The 74th Annual Tony Awards (2021) - News & Discussion Thread — Page 7

Dolly80 said: "herewegoabc said: "Count me in on the Jagged Little Pill love. I'm thankful I got to see it twice before the shutdown. Elizabeth Stanley was the standout for me, but I also loved Celia Rose Gooding's performance. I know Patten is the likely winner from that show, but I would love to see Gooding get some recognition. And though I loved Stanley's performance, I'd be thrilled to see Adrienne Warren get her Tony.

On the play side, I'm just hoping for some Michael Urie recognition. I loved his performance in Grand Herizons. The standout in a group of topnotch performances. "

Goodingwas DREADFUL! She cannot act at all."

Geez.

Also: Three actors from ''The Inheritance'' are eligible for Leading Actor in a Play: Andrew Burnap, Samuel Levine and Kyle Soller. What are the odds that they all make the cut in a Leading category? It's rare. It happened at the 1960 Tonys with Leading Actor in a Musical: Jackie Gleason, Robert Morse and Walter Pidgeon, all for ''Take Me Along.''

https://www.theatermania.com/broadway/news/predicting-the-tonys-a-guide-to-the-actors-_91337.html"

Soller has the best bet of the three considering he carries most of the play. With the amount of potential nominees, I only think Burnap would have the better chance of sneaking a potential second slot in the category

MadonnaMusical said: "For a “short” season... this is the fiercest Best Play category we have had in aLmost a decade.

Will it be the Inheritance or Slave Play???!!!"

You need to hear the sound inside.

Philly Theater Girl said: "Slightly off topic but, when it comes to the acting awards in a musical, how much consideration is given to an actor's singing ability vs acting? There are some leads in musicals who are much stronger singers than actors and vice versa."

This is highly situational. I'd say the voters are looking at the sum total of a performance as opposed to singing or acting individually. Just thinking of a few past winners, there are obviously plenty with great singing ability like Stephanie J. Block and Cynthia Erivo. But there's also Tony Shalhoub who's role hardly required any singing at all. Just depends on the situation.

Philly Theater Girl said: "Slightly off topic but, when it comes to the acting awards in a musical, how much consideration is given to an actor's singing ability vs acting? There are some leads in musicals who are much stronger singers than actors and vice versa."



This is a big question that possibly deserves its own thread. There will probably be a lot of different opinions and strong disagreement as to the answer, as we just don’t know what’s going on in the Tony Voters’ minds. And no one will agree on what constitutes “good acting.” But here is my personal observation, which is influenced by my personal opinions:

In theory, singing and dancing in musical theatre should always be in service of the acting. The acting should be the bottom line, the basis for everything, because ultimately the medium is a form of storytelling. So by extension, the Tony Awards IN THEORY should always prioritize acting over anything else.

Unfortunately, I personally believe that a vast majority of musical theatre actors under the age of 40 (roughly) are actually not very strong actors. I think most musical theatre school programs are designed to churn out cookie-cutter performers who sing and dance while vaguely emoting and delivering lines in a way that makes basic sense. I don't think they really teach how to act well. (This isn't to say that there aren't plenty of younger MT performers that I love, but it's usually because of their voice, their charisma, their stage presence, their comedic timing, etc. - rarely because of their technical acting abilities).

So when it comes to the Tonys, I think that the nomination slots are often filled out by a lot of great singers, great performers, with a lot of charisma, etc. But it's my personal observation that in recent years, the Tony WINS frequently go to really strong technical actors. Not always, but often enough that I really think the strong actors have a noticeable edge over performers who coast along on their singing and their stage presence. Of course, this is the great irony: acting is undervalued in many areas of the musical theatre culture, and yet it's the strong actors who often win the Tonys.

Updated On: 8/26/20 at 11:34 AM

Philly Theater Girl said: "Slightly off topic but, when it comes to the acting awards in a musical, how much consideration is given to an actor's singing ability vs acting? There are some leads in musicals who are much stronger singers than actors and vice versa."

@JBroadway summed this up very well. But one other thing to note is I think a lot of it has to do with the role itself. For instance, John Lithgow in Sweet Smell of Success and Tony Shalhoub in Band's Visit--both playing roles that had relatively little in terms of complicated singing, where the acting is clearly the focal point of the role. And since they both acted those roles brilliantly, that was plenty enough to overlook their weaker voices and give them the Tonys. But if either of them were to take on something like Billy in Carousel, where the songs are such an integral part of the role, no matter how well they acted it they likely would not have won.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Breaking-Eligibility-Announced-for-The-2020-Tony-Awards-20200828

The results from their eligibility meeting have been released. The big surprise here is that Jane Alexander and James Cromwell were both considered featured, as they are below the title. Personally, I thought both of them gave great performances. If I had my way, Alexander would take the award over Lois Smith, as I thought Alexander's performance was far superior. But I doubt that will happen, given the buzz around Smith, and her long career without a Tony.

Also, while I know that the official purpose of this meeting was just to make rulings on those 3 plays, I'm still surprised they didn't take the opportunity to make announcements about any last-minute changes to the categories or rules.

From Time Out New York: When asked to clarify the status of the rules, the Tony sent us this reply: "Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rules have been adjusted for one-time only to ensure broad recognition of excellent work that occurred during the abbreviated Broadway season while also protecting the integrity of the Award. Performance and creative categories will be handled in a similar manner to how show categories have been handled in the past few years.”

Time Out's Adam Feldman speculates that the ''adjusted'' rules for ''excellent work'' could spell bad news for ''The Lightning Thief.''

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/the-final-rules-for-the-2020-tony-awards-have-been-announced-082820

Updated On: 8/28/20 at 03:23 PM