The Columnist Star John Lithgow is Thrilled with His 'Miracle' Nomination

The morning the Tony nominations are announced, phones start buzzing with texts and calls for the happy few who get nods. As usual, Broadway.com is among the callers offering congratulations and getting responses. Here are the first reactions from 2012 Tony nominees. Congrats to all!

John Lithgow
Nominated for Best Actor in a Play, The Columnist

“I’m just thrilled. I don’t know why but I was very surprised. I didn’t think I would make the cut this time. I think The Columnist is amazing but it doesn’t matter. At a certain point you think, ‘Well, it will be a miracle if I get nominated.’ I think that’s probably the actor’s default position. We all feel like such losers. It just makes you so happy when it happens. I was soft boiling an egg, toasting some toast and my loyal publicist Mandi [Warren] called and her first word was “Congratulations." My first impulse was, 'I can’t wait to tell my wife because we get to go to another awards show!' We always have such a great time. Character actors, we all look for characters who have internal contradictions and dualities and secrets, it’s just the stuff of great drama and great tension on stage and of course, that’s Joe all over. He’s exuberant, extroverted, and an aggressively social and a political animal who has a very, very dangerous secret. It’s just great to play those strong forces. I can’t wait to get to the theater and share this news with the rest of the cast. It’s such a vote of confidence for our play and one of the things I’m most proud of is I’m the one who’s in a play that’s opened cold on Broadway without being done anywhere else. This is a very adventurous and courageous thing to do. It’s extremely good for Broadway. Any credit we get for The Columnist strengthens that. It emboldens people.

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