I saw all of those shows -- my first year in NYC -- including Carmelina (though at the Kennedy Center; ditto, Platinum). Okay, except Sarava!
To state the obvious: would the Lansbury Lovett have lost to anyone, any year? Even at the time, the performance seemed for the ages, unlike anything we'd seen. It remains definitive, despite some wonderful subsequent work (including Loudon in the same role, which I much appreciated). Maybe they further fixed Platinum, but in DC it was notable only for the improved Smith singing -- she made great strides post Follies, and I'm not putting down that vocal performance -- and Richard Cox, nude. It was a silly show, and Smith looked elegant and pulled off its songs with great confidence. A strange nomination, when you put it next to Arnaz's triple threat work in Song.
For what it's worth, I don't believe there's any "they" parsing such matters as putting middle aged actresses on camera. They just voted, and those performances came out the nominees. Sorry, it's perverse logic to imagine a professional Tony discussion around the age of performers on the telecast. |
