Bartlett Sher knows how to churn out Best Musical Revival winners, just look at his track record. I feel like people are giving this Fiddler revival a lot of unnecessary criticism merely due to the rate at which the show has been revived. But I would argue that this revival is going to be better than the last. Danny Burstein is going to be fabulous and hopefully win his first, long overdue Tony.
Who cares about overdue tony awards.. If there is someone better they should win.. that's the whole point. Look at this year.. we all know it was Kristin's tony. BUT.. the LONG OVERDUE CRAP..kept coming up all the damn time.
I do believe that Danny Burstein will give the most nuanced and Tony worthy performance in his category, whomever that may consist of. Him winning won't be by pity because it's "overdue", just as Kelli's wasn't this year. I think she deserved it fair and square and it just so happened that this was her year after being nominated unsuccessfully several other times. The "overdue" thing is icing on the cake but not the reason Kelli won, or Danny Burstein will win, IMO. Plus, I really don't see Lin Manuel-Miranda getting the Tony for Leading Actor since he will most likely be winning book and score (and musical).
Tuck Everlasting hasn't announced the cast for the Broadway run, so we don't even know if Andrew Keenan-Bolger and/or Terrence Mann are going to continue with it yet (though I hope they do).
Another reason why it's way too early to predict is that you'll never know when a show could end up getting announced for this season.
I knew I shouldn't have opened this thread. This is all a bunch of BALONEY!
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
Oh man I hope Danny Burstein is perfection in Fiddler and I hope he wins finally! How great would that be!
Really hope Hamilton doesn't lose steam. It is so deserving. It does feel like the kind of show where voters might overlook the cast (of so many newcomers, and so many worthy roles) though which I hope doesn't happen.
So tired of people saying it was Kristin's Tony. Kelli won it fair and square. She's a PHENOMENAL talent. They both are. To me it's insulting when people keep saying Kelli was a pity win. It just seems like when people say that they are discrediting Kelli's work as an actress and singer and that's not okay in my book.
Personally, I was rooting for Jessie Mueller to win it last year and I was rooting for Kelli O'Hara to win it this year.
But hey, it's not the first time a meatier role beat the flashier role. Mary Martin won for The Sound of Music over Ethel Merman in Gypsy, Joanna Gleason won for Into the Woods over Patti LuPone in Anything Goes, etc.
^Since we're getting six musical revivals this season, it's likely that there will only be four slots to fill and a fifth nominee won't be possible at all unless we end up getting nine revivals.
Oh man I forgot JHud. In a supporting role that makes it somewhat easier for her to maybe win a Tony, and then she would then have 3/4 for an EGOT, which would be CRAZY considering how bad an actress she is.
"Oh man I forgot JHud. In a supporting role that makes it somewhat easier for her to maybe win a Tony, and then she would then have 3/4 for an EGOT, which would be CRAZY considering how bad an actress she is. "
She could be up for an Emmy this year for her guest starring role on Empire.
Interesting to see Michael Arden - a likely acting nominee had Hunchback transferred to Broadway - emerge as an early frontrunner for directing.
Is Phillipa Soo really a lead in Hamilton? I haven't seen the show yet (have tickets for the end of the Summer) so I'm just curious to know where I should consider her.
Lead Actress in a Musical is really looking like a bloodbath this year - Benanti, Erivo, McDonald, Mueller, Salonga and Soo are the only sure contenders right now, but there are many looming on the horizon. There will be some heat surrounding whoever gets cast in Dames at Sea, Sutton Foster could potentially become a factor if The Wild Party transfers, Megan Hilty has something coming up that is just a matter of being announced and there are still plenty of tryouts looking to transfer.
I'm not incredibly confident in the upcoming Fiddler revival. It obviously has the team of Sher + Burstein going for it, and Sher's track record with musical revivals speaks for itself. But it's important to note that this revival is much different from Sher's previous revivals. Up until now, they have been shows that were due for Broadway revivals (in South Pacific's case, very due) and that there was high interest in seeing again. Fiddler doesn't necessarily have that, since the most recent revival closed less than 10 years ago. Additionally, this is Sher's first commercial revival, as the last two were non-for-profit. This is in conjunction with being in one of Broadway's largest houses (his last two were in a relatively smaller one). I do think the show will be an artistic triumph, but may struggle financially.
The last Fiddler revival was in a same size house and ran for over a year. Fiddler on the Roof is one of the most famous musicals ever. I think it will run, and be financially successful. We are getting a spring awakening Revival after it was on broadway 6 years ago, and a Color Purple revival after it was on broadway 7 years ago. By the time this revival opens, Fiddler on the roof would have been last on Broadway 10 years ago