Weird Tony Decisions

-Daisy Eagan winning in the best featured actress category. Wasn't she in practically every scene? Seems like a leading role to me.

-Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley sharing a nomination. I get why they nominated them together, but at the same time they were paying two very different characters.

-Fiorello and The Sound of Music tying for best musical. Having done both shows regionally, I feel that "Sound of Music" is far superior to "Fiorello" which really does not stand the test of time (many of the lyrics are amusingly misogynistic).

The Tony slip-up the FIORELLO/ SOUND OF MUSIC was not that both of those shows won. It was that GYPSY didn't.

I didn't know Skinner and Ripley shared a nomination. That's odd.

---

Oh, yes. Gorshin was tremendous- absolutely tremendous. I saw him on tour the night before he passed away. He definitely deserved a nomination, if not a sentimental win.

---

Alice Ripley was alone in the Best Actress category at the Drama Desks.

Another that I can think of- George Hearn's random nomination for his leading actor work in "Putting It Together."

Ruthie Henshall and Carol Burnett should have been recognized for their work in that musical revue. Both were fabulous, especially Henshall, who should have been nominated over Ann Hampton Callaway (in "Swing!).

---

The whole Sunset Blvd thing just blew my mind. If no one liked the show & it had no competition (egads, I can't remember the one other nominated musical that year - someone help me out!), why bother? It just draws attention to the dreck being played that year.

Tammy Grimes winning Best Supporting (at the time) Actress for her performance in the TITLE role of THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN.

---

If memory serves, Philly03, a majority of the critics did NOT like the show. They liked the costumes (well-done), the set (fascinating), Glenn Close (not a fan, but I hear she did very well), & a few of the songs. They didn't think it was a brilliant piece of musical theatre, though, more of a spectacle. Not arguing with the value of spectacle, btw. I like it as much as the next person.

The general opinion was that the only reason it won a Tony for Best Musical was because it wasn't up against anything original. Smoky Joe's Cafe (thanks for the memory jog, btw!) was debated as Best Musical because it was a review & folks questioned its originality, not as big of a issue these days.

"I thought Alice and Emily should have been nominated seperately. Ok actually I would have been ok with just Alice, if it was a space thing."

Yes but then Emily probably would have felt like ****. HAHAH. They were basically ONE on stage.

And I was always one for allowing THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL to be re-nominated in the 1999 Tony's with SP2. It really was so different, new cast (except for Sills, which I could have seen & would have left out of nominations). It certainly would have been better to see SP2 nominated then Frank Wildhorn's trainwreck known as The Civil War! Of course they got shot down, but it would have been weirder to see it get re-nom.! And after trying so hard with SP2, I was shocked that they didn't even attempt with SP3, which actually was completely different from SP1! Ah SP you never cease to amaze! Atleast they ggot to "continously" run?!

What about the decision to nominate all seven Von Trapp children in the best featured actress category that year?

---

Rodgers and Hammerstein receiving a best score nomination in 1996 for State Fair!

I was going to mention the nod for all the Von Trapp kids or to the ensemble from La Plume de ma Tante or to the two actors from SIZWE BANZI....

Okay, imagine if Alice Ripley had been nominated for a Tony and Emily Skinner hadn't... Do you really want to be attached to the bitch who got a Tony nod over you every single night for the rest of the run?
Seriously speaking, I just figure that the Tony committee agreed to nominate them together because their performances probably complemented each other too much.
I agree that the only odd thing about the FIORELLO and THE SOUND OF MUSIC tie was that that was the year GYPSY was nominated.

---

Oh really? Well...there goes that theory.

---