Smallest Roles to Be Nominated for Tony Awards- Page 2

[VotePeron]

Posted: 8/29/24 at 10:15am

I remember Elizabeth A Davis as Reza in ONCE getting nominated for a role with very little independent stage-time was a curve ball.

[MagicalMusical]

Posted: 9/16/24 at 1:15pm

Dee Dee Bridgewater won for "Best Featured Actress" for Glinda in The Wiz. Doesn't she only appear at the end to sing one song? That's amazing! And even in the revival, she appears briefly for just two songs, which...I wish she was just there at the end, because her earlier appearance doesn't make sense and steals the song from the other Good Witch actress! 'Course, I loved Deborah Cox as her in the revival anyway...

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/16/24 at 1:22pm

MagicalMusical said: "Dee Dee Bridgewater won for "Best Featured Actress" for Glinda in The Wiz. Doesn't she only appear at the end to sing one song? That's amazing! And even in the revival, she appears briefly for just two songs, which...I wish she was just there at the end, because her earlier appearance doesn't make sense and steals the song from the other Good Witch actress! 'Course, I loved Deborah Cox as her in the revival anyway..."

That was a baffling decision in the revival (a decision of Schelle Williams? Of Amber Ruffin? Of Brian Moreland?). Thematically, the obvious doubling is Aunt Em: she gets two killer songs, she bookends the story, and she's both magical motherly characters.

Dee Dee Bridgewater actually understudied Aunt Em in the original production, which I assume meant sometimes she went on as both Glinda and Em –– which is another rare distinction: actors who won a Tony for a production where they also served as an understudy. (Brad Oscar in The Producers was nominated but didn't win; he understudied Max and Roger)

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 9/16/24 at 2:28pm

VotePeron said: "I remember Elizabeth A Davis as Reza in ONCE getting nominated for a role with very little independent stage-time was a curve ball."

I remember when the nomination came, it was kind of a symbolic nomination for the whole cast/ensemble, with Davis getting the name recognition. The same with Jenn Collela in Come From Away (to a lesser extent).

[JSquared2]

Posted: 9/16/24 at 3:08pm

fashionguru_23 said: "VotePeron said: "I remember Elizabeth A Davis as Reza in ONCE getting nominated for a role with very little independent stage-time was a curve ball."

I remember when the nomination came, it was kind of a symbolic nomination for the whole cast/ensemble, with Davis getting the name recognition. The same with Jenn Collela in Come From Away (to a lesser extent)."

 

Not really comparable at all.  Colella had the best song in the show to sing (and the only true solo number).

 

[MagicalMusical]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 2:47am

Thanks for the info, ErmengardeStopSniveling! And I would almost agree about the Aunt Em doubling, but I recently realized the answer to the question some have of why Glinda isn't a double of Aunt Em in The Wizard of Oz film: Dorothy is trying in particular to get home to her aunt, so if she feels she kind of has her in Oz, who is she trying to get home to?