WAY TOO EARLY 2023 Tony Award Predictions — Page 14

Best Leading Actor in a Musical

• Andrew Burnap - Camelot ***
• Ben Platt - Parade
• Brian d'Arcy James - Into The Woods
• J. Harrison Ghee - Some Like It Hot ***
• Josh Groban - Sweeney Todd
  *** Tight race between Burnap and Ghee

I am going out on a limb and predicting that Justin Cooley will be nominated for Best Leading Actor in a Musical and win it.

For me, so far he is giving the best leading male performance on Broadway. I don't completely follow the eligibility announcements so maybe he won't. But if he is eligible and is nominated, I predict a win for him. JMO

PianoMann said: "uncageg said: "I am going out on a limb and predicting that Justin Cooley will be nominated for Best Leading Actor in a Musical and win it.

For me, so far he is giving the best leading male performance on Broadway. I don't completely follow the eligibility announcements so maybe he won't. But if he is eligible and is nominated, I predict a win for him. JMO"

The Administration Committee already met on Kimberly and deemed only Victoria eligible in Lead, so Justin will be in Featured."



Thanks, As mentioned I don't keep up unless I catch it here. I would so love to have seen him win in the Leading category.

Still no word on where or IF Alex Newell will be eligible?

dramamama611 said: "Why wouldn't he be eligible? I haven't seen the show....so is there some debate on what category he should be placed - do you mean m or f ? Or leading/supporting?"

Actor or actress.

I haven't seen Shucked yet, but I believe Newell's character is a cisgender woman and Newell now more explicitly identifies as non-binary.

I hope that however they're being campaigned by the producers that it's with their support and consent. But, taking those two factors into the account, I feel like it would be quite the slap in the face to Newell and all trans and non-binary performers to say that the gender identity of both actor and character are irrelevant and only gender assigned at birth is.

I saw the five musicals I think will be nominated for Best...

& JULIET
KIMBERLY AKIMBO
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SHUCKED
SOME LIKE IT HOT

Aside from that, do you think we'd get a sixth nominee like last year? If so, I'd think it'd be A Beautiful Noise or Almost Famous. The former because it's tourable, still running, biomusical, etc. and the latter would be because it feels like it had a better reception from what I have read on the boards, has an upcoming album, based on the award-winning film, could also tour, etc.

My five nominees for score would be:

ALMOST FAMOUS
KIMBERLY AKIMBO
NEW YORK, NEW YORK (if deemed eligible)
SHUCKED
SOME LIKE IT HOT

I could see one of these five interchanged for KPOP, and I just don't really think Bad Cinderella will get the votes, but never underestimate Andrew Lloyd Webber's draw... plus it'd mean he could be in attendance at the ceremony.

And I think my Best Musical nom predictions could also fill the Best Book category.

I could see Kimberly Akimbo taking these big three, but with everything so varied in style, it would also be cool to have some wealth spread across all categories. I really thought the five shows I saw were very strong in different respects. Like NY, NY possibly snagging Choreography and Scenic Design, for example and SLIH or &J for Costumes. I even thought Shucked's orchestrations were really fun and helped bring that score to life. And this doesn't count the revivals.

Either way, thrilled I was able to see these five, plus Sweeney. Wish I could catch everything... and the closed shows are missed.

Burnap winning two Tonys so quickly would be…odd. My money would be on Ghee or Platt.

jacobsnchz14 said: My five nominees for score would be:

ALMOST FAMOUS
KIMBERLY AKIMBO
NEW YORK, NEW YORK (if deemed eligible)
SHUCKED
SOME LIKE IT HOT

I could see one of these five interchanged for KPOP, and I just don't really think Bad Cinderella will get the votes, but never underestimate Andrew Lloyd Webber's draw... plus it'd mean he could be in attendance at the ceremony.

And I think my Best Musical nom predictions could also fill the Best Book category.


I don't see NY, NY qualifying as an original score. It's more likely that 1 or more plays take a slot in Original Score -- Rebecca Lucy Taylor's score in PRIMA FACIE is exceptionally strong.

Updated On: 4/12/23 at 05:31 PM

JSquared2 said: "jacobsnchz14 said:My five nominees for score would be:

ALMOST FAMOUS
KIMBERLY AKIMBO
NEW YORK, NEW YORK (if deemed eligible)
SHUCKED
SOME LIKE IT HOT

I could see one of these five interchanged for KPOP, and I just don't really think Bad Cinderella will get the votes, but never underestimate Andrew Lloyd Webber's draw... plus it'd mean he could be in attendance at the ceremony.

And I think my Best Musical nom predictions could also fill the Best Book category.


I don't see NY, NY qualifying a an original score. It's more likely that 1 or more plays take a slot in Original Score -- Rebecca Lucy Taylor's score inPRIMA FACIEis exceptionally strong."

I could definitely see that or something like Life Of Pi. Both have released their scores on streaming platforms/CD.

His chances are very high. The award is likely between him, Oscar Isaac and Stephen McKinley Henderson, imo. I do feel he has the edge however.

My current predictions in the musicals categories (I don't follow plays closely enough). I named the shows for all categories except the acting roles just for time's sake so I didn't have to look up all the individual names. Only reason I didn't do that with actors is obviously there could be more than one actor in a category for the same show.

Musical: Kimberly Akimbo, New York New York, Shucked, Some Like It Hot, & Juliet
Revival: Sweeney Todd, Parade, Into the Woods, Camelot
Lead Actress: Clark, Ashford, Diamond, Bareilles, Uzele
Lead Actor: Groban, Ghee, Platt, Borle, Ryan
Featured Actress: Milligan, Wolfe, Williams, Miles, Soo
Featured Actor: Cooley, Creel, Donica, Matarazzo, Newell (if eligible)
Director: Sweeney Todd, Kimberly Akimbo, Some Like It Hot, Parade, Shucked
Score: Kimberly Akimbo, Shucked, Some Like It Hot, Life of Pi, Almost Famous
Book: Kimberly Akimbo, Shucked, Some Like It Hot, New York New York, & Juliet
Choreography: Some Like It Hot, New York New York, & Juliet, Shucked, Camelot
Scenic Design: Kimberly Akimbo, New York New York, Sweeney Todd, Parade, Shucked
Costume Design: New York New York, Some Like It Hot, Sweeney Todd, Parade, & Juliet
Lighting Design: New York New York, Some Like It Hot, Sweeney Todd, & Juliet, Camelot
Sound Design: Kimberly Akimbo, New York New York, Some Like It Hot, Sweeney Todd, Parade
Orchestrations: New York New York, Some Like It Hot, Parade, Kimberly Akimbo, Shucked

So in this scenario, the nomination totals would be:
Some Like It Hot: 12
Sweeney Todd: 10
New York, New York: 10
Kimberly Akimbo: 10
Parade: 8
Shucked: 8
& Juliet: 6
Camelot: 4
Into the Woods: 4
Almost Famous: 1
A Beautiful Noise, KPop, Bad Cinderella, 1776, Dancin: 0

Updated On: 4/14/23 at 11:38 PM

BossBroadway said: "Almost all the reviews praised the design elements of Bad Cinderella. I wouldn't count them out of Costume, Scenic, or even Lighting Design. And depending on if NYNY is eligible for Best Score, BC could sneak in there too. I also think Carolee is a locked nomination for Featured Actress, she received universal praise."

I agree Bad Cinderella could sneak into some of those categories. But there's part of me that thinks it's gonna get absolutely zero nominations as just a rejection of the show. In the same way that acclaimed shows sometimes get nominated for categories they have no business getting nominated for as part of a runaway train, I think the same can happen on the other side of the coin for rejected shows. Carolee or Costume Design would be the most likely for BC though I agree.