The Tony Talk Podcast, Episode 5: Supporting Players

The Tonys may be the top dog in awards season but it's not the only one in the game. Lots of other groups also celebrate the best of the theater season. The nominations for the Lucille Lortel Awards, which honor off-Broadway productions (click here to see the full list) were announced last week. This week brought the Drama League nominations which encompass Broadway and off-Broadway (click here for its full list). And this coming Tuesday, the Outer Critics Circle, of which I'm a member, will weigh in with its choices for both Broadway and off-Broadway as well (check back here on Wednesday for my thoughts about them).

Some categories are easier than others. Even in this jam-packed season, there are only 10 plays and nine revivals vying for one of the four slots in their respective categories and each of them has, at most, two people who would qualify for Lead Performer in a Play. But, depending on who you count, there are about 120 actors praying to hear their names when the nominations for Best Featured Actor or Actress in a Play are called out.

There are lots of reasons to single out one of those supporting players: maybe the actor managed to give a great performance in a so-so production, or perhaps a newcomer made an auspicious debut or a journeyman showed a different side of himself and dug deeper than he ever has before, or maybe an actress simply gave an unforgettable performance.

In this episode of the Tony Talk podcast, my pals, Chris Caggiano, Bill Tynan and I talk about our strategies for choosing actors for the four featured categories, as well as some of the week's other Tony-related news. Click the orange button below to hear what we have to say. You can also check out all the Tony Talk podcasts on SoundCloud by clicking here or on our new Tony Talk show page, which you can find here.