made until AFTER a show actually opens -- Drowsy and Lestat didn't actually open here and invite the nominators to see it until the last couple of weeks), the committee has to meet to decide yeah or nay on each request. Lestat didn't open until a couple of weeks ago and Panaro is not billed above the title, so a petition had to be made by the producers and the Tony committee had to vote on whether to move him to the lead category or not (same Jenny in Threepenny). Some votes are obvious and no-brainers. Others -- like whether Sutton Foster can be considered lead for a smallish role (they said yes) or whether Three Days of Rain is a revival or a new play since it never played Broadway before (they ruled it's a revival since it's had hundreds of productions around the country in the past decade) -- are more complicated. Either way, the committee meets several times throughout the year to formally vote on producers' petitions and then release their results in a press release. The one today was the third or fourth of the year and it reflects shows that opened in the past month. This is how it's worked every year for decades and it strikes me a very clear and effective system.

Updated On: 5/11/06 at 09:29 PM

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 5/11/06 at 9:34pm

Either way, the committee meets several times throughout the year to formally vote on producers' petitions and then release their results in a press release.

Now Margo, you know that is just a their way of saying "Let's get drunk! And do what ever the hell we want, we are so powerful!!! Pass the bong, please!"

Seriously, though, it seems rather complicated to me.