Tony rules... can a different Hedwig ever be nominated?

I'm confused as to how Tony nominations work. Can someone be nominated for a Tony *only* if the show premiered/opened that Tony year? So hypothetically, if Taye Diggs does a better job of portraying Hedwig than NPH, can Taye Diggs ever be nominated for a Tony for playing that character?

If that were the case, that doesn't really seem very fair. Has there ever been any performances where a person does a better job than the "original" but never received any nods or recognition?

Except the time there was.

Whoever headlines the next revival could be nominated if it's on Broadway but I'm hoping for an elaborate environmental staging in a warehouse.

I recall there was serious discussion about allowing replacements to be nominated when Harvey Fierstein took over as Tevye.

I also think it's somewhat logistical. Tony nominators and voters can't go around watching every replacement (or most) to see who is nomination worthy as their plate is already full with seeing new productions every season (plays and musicals). If they only picked and chose which ones to watch based on buzz and positive word-of-mouth, that wouldn't be fair to less known or popular replacements who may also be worthy of note.

Somewhat related, there was Martine McCutcheon's Eliza in the 2001 West End revival of My Fair Lady.

She missed so many performances due to illnesses/problems that Jonathan Pryce (Prof Higgins) claimed he had Martine and 3 understudies he had to act opposite of, and had not even had the chance to even rehearse with some of them. He stated in particular the last night of previews on a very very short notice.

He also claimed Martine was missing for 6 weeks after opening night.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVHSfMYm7_Q

I can just imagine what he thought when McCutheon won the Olivier for best lead actress in a musical, especially when all her understudies played the role many more times than she did up to the awards being presented.

Updated On: 6/12/15 at 06:23 PM

They have also awarded replacements willy nilly with a "special" Tony. Mary Tyler Moore was awarded for replacing Tom Conti in "Whose Life Is It Anyway?" and just this year John Cameron Mitchell for Hedwig.

I agree that overall McCutheon got really good reviews, she missed the last preview night, was able to make the opening night, and then was MIA for most of the next six weeks.

It was probably a combination of not being a formally trained singer tackling such a daunting vocal role (she said she had damaged vocal chords, bronchitis, was taking steroids to keep up, etc ). She left 4 months earlier than her intital committment but in hindsight she probably didn't have the physical stamina to have done the role day in and day out.

From what I understand the rest of the cast was not thrilled that on some of the nights she was out (the intiall run her understudy did 64 performances) she was seen out and about socially in London.

Updated On: 6/12/15 at 08:06 PM

"There have already been Hedwig replacements whose performances/interpretations are generally seen as being better than/ favored over NPH. He is actually my least favorite of all the Hedwigs. "

"Generally", by whom? the critics who overall gave NPH rave reviews?. The Drama League, the Drama Desk, and the Tony awards which gave him the best male lead in a musical? The Hedwig Box office where he had weekly million dollar grosses for a lot of his run and standing room only?

I get that others personally may have preferred Rannels, Michael Hall , and especially JCM, but I'm curious about this "generally seen " consensus you throw out there.

Updated On: 6/12/15 at 09:38 PM

""Generally" as in I've seen more people who have other Hedwigs as a point of refrence who prefer other takes on the part than I've seen of people who hold his above all others. ."

I'm not arguing who one prefers personally. I liked in different ways NPH, Michael Hall, JCM and especially Andrew Rannels. Rannells I thought was especially good in having a great balance of good acting/singing to the role. Sacrilege I know but I prefer him in some ways over JCM.

The point is just SAYING that per your circle of friends others are preferred over NPH isn't really a general consensus. As to all those awards, of course no one has to agree (God, when I think of Matthew Broderick's Tony award...) with the accolades, but the point is there were people out there who really liked NPH's spin on Hedwig so they are part of the "generally" which you conveniently leave out.

Updated On: 6/12/15 at 10:18 PM

"They have also awarded replacements willy nilly with a "special" Tony. Mary Tyler Moore was awarded for replacing Tom Conti in "Whose Life Is It Anyway?" and just this year John Cameron Mitchell for Hedwig."

The show with Conti closed for four months and reopened at a different theater with Moore. (There was some rewriting and the second lead (Jean March) was recast as a man (James Naughton), IIRC. I'm not sure why they didn't consider it a revival, except that both runs took place within the same Tony-eligiblity period.

I don't think there was a Best Revival of a Play back then (1979-80), but treating the return engagement as a revival would open another can of worms: for example, could the director have been nominated twice? Tom Conti won Best Actor for his portrayal of the leading role; perhaps nominating Moore for what was more or less the same part would have set up an unfair sense of competition between the two.

(I thought Moore was terrific, BTW.)