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| Daniel Evans played Charley. Julian Ovenden was Franklin. And . . . | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 02:40 am EDT 08/24/22 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 02:34 am EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: re: I have no doubt Daniel Radcliffe wants to do Merrily on Broadway - WaymanWong 12:08 am EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| . . . it seems to me that Charley is exactly the sort of role for which actors get nominated and sometimes win, with Evans being an example. Ovenden was not nominated. Admittedly, Damian Humbley was not nominated for the first incarnation of the Friedman production. Neither was Mark Umbers. There was some surprise about this at the time. Perhaps a problem with actors getting nominated for playing Charley is the question of category: lead or supporting/featured? And obviously Lonny Price was not nominated for a Tony, but the only Tony nomination for the original production went to Sondheim. The only Drama Desk nominations went to Sondheim. It looks like the Drama Desk decided not to give awards in 1995 for featured actor and actress in a musical. That may be why Adam Heller was not nominated, although some people who probably should have been in featured, had the categories been there, were nominated in leading categories. I would put Charley in supporting or featured. In 1990, both Victor Garber and David Garrison were nominated for Hayes awards as leading actor in a musical for the Arena Stage Merrily. Garrison won the award, in a tie with Scott Morgan for Children With Stones at the Source Theatre. David Eric played Charley in the 1983 Los Angeles production and won an L.A. Weekly award and a Drama-Logue award for his performance. All three leads — Kevin Gudahl (Franklin), Judy Kaplan (Mary), Frank Farrell (Charley) — in the 1985 Pegasus production in Chicago were nominated for Jefferson awards, which in those days were just generally for performance rather than having specific categories, and then there were a certain number of winners. I guess kind of like the Drama Desk awards in the early 1970s. Anyway, Kaplan won one of the awards. (And I just called Charley one of the three leads, while earlier I said that I would put the role in supporting or featured. It's that kind of role.) OK, enough research for tonight. |
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| re: Daniel Evans played Charley. Julian Ovenden was Franklin. And . . . | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 12:35 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: Daniel Evans played Charley. Julian Ovenden was Franklin. And . . . - AlanScott 02:34 am EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| Admittedly, Damian Humbley was not nominated for the first incarnation of the Friedman production. Neither was Mark Umbers. There was some surprise about this at the time. I was not happy with Umbers either in the original video of the production, or when he played the role in Boston (Huntington THeatre, 2017). So no surprise from me. Humbley, on the other hand, was very good IMO. But also IMO, there was really no overwhelming reason to cast the 3 leads "out of town" for the Boston production, aside from the fact that I assume that the 2 men came with the territory. The Boston actors who played the supporting cast were equally as good. Having Eden Espinosa as Mary was great, but in particular, the 2 men could have been local actors and it might have been even better. |
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| re: Daniel Evans played Charley. Julian Ovenden was Franklin. And . . . | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 07:26 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Daniel Evans played Charley. Julian Ovenden was Franklin. And . . . - Chromolume 12:35 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| I thought Humbley was the best Charley I had seen since Lonny Price, to the degree that I could judge from the film. I thought he could have found a bit more variety, but still I thought he was the best since Price. I had rather mixed feelings about it overall. It certainly didn't convince me that the revision is an improvement rather than a diminishment. |
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| re: Daniel Evans played Charley. Julian Ovenden was Franklin. And . . . | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 06:24 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Daniel Evans played Charley. Julian Ovenden was Franklin. And . . . - Chromolume 12:35 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| Funny, I thought Umbers was the best thing about that production... which sounds like faint praise, since I don't think it's a great version of the show, but I did find him quite compelling. | |
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| Wow, Alan, you really did your research | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 03:46 am EDT 08/24/22 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 03:33 am EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: Daniel Evans played Charley. Julian Ovenden was Franklin. And . . . - AlanScott 02:34 am EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| I usually focus on N.Y. or London awards of note (not so much L.A., D.C. or Chicago). ... And I stand corrected about Evans. The one time I've seen Evans on Broadway is in the 2008 revival of ''Sunday in the Park With George,'' where he played the title role. I assumed he played Frank in ''Merrily'' because he won Best Actor. I always think of Frank as being the lead role and Charlie being supporting. ''Merrily'' is the tale of 3 friends, but for me, the story revolves more around Frank's arc and how he changes the most (i.e., sells out, rationalizes). |
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| re: Wow, Alan, you really did your research | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 07:31 pm EDT 08/24/22 | |
| In reply to: Wow, Alan, you really did your research - WaymanWong 03:33 am EDT 08/24/22 | |
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| It wasn't really all that much work. Just had to check on a couple of names I didn't remember and then check on the relevant awards. The first part was easy because of the info on ovrtur, and the second was pretty easy because of ProQuest. It took a bit of time, but less than I have spent on answers to a lot of other questions here over the years. I agree that the show revolves around Frank's arc. Charley is a great role, and perhaps even a bigger role than some roles that I would consider leads, but functionally he is a supporting character. |
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