The nominations for the 1997 Tony Awards were announced May 5 (see separate story in Theatre News).

Please share your reactions. How do the noms compare with previous years'? Any of your favorites overlooked?

Please post your answers to Managing Editor Robert Viagas at [email protected]. Answers will be posted as they come in. Please include your town and state, and let us know if we can post your e mail address, so you can receive responses.

Here are the responses so far. Playbill On-Line thanks all those who took the time to write:

From JZbell:
I want to add my comments to those of the many people who are unhappy because Jekyll and Hyde didn't receive more Tony nominations. It certainly deserved a nomination as best musical, and Linda Eder was wonderful. At least they didn't ignore the remarkable performance of Robert Cuccioli! (5/14/97)

From ASKornheiser:
I think it may be time to eliminate the Best New Drama awards from the Tonys altogether. Certainly nothing nominated is worthy, and you'll note that not only was there no Pulitzer this year there was never any real chance that a Broadway show would receive one. It has become a rare year (and this isn't it) in which more than one decent straight play (excuse the expression Love! Valour! Compassion!) opens, and at least this year there really were none. With the help of the Brits, we usually get a few good revivals, but new drama (or even new sophisticatd comedy) just isn't happening on Broadway. Mind you, there was a lot of good drama off and offoff the street, and I'd love to be a fly on the wall of the Obies when they fight that one out, but Broadway no longer produces new drama. Let's admit the horse is dead.
Incidentally, how on earth did the Tonys become this important? By focusing on Broadway, we shortchange the entire NY theater scene. You'll note that at least one organization has given its best musical award to WHEN PIGS FLY, which provides more pleasure per minute than all the new megamusicals combined. (5/10/97)

From Maria DeLuca ([email protected].) Huntington Station, N.Y.:
After reading the unconfirmed report in the New York Post that a special lifetime achievement tony award was being considered for Julie Andrews, I felt that at long last this hard-working, talented and gracious lady would finally get the recognition she deserves from Broadway. It now appears that the award will be presented to Bernard Jacobs. Mr. Jacobs, is of course a very worthy recipient; however, it is inconceivable to me that Julie Andrews could be performing on Broadway for almost two years and be so thoughtlessly tossed aside. It almost seems as though a curse has been placed upon her when it comes to the Tonys.
It's hard to believe that she doesn't have a tony for My Fair Lady. After performing the role for two years on Broadway and a year and a half in London, she deserved an award for the endurance test of singing that role before the invention of the head microphone when singers had to really sing and project to the last row of the balcony. She didn't win for Camelot, losing out to an actress named Elizabeth Seal (anyone heard of her lately?) If Victor/Victoria were competing for a tony this year with the crop of new musicals that were nominated, it would win hands down. Sadly, it's not. Julie Andrews is one of the last of the really great Broadway ladies, an icon like Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, and Gertrude Lawrence. Wake up Broadway and give this gracious and talented lady the respect and the recognition that has been so long overdue. (5/10/97)