Why is it hard for other Sweeneys and Lovetts to win acting Tonys now?

Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury won acting Tonys for their original performances as Sweeney and Lovett. These are titanic roles in the musical theater canon that seem like award magnets. Why in each of the later revivals of the show on Broadway have the Sweeneys and Lovetts failed to win Tonys? To me Cerveris and LuPone should have easily won in 2005 over John Lloyd Young and LaChanze, and I half expected Groban to pull off a win this year. Many people suspect Ashford would have won had Clark not been in the race for best actress this year too. What are people's thoughts? One would think these roles are so mammoth that they would steamroll over any other competition but it's difficult to win nowadays with these roles - is it that the original performances are so indelible that it's hard to honor anyone else? 

Updated On: 6/12/23 at 06:46 AM

I don't think it has to do anything with the roles themselves, but just unfortunate timing as far as being against other competition. No way was Tyne Daly not winning for her Mama Rose and City of Angels was the big behemoth at the 1990 Tonys which included James Naughton. Then Lloyd Young was the talk of the town for his Frankie Valli in 2006 (and Cerveris had just won 2 years prior). LaChanze was a bit of an upset, but it makes sense in that this was the only spot to reward Color Purple. And Victoria Clark has been the frontrunner all year. Josh Groban was probably the best chance to break this streak, but Ghee was far more acclaimed for his work this year. So yeah, not the characters themselves, just bad timing.

Completely agree with the other comments here. They're not winning for the role. It's the role, plus the season, plus the other nominees in the category that year. It's not like if you play a role that has won before, that automatically guarantees a Tony win. 

I really enjoy Groban and am glad he does Broadway since he obviously loves theater and has great pipes, but crucially, his Sweeney just wasn't frightening. He sang it well, true, but he didn't vanish into the character and that means he got halfway there. It felt like AA was carrying the show and giving a more well-rounded performance. Too hammy, perhaps, but more dynamic. Of the two of them, she stood a better chance of winning based on merit.

Honestly, I'm relieved Groban (and Hugh before him) didn't win because it proves that Bway hasn't succumbed to the idea that a star deigning to appear on the boards is reason enough to give them a Tony. Let their performance be perfect and the casting be right regardless of their fame, and then give them a Tony.

Well, this is only the third revival of the show on Broadway. And the first revival has been more or less lost to memory due to lack of a recording, lack of much writing or documentation about it, and lack of big Broadway names attached to it. 

I recall LaChanze’s win over Patti being kind of an upset, but again, Celie is a powerhouse vocal role in a way that Lovett isn’t, and that impresses nominators. The same was true of John Lloyd Young versus Michael Cerveris that year- Young’s Frankie Valli vocals were a big deal that season, as kind of eyeroll-y as it is to think now. 

Updated On: 6/12/23 at 11:25 AM

Some people are unaware or forget that Hugh Jackman came from the theatre before he became a Hollywood film star. He stole the show as Gaston in Beauty&theBeast & played JoeGillis in Sunset Blvd. It was Trevor Nunn ( director of the Royal National Theatre &the Royal Shakespeare Company; also of acclaimed plays Les Miserables/SunsetBlvd/NicholasNickleby) who cast him in SunsetBlvd and brought him to the London revival of Oklahoma!. Before London, Hugh also won an acting award for his portrayal in a film adaptation of a play called Erskinsville Kings - an inner city drama in Sydney. It was in Oklahoma! that XMen producer LSDonner discovered him & suggested his eventual casting as Wolverine. Early on, his versatility was already noted.

If people think he cannot handle savage scenes (such as the supposed throat-slicing scenes in Sweeney Todd) here is one of the most frightening scenes on screen, from the movie Prisoners  directed by Denis Villeneuve ( which had an impeccable cast - with Jake Gyllenhaal/Viola Davis/Terence Howard/MelissaLeo/Paul Dano), where Hugh portrays an alpha male whose daughter went missing. He imprisons ( and hurts) the young man whom he suspected of kidnapping his daughter. A traumatic scene :

Hugh Jackman does not "deign to act in the theatre" -- he is an accomplished thespian ( his Broadway plays include A Steady Rain & Jez Butterworth's The River) and has been successful in musical theatre as well. Also, it was his film TheGreatestShowman( he is an uncredited producer & oversaw the project for 8 years) which  helped reinvigorate the interest in movie musicals.

 

 

Updated On: 6/13/23 at 12:17 AM

joevitus said: "Different take than most here, but Lansbury's performance being recorded for posterity may make other Lovett's shine less brightly in the eyes of Tony voters. And though it's Hearn not Cariou on that video recording, he may too be indelibly marked in their minds in a way that makes it more difficult to embrace either radically different interpretations or those which mimic his."

I agree with you.

It is an issue for those who play roles in revivals whose original character portrayals have won awards.

Lupone seems to be the one who has had the best shot but LaChanze deservingly won.

Patti should of won that year over Lachanze (kenita miller was better)

I'm still a little bitter Patti lost that year, as I think it's one of her best performances.

But also, it was a true ensemble piece. One of the most impressive things about her was how little it resembled a star turn, but true ensemble acting.

Plus, LaChanze is so loved and it was somewhere to reward Color Purple.