It was such an exceptional year for featured actresses in musicals. I did not see the winning performance (Sara Ramirez as the Lady of the Lake in Spamalot), but it was, by all accounts, exceptional. That being said, I could make convincing arguments that all of the nominees should have won: in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Joanna Gleason gave a master class in dry comic timing and the difference between style, which she applied, and shtick, to which she never succumbed; Celia was the beating heart of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, bringing genuine pathos to a show that could otherwise have been one-note and jokey; in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Jan Maxwell was musical comedy PERFECTION, delivering madcap insanity while also, somehow, totally grounded; and in The Light in the Piazza, Kelli gave the most vocally lush performance of the season (and MANY seasons) while also convincingly selling a romantic fantasy and the transition of a differently abled girl into womanhood. Kelli probably would have gotten my vote, but, damn!, they were all SO BRILLIANT.
And let's not forget about all the stellar performances that weren't nominated: Sarah Uriarte Berry and Patti Cohenour in Piazza; Deborah S. Craig, Lisa Howard, and Sarah Saltzberg in Spelling Bee; Sara Gettelfinger in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; and Janine LaManna and Kyra Da Costa in Sweet Charity. |
