It's a mug's game pouring over the honourees over the past forty plus years and trying to draw conclusions about what the "culture" of the United States was then and is now.
But since this is a theatre chatroom, I think along those lines and as I see it, it's been over a decade since an individual whose career was almost exclusively focussed on the theatre has been honoured and that was Barbara Cook in 2011. In the previous decade (2000-2010) there were Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Julie Harris, Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee, Chita Rivera and Angela Lansbury (who, admittedly, had major accomplishments in film and TV, as well).
From 1978-1999 I'd say 26 honourees had their chief fame from working in the theatre (I'm counting Leonard Bernstein, which may upset some people). |
