| re: “MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG” EXTENDS BROADWAY RUN | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 03:13 pm EDT 07/10/23 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 02:57 pm EDT 07/10/23 | |
| In reply to: re: “MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG” EXTENDS BROADWAY RUN - EvFoDr 02:25 pm EDT 07/10/23 | |
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| The Tony categories are primarily based on billing, which is apparently how Tom Bosley (''Fiorello!'') and Tammy Grimes (''The Unsinkable Molly Brown''), who were both below the title, got placed in Featured (and won), even though they were playing the leading title characters of their shows. Then again, there have been idiosyncrasies: William Daniels notably turned down his Featured Actor nomination for ''1776''; even though he was playing John Adams, the lead of the show, he was billed below the title. Yet in that same year, Jerry Orbach was nominated for Leading Actor in a Musical in ''Promises, Promises'' (and won), even though HE, like Daniels, was billed below the title. Go figure. So much for consistency! And sometimes, roles go from Featured to Leading or, rarely, vice versa. Yul Brynner's King in ''The King and I'' was originally Featured. But subsequent Kings, like Lou Diamond Phillips and Ken Watanabe, were nominated for Leading. From the same show, Gertrude Lawrence won for Anna as Leading; in the skimpy 1985 season, Mary Beth Peil, the Anna of that ''King and I,'' was nominated for Featured. ... Vanessa Redgrave and Jessica Lange won their Tonys for playing Mary in ''Long Day's Journey Into Night,'' yet at the 1986 Tony Awards, Bethel Leslie, who played the same role and co-starred with Jack Lemmon, was placed in Featured. How the role of Mary Tyrone is anything but Leading, beats me. Since the original ''Merrily'' only ran 16 performances, I wonder if the Tonys even ruled on the eligibilities of Jim Walton, Lonny Price & Ann Morrison. To me, Frank is the leading role of ''Merrily,'' and the plot revolves mostly around HIS moral dilemmas and relationships, namely ''How did you get to be you?'' I don't consider Charley or Mary as comparable leading roles. For instance, you never see Charley's wife or Mary's boyfriends, etc. As for ''Evita,'' I could see Che as the co-lead of that show. In fact, the Drama Desk nominated Ricky Martin for Outstanding Actor for ''Evita.'' In the original ''Evita,'' Patti LuPone was clearly the star. Even tho' she was below the title, along with Mandy Patinkin and Bob Gunton. |
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| Previous: | re: “MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG” EXTENDS BROADWAY RUN - EvFoDr 02:25 pm EDT 07/10/23 |
| Next: | But Eva being the star role doesn't mean Che isn't *also* the star and also the lead... many shows have 2 leads - Chazwaza 01:46 am EDT 07/14/23 |
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