Welcome back to 'Tonys Flashback', where I take a deep dive into all of the nominees from any previous acting race at the Tony Awards. Today, we'll be taking a look back at what appeared to have been quite a stellar Best Lead Actress in a Musical lineup from 2014. So for each of the five nominees, let's go in order of who was (probably) last place to first place, shall we?
5. Mary Bridget Davies-A Night with Janis Joplin
5. Mary Bridget Davies-A Night with Janis Joplin
In Randy Johnson's biographical musical, Mary Bridget Davies played Janis Joplin, one of the most successful and widely known rock stars of her era. The show presents her, backed by a band of hippies, performing a concert in 1970, shortly before she died of a drug overdose at the age of 27.
This was the first and only Tony nomination (to date) for Mary Bridget Davies. Prior to getting involved with A Night with Janis Joplin, she got her start in competitive dance before switching to acting and singing during a brief stint in college. Later on, she joined an improv comedy group and began studying at Second City Conservatory before she decided to start singing in bands. After seeing an unrelated bio show Off-Broadway titled Love, Janis in 2001, Davies sent a photo of herself in costume as Janis Joplin to the show's music director. By 2005, she was touring in the show and with Joplin's original band. She was later tapped by writer/director Randy Johnson to star in a regional production of A Night With Janis Joplin, where her charismatic performance helped the show get fast-tracked to Broadway. Leading up to the 2014 Tonys, Davies received a nomination for Distinguished Performance from the Drama League and was also one of 12 recipients of the Theatre World Award that year for her Broadway debut.
The New York Times' Tony Voter survey said that while Davies gave her all to the show, she never had a shot of winning. It's easy to see why. A Night with Janis Joplin wasn't warmly embraced by critics. Commercially, it never caught on with the public, closing on February 9th, 2014 after 140 performances. So there was the question of how many voters were even able to see it (this was before the portal system was established in 2019 where only those who've confirmed to have seen all the nominees in a specific category can vote for the winner). Not to mention that when nominations were announced, Davies ended up being the lone representation for the show itself. So this was clearly a case of the nomination was the award.
4. Sutton Foster-Violet
This was the first and only Tony nomination (to date) for Mary Bridget Davies. Prior to getting involved with A Night with Janis Joplin, she got her start in competitive dance before switching to acting and singing during a brief stint in college. Later on, she joined an improv comedy group and began studying at Second City Conservatory before she decided to start singing in bands. After seeing an unrelated bio show Off-Broadway titled Love, Janis in 2001, Davies sent a photo of herself in costume as Janis Joplin to the show's music director. By 2005, she was touring in the show and with Joplin's original band. She was later tapped by writer/director Randy Johnson to star in a regional production of A Night With Janis Joplin, where her charismatic performance helped the show get fast-tracked to Broadway. Leading up to the 2014 Tonys, Davies received a nomination for Distinguished Performance from the Drama League and was also one of 12 recipients of the Theatre World Award that year for her Broadway debut.
The New York Times' Tony Voter survey said that while Davies gave her all to the show, she never had a shot of winning. It's easy to see why. A Night with Janis Joplin wasn't warmly embraced by critics. Commercially, it never caught on with the public, closing on February 9th, 2014 after 140 performances. So there was the question of how many voters were even able to see it (this was before the portal system was established in 2019 where only those who've confirmed to have seen all the nominees in a specific category can vote for the winner). Not to mention that when nominations were announced, Davies ended up being the lone representation for the show itself. So this was clearly a case of the nomination was the award.
4. Sutton Foster-Violet
In the Broadway premiere of Jeanine Tesori & Brian Crawley's 1997 musical, Sutton Foster played Violet Karl, a young North Carolina woman whose face was scarred in a childhood accident. She is stubborn and prickly, but filled with equal parts hope and obsession that she may heal and be made beautiful. With enough money finally saved up, she's traveling across the Deep South towards a miracle, the healing touch of a TV evangelist who will make her beautiful. On the way, she meets Flick, a young African-American soldier whose love for her reaches far past her physical "imperfections."
This was the sixth of seven Tony nominations (to date) for Sutton Foster. At that point, she had already won twice before. First in 2002 for originating the role of Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie. Then in 2011 for her performance as Reno Sweeney in the most recent Broadway revival of Anything Goes. She also had additional bids for Little Women (2005), The Drowsy Chaperone (2006), and Shrek the Musical (2009). Sutton would later be nominated again in 2022 for taking on the role of Marian Paroo in the Hugh Jackman-led revival of The Music Man. Leading up to the 2014 Tonys, she had nominations from the Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and Drama Desk Awards.
According to the Times, Foster was luminous in the show, but wasn't a factor in this race. Apparently, she could not seemed to have overcome the competitive nature of the top three contenders in this category. Perhaps in another year, she would've been in the conversation a lot more than she ended up being. Sutton got to show a completely different side of her from what audiences have come to expect from her talents. Usually, she's tap dancing in big musical comedies. In Violet, she was much more down to Earth in a character driven musical drama. Then again, given that she already won twice before, there probably wasn't much of a desire to award her again so soon.
3. Idina Menzel-If/Then
This was the sixth of seven Tony nominations (to date) for Sutton Foster. At that point, she had already won twice before. First in 2002 for originating the role of Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie. Then in 2011 for her performance as Reno Sweeney in the most recent Broadway revival of Anything Goes. She also had additional bids for Little Women (2005), The Drowsy Chaperone (2006), and Shrek the Musical (2009). Sutton would later be nominated again in 2022 for taking on the role of Marian Paroo in the Hugh Jackman-led revival of The Music Man. Leading up to the 2014 Tonys, she had nominations from the Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and Drama Desk Awards.
According to the Times, Foster was luminous in the show, but wasn't a factor in this race. Apparently, she could not seemed to have overcome the competitive nature of the top three contenders in this category. Perhaps in another year, she would've been in the conversation a lot more than she ended up being. Sutton got to show a completely different side of her from what audiences have come to expect from her talents. Usually, she's tap dancing in big musical comedies. In Violet, she was much more down to Earth in a character driven musical drama. Then again, given that she already won twice before, there probably wasn't much of a desire to award her again so soon.
3. Idina Menzel-If/Then
In this original musical by Tom Kitt & Brian Yorkey, Idina Menzel played Elizabeth, a city planner who moves back to New York following a divorce. She is looking to restart her life in the city of infinite possibilities. When her carefully designed plans collide with the whims of fate, Elizabeth's life splits into two parallel paths.
This was the third of three Tony nominations (to date) for Idina Menzel. At that point, she was a previous nominee for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1996 for originating the role of Maureen Johnson in Rent. She was also a previous winner in this category in 2004 for originating the role of Elphaba in Wicked. Leading up to the 2014 Tonys, she had nominations from the Drama League and Drama Desk Awards.
It's also worth noting that If/Then marked Idina's first Broadway appearance since Wicked. In the months leading up to the former show's opening, she became a global superstar as the voice of Elsa in Disney's highly successful animated musical, Frozen. She went on to perform the hit song, 'Let It Go,' on the Oscars (after John Travolta famously screwed her name). According to the Times, "Ms. Menzel is having a moment, with “Frozen” and a memorable Oscars appearance, and some of the 40 voters adore her and want to honor her performance as a wholly original character. She just might pull off an upset." Idina may have pulled an upset for Wicked in 2004 (which you can read more about here), but she wasn't as lucky this time. Given how If/Then proved to be a disappointment among critics and within the industry, she likely just didn't have enough momentum.
2. Kelli O'Hara-The Bridges of Madison County
This was the third of three Tony nominations (to date) for Idina Menzel. At that point, she was a previous nominee for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1996 for originating the role of Maureen Johnson in Rent. She was also a previous winner in this category in 2004 for originating the role of Elphaba in Wicked. Leading up to the 2014 Tonys, she had nominations from the Drama League and Drama Desk Awards.
It's also worth noting that If/Then marked Idina's first Broadway appearance since Wicked. In the months leading up to the former show's opening, she became a global superstar as the voice of Elsa in Disney's highly successful animated musical, Frozen. She went on to perform the hit song, 'Let It Go,' on the Oscars (after John Travolta famously screwed her name). According to the Times, "Ms. Menzel is having a moment, with “Frozen” and a memorable Oscars appearance, and some of the 40 voters adore her and want to honor her performance as a wholly original character. She just might pull off an upset." Idina may have pulled an upset for Wicked in 2004 (which you can read more about here), but she wasn't as lucky this time. Given how If/Then proved to be a disappointment among critics and within the industry, she likely just didn't have enough momentum.
2. Kelli O'Hara-The Bridges of Madison County
In Marsha Norman & Jason Robert Brown's stage musical adaptation of Robert James Waller's 1992 novel of the same name, Kelli O'Hara played Francesca Johnson, an Italian woman who married an American soldier to flee the war-ravaged Italy. As she gets to have a rare four days alone on her Iowa farm when her family heads to the 1965 State Fair, Robert Kincaid, a ruggedly handsome National Geographic photographer, pulls into her driveway seeking directions. As the two of them grow close together, they have a love affair which may very well alter the course of Francesca's life.
This was the fifth of seven Tony nominations (to date) for Kelli O'Hara. At that point, she was previously nominated for her performances in The Light in the Piazza (2005), The Pajama Game (2006), South Pacific (2008), and Nice Work If You Can Get It (2012). She went on to win the following year for her performance as Anna Leonowens in Lincoln Center Theater's revival of The King & I. Kelli later received an additional bid for her role(s) as Lilli Vanessi/Katharine in the 2019 Broadway revival of Kiss Me, Kate. Leading up to the 2014 Tonys, she had nominations from the Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and Drama Desk Awards.
While critics were divided over The Bridges of Madison County, one of the things that constantly received universal acclaim was Kelli O'Hara's performance. In his review for the New York Times, Ben Brantley called her "one of the most exquisitely expressive stars in musical theater." Many considered this to be a career best work for Kelli. Yet when Bridges missed out on a Tony nomination for Best Musical, things didn't start to look good for her. At the time, the last winner in this category whose show didn't have a corresponding Best Musical nod was Heather Headley for Aida back in 2000. Not to mention that Bridges failed to ignite wide audience appeal at the box office. After nominations were announced, the show didn't get much of a commercial boost, thus playing its final performance midway through final voting on May 18th, 2014. To this day, no permanently closed musical production has won an acting award at the Tonys since Martin Short for Little Me back in 1999. Although according to the Times, O'Hara had her share of support "by being a fierce champion of the now-shuttered “Bridges.” Although in a April 2014 interview with Broadway.com, she said that if she weren't in the race and didn't want to win, it would be a travesty if the Tony didn't go to (@10:48)...
1. Jessie Mueller-Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
This was the fifth of seven Tony nominations (to date) for Kelli O'Hara. At that point, she was previously nominated for her performances in The Light in the Piazza (2005), The Pajama Game (2006), South Pacific (2008), and Nice Work If You Can Get It (2012). She went on to win the following year for her performance as Anna Leonowens in Lincoln Center Theater's revival of The King & I. Kelli later received an additional bid for her role(s) as Lilli Vanessi/Katharine in the 2019 Broadway revival of Kiss Me, Kate. Leading up to the 2014 Tonys, she had nominations from the Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and Drama Desk Awards.
While critics were divided over The Bridges of Madison County, one of the things that constantly received universal acclaim was Kelli O'Hara's performance. In his review for the New York Times, Ben Brantley called her "one of the most exquisitely expressive stars in musical theater." Many considered this to be a career best work for Kelli. Yet when Bridges missed out on a Tony nomination for Best Musical, things didn't start to look good for her. At the time, the last winner in this category whose show didn't have a corresponding Best Musical nod was Heather Headley for Aida back in 2000. Not to mention that Bridges failed to ignite wide audience appeal at the box office. After nominations were announced, the show didn't get much of a commercial boost, thus playing its final performance midway through final voting on May 18th, 2014. To this day, no permanently closed musical production has won an acting award at the Tonys since Martin Short for Little Me back in 1999. Although according to the Times, O'Hara had her share of support "by being a fierce champion of the now-shuttered “Bridges.” Although in a April 2014 interview with Broadway.com, she said that if she weren't in the race and didn't want to win, it would be a travesty if the Tony didn't go to (@10:48)...
1. Jessie Mueller-Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
In Douglas McGrath's biographical musical, Jessie Mueller played Carol Klein, a young, spunky girl from a Jewish family in Brooklyn. As an aspiring songwriter with a unique voice, she gets a job working for music publisher Don Kirshner at 1650 Broadway under the name of Carole King. The story also explores her relationship with her first writing partner and husband Gerry Goffin, their friendly rivalry with a fellow songwriting team, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, and how she eventually came into her own as a recording artist.
This was the second of four Tony nominations (to date) for Jessie Mueller. At that point, she was a previous nominee for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2012 for her Broadway debut as Melinda Wells in the Harry Connick, Jr.-led revisal of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. She'd later receive two additional bids for her performances as Jenna in Waitress (2016) and Julie Jordan in Carousel (2018). Leading up to the 2014 Tonys, Mueller had nominations from the Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Awards in addition to winning the Drama Desk for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical.
So How Did Jessie Mueller Win?: At that point in her career, she was already seen as a rising star working nonstop. While her first Broadway show, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, was a huge flop, many (even those who didn't like it) still walked away talking about her performance. Since then, Jessie went on to appear as Cinderella in the Central Park Delacorte Theater's production of Into the Woods starring Amy Adams and Donna Murphy and as Helena Landless/Miss Janet Conover in Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Following the latter, she played Carrie Pipperidge in the New York Philharmonic's production of Carousel starring the aforementioned Kelli O'Hara. Then on the main stem, Jessie took over for her as Billie Bendix in Nice Work If You Can Get It. With Beautiful, many felt she really emerged as a genuine Broadway leading lady.
When Jessie was a guest on Theater Talk during her run in the show, co-host Michael Riedel said that he thought she gave one of the best performances he had ever seen on the main stem. What he admired so much about it was that it wasn't this typical Broadway brassy, big Ethel Merman type thing audiences get from a lot of divas nowadays. Yet she still had the same kind of emotional impact that Idina Menzel gave in Wicked. Riedel described her work as subtle, gentle, and heartbreaking. According to the Times, "Mueller held the lead among the 40 for her uncanny, moving performance as Carole King. Broadway loves to elevate deserving, devoted theater performers into bona fide stars."
Although a number of people still held on to a shred of hope for Kelli O'Hara to finally win her very first Tony Award. The Bridges of Madison County even managed to win 2 accolades for Jason Robert Brown's score and orchestrations. By the time Best Lead Actress in a Musical was presented, Hugh Jackman, who hosted that year, performed 'Steppin' Out with My Baby' as he went into the audience and interacted with each of the nominees. Finally, he got back up on stage to announce Jessie Mueller as the winner.
This was the second of four Tony nominations (to date) for Jessie Mueller. At that point, she was a previous nominee for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2012 for her Broadway debut as Melinda Wells in the Harry Connick, Jr.-led revisal of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. She'd later receive two additional bids for her performances as Jenna in Waitress (2016) and Julie Jordan in Carousel (2018). Leading up to the 2014 Tonys, Mueller had nominations from the Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Awards in addition to winning the Drama Desk for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical.
So How Did Jessie Mueller Win?: At that point in her career, she was already seen as a rising star working nonstop. While her first Broadway show, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, was a huge flop, many (even those who didn't like it) still walked away talking about her performance. Since then, Jessie went on to appear as Cinderella in the Central Park Delacorte Theater's production of Into the Woods starring Amy Adams and Donna Murphy and as Helena Landless/Miss Janet Conover in Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Following the latter, she played Carrie Pipperidge in the New York Philharmonic's production of Carousel starring the aforementioned Kelli O'Hara. Then on the main stem, Jessie took over for her as Billie Bendix in Nice Work If You Can Get It. With Beautiful, many felt she really emerged as a genuine Broadway leading lady.
When Jessie was a guest on Theater Talk during her run in the show, co-host Michael Riedel said that he thought she gave one of the best performances he had ever seen on the main stem. What he admired so much about it was that it wasn't this typical Broadway brassy, big Ethel Merman type thing audiences get from a lot of divas nowadays. Yet she still had the same kind of emotional impact that Idina Menzel gave in Wicked. Riedel described her work as subtle, gentle, and heartbreaking. According to the Times, "Mueller held the lead among the 40 for her uncanny, moving performance as Carole King. Broadway loves to elevate deserving, devoted theater performers into bona fide stars."
Although a number of people still held on to a shred of hope for Kelli O'Hara to finally win her very first Tony Award. The Bridges of Madison County even managed to win 2 accolades for Jason Robert Brown's score and orchestrations. By the time Best Lead Actress in a Musical was presented, Hugh Jackman, who hosted that year, performed 'Steppin' Out with My Baby' as he went into the audience and interacted with each of the nominees. Finally, he got back up on stage to announce Jessie Mueller as the winner.
In 2015, a blog page titled Broadway Etc. did a post on productions and/or performances he personally felt should've won the Tony, and Kelli in The Bridges of Madison County was absolutely one of them. While he never saw Beautiful, he still said "Jessie Mueller is a lovely individual who has continually proven herself both talented and versatile; she deserves a long and fruitful career filled with accolades, including a Tony Award or two. That said, she *stole* Kelli O'Hara's long deserved Best Actress statuette for what is sure to go down as one the golden-voiced soprano's greatest performances, Francesca in Jason Robert Brown's The Bridges of Madison County. Setting aside the fact that it is absolutely ludicrous the multitalented O'Hara is still Tony-less after five nominations in the past decade, her transcendent work in this sweeping musical drama was the kind of performance legends are made of. When people look back at her career many years from now, this will be the performance people won't believe she didn't win for, in the same way many people just assume Bernadette Peters won for Sunday in the Park with George (Peters lost to Chita Rivera in The Rink). The one small piece of solace to be found in this situation is that O'Hara publicly stated that if she couldn't win, she was rooting for Mueller."
In fact, there were rumors that voters really wanted to give it to Kelli O'Hara this year, but since it had just been announced that she was going to star in The King & I the following season, they decided to wait until then. Thankfully, she did overcome quite a competitive race to finally win in 2015 (which you can read more about here). So alas, Kelli probably wasn't meant to win for Bridges.
As someone who is also invested in the Oscar race, I've seen countless people on Twitter complain about voters going for biopic performances over portrayals of fictional characters, arguing that it's even harder to pull off the latter as opposed to the former. Common examples they've used are Eddie Redmayne winning for The Theory of Everything over Michael Keaton in Birdman, Gary Oldman winning for Darkest Hour over Timothée Chalamet in Call Me By Your Name, Rami Malek winning for Bohemian Rhapsody over Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born, Renée Zellweger winning for Judy over Saoirse Ronan in Little Women, and Jessica Chastain winning for The Eyes of Tammy Faye over Penélope Cruz in Parallel Mothers. A great name I'd like to use for this scenario is "artistry vs. mimicry."
Playing a real-life person can usually be an advantage to winning an award. Voters who aren't as intimately familiar with the craft of acting tend to find it easier to recognize how a performer is nailing the real-life person they're portraying. Legendary actor Humphrey Bogart once said "How in the hell can you judge one actor over another? The only way to judge fairly is let each nominee do Hamlet." Which I can see his point there. Any acting race will always have different actors facing different challenges, resulting in different kinds of performances. Come to think of it, maybe all five of these nominees should've played the exact same character. Thus, they all at least would've had the same challenges.
I will say that had Kelli O'Hara won for The Bridges of Madison County, then it's likely that Kristin Chenoweth would've beaten her the following year for On the Twentieth Century. Although the latter at least has a Tony for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown back in 1999, so she's taken care of. Meanwhile, Jessie Mueller would eventually become overdue herself at this point. There was no way she was ever gonna win for Waitress up against Cynthia Erivo in The Color Purple. I don't think she would've prevailed for Carousel up against Katrina Lenk given how strong The Band's Visit was with Tony voters. So in the end, be glad things worked out the way they did.
In fact, there were rumors that voters really wanted to give it to Kelli O'Hara this year, but since it had just been announced that she was going to star in The King & I the following season, they decided to wait until then. Thankfully, she did overcome quite a competitive race to finally win in 2015 (which you can read more about here). So alas, Kelli probably wasn't meant to win for Bridges.
As someone who is also invested in the Oscar race, I've seen countless people on Twitter complain about voters going for biopic performances over portrayals of fictional characters, arguing that it's even harder to pull off the latter as opposed to the former. Common examples they've used are Eddie Redmayne winning for The Theory of Everything over Michael Keaton in Birdman, Gary Oldman winning for Darkest Hour over Timothée Chalamet in Call Me By Your Name, Rami Malek winning for Bohemian Rhapsody over Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born, Renée Zellweger winning for Judy over Saoirse Ronan in Little Women, and Jessica Chastain winning for The Eyes of Tammy Faye over Penélope Cruz in Parallel Mothers. A great name I'd like to use for this scenario is "artistry vs. mimicry."
Playing a real-life person can usually be an advantage to winning an award. Voters who aren't as intimately familiar with the craft of acting tend to find it easier to recognize how a performer is nailing the real-life person they're portraying. Legendary actor Humphrey Bogart once said "How in the hell can you judge one actor over another? The only way to judge fairly is let each nominee do Hamlet." Which I can see his point there. Any acting race will always have different actors facing different challenges, resulting in different kinds of performances. Come to think of it, maybe all five of these nominees should've played the exact same character. Thus, they all at least would've had the same challenges.
I will say that had Kelli O'Hara won for The Bridges of Madison County, then it's likely that Kristin Chenoweth would've beaten her the following year for On the Twentieth Century. Although the latter at least has a Tony for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown back in 1999, so she's taken care of. Meanwhile, Jessie Mueller would eventually become overdue herself at this point. There was no way she was ever gonna win for Waitress up against Cynthia Erivo in The Color Purple. I don't think she would've prevailed for Carousel up against Katrina Lenk given how strong The Band's Visit was with Tony voters. So in the end, be glad things worked out the way they did.