why was megan mullally not nominated for a best actress tony for h2s and was sunset blvd. and somkey joes cafe the only 2 new musicals to open in 95??????

It was a really slow year for Broadway. And rather than eliminate the category altogether (the way they did when Big River debuted on Broadway, another poor year for musicals), they kept it to give ALW his Tony. In theory, H2S may not have asked to nominated Mullaly as a leading actress in a musical. Or perhaps the committee ruled against allowing her to be nominated. Though for whatever reason, the committee allowed Rebecca Luker from ShowBoat to be nominated as a lead, though it was a sham anyways, because everyone knew it was going to Glenn Close...

i thought big river won best musical though??

I'm not Margo, but I saw the revival of H2S. Megan didn't make a huge impression on me, nor I presume the Tony nominating committee. In her hands, Rosemary felt very much like a supporting role. I remember sitting there thinking she would have been better suited for Hedy Larue just based on her voice, which wasn't anywhere near as high pitched as it is on W&G.

Rosemary is a supporting role. And it is a drab role as well, and Megan played it as written--that is to say quite straight. The post is correct when they say she didn't make much of an impression. Stritch wasn't nominated either and expressed public displeasure that she wasn't when there were only 2 performances that were.

Yes, there were only two new musicals that opened for 1995. Sunset Blvd won book and score against literally no competition. I think those awards went to the wrong show.... Irony is that Smokey Joe's Cafe played 5 years with a successful tour and won no Tonys while Sunset won 7 and closed at a loss. Smokey Joe's opened the Tony broadcast and did a smashing on location "On Broadway" that resembled a video more than a show clip.

In 1989 the only 'new' shows were 2 compilation revues, Jerome Robbins Broadway and Black and Blue plus the only book show, Starmites. The book and score categories were eliminated that year.

Big River was a sad year. One of the reasons Big River got such a great set of reviews is that it was the last new show to come in and all the others were dogs. Not that Big River is bad, far from it, but it sure isn't a great show either. There were no Tonys for lead actor or actress in a musical and I think choreography may have been cut as well.

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Megan would be a RIOT as Velma or the Female Authority Figure in Hairspray!

I LOVE Megan.

I didn't think the revival of HOW TO SUCCEED was very good. I remember being knocked out when I later saw Mullaly on an episode of FRAZIER and on WILL & GRACE because she was awful in H2$ and she was great on TV. She played Rosemary as a cartoon with little comic flair. As a result, the balance of the show was thrown off because you weren't rooting for her to get together with Broderick. He had more chemistry with Luba Mason (Hedy).