dumb Tony Question

[LindyLee]

Posted: 9/12/10 at 10:08am

Can an actor be nominated (and/or win) a Tony for the same play or musical that an actor was nominated for the year before? For instance, could Bernadette Peters be nominated for A Little Night Miusic next year when CZJ already won this year? I've always wondered about this but never asked. THanks!

[wonkit]

Posted: 9/12/10 at 10:10am

They have eliminated Tonys for replacements so, sadly, the answer is no.

[dragonlp86]

Posted: 9/12/10 at 11:10am

That's kind of a shame. Some replacements deserve Tony's more than the originals...:-X

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 9/12/10 at 11:16am

In London, the Olivier Awards allow this kind of thing to happen
For example the 1994 London revival of "Oliver!" starred Jonathan Pryce as Fagin. Pryce received an Olivier nomination for his performance (1995) but didn't win. In 1997, Robert Lindsay took over the role of Fagin and he won the Olivier for his portrayal that year.

[kchenofan]

Posted: 9/12/10 at 11:34am

I have a question about the Olivier Awards. Could an actor be nominated for the same role more than once, or would another actor have to replace them for the role to be nominated. I don't know if the wording of that will confuse you, but I can't think of how else to say it.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 9/12/10 at 12:19pm

Musicaldudepeter, does this explain why Martine McCutcheon and Joanna Riding won back-to-back Best Actress in a Musical Oliviers for the same role -- Eliza Doolittle, in 2002 and 2003?

I thought that was odd. Was the competition really weak in '03 that they had to nominate and give the Olivier to a replacement for a role that won the previous year?

Then again, I don't understand the Oliviers. They group the male and female supporting roles into one category.

Updated On: 9/12/10 at 12:19 PM

[Spotlight61]

Posted: 9/12/10 at 12:46pm

I personally believe, that if a performer performance in taking over a role from another nominated/winning performer, should be considered in its own right. It is their performance in that role/production that is nominated not whether the production is new. As I say, just my opinion, but it might explain the Jo Riding win.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 9/12/10 at 12:50pm

But from a logistical standpoint, first all the nominators would have to see EVERY show -- every time there was a cast change in an existing show (for significant parts, obviously). THEN the whole voting body would need to see all the shows of both the newly nominated and replacement nominated.

That's a lot of free tickets (care the producers) AND a lot of time (care the voters).

[Mark_E]

Posted: 9/12/10 at 3:30pm

There are nowhere near as many Olivier voters as Tony voters. I think there are only about 7 or 8 who do Musicals/Plays but may be wrong. They are made up of members of the general public.

Last year, Melanie C was nominated for Blood Brothers. Every other nominee was in a new production.

[mikem]

Posted: 9/12/10 at 4:56pm

There had been an attempt to start a replacement Tony award in 2006, but the Tonys people botched it up. Rather than have the entire voting membership have to go see all the shows, just the members of the Tony Administration Committee would vote, and in order to receive the award, a certain number of committee members had to vote for you. (It was an absolute number of members, not the most votes.) They ended up not giving out the award, which many thought would go to Jonathan Pryce for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels or Harvey Fierstein for Fiddler on the Roof, and Pryce went on the record saying it's one thing to lose to someone else, but that he thought it was insulting that no one won, implying that none of them were good enough.

Later, it was found that many of the Committee members didn't actually go to see Pryce, Fierstein, or the other candidates so therefore no one could realistically have gotten enough votes. There was a mini-scandal, and the award was abolished after that year.

It's too bad it was handled so poorly. I think a replacement Tony is a good idea, if the logistics could be worked out.

Updated On: 9/12/10 at 04:56 PM