TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Broadwaybeauty2
Chorus Member Joined: 9/29/16
#1TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 9:32am
Maybe this has been discussed before, but I have seen some productions this Fall where there were standout performances, but the show didn't go over well with reviewers. Have you? If so, name them here.
Mine are: HAROLD PERRINEAU in The CHERRY ORCHARD
CORBIN BLUE in HOLIDAY INN
And then there are some new cast that took over for Hamilton that I wish could be nominated, but alas, I know the rules.
#2TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 1:15pm
My favorite historical example of this is when Patricia Routledge won a Best Actress Tony for a show that closed in under two weeks...
http://puccinischronicles.wordpress.com
#3TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 1:32pm
Broadwaybeauty2, are you asking for examples of winners of the Tony in the show that wasn't a hit? or asking for our opinion on performances you think deserved the Tony but didn't (also in a show that wasn't a hit)? the thread title seems to differ than the content of your OP
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#4TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 1:51pm
Donna Murphy in Passion
#5TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 1:54pm
While Passion wasn't a hit, it was still running during the awards, so it wasn't sure at that time whether or not it would be financially successful. In recent years, it is often shows that have closed by the time of the awards that have little chance of winning (the Ragtime and Spring Awakening revival, Bridges of Madison County, ect.).
"Sticks and stones, sister. Here, have a Valium." - Patti LuPone, a Memoir
#6TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 2:05pm
Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "My favorite historical example of this is when Patricia Routledge won a Best Actress Tony for a show that closed in under two weeks...
"
You don't have your facts straight. Darling of the Day wasn't a hit, but it stayed open for 5 weeks. Perhaps you're thinking of Dolores Gray, who won the Best Actress Tony for Carnival in Flanders, which closed after six performances.
Recently, Michele Pawk won for Hollywood Arms which had been closed for months at that point.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
neonlightsxo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
#7TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 2:07pm
Carolee Carmello was nominated for Scandalous, and Norbert won for Catch Me If You Can.
jbird5
Broadway Star Joined: 12/20/15
#8TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 2:40pm
I don't think a lot of people would consider 'Thr Father' a hit.
#9TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 2:41pm
The Father was a limited engagement and received a rave review from the Times.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#10TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 2:44pm
Angela Lansbury for Dear World -- it only ran for 132 performances.
#11TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 3:37pm
AC126748, I WAS thinking of Patricia, but for some reason I thought Darling of the Day had a much shorter run. Thanks for the correction.
http://puccinischronicles.wordpress.com
BroadwayConcierge
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
#12TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 3:41pm
Would David Hyde Pierce for Curtains count? Was that show a "hit"?
#13TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 3:43pm
The difficulty with questions like this is exactly where a show crosses into "hit" territory is defined differently depending on who you ask...
If you want to be strictly technical, you're only a hit if you recoup.
Some will say you're a hit if your limited run extends.
You could be a hit if you're critically acclaimed and win Tonys.
You may be a hit if you run for a very long period of time.
Or, some would argue that "cult classics" with none of these traits have their own hit quality.
http://puccinischronicles.wordpress.com
#14TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 3:46pm
Andrea Martin in MY FAVORITE YEAR comes to mind.
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
#15TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 4:16pm
Julie White bested Vanessa Redgrave (among others) for Best Actress in a Play for The Little Dog Laughed, which closed in February of that year. I don't remember the category being super competitive, and Julie White had gotten raves for that play, but she certainly seemed very surprised to win.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
sorano916
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/6/08
#16TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 5:37pm
Was "Catch Me If You Can" considered a hit? It didn't run very long, but Norbert did get a Tony for it.
green waver
Stand-by Joined: 11/3/16
#17TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 11/30/16 at 10:33pm
Oh my god, so many examples: Alexis Smith in Follies (I know, a brilliant show, but I'm pretty sure it lost its entire capitalization), Barry Bostwick in the Robber Bridegroom, Phil Silvers in the revival of A Funny Thing... I'm sure there are many many more.
Broadwaybeauty2
Chorus Member Joined: 9/29/16
#18TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 12/2/16 at 10:24pm
I would love both actually, but current ones would be great.
Love the story of the two week close, then Tony!
Broadwaybeauty2
Chorus Member Joined: 9/29/16
#19TONY Award for and Actor/Actress when show wasn't a hit
Posted: 12/2/16 at 10:26pm
I guess I am thinking, a show, not reviewed well at all. But still some standout performances. I think the easy calls are the BIG Ben Brantley reviewed well stories. Obviously those all get nominated, and everyone in them.
