Who do you think will win Best Actor and Best Featured Actor in a Musical? — Page 3

IMHO it is WAY more challenging and thereby more satisfying to play. In Shrek he's just doing Mike Myers on a 2 dimensional character.

MTVMann, I wonder about that as well.


Really CPD? He can't do what he does without them, he is part of a whole. ANY nod is a bit for everyone involved.

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I think it will be The Billy Boys and Sieber

My preference would be D'Arcy James or Spencer for Lead actor and Sieber or Swenson for featured

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The Billy boys will and should win Best Actor. I saw all three and loved them all.

But the voters aren't going to see them all. They may not even see any of them.

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Because the voters are being asked to give a Tony Award to two or three people whose performances they never saw. That's a pretty big deal.

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I'm not familiar with those awards. Only the Tonys. For all I know, the voters of those awards were invited to watch every nominee's performance.

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I absolutely think that Gavin was amazing in Hair. If it wasn't for the fact that I was just blown away by all three Billys. I do like the idea of having a special tony for them.

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I guess I am not as vocal about bashing the ruling about the three of them being nominated together since I have seen all three of their performances and since it has been done twice before in other countries.
You're not a Tony voter and just because it's been done in other countries doesn't make it right.


Then they should make me a Tony voter...
God help us all.

Updated On: 5/10/09 at 10:48 PM

I thought the "boys" got a special achievment award at the Oliviers', not a best actor? Checking....


Nope they won. Oy.

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Updated On: 5/10/09 at 11:00 PM

Gavin. Hands down.

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I didn't see HAIR so I cant comment as to who really deserves this, but i thought Sieber was fantastic in the role. He wasnt just some stupid cartoon character- he really came to life on stage, sounded great, brought the house down, etc.

I also think HAIR is a shoo-in for Revival, and Shrek isnt a shoo-in for anything else, so I am sure some Tony voter will throw Sieber the award as a nod to Shrek.

In the actor category hopefully it will go to either Gavin Creel, Brian D'Arcy James or J. Robert Spencer and in the support category hopefully to Will Swenson.

It would be a huge shame to see the actor award go to the 3 actors for Billy Elliot. They are good dancers for their age but rather mediocre in the acting and especially singing department. Clearly they needed boys who can dance the role as the top priority over acting and singing since Billy Elliot is only a dance oriented show. How else can you explain the horrific score? And that's to be perfectly expected since it is their first role. It would be a win for the role only since they can only do an exceptional job in the dancing that is required for the role. They should have been given an honorary award only for sharing the role.

And even with dancing you can see the obvious flaws especially in the scene where the mature Billy enters the scene to dance with the young Billy and it becomes something straight out of Peter Pan. The older dancer took the focus in that scene just because of the obvious and glaring difference in experience and it would have much more effective to leave it as a dance solo for Billy. Unfortunately the creative team decided to pander to the audience and tourists for the "wow look at us, we can fly" mentality.

It's a shame that they are even nominated for the actor category since they only do 2 or 3 performances in a week and other child actors have had equally demanding roles and did 8 performances a week (considering when Daisy Egan as a support gave a performance that was 100 times superior to any of the Billys in the acting and singing criteria). They are exceptional dancers for their age and should be given an honorary award for their dance work only.

If Brian D'Arcy James would have been in the Broadway cast of Next to Normal he would be a lock for the leading actor award. No questions about that whatsoever.

And if bellowing, shouting, overacting, and playing the stereotypical "hard edge blue collar worker dad with a closed mind" is in fashion then I guess Jbara would take it in a Billy Smelliot sweep. Although that would be a rather empty and embarassing award to accept under those circumstances.

I was captivated by his DANCING...not his entire performance.

To each his own.

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I strongly recommend to anyone who only saw Billy Elliot early in the run to GO BACK and see it again. The boys have really developed into fine actors. The first time I saw the show, in previews, Kiril K. played Billy and I'd honestly agree with everything said here about the acting and singing, as well as the dancing. The last time I saw him, in mid February, he brought me to tears with his acting and the singing was wonderful. I saw Trent in March and David in April and they all had improved tremendously in the acting department. So please - before being quite so critical, try seeing them again.

And while I'm here - BRAVO to all the performers and creators who won awards last night. A special congratulations to all involved in my (0bvious) favorite - Billy Elliot. I couldn't be happier about the wins!

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