He blew me away in that revival, he was sensational.
And not only that, but he'd been doing the role on and off for years and deserved to be acknowledged.
And not that the Tonys need to be political or be existing in relationship to previous Tonys/history... but the Tonys knowing the situation with this role and Pryce winning for the role in the original seems like it would have warranted a "Briones *must* be nominated, no matter what" edict from the League... even if he were only mediocre in the role, which he was not at all.
I would have taken away Borle's nom for Falsettos without a moment's hesitation (very much a Lead Tony nom worthy role, but I didn't love Borle in it, or his casting)... but even more, I'd have put David Hyde Pierce (in Dolly) in Featured where he belonged (which would have pushed out Lucas Steele - my pick to win, or Mike Faist, or Andrew Rannells or Brandon Uranowitz... and while all were good, I'd have been ok with any of those last 3 not being nominated if it worked out this way)
Sadly I doubt Jon Jon or much of anyone could have beaten Ben Platt (in DEH) that year... but not even nominating him was ridiculous. |
