Don't tell H Foster.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
Which brings up another possibility: restrict it to performers who get above-the-title billing. Not fair to the many great replacements in supporting roles, but at least it would make it clear that the featured replacements weren't being rejected. And it would make more manageable the number of replacements that the committee has to see.
Don't quote me, but I believe that was the original intention.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
Makes sense to me, obviously. Thanks, AC.
It was going to be restricted only to roles that had been deemed Leading when the production first opened. So Elaine Stritch would not have been eligible for A Little Night Music whereas Bernadette Peters would have been, for example.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
^^^^
I love Stritch, but I have a lot of trouble imagining her as Madame Armfeldt. So that doesn't strike me as a tragedy.
With shows running longer and longer on Broadway these days, i think it's a great idea to honor replacements, whether it's with a special award or with their own categories.
It might cause too much controversy to have them filtered into the major categories, as with the Olivier Awards. It all depends. The Oliviers don't do it that often.
But if suddenly every Elphaba who ever waved a broom was being nominated for Best Actress, five years in a row, people would freak out. (Not that my example would ever happen ...)
Still, with past performances like Reba in Annie Get Your Gun, Peters in Night Music, and Mazzie in Next To Normal, you begin to think they really do need to come up with something.
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