First 2005 Tony Eligibility Rulings Deem Frogs New and Six Shows Special

The Tony Awards Administrative Committee made the first eligibility decisions of the 2004-2005 season on January 20. The committee only made judgments about shows that opened on or before December 16, 2004, a spokesperson for the Tony Awards told Broadway.com.

The typical rule of thumb for acting nominations is above-the-title billing means a person is considered in the leading category, while below-the-title billing equals consideration for awards as a featured performer. Still, every situation is different and each year producers petition for certain people to be considered in a particular way or the Tony committee just makes up its own mind. This year, Reckless lead Mary-Louise Parker, who was billed below the title, will be considered in the Best Actress category. Shenkman and Laura Linney of Sight Unseen, Philip Bosco and Boyd Gaines of Twelve Angry Men and Nathan Lane of The Frogs were similarly bumped up. Those billed above-the-title that will be considered in feature categories are Robert Prosky and Michael Cumpsty from Democracy and Ruben Santiago-Hudson and LisaGay Hamilton from Gem of the Ocean.

While there was some thought in the community that 700 Sundays and The Good Body would be under contention for Best Play Tony Awards, they are both being considered Special Theatrical Events. That category also includes Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance!, Forever Tango, Laugh Whore and Whoopi, The 20th Anniversary Show.

Reckless, Twelve Angry Men and Sight Unseen were deemed "classic." While they were never before on Broadway, they were considered in the "popular repertoire" and will thus all be considered in the Best Revival of a Play category.

On the other hand, while some form of Stephen Sondheim's The Frogs, based on Aristophanes' text of the same name, premiered way back in 1974 as part of the Yale Repertory Theatre season, the Lincoln Center mounting of the piece will be considered a new musical. That is probably because this version featured a new book "freely adapted for today by Burt Shevelove and even more freely adapted by Nathan Lane" and many new songs. The ruling means the musical can also receive nominations for its score Sondheim wrote new songs for the production and book.

Nominations for the 2005 Tony Awards will be announced in early May.