| Da Silva, Daniels and the Tonys | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 05:25 pm EDT 08/31/20 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 05:20 pm EDT 08/31/20 | |
| In reply to: re: 'She Loves Me' and 'to my amazement ...' - BroadwayTonyJ 03:18 pm EDT 08/31/20 | |
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| Peter Hunt's memory was that Da Silva's heart attack was during a rehearsal on the afternoon of Thursday, April 13, 1969. Doctors came, but he refused to go to the hospital. He was determined to open the show. He played the four remaining previews and opening night, then he went to the hospital. The day after 1776 opened, the Tonys committee met to vote on the nominations. They all had seen Da Silva. It was a small committee in those days, and 1776 had invited them to previews. I think the reason Da Silva wasn't nominated was either because the committee had been told he was out of the show or because they really wanted Daniels to win, and Da Silva would have been his major competition had he been nominated. Despite what some think, I think Daniels would have had little chance of winning leading actor in a musical had he been in that category, and the committee was fairly certain of it. In the Variety poll of drama critics later that season, Orbach easily won with 9 votes, with Daniels and Jack Cassidy (for Maggie Flynn) tied in second place with 4 votes each, and with Herschel Bernardi (Zorbá) and Jay Garner (Red, White and Maddox) getting 1 vote each. Admittedly, the Variety poll results did not always align with the Tonys, not even when someone had a strong win in the poll. For example, Gwen Verdon in Sweet Charity easily won over Lansbury in Mame, with Verdon getting 7 votes, while Lansbury and Barbara Harris (Clear Day) got 3 each, and Diener (Man of La Mancha) got 1, but Lansbury won the Tony. But in 1969, I have virtually no question that Orbach would have won the Tony even if he'd been competing with Daniels. I've re-read the reviews recently, and while Daniels got very good reviews, they weren't like Orbach's. I would probably have voted for Daniels so I don't say this because I think Orbach should have won. (I saw them both, but I was 11 when I saw Daniela, and 12 when I saw Orbach.) The Tonys committee was, I think, in a quandary. They had five if not six strong candidates for the nomination since George M! had opened too late the previous season to be eligible for the 1968 awards (a late change in dates that caused George M! producer David Black to file a lawsuit against the Tonys). So there was Orbach, Grey, Bernardi, Cassidy, Daniels and Garner (not a chance to win, but he'd gotten very strong reviews and some attention). I'm pretty sure they thought they were doing Daniels a favor. He would easily win in "featured or supporting" (as it was called that season), and they felt he would not win in lead. As you know, they absolutely had discretion to ignore billing. They had done it before. Btw, Orbach had been below the title when Promises opened but he and O'Hara were raised above it shortly after the opening. |
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