Why did Kristin win the 1999 Tony?

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 11/18/11 at 4:53pm

I've watched My New Philosophy for the first time, and I'm wondering what was so Tony worthy of Kristin's performance in Charlie Brown? It's so random

[Smaxie]

Posted: 11/18/11 at 4:59pm

She was pretty much the thing you kept your eyes on throughout that production. It was a combination of role, performer, the new song, the character's spiky, frayed nerve sensibility that was a perfect use of Kristin's lethal kewpie doll comic persona. Plus, Valerie Pettiford in Fosse, Gretha Boston in It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues and Mary Testa in On the Town (funny as she was) were not major competition that year.

[CONAries]

Posted: 11/18/11 at 6:03pm

Because she gave the best performance in that category. It's sorta how every award works every year! ...Well, no it's not unfortunately, but on this occasion she was 100% the worthy winner... remember, one video on youtube of one song is a completely different thing to an entire show live on stage!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 11/18/11 at 6:17pm

Because she was absolutely brilliant in that role. Completely deserving of that and every other award she won her Sally Brown.

It was the very definition of a star-making performance.

[denali.fire]

Posted: 11/18/11 at 7:06pm

Why did she win?
Because she got the most votes.

[emilyfaye48]

Posted: 11/18/11 at 11:08pm

why would you ask this question?

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/18/11 at 11:14pm

One of the biggest things I remember at the time was hearing how she had taken a role that wasn't perceived in advance as scene-stealing or obviously special and walked away with the entire show anyway.

She made Sally Brown into a "star turn" by simply playing her so damn well.

Reason enough to win a Tony in any season.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/19/11 at 12:30pm

Sadly, just like Musicaldudepeter, 95% of the population base their entire opinion about a show or an actor's performance on an abridged 3 minute performance on an awards show. Screw the rest of the 2 hour performance of the actual show and/or the actor's actual performance in the show or film, etc.

One perfect example: Tony Pinkins' out-of-context performance of "Lot's Wife" at the Tony Awards from the highly praised CAROLINE, OR CHANGE was simply horrific. So much so, I refrained from seeing the show. I did end-up seeing the show because it was closing (yes, I'm one of those), and was blown away from not just Tonya Pinkins' performance but the entire show itself.

There you have it.

And yes... Kristin Chenoweth rightly deserved that Tony Award. The new number "My Own Philosophy" was just one moment in the Broadway revival of YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN that she owned on the stage of the Ambassador Theatre. Her scenes with Roger Bart (who, by the way, also one a Tony Award for this performance of Snoopy), were sheer genius. I still laugh when I recall the sequence of her entering the stage shimmying to the Theme of "Hawaii 5-0". One of her many memorable moments in that revival.

[dry2olives]

Posted: 11/19/11 at 1:12pm

Another major factor was that Lea DeLaria, who won the Drama Desk Award that season for her performance as Hildy in On The Town, wasn't nominated for a Tony. Hers was one of the best reviewed and talked about performances of the season and had she been nominated she might have been favored to win.

EDIT -- My mistake. DeLaria was nominated for a DD but Chenoweth won. Updated On: 11/19/11 at 01:12 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/19/11 at 1:20pm

Lea DeLaria not even getting nominated was the real surprise that year.

[ChenoKahn]

Posted: 11/19/11 at 1:23pm

Brody the song is called "My New Philosophy". Also I keep reading Kristin won the Drama Desk? Was it a tie? Am I wrong?

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 11/20/11 at 7:18am

I good rule of thumb I've found is that if you get the showstopper, you get the Tony.

Back in 1989, for instance, both Jane Krakowski and Randi Graff were up for Best Supporting Actress. Both were absolutely phenominal, but Randi got to stop her "City of Angels" with "You Can Always Count On Me". So, she won the Tony.

"My New Philosophy" was a show stopper. Therefore...

[AC126748]

Posted: 11/20/11 at 8:55am

Just adding my voice to the chorus here and saying that Chenoweth's Tony was richly deserved. Mary Testa sort of did the same thing in ON THE TOWN--she took a rather minor role and turned it into a focus-pulling showstopper--but was definitely not on the same level of Kristin.

Fifteen years on, I still don't get the praise for DeLaria's performance in ON THE TOWN. I found her miscast and painful to watch/hear. That woman has only played one character in her career, and it's Lea DeLaria.

[TheHappyPhantom]

Posted: 11/20/11 at 3:08pm

Don't ask me why she gets anything. She has a nice soprano, but her speaking voice sounds like a stuffed up rat, and that face...well I'll keep quiet. But that being said, can't stand her. So obnoxious and "look at me, I'm on stage and everyone loves me". Ugh! I hate everything about what she brings to the stage.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 11/20/11 at 3:14pm

Well, two roles at least. I didn't see her ON THE TOWN (though based on TV appearances, I tend to agree with AC), but DeLaria was astonishing in LA REPRISE's BOYS FROM SYRACUSE around the same town. She played a woman, played it straight and sang it like she was Ethel Merman reborn.

And the poster above was right about brief appearances at the Tony Awards. I'm no fan of forced cutesy and Chenowith's Tony appearance as Sally took me years to get over. It wasn't until the OBC recording of WICKED that I began to appreciate her.

(ETA it later occurred to me that what I wrote about DeLaria "playing it straight" might be misinterpreted. I have no quarrel with the gender-bending of her stand-up persona. I just meant that she has enough acting ability to also play a "wronged wife" believably. When I used the word "straight", I actually meant as opposed to the mania she brings to some of her roles.)
Updated On: 11/20/11 at 03:14 PM