Julie Andrews Rejects Tony Nomination (1996)
Channel: The Julie Andrews Archive
Date: 2020-09-11

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being such a wonderful audience this afternoon. If I may take just a moment of your time, I would like to share something with you.

"The 1996 Tony Award nominations were announced on Monday [May 6], and I applaud all my fellow nominees and send them many congratulations.

"However, flattered as I am, and honored to be also nominated, I have to say how deeply sad I am to be the only nominee in this extraordinarily gifted company.

"Victor/Victoria is a collaboration between designers, choreographer, director, cast and crew. An extremely happy and successful collaboration which makes it especially sad that so many of my colleagues have been ignored by this year's nominating process. I could not have done this alone.

"I have searched my conscience and my heart and find that I cannot accept this nomination, and prefer to stand instead with the egregiously overlooked Tony Roberts; Michael Nouri; Rachel York; Greg Jbara; Robin Wagner, who designed our sets; Willa Kim, who gave us our costumes; Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, for our lighting; Rob Marshall, our choreographer; [composer] Henry Mancini; [lyricist] Leslie Bricusse; [co-composer] Frank Wildhorn; [director/librettist] Blake Edwards [who is also Andrews' husband]; our producers and 75 other members of the Victor/Victoria family. "We stand together in celebration of our show and of audiences like you who stand for us. Thank you."

- Julie Andrews', May 09, 1996
 Source: https://cutt.ly/CjjTt80

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"Julie Andrews's Star Turn" May 9, 1996

Julie Andrews, the star of "Victor/Victoria," is rejecting her Tony nomination for best female performance in a Broadway musical. Ms. Andrews is angry that her show did not get any other nominations and was passed over for best musical in favor of long-closed, long-forgotten productions like "Chronicle of a Death Foretold." Producers of the televised Tony Awards show are horrified. The popular Ms. Andrews was supposed to be their star.

High-profile entertainment awards do not constitute an objective quality rating; the world understands that "Braveheart" was not really the finest movie made on the planet last year. But only 30-odd shows are eligible for the Tony awards, so not being nominated is like being excluded from the class party in a school with only three dozen pupils.

Theater-lovers can celebrate that Broadway is hearty enough this year to support such an interesting, media-intense controversy, and that it has created enough decent shows to permit some snubbing. Last year "Sunset Boulevard" was unopposed in several categories. Ms. Andrews's own nomination might be taken as a particular tribute, since the Tony nominating committee seemed to be suggesting that without her considerable talents, "Victor/ Victoria" would have closed faster than "Chronicle of a Death Foretold."

The 14-person nominating committee, whose members have distinguished theatrical resumes and a willingness to attend more than 30 Broadway openings every year, is not known for its unorthodox taste in entertainment. But it did seem to be declaring war on the kind of musical "Victor/Victoria" represents -- unadventurous remakes of popular motion pictures. What the committee favors, reasonably enough, are shows like "Rent" and "Bring In da Noise" -- ambitious productions by young artists with an urban flair.

In a gracious speech after her matinee performance yesterday, Ms. Andrews said she preferred to sit the Tonys out along with her "egregiously overlooked" fellow cast members. We hope she changes her mind, claims what looks like her inevitable best-actress award, and uses the opportunity to give the nominating committee a piece of her mind. It would make for great theater. 

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/09/opinion/julie-andrews-s-star-turn.html



Julie Andrews has been nominated for a Tony 3 times. 
As lead actress in My Fair Lady and Camelot and Victor/ Victoria. 
She didn’t win the first 2 and refused the last nomination. So it looks like she’ll never receive the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) status.