THE CATEGORY QUESTION
Part one of a four-part series asking what Broadway’s biggest awards actually measure.
With the Tony Awards quickly approaching, fans and critics alike are spouting predictions on what may take the win. 1 Minute Critic reviewers saw every show of the season, and are asking a different question: Why?
I’ve seen over 500 Broadway productions, and I’m no closer to becoming an expert predictor. I’m more interested in how we think of the categories, what a win means from an artistic or commercial standpoint, and how this year’s nominees either affirm or disrupt that perspective. And there’s no Tony Award category more confounding than Best Performance by an Actor or Actress in a Featured Role.
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A category without a clear rulebook
Productions submit their shows for Tony eligibility, with nominations determined by the Tony Awards Administration Committee. So what warrants an award for best featured performance?
Several years ago, I spent two sleepless and exhilarating weeks at the Eugene O’Neill’s National Critics Institute, an intensive bootcamp for arts and culture journalists. During one of our late-night, whiskey-fueled debates at the pub, a mentor finally gave me a framework that made sense.
A win-worthy featured performance must transcend the page. With limited stage time, or perhaps one pivotal scene or breakout song (think Alex Newell’s “Independently Owned” from Shucked), this is a moment where you think nobody else could do this.
Of course, that’s not true. The joy of the work is that it’s open to interpretation. But a featured actor creates the blueprint. Or in the case of a revival, reinvents it.
Of this year’s featured actor categories, one performance in particular feels born of the bones of its inhabitant: Ruben Santiago-Hudson in August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. As Walker, the resident “Binding Man” with the ability to reconnect people with their souls, Santiago-Hudson transports audiences into the world of a Black-owned boarding house circa 1911. He is simultaneously ethereal and rooted in the collective trauma of the Great Migration.
Will Santiago-Hudson win? Six nominees say it’s anyone’s category. But Walker already lives in the memory of everyone who saw it. That’s the featured actor standard—and this year, it’s been met.
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The 2025-26 Broadway season, reviewed
Every Tony-nominated play and musical in one place. Your Tony night cheat sheet.
Featured image: (l-r) Ali Louis Bourzgui and Shoshana Bean in “The Lost Boys,” Ruben Santiago-Hudson in “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” Laurie Metcalf in “Death of a Salesman.” Photos: Matthew Murphy, Julieta Cervantes, Emilio Madrid.
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