Though the Olivier Awards have previously once attempted to recognise take-over performances in major musicals, the category never ‘stuck’ — it’s difficult to get a cohesive judging process together to re-visit long-running shows and attempt to recognise the performances in them. New York’s major theatrical awards, the Tony’s (presented every June, at the end of the ‘season’ there that is basically defined by the Tony eligibility year, announcing a close-off date for shows eligible to be considered for that year’s awards in early May, so that the new season for the following year’s eligibility begins immediately after that) have just announced that they are inroducing a new prize for an actor or actress in a recreated role.
The rules they’ve devised for performers to be eligible are that a performer who steps into a leading role in a long-runner (ie any show that opened in a previous season and were eligible for Best Play, Best Musical or Best Revival in the year in which they opened) must be contracted for at least six months of public performances (thereby neatly disqualifying the ‘stunt’ casting performers who are parachuted in to bolster box office from time to time, but show no real commitment to Broadway). It will certainly be interesting to see how this plays out….
