why is it a featured role and not a supporting role?

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 9/19/11 at 1:59am

just wondered this... why is the award a featured actor and not a supporting actor? has the award always been featured? how would you define the difference?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 9/19/11 at 5:14am

It'd just semantics. If you ask me, "featured" sounds a lot better than "supporting" but it means the same thing: NOT the lead or focal poiint.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 9/19/11 at 5:41am

Is the question in reference to everyday usage or to the Tony Awards?

In everyday usage, a 5-line role may be "supporting" but isn't usually called "featured." A "featured" role (unless the speaker is just exaggerating) usually means a part that somehow stands out from the ensemble and bit players.

Originally, the Tony Awards were given to "Best Male (or Female) Star" and "Star" was defined as having billing above the title. Everybody else went into the "featured" category no matter how big the part. But over the years, the Tony committee has made so many exceptions, it's hard to say where a part will fall. From posts here, I get the sense that some consideration is given to how the producer defines a particular role.

I don't follow the Tony Awards that closely. Maybe somebody else can come up with a rule of thumb that still applies to how nominations are made.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/19/11 at 6:19am

"Featured" has to do with billing. "Supporting" has to do with the size of the role.

If you were "featured" in a Broadway show, it meant that you didn't have star billing.

You could still be playing a lead, though (like Barbara Cook, Tammy Grimes, Isabelle Bigley, Dick Van Dyke, Yul Brynner, Maureen Stapleton---all played leading roles and won "featured" Tony Awards).

Updated On: 9/19/11 at 06:19 AM

[theatreguy]

Posted: 9/19/11 at 12:01pm

The award was originally called "Supporting or Featured" Actor/Actress.

The change in name is often believed to be because of Rita Moreno. She won in the category if "Best Actress, Supporting or Featured (Dramatic)" in 1975 for The Ritz. However, she believed that hers was actually a leading role and should have been categorized as such. So in her acceptance speech she said "Finally I'd like to say Miss Supporting Actress, whomever you might have been, I'm a little bit regretful because I am the leading lady of The Ritz, I'm not a supporting actress. I mean, if it was up to Googie Gomez, who is the character I play in The Ritz, she would say 'Listen honey, the only thing I support in that show is my beads!'"

The next year, 1976, the category became just Featured Actor/Actress.

Here's video of Moreno's acceptance speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8nj-mNKApQ

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 9/19/11 at 5:07pm

Not long ago, I was surprised to find that prior to Moreno, there were times when the category was called "featured." At other times, it was called "supporting." The year that Moreno won, it was called "supporting."

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 9/19/11 at 8:58pm

It is a strange bit of semantics, but I would assume the change was made for roles that may be the largest role in a show that is really an ensemble show. For example, although Dotty probably has the most lines/stage time in "Noises Off," I wouldn't necessarily call it a leading role, because basically everyone is supporting each other. "Featured" allows for more flexibility of placement.