Smallest Roles to Be Nominated for Tony Awards — Page 2

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 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 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).