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Who got snubbed by the Tonys? | The shows and actors who missed out on 2024 Award nominations
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Mickey Jo
Before you say anything, I know it's very strange for me to be wearing a bucket hat indoors. It is also important to me to pay homage to some of my beloved closed shows of this Broadway season. I would also be wearing my how to Dance in Ohio sweatshirt if I was not already incredibly warm. Oh my God. Hey. Welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. I am a professional theatre critic, pundit and content creator here on social media and today we're going to be talking all about the 2024 Tony Award nominations, specifically all of the individuals and shows who didn't get one. So if you don't know, the Tony Awards are an annual celebration of some of the best of Broadway theater. This is theatre that is produced largely plays and musicals in one of just under 50 theaters in Midtown Manhattan in New York City in the US The Broadway season runs between roughly the end of April from one year to the next. The nominations are usually announced very shortly after the season finishes and the Tony Awards themselves are held with a live broadcast, a live televised broadcast every year in June. I say every year, every year when the world isn't ending for some reason as it doesn't appear to be this year. So looking forward to it. But this year's Tony Award nominations were recently announced and I have a little bit more insight into them this year because last year for the first time I went to New York, saw a bunch of Broadway shows and I have been doing that a few more times since then. And this is the most of a Broadway season I have ever seen by the time that the Tony Awards were announced. In fact, I did pretty pretty well with having seen most of the nominated shows and performances. And I've already shared two videos about the Tony Award nominations here on my channel. If you haven't seen those. My stagy fiance Erin James and I predicted the nominations while we were still in New York seeing all of the shows. We then reacted to the nominations when they were announced and we were shook for a handful of reasons. But ahead of the actual broadcast and ahead of our upcoming video where we will be predicting the winners and we will see which of us is is more accurate. I have been meaning to create this video where we talk about everyone who sadly wasn't nominated this year and the word we tend to use for that is snubbed, which is a weird word if you think about it. What's the historical context for snubbed? Let's look up the etymology of snubbed. From Old Norse snuba chide, check. The growth of the adjective dates from the early 18th century. Well, there you go. We've all learned something and nothing today. Also, before I forget, when I got back from my recent trip to New York, I came back to this. Look at this. This is a beautiful book, all about the Tony Awards. The American Theatre Wing presents a celebration of excellence in theatre. It's been written by Isla Mel with a foreword by record breaking Tony award winner Audra McDonald, pictured on the gorgeous cover here holding one of her several Tonys. I've been so busy I haven't had the chance to read it yet, but it is just gorgeous. And it has, oh my gosh, these beautiful records of the winners from each year. Oh, let's go to the year I was born. Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? I know. Sunset Boulevard 1. I remember that much. I say remember, I wasn't, I wasn't paying ATT at the time. Here we go, 1995. Look at this. They have these beautiful sections about all of the previous winners. Glenn Close, one for Sunset Boulevard. Showboat was the best revival of a musical. Ralph Fiennes, one for Hamlet. Cherry Jones, one for the Heiress. Matthew Broderick, one for how to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Angelo Webber, one for Best Original Score with John Black and Christopher Habden for Sunset Boulevard. I mean, that seems about right. But if any theater lovers are looking for a beautiful coffee table book that you could spend literally hours and hours reading up on, or if you're looking for, you know, a great source of musical theater trivia, can recommend. But let's get into it then. Let's talk about the shows that were completely shut out of nominations. Let's talk a little bit about why that might have been. Let's talk about the performers who sadly didn't get recognized for their performances on Broadway this year. And very quickly, before we do, I will point out that this is an inexhaustive list, which is, this is just my perception of the nominations we may have expected to see. And then any other individuals who you thought were deserving of nomination sadly didn't get one that I don't mention in this video because there are so many that we could talk about. If there is someone like that, feel free to shout them out in the comments section down below. Which was the nomination for a show or a performer or a creative that you were expecting to see and saddened not to see on nomination day. So I've made a list here on my phone. We'll begin with the productions which were entirely shut out. Once Upon a One More Time, the Britney Jukebox Musical Now Something being a little more silly, campy, insincere. As well as opening in the summer, all signs point towards they're not getting Tony nominations and they're not really expecting Tony nominations. Generally, people talk about the summer as being a bad time to open on Broadway because those shows a will be less memorable to the Tony nominators and voters by the time that, you know, the season has ended the following April. But also you run the risk of closing prematurely and not lasting. And there is a financial business aspect to the Tony nominations as well, where, you know, they want to support the industry and they want to promote the the ongoing success of already open shows and a Tony nomination and a win are both very valuable things to a show. Theater tickets are really expensive in New York. When tourists get into Manhattan and they want to know what's the best show in town, they're like, oh, this one just won Best New Musical. That must be the best show in town. I'll go and see that. Something like that helped to sustain Kimberly Akimbo for a longer run. We saw a big uptick in sales after they won the Tony, and that kind of a financial advantage and a boost doesn't mean as much for a closed show. So something like a Once Upon a One More Time, sadly, like it may have seen nominations for its performances, but as a show, it was probably never going to get one. As it happens, it got no nominations whatsoever. Also worth pointing out, it may have done in a less crowded season. This was a crazy busy year, especially for new musicals and musical performances. That may also explain the omission of a couple of other new shows, Harmony sadly, which ran at the Barrymore Theatre but closed prematurely back in January of this year or February of this year, and how to Dance in Ohio, which ran at the Belasco Theatre and closed shortly afterwards. And I do think we actually would have seen nominations for both of these shows, certainly for the performers in both shows, and I'll talk more about those a little later on were it to have been a less crowded season. Weirdly, with Harmony, I think they really could have been a contender for the Best New Musical Tony Award had they opened 20 years ago on Broadway, because elements of the show felt a little bit dated. And for something like how to Dance in Ohio, I do still think that an Off Broadway route would have made more sense for this show and they might have had more of a presence with something like the Drama Desk Awards and the Lucille Lortel Awards, which specifically celebrate off Broadway theater. And then on the back of that success and trying to pardon the pun, build momentum and gain more of a following and an audience and a little bit of buzz, they then could have moved to Broadway and presumably would have sold better as a result. What's kind of crazy is that these shows opened in. In very late 2023, which doesn't seem to be as disadvantageous a time. It's worth remembering as well that when we talk about, like, a bad time to open in a good time to open. Hamilton opened in the summer and famously did very well at the Tony Awards. So there can always be anomalies. But also, not every show, and certainly not many shows, are a Hamilton. The only other completely snub new musical was the Heart of Rock and Roll, which is very sad because this still is open on Broadway and has an awful lot going for it. This is a very charming, very buoyant, very joyous and fun show. But again, it's a little bit campy, it's bit insincere. Shows like this often aren't taken seriously by awards and by the Tony Awards specifically, even though it was reviewed very well. But we've seen this happen before with shows like 9 to 5, with shows like Legally Blonde, which end up getting remembered as big fan favorites and would probably both do better if they were revived on Broadway now, because we've come to appreciate them, I think, after their time. Sadly, the same thing may end up happening with the Heart of Rock and Roll. And it really is sad because Tony nominations and the right Tony nominations really could have helped to boost this show's box office while it's still trying to find an audience at the James L. Jones Theatre on Broadway. If you're looking for one of the most fun shows you could see on Broadway right now, just something that's going to make you smile, something cheesy, something nostalgic that your parents might love, that kids might love. Go and see the heart of Rock and Roll. It's really fun. Now, the only other musical which was completely omitted from this year's nominations was the Wiz, which was a musical revival. Very surprised not to see anything for the Wiz whatsoever. I thought for sure that in at least one of the performance categories we might have seen some of their cast members. I can't really speak much further to this because it's one of the few shows I didn't see on my recent trip to New York, and there were a few reasons for that I was going off of buzz and not having heard the greatest things about it. I had to prioritize a lot of other shows because it was a really busy time and there were so many new shows opening and we only had a finite number of slots. They also really didn't seem very eager. In fact, they seemed very much not wanting to have more critics come to review the show. So they really didn't want me there, and that's fine. Perhaps, just perhaps, from all of that we can draw a little bit of insight as to why they didn't get any Tony Award nominations. But it wasn't just musicals. Several plays also completely snubbed from nominations. I need that. The play that Danny DeVito starred in on Broadway opposite his daughter, I didn't get to see that one. Sadly, the Cottage, which I did get to see, it was like a light hearted, silly, fast comedy. Again, when you compare it with the weight of something like a Stereophonic and Prayer for the French Republic, two of this year's new plays that did get nominated, you kind of understand why the Cottage got pushed out of a lot of those categories. And finally, a transfer from the West End, the Shark Is Broken. Now, interestingly enough, if the play race, other than the juggernaut that is Stereophonic and the revival of Appropriate feels a little bit quieter this year than it did last year, I think that's because there are fewer West End to Broadway transfers. There are a couple, including the Shark Is Broken and Patriots, currently playing at the Barrymore Theatre, which opened there after Harmony closed. But we've seen specifically last season so many West End to Broadway transfers arriving at the same time. Prima Facie and Life of PI and Leopoldstadt, all facing off against each other for best new play. I think there was a fourth as well. But this has often been the case that a lot of the most successful London plays will get sent over pretty promptly to New York and end up being in awards contention. Now let's talk about the shows which were largely snubbed. The ones I have here on my list, the Notebook that got nominated in a couple of creative categories and for a couple of its performers, but not picking up as many nominations as people may have expected. Certainly as people may have expected before it opened and received mixed reviews and the tide started to turn a little bit, Eli's Love. Now, I don't know if anyone was expecting to see as many nominations as it actually did get. I've called this largely snubbed, but the response from people was generally that they actually had a Much better day than people thought they might. That's because Here Lies Love also sadly closed prematurely in December of 2023, which does not put it in a good position. It did, however, get some creative nominations. It didn't get a nomination for best New Musical. Its performers didn't get a nomination. I'll talk about that. But it did pick up a nomination for best original Score and for set design as well, and for choreography. Greyhouse is another similar one that ran in the summer and it closed early and it was largely shut out of most of the nominations, but it picked up a couple, which again, I think is more than people were expecting for it to. It also, you know, a lot of plays don't do as much with their technical elements. A lot of plays are more naturalistically produced and directed. And Greyhouse, though, I didn't get to see it and I'm so sad I didn't get to see it because I heard such intriguing things. They did a lot with its lighting, with its sound because it was delivering spooky illusions on stage. Back to the Future is another one that's on my list here. Roger Bart was nominated for his performance. Leading man Casey Likes was not. Despite having been nominated in for other awards this Broadway season. It's interesting because Roger Bart was snubbed at the Oliviers back in London, where Back to the Future won Best New Musical in what I will admit was a slightly quiet and unusual post covered reemergence year. But at the Oliviers, Hugh Coles was nominated for his performance. Hugh Coles then transferred with the show with Roger to Broadway and wasn't nominated for the Tonys. Back to the Future is another one that opened in the summer. But I also think that they would have been quite surprised to receive a bunch of Tony Award nominations. And it's the kind of a show that isn't trying to sell to that crowd. If you're going to see Back to the Future, the musical, you already know what to expect and you kind of already know what it is and you're going to see it out of a love and a knowledge of the film. It's like Mamma Mia. They don't really need the award wins because their branding is quite separate to that. The shows that I would characterize as needing the award wins very badly are the more artsy things. Something like Suffs needs that justification, that validation of the awards wins, saying, oh yes, this is of quality, this is high art. So that people know if they may be like if they're a wealthy women who want to take their granddaughters to go and see this show and they don't want it to be something silly and insincere and they want to know that it's good. They might wait for the Tony nominations. Gutenberg is on this list as having been largely snubbed. Again, there are only so many categories we probably would have expected to see Gutenberg in because it was a two person show. So you're probably unexpecting to see things like choreography. There aren't that many performances, sadly. Josh and Andrew, neither of them were nominated for their performances. We'll talk more about that in a moment. Uncle Vanya largely snubbed. I did not enjoy this production, particularly at Lincoln Center. I didn't get to see An Enemy of the People, but that picked up comparatively more nominations for being another classic play revival. Ibsen beat Chekhov on that one. Patriots was one of the West Ender Broadway play transfers I mentioned, and it didn't win the Olivier when it was in the West End. It similarly hasn't really lit up Broadway. It probably had more of an impact in London. Honestly, the Great Gatsby was largely snubbed. I don't know if I'm completely surprised by this because it isn't and I will talk about it. I will do a full review coming at some point to my channel. There are a lot of Broadway shows I still need to talk about, but the thing with the Great Gatsby is that it's very crowd pleasing and it's very entertaining and it doesn't really mind the depth of its material in a way that feels necessarily completely artistically fulfilling. I'll expand more about that in a fuller review video, but I'm not hugely surprised to see it not picking up Tony nominations. What is surprising is that it got nominated in different creative categories to the ones we may have thought. Finally on this list I have the who's Tommy, which was only nominated in one category, which was Best Revival of a Musical. It beat out the Wiz to get that fourth slot. Now best revival of a musical this year looks like Cabaret versus Merrily. We roll along with Gutenberg also in there doing very well to get that nomination, and the who's Tommy also doing very well to get that nomination, beating out the Weirs. So if there's one nomination Tommy really needed, it was Best revival of a musical. Sadly, there's no way they're going to win this one. It's Merrily versus Cabaret. But regardless of what I thought about Tommy and I will be reviewing that One on my channel very soon. You should see that by the end of this week. I'm surprised it didn't get more technical nominations, honestly. Then we go over to the creatives now. Again, this is an inexhaustive list. These are literally just the ones that I was brainstorming and thinking, you know, which are the names I was surprised not to see the biggest shock, Rebecca Frecknell not getting a nomination as the director of the Cabaret revival. Now, when Cabaret was in London, very celebrated, won a bunch of awards, talk of the town, hottest ticket, swept the Oliviers. It went over to New York, and even before it got there, Broadway was a little bit apprehensive. And a lot of people I knew weren't sure or were pretty convinced it wasn't going to go down as well in New York as it did in London. Sure enough, the critics did not take to it as kindly as the London critics did. That's not to say everyone in London thinks it's perfect. That is not the case. But it didn't receive as positive reception in New York. And so some people were expecting to not see many Tony nominations for this show. But that's not what happened. Because guess what? The New York critics are not the same people as the New York audiences, are not the same people as the Tony Award nominators are not the same people as the Tony Award voters. These are all different groups of people, different demographics, different tastes, different different mindsets, different viewpoints, viewing the show through a different kind of a lens. And they will take different things from that. So just because something doesn't land with the critics doesn't mean it's not going to get a bunch of Tony nominations. And Cabaret got a lot of Tony nominations, but didn't get one for Rebecca Frecknell. Which is a shame because not to discredit anyone's work, but if Rebecca Frecknell had got one for Cabaret and Michael Greif hadn't for Hell's Kitchen, it would have been an all female best director of a musical category, which when we see all male best director categories so often, including this year at the Oliviers, by the way, I think that would have been really cool. And say what you will about this revival of Cabaret, Rebecca Frecknell deserves that nomination. I'm just about to talk a little bit more about the Great Gatsby creative team. Did I say they didn't get a costume nomination? No. Linda Cho was nominated for costume design. Corey Patak was not nominated for lighting, which is crazy because this show has some really Beautiful lighting. But Paul Tate DePoo III was also not nominated as the scenic and projection designer, which boggles my entire mind. Again, not to take away from any of the other individuals who were nominated, but the great Gatsby set, I think is really good. Like, it was already great in Paper Mill. It's got even better on its journey to the Broadway theater. And the only bad thing I've heard said about it is that, you know, it doesn't feel like it's like a new set. Like, it's very classic Broadway. Like, flats come in and, like, it creates a lot of different locations. But I think the way in which they blend the flats and the set pieces with projections is some of the best examples of that I've ever seen. Like, projections and video screens are here to stay. That is just a fact. That's just a reality. Especially for shows that depict a lot of different locations and are going for, like, bright and flashy and garish. They're not going for, like, subtly beautiful hand painted watercolor backdrops. They are going for, like, roaring twenties with a roar. And the way that they combine both of these features does it so much better than a lot of other examples we've seen of this technique. And also Dominique Kelly's choreography. My goodness, this choreography is so fun, is so flashy, is so vibrant. I was very surprised not to see this nominated because I think it's another great aspect of the show. If you haven't already seen this little promotional video they did while in rehearsals with this amazing camera moving around between this ensemble who are all killing this choreography to the song that everyone likes because it's a meme now, it's like, where's that party? And the body over there? And there's another party. That one. While we're talking about choreographers, Lauren Lotaro not getting nominated for the Heart of Rock and Roll choreography made me deeply saddened and also surprised genuinely not to see that one there. I think if Heart of Rock and Roll deserved a single nomination, I also would have liked to have seen them nominated for costume design, actually, because not only are they tapping on bubble wrap, which I think is so whimsical and so clever, and you know how I feel about whimsical choreography. Or if you don't, you do now. I think the whole thing, the way that it uses these 80s elements, the whole second act opening sequence, the title song, the Heart of Rock and Roll, it's so good. It's so brash and bold and throwback, nostalgic. It's just Great. It's joyous. It's wonderful choreography. I will restate that. Gareth Owens, sound design for Tommy deserved a Tony nomination. But Gareth did get recognized for his sound design for Hell's Kitchen, which is a new musical, is always going to be able to get more nominations than revivals. Revivals can only get so many because they can't get nominations for best book of a Musical or best original score. And so from like, a marketing angle, it's kind of more important for the new musicals to get more nominations so they can, like, share the big numbers on their advertising. Say, like 12 Tony nominations, 11 Tony nominations, 13 Tony nominations, stuff like that. Now, I have a Merrily we roll a long one on this list here, and, you know, it's a hugely celebrated, sold out, big revival. It's one of the biggest hits of the Broadway season, right? And they got a lot of nominations. They got nominated for three of their cast members, and Maria Friedman got nominated for her direction, which I am so pleased about. And the show got nominated for best revival. I think they were also nominated for orchestrations. But the one I also think they did deserve was costume design. I think not only are they very stylish and, you know, they have to capture several different eras, but also they were very meaningful. And the use of color and this contrast between black and white and what that was designated to mean, and then these brown tones and how that sort of inherently othered Mary and Charlie increasingly throughout the show, I thought was really clever and deserving of Tony nomination. Those costumes were designed by Stutra Gilmour, who also designed the show's set. Just quickly going back to the shows that were entirely snubbed, I do think the Cottage ought to have been nominated for its set design. That set was incredible. I actually was lucky enough to be able to briefly walk across it after the. After the performance was finished. Not during, not during the show. I was sat down watching, but I got to see all of the detail of it. And brilliant, brilliant set design. Deserved a nomination very much. But my final snubbed creative in this section is Ingrid Michelson, who didn't receive a Tony nomination for her score of the Notebook. And I didn't predict that she was going to get one. But I do think that this was a snub nonetheless, and not just because, you know, she's a name as a singer songwriter who you may have expected the Tonys to want to include to help boost their profile on the back of, like, Sara Bareilles writing waitress in this new wave of, like, singer songwriters and like an as Mitchell with Hadestown and the rumors of Taylor Swift possibly writing a Broadway show. But also the score for the Notebook is legitimately very beautiful, very stirring. I think there are elements of it that could be more theatrical, but certainly I was a little surprised not to see it getting a Tony Award nomination, and I know other people were as well. Finally, then, we get onto the snubs that I know some people feel the most strongly about. And this is because these are the performers that you see on stage and that you form the closest connection with the human beings whose work that you can see. Like, the creatives are doing all of their stuff, and their passion and their artistry is happening behind the scenes, but you are seeing the sweat and tears in many instances of these performers actually happening on stage. So, out of a very busy and very extensive Broadway season, let me share with you who I think was particularly snubbed from getting a Tony nomination earlier this month. So we've already talked about them, but Kacey likes and Hugh Coles for Back to the Future. The fact that Hugh was a nominee and Olly Dobson, who was our Marty McFly in London, was also a nominee, I believe, at the Olivier Awards, and then both of those roles didn't get nominations on Broadway did surprise me. I do think that they were smart to petition or to allow whatever happened, Roger, to be supporting rather than leading. Another performer who actually won the Olivier Award and then didn't get a Broadway Tony Award nomination is Will Keane in Patriots. Michael Stulberg got a nomination as leading actor in a play for Patriots, but Will Keane didn't get one for his supporting performance. And I was surprised by that because it's not like Broadway is overwhelmed by a lot of really talked about supporting performances by actors in plays this season. Like, fair enough, three of the guys from Stereophonic got in, and that probably filled up a lot of the category and ended up being what pushed Will Keane out, possibly. Speaking of men in plays, Steve Carell did not get a nomination for Uncle Vanya. And again, celebrity names doing Broadway. You wouldn't be hugely surprised to see him getting a nomination, if only to help boost the profile of the Tony Awards. You know, they're also thinking about TV ratings. They have a lot to consider with all of this. But William Jackson Harper did get the nomination, and I think got it over Steve Carell. And having seen Uncle Vanya, I do think that William Jackson Harper is a lot better in it and has a slightly more interesting role as well to his credit now, because I saw more musicals than Plays this season. The rest of the performers are all from the musical theater realm. So if there are any other snubbed performances from plays. Oh, no, I do have another one. Francis Benhamou, who played the sister in Prayer for the French Republic. I thought she stole that show on several occasions. I thought she was brilliant. I was really genuinely surprised she wasn't nominated again. There were two stereophonic performers in the featured actress in a play category, which made it that little bit harder for anyone else to break into it. Stereophonic. Having their entire cast go featured was a little bit of a surprise when that was announced. Does that make it more likely that they will win in both of those categories, an actor and actress, or does it make it more likely that they will split the vote and it will then go to someone else? All will be revealed in June. We will have to wait and see. But like I said, onto the musicals. So I have just written the Notebook cast now. Two of them did. Dorian Harewood and Marianne Plunkett both got nominations for leading actor and actress in a musical, respectively, as older Ally and older Noah. And I'm very pleased to see both of them nominated. I'm really rooting for Marianne Plunkett, actually. But I feel like everyone who is talking about the Notebook is talking about Joy woods as well. Singing My Days. That is one of the moments, the memorable moments of this Broadway season. I think it's really connecting to people and I'm sort of astonished and saddened not to see Joy woods getting a nomination because I think that would have been very deserved. And there were seven nominees in featured actress in a musical. Seven. And Joy woods didn't break into that category. I was shocked. Also John Cardoza, for what it's worth, and Andrea Burns. But she has the same issue that Crystal Joy Brown had in Merrily, where because Joy woods would have been featured and because Lindsay Mendes was featured, them having smaller roles means they don't really enter awards contention. And I've said it before, I'll say it again. We should have three different tiers. We should have leading performers and then supporting performers who are like second, third leads like Lindsay and Dan in Merrilee and then featured who play a smaller role in the show. Think Crystal Joy Brown in Merrily. Think Andrea Burns. Think Natalie, Joy Johnson and Lempicka. Oh, speaking of Lempicka, where was George Aboot? Where was his nomination? He is brilliant in Lempicka. He has so many of the most memorable, most defining moments of the show. Thrilled for Eden and Amber, who definitely deserve their nominations. I went back and saw Lempicka a second time, specifically so I could see both of their performances and be able to participate in exactly this kind of discourse. I'm so glad I did, but I think George should have been nominated as well. Oh, I lied. Here's another Playwell as well. Dana Steingold should have got a nomination for the Cottage Again show. Stoppingly funny in that show. And we shouldn't be forgetting comedies. Comedy is still difficult to get right. Just because you're laughing at the theatre doesn't make it, you know, less serious, less legitimate in any way. We need to remember and nominate these solely comedic performances. Dana was so funny in the Cottage and her line, reading of the line he's bigger than me not only remains rent free in my mind, but has actually poisoned my mind. And I now just subconsciously say so many things like that. And Aaron will constantly tell me, you're still saying it like Dana Steingold from the Cottage. And it's never going to go away. It's never going to go away. While we're talking about supporting cast who have a different amount of material, I've written the entire Suff supporting cast. I've said this before, I'll say it again. I need a fifth Tony Awards acting category this year. I need for us to have featured actor in a musical, featured actress in a musical and featured actresses in Suffs the musical. Because I could give you six from Suffs alone who deserve nominations. I'm thrilled that Nikki M. James did. If one of them from Suffs was going to get an acting nomination, I am thrilled it was Nikki. Shayna Taub did not get a leading performance nomination, but did get nominated for writing the book and for writing the score, which I think was more important. But there are so many others in that supporting cast. Hannah Cruise I think deserved a nomination. Emily Skinner I think deserves a nomination, but has a smaller role but genuinely stops the show. Grace Maclean is in the mix for that as well. Jen Colella, of course, it's hard. It's really hard. And the Tonys will break your heart. Now, some of these I mentioned briefly earlier, but we're going to come back to them. Andrew Reynolds, Josh Gad didn't get nominations for Gutenberg and I think this is difficult because they are a package deal and like, they were both sensational on that stage. There is no way to really nominate one and not the other, which means they would have needed to both break into that leading actor in a musical category, which was ultimately too challenging. While we're talking about that category specifically and leading actor in a musical. I was genuinely surprised not to see Ali Lewis Borsgui, whose name I've probably just horribly mispronounced. I'm so sorry to you. Sorry to that man. He plays Tommy in the who's Tommy? And has been getting nomin in several of the other major theatrical awards this season. So it was genuinely surprising to see him not getting a Tony Award nomination, but also the theatrical legend that is Chip Zine. I know that a lot of people were saddened by this one, and he's really wonderful. He was really wonderful in Harmony earlier this year and again in a quieter year, in a different year, Harmony could have picked up multiple nominations for its cast members. Honestly, like a bunch of those guys could have got nominations in best supporting actor in a musical. Ciara and Julie could have been in contention for best supporting actress in a musical. It's just so busy a year, and with shows like the Outsiders and like Hell's Kitchen with a lot of great featured performances, it just made it impossible. I've got a couple more on this list. Some people were sad not to see a nomination for Jeremy Jordan for the Great Gatsby. I also think even Oblizada, even more deserving of one, for the beautiful performance that she gives in that show. And while we're talking about leading actresses in a musical, Malaya Joy Moon was nominated for Hell's Kitchen as a newcomer, which was very exciting to see. But Nichelle Lewis, who stars as Dorothy in the revival of the Wiz, was not. And not just her. Like I said before, none of the cast members from the Wiz were nominated for their performances. Having not seen the show, I don't know who the standouts really are, but I had heard a lot of people predicting that a handful of them would have got nominations. Sadly, didn't happen. Do you know another cast that was shut out entirely? Water for Elephants. I apologize to you. Those poor, poor elephants. But in all seriousness, Paul Alexander Nolan not getting a nomination for best supporting actor in a musical for Water for Elephants surprised me very much. Again, the Outsiders, getting two in that category, I think changed a lot of things about how it ended up looking. Oh my God. Hey.
- [30:06]
Erin James
I am literally editing this video right now. And yes, I own a lot of these bucket hats. The reason I am literally interrupting myself is because somehow in putting this together, not until getting to the editing stage did I realize I had omitted one of this year's biggest snubs. I'm talking about another featured actor in a Musical. I'm talking about Liam Pierce from How to Dance in Ohio. This nomination genuinely surprised me that we didn't see it and I was really rooting for this one. This may have been one of the saddest for me, actually, and I think it would have been not only hugely deserved. He is very talented. I genuinely think we are witnessing the birth of a new Broadway star in this season right now. The best moments in how to Dance in Ohio were centered around Liam. He was fantastic. He was compelling. He was so expressive. But also it would have been a great way to have his nomination be sort of flying the flag for the brilliant casting of how to Dance in Ohio and the brilliant ensemble cast of how to Dance no Higher. While we still don't have awards recognition for like best ensemble cast, best company. And so that would have been really great because I think the casting approach in that show, which has been recognized elsewhere, I think they won an award for casting, I believe, in one of the other awards, not the Tonys, but I just think that that would have been really great because it was pioneering and it was groundbreaking and it was ceiling shattering. And also he's so talented and we're going to go on to see him do fantastic things, but also deserved a nomination for how to Dance Ohio. Back to previous Mickey Jo and finally.
- [31:35]
Mickey Jo
Staying in that category of best featured actor in a musical. Conrad Ricamora. I'm talking about it again. I said this in my Heroes Love review. He deserved a nomination and I'm pleased to see him going back to Broadway in O Mary. I can root for him to get a Tony nomination in another show because I enjoyed him very much in that as well, which I saw off Broadway, but it's about to go to the Lyceum, so it'll be eligible next year. But I thought he was even better in Heel Eyes Love. I really thought he deserved a Tony Award nomination. Like I said, they'll break your heart every year. We had seven in featured actresses. Why can we have seven men? Why? The actual answer why is because that seven would have been created by a tie situation where too many performers would have had a similar number of votes and that didn't end up happening in featured actor. But the actual facts behind these things are nowhere near as fun as me just getting angry about it. Anyway, those are my thoughts on who was snubbed at the Tony nominations this year. Like I said, you may have a very different perception of this. If there is a performer, a show, a creative that I didn't mention in today's video that you want to give a shout out to who should have been recognized for their work in the 2023-2024 Broadway season. Please put their name in the comments section down below as well as sharing all of your thoughts about the names that I shared. Thank you so much for watching this video. I hope that you've enjoyed. If you did, make sure to subscribe to my theatre themed YouTube channel for many more reviews, theatre punditry and Tony Awards commentary coming very soon. Like I said, I will shortly be sharing my predictions of who is going to win in each category at the Tonys. There will be more Tonys coverage, so stay tuned and I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds, I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.